Historic Everett home page

NW Neighborhood Grand Ave self-guided history tour
Everett, Washington

Grand Ave

A.R. and Maude Maulsby House (1932)

When this home was built in 1932, this house was at the edge of Everett homes. Growth was slow during the Great Depression. Albert and Maude Maulsby, who owned a mortuary at 1711 Wall St, built the home. They had four children: Zene and Rollo (grown and married by this time), and Dent and Betty. Betty recalled it was the first home in the neighborhood, surrounded by trees. It was hard to get her friends to visit on a dark and muddy night.

Rollo and Leona Maulsby lived here later.

The house has a subtle curve tha matches the shape of Grand Ave. This is easier to notice when viewing the house from the back. Curved steps lead up to an enclosed arched entrance. Above the formal entrance are matching arched windows and a balcony. Well executed woodworking details of fir, mahogany and oak, and a splendid wrought iron staircase are inside. At the top of the stairs is an entrance to a formerly open porch, now enclosed. A small, charming room between two bedrooms was originally the maid's quarters.

(1927)

About 1985. Phyllis Royce photo, Everett Public Library archives

Donovan and Allan house. Everett's Donovan district is just east of the hospital, where entire blocks of similar homes were built.

1938. Dr Secoy collection in Everett Museum of History
1938. Dr Secoy collection in Everett Museum of History
Later, the porch and front window were revised. Dr Secoy collection in Everett Museum of History

Roubin House (c. 1937)

1985. Phyllis Royce photo, Everett Public Library archives

This charming Cape Cod cottage, a subtype of the Colonial Revival style, was popular in the 1920s-1940s. They are patterned after early wooden folk houses of eastern Massechusetts. It was built for Benjamin (1903-1997) and Helen Roubin (-1997). Benjamin studied denture making and design, and established Peerless Dental Laboratories in the Medical Dental Building about 1926. He retired in 1967. They remodeled the house in the 1960s adding a laboratory and breezeway, but left the 2nd floor unfinished. They were in the house about 60 years.

Hartmann House (1924)

1985. Phyllis Royce photo, Everett Public Library archives

Everett register. Architect/builder: Rudolf Hartmann

Harry W. Stuchell, president of the Eclipse Mill, had this house built for his son and daughter-in-law Lester and Norma Stuchell. They lived there from April of 1924, but were divorced. Norma stayed there until 1934, selling to Dr. A.H. Gunderson, and Mrs. Gunderson remained until 1988.

Rudolf Hartmann, a German immigrant, built several hundred homes in Everett. He also built the Mayfair and Windsor apartments on Hoyt Ave. This house has unusually fine craftsmanship. The owners of the house named it after Hartman in 1992 when it was put on the Everett Register. Hartmann and Stuchell (below) lived in the same apartment building in the 1910s at 2020 Colby. Hartmann, in his late 70s, dictated his autobiography where he relates that Norma Stuchell was left by the alduterous and alcoholic Lester. She desparately tried to sell the home to Hartmann during the Great Depression.

Much of the interior was intact as of 2018 (see Herald, Oct 8, 2018). In 1947, the house was covered in asphalt composition tiles, but fortunately restored in 1989. Most of the original Queen Anne style French doors that enclosed the living room were lost over the years.

Schuchart House (1937)

1985. Phyllis Royce photo, Everett Public Library archives
Built for Mr. and Mrs. George Schuchart, showing the thought put into careful landscaping per the Herald. A two car garage is set back and matches the house.

(1911)

Photo from 1912. Jack O'Donnell collection
Built by Spriestersbach.

(1910)

Postcard. Maureen Duryee collection
Note the Monkey tree in its mature state. Maureen Duryee collection
Maureen Duryee collection
1985 photo. Phyllis Royce photo, Everett Public Library archives
Built by Spriestersbach.

(c.1901)

Jack O'Donnell collection

This is a large version of the vernacular house type built throughout Everett at the turn of the 20th century. Water was turned on for B.E. Peterman, but we don't know if he lived here. Walter and Alice Downs lived here from 1909 into the 1940s.

Edwin (Ned) and Ella Blackman Gray house (c. 1908)

Photo c. 1916. Neil Anderson collection
Neil Anderson collection
Everett Herald, Jan 26, 1942

Ella Blackman Gray was a sister of Charles A. Blackman of the C.A.Blackman Shingle mill at Blackman's Point. Ned Gray arrived in Everett in 1906, and was a foreman with the Clough-Hartley mill. He had an industrial accident in 1914 where he lost 4 fingers, but did not miss a day of work! The journal of Ella Gray describes a dismal and bleak existence during the Great Depression while living at 1521 Grand. Edwin Gray died just 5 months before the airplane crash into their house. Ella Gray died in 1948.

Airplane crashes into house

On Jan 25, 1942, a P-39 airplane crashed into the back of the Edwin Gray home, with pieces of its roof scattered "like shredded wheat." See more about this wartime story in this HistoryLink article by Margaret Riddle, and this Herald article. See also Everett Daily Herald, Feb 10 and Feb 18, 1942. Repairs cost about $1200. The man with his back towards the photographer was Henry S. Missouri, USAF, stationed at Paine Field.

