This tour of Everett's Bayside waterfront was written by Margaret Riddle and curated by Paula Becker. The map is by Marie McCaffrey, and the tour is sponsored by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.
Everett was conceived as an industrial city dependent on waterfront commerce, the “City of Smokestacks” where rail was intended to meet sail. Situated between Port Gardner Bay and the Snohomish River, the community has benefited from its freshwater access to interior locations and its saltwater connection with the Pacific Rim.
This location had once been home to the Snohomish and related tribes who used both waterways for travel and drew their sustenance from the river and saltwater beaches. They built a permanent village on the northwest tip of the peninsula, a location allowing access to both river and bay.
Over the years, Everett’s bayfront has supported marine commerce with its lumber and shingle mills, wood products manufacturers, shipbuilders, fisheries and canneries, and in more recent decades, aerospace. Today the Port of Everett manages properties along Port Gardner Bay. This tour visits some of the locations important in telling the city’s waterfront story.
