pROPERTIES LISTED ON THE sNOHOMISH cOUNTY rEGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
If you have a property you would like to nominate to the register, please fill out the official nomination form, and return it to Gretchen Kaehler at Gretchen.Kaehler@co.Snohomish.wa.us
SCRHP-001: The Shannahan Cabin
John Shannahan began construction of his cabin in 1885, in the Mount Forest District, just outside Monroe. The Shannahan Cabin is a representation of Snohomish County’s pioneer heritage and is one of the only remaining intact pioneer cabins in the county that is accessible to the general public. It possesses an important association with the history of an early pioneer family, the Shannahans, and with early pioneer engineering, architecture and lifeways. Blanche Shannahan, one of the daughters settled in Monroe and had her childhood cabin moved to the Monroe area before donating it to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds as a public exhibit and educational display. Read the official nomination for more information.
Read more about this listing in the Everett Herald article here.
Riverside Community Club
SCRHP-002: THE RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY CLUB
The Riverside Community Club property is associated with rural schools and the development of rural school districts and the formation of community clubs or granges. The Riverside Community Club represents or exemplifies aspects of the social, cultural and political history of Snohomish County as it represents several aspects of early Snohomish County rural life including early schools and community clubs or granges. The evolution of the Riverside Community Club from a local school to a community club is representative of the development of a small community. Rural schools along with churches and granges were often the center of rural life and celebrations. Located on its original building site, this 108-year-old schoolhouse represents the cultural development of our rural community, as residential areas were built upon logged-off wilderness. It served its original purpose from 1911 to 1939, and has since been preserved in original form and good condition for an additional 80 years, serving as a community meeting and gathering place.
Read the official nomination for more information.
SCRHP-003: THE Bush House
The Bush House is associated with the tourism and recreation in Snohomish County. Snohomish County was generally considered a sportsman’s dream as it contained mountains, lakes, rivers and streams bursting with fish. In the 1930s and 1940 it was far less populated than the neighboring King County and maintained a rugged frontier-like feel especially in the sparsely populated eastern two thirds. As soon as 1894, the Town of Index was hailed as “becoming a mecca for the sportsman of the county” and “a paradise for sportsmen and nature lovers” (Whitfield 1926:608). The proximity of the Great Northern Railroad Depot to the Bush House deposited hundreds of tourists each summer and fall. These tourists needed lodging and food either for a few weeks or an entire season. The Bush House provided food and lodging to less hearty hikers and tourists who preferred their nature in small doses while partaking of the creature comforts of clean sheets and homely meals. The Snohomish County Sportsman, a periodical published from 1934-1941, supports the fame and importance of Snohomish County for hunting and fishing. The magazine reported fishing statistics, dates for fishing seasons/species starts, hunting news, anecdotes and advertisements for fishing and hunting lodges and resorts, tackle, guns, gear as well as information for the licenses required. With the decline of railroad travel and the rise of automobile travel by the middle class after the end of World War I, Bush House became a final stop or midpoint of a journey over the Stevens Pass. Prior to 1915 vacations were too expensive for any but the more wealthy class. By 1916 the idea of vacationing became more popular and by the 1930s, vacationing and s began to extend to the middle class who travelled to Index to fish and hike. Bush House also served as a midpoint stop for early automobile travelers travelling over the mountains on the Cascade Highway. From the 1940 until the Bush House closed in 2002, it was a destination that provided tourists and nature enthusiasts with temporary lodging and food as well as a restaurant and space for events and special occasions.
The Bush House is currently being renovated and will again serve as lodging, comnunity and gathering space.
Read the official nomination for more information.
SCRHP-004: THe Sawyer House "Mayor's House"
The Sawyer House is associated with cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering or architectural history in Snohomish County as well as the lives of people important in local history.
In the early 1900s only people of means could afford to build a house as large and expansive as Sawyer House. Sawyer House was likely built by a local contractor or tradesman as one of the first grand homes of Monroe. It was originally built on a large tract of land at the outskirts of Monroe. The house was built in 1910 when there was a dearth of grand houses and people who could afford to construct and keep them. This was a large and grand home for early Monroe and was built for a single wealthy woman who would have been considered of higher class or society because of her wealth. As Sutherland 2000:28 states: “the size and appearance of a house announced the social postion, aspirations and “character” of its occupants.”
Jennie Sawyer was the mother of E.L Sawyer who owned most of the land modern Monroe was platted and had been in the community since 1896. This certainly made her one of the early settlers and her wealth and ability to purchase land would have introduced her to other settlers of similar stations and finances. She was able to contract to build a large, well-made house to live in. The house was certainly larger and more expensive that most people in the early decades of the 1900s in Monroe Washington could afford.
Sawyer House is also associated with popular Monroe Mayor Cleo Lee Kirby otherwise known as Mayor Lee Kirby (see Figure 5). Mayor Lee Kirby purchased the house in 1945 and lived in it until his death in 1978. Mayor Kirby was sworn in as councilman in 1948 and then as Mayor on January 11, 1949. He served as Mayor until June 2, 1958 (Monroe Historical Society, 2017).
The Sawyer House is still nicknamed the Mayor’s House for the well-known and regarded Mayor Kirby. Kirby was both a popular elected official as well as a local businessman. Kirby was the owner of the Monroe Theatre, the first theatre in Monroe built to show “talkies in 1929 (Taylor 2013:113). Kirby renamed the theatre the Avalon Theatre in 1951 and continued to operate it until it’s close in 1966. The Avalon Theatre was a landmark in Monroe and most citizens enjoyed many matinees and feature films over the years it was open.
While the Sawyer House is not a good or representative example of a specific architectural style, it is significant for its association with people important in local history. Both Jennie Sawyer and Mayor Leo Kirby were part of the history of Monroe. The Sawyer House is still known as the Mayor’s House and is featured on the annual Monroe Historic Home Tour. does meet the criteria for listing in the Snohomish County Register of Historic Places for reflecting or representing the historical socio-economic aspect of Snohomish County in the early part of the twentieth century.
Read the official nomination for more information.