Per Barbara Lamoureux in her newsletters, who listed this house and talked to the niece of Mrs. Gray, hundreds of motorists came by to see the house. The pilot's rescuer was Robert Stevenson who lived on Cleveland Ave, on leave from the Navy.

Earl and Marion Hudler (1919)

Earl Hudler (1881-1947) was a sales manager at Haley-Sheraton Motors. He was born in Iowa, and arrived in Everett in 1913. The couple moved into their new home as announced in the March 31, 1919 Herald. By 1922 he was the proprieter of Hudler Motor Company at Rucker and Pacific, selling Fords, until 1933. Later he was in life insurance. Marion Pendleton Hudler (1891-1983) was in Everett by 1900.

Winter House (c. 1917)

From the 1930 Polk directory, "Typical house" in Everett.

Everett Register. Architect Carl F. Gould (1873-1939) and Charles H. Bebb

This house was designed by the architect of Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington. Gould founded the UW Department of Architecture. Even though the address is on Grand Avenue, this Colonial Revival house is oriented toward 17th Street and has a matching garage and chauffer's quarters to the east, also facing 17th Street. See "Carl F. Gould, A Life in Architecture and the Arts" by T. William Booth and William H. Wilson.

William Neal Winter, born in Mississippi, was the head of the Puget Sound Telephone Co. He was also an executive at Weyerhauser Lumber Company, which the house overlooked. And he helped organize the Security National Bank of Everett and was president. It's unclear if Winter, his wife Faun (nee) Twelves of Provo UT, and their childred William Neal Jr. and Barbara lived here.

James N and Charlotte Clapp lived here from 1922-31. His professions were buyer and lumberman.

Dr. Albert B Murphy and his wife Vesta (nee) Kruse of Rochester MN owned it from 1941-62. He was at the Quigley Clinic, and ear, nose and throat doctor.

From 1965-2002, the house was owned by Judge John F. Wilson.

Grand Avenue Park

Information from "The History of Everett Parks":
Grand Ave Park. Larry Wold collection
Grand Ave Park, on a postcard labeled "19th Street Park". Larry Wold collection
Grand Ave Park, from Seattle Times June 5, 1927. Jack O'Donnell collection
Vancouver monument in the park, c. 1915. Jack O'Donnell collection

Charles Fratt (see 1725 Grand) was instrumental in setting aside this park for Everettians.

The granite marker for Captain George Vancouver was placed 123 years after his landing near this spot on June 4, 1792. At that time, the waters licked the bluffs below the park. The landfill extending into the bay came more than 100 years after Vancouver's landing.

In 1906 the city bought this land from the Everett Improvement Company for $1. The 13 year old city was advertised as the City of Smokestacks. You could view many of those smokestacks from the bluff. A set of steps led down to the mills at 19th St, gone by the 1960s.

Lights were installed in August 1923. Picnic tables removed in 1961. New sidewalk in 1964.

The compass rose, created by Glen Anderson of Vancouver BC, is dedicated to Everett City Planner Becky Fauver (1976-2006). Fauver was a 1998 graduate of WWU who tragically contracted a virus that put her into a coma. The $20,000 project was paid for by Barbara Lamoureaux who had worked with Fauver when expanding Lamoureaux's real estate building on 19th and Wetmore. Fauver was helpful in maintaining the intent of the city codes and educating builders about making buildings fit into the neighborhoods of historic homes.

The $21,000 metal railing is by metal artist and blacksmith Paul Casey. The graceful swirls are meant to suggest clouds, waves, and the water below. Casey said he spent more on the project than he received. See Herald, May 10, 2012.

Henry M. Jackson bust

The bust of Senator Henry "Scoop" M. Jackson is by Wendy Ross. The Jackson family lived across the street at 1703 Grand Ave.

Wendy Ross explains her association with Scoop Jackson:

In 1968 I was studying at the University of Wisconsin majoring in Russian Area Studies and considering a career in the Foreign Service. I had the opportunity to spend the summer as an intern with the Senator and he placed me in his National Security office. I stayed in touch with everyone I met while there even as my passion for art led me to advanced studies in California and eventually to obtain my Masters at the Rhode Island School of Design. I worked as an arts specialist for the National Park Service leading the team who transformed Glen Echo Park, which dated to the Chautauqua period and was now a deteriorating amusement park, into the first urban art center offering space for artists in exchange for community programs. I created and ran the Children's Experimental Workshop which brought various arts to underserved populations including from the inner city and those with special needs.

The Senator kept an interest in my career and when GSA attempted to transfer the Park out of Federal ownership for development, Scoop blocked it. Later he sponsored legislation to dedicate the C&O Canal, which runs near Glen Echo, to Justice William O Douglas and he and his staff were very complementary of my bronze portrait of the Justice placed at the terminus of the Canal as well as in the Supreme Court. I think that is what probably led Bill Van Ness, Howard Feldman and other former staffers to approach me about creating a bust of the Senator for the Capitol. At their request, additional castings were made for the University and for Everett as well as a limited edition smaller bust that the Foundation uses. I should mention that not only am I a proud alumna of his staff, but I also met my husband there and Helen attended our wedding although the Senator was out of town. I truly enjoyed the opportunity in 1985 to create the bronze portrait of Scoop whom I greatly admired!

Butler/Jackson House (1910)

Circa 1909. Saundra Cope collection
Jack O'Donnell collection
Norbert Fratt (see 1725 Grand) in front of the mansion, c. 1909. Saundra Cope collection

National Register. Architect: August F. Heide. Built by R. Hartmann.

William C. Butler, banker

Built for William C. Butler, the most powerful banker in Everett in its early decades. Cost was $18,000. He remained in the house into the 1940s. More of the Butler story is here. Other owners include automobile dealer Charles Allen, banker William Carpenter.

Scoop Jackson, lawyer, Senator

Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, bought it in 1967.

The History Link article has much more information about the history of this house.

Legislation for the National Preservation Act was introduced by Senator Jackson. It's fitting that his house is on the National Register.

See Herald, Apr 30, 1910.

Newland House (1955)

Everett Public Library archives

Built by Simon and Vada Newland.

Charles and Idalia Fratt / Monrad and Mabel Wallgren House (1906)

The back of this picture is labeled "First picture of the house at 1725 Grand. Built in 1904". However, it's unclear if this is the first (burned in 1905) or second house (still standing). Saundra Cope and Walt Gillette collection

Everett Register. Built by G.H. Bishop. Architect?

This house has a particularly rich, fascinating history which has been carefully researched by Saundra Cope. Built for the businessman, Charles D. Fratt, it was the only house within a six block radius in 1906. The first house burned down when nearly complete in 1905. In 1941, U.S. Senator Monrad C. Wallgren bought the house. In 1926, Mon Wallgren was a jeweler and optometrist at 1714 Hewitt Ave (see Herald, Apr 9, 1926 ad). He later became Governor of Washington state. The future President Harry Truman stayed here while visiting the Wallgrens.

This eclectic house is reflective of a late example of the Shingle style, with Classical Revival tapered columns and cornice returns. The Shingle style is perhaps the first American house style, first used for wealthy east coast families. The house had several unsympathetic remodels, but it has been lovingly restored close to its original look.

Fire!

Construction began in 1904. On February 8, 1905, the nearly complete home was completely destroyed in a fire. The Everett Herald reported "the interior was ablaze and the flames were breaking out of the windows". Unfortunately, the nearest hydrant was a couple blocks away, and the fire department's ladders were too short for the house. With low pressure and the low nozzle, firemen could not spray water high enough. Finally a hose reducer allowed them to reach the second floor.

The house was valued at $4500, insured for $3000, and was a total loss. The site was cleared and construction of the present house was completed in late 1906.

Charles Fratt (1862-1928) and Idalia Fratt (1867-1954)

The Fratts lived here from 1905-1931. Fratt had reportedly agreed with the city to build only if the three blocks across the street, then platted for 25-foot residential lots, would be designated as a park to preserve the view of the bay and his business interests on the flats below. See Everett Herald, July 4, 1905.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Fratt's father was President of First National Bank of Racine. Fratt graduated from University of Wisconsin and rose to sec/treas of Webster Manufacturing Company. He moved out west in 1889, as head of the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Co in Tacoma. Here he met Idalia Oiumette.

Idalia's father was President of Washington National Bank in Olympia. She was one of the first graduates of the exclusive Annie Wright Seminary in 1886. Their wedding in July 1892 was covered well in the Tacoma newspapers. They raised six children.

They moved to Everett about 1892, where Charles became VP of Everett First National Bank by 1902. He was sec/treas of Robinson Manufacturing Co., also in 1902. And treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce, member of Cascade Club, and officer of Everett Golf and Country Club. Thus he was very influential in the first few decades of Everett.

Charles passed away in 1928 after a short illness. Idalia lived here until the early 1930s, when she moved to Seattle, where she died in 1954.

The result of the Knowles remodel of 1725 Grand Ave, c. 1934. Saundra Cope and Walt Gillette collection

In 1931, William T. and Martha Knowles bought the house. William was president of the K & K Timber Co. They removed the front entry porch, the second floor flare, and the original shingle siding was replaced with raked cedar shingles. They also enclosed the rear porch and extended the roofline. William died in 1933; Martha and the children lived there until 1935.

Guy & Lilly Brazeau bought it in 1935. Guy was mill manager at Weyerhauser Timber Co., Pulp Division. They sold it in 1941 to U.S. Senator Mongrad Wallgren and his wife, Mabel.

Monrad Wallgren (1891-1961)

The Wallgrens with President Truman, June 1945. Bob Mayer collection

Monrad Wallgren, later Washington State Governor lived here from 1941 to June, 1943. Wallgren had been a U.S. Representative since 1932, swept in as part of the New Deal. Then U.S. Senator Wallgren was a close associate of Vice President Harry S. Truman, who visited Wallgren in Everett on several occasions. The room where Truman was reported to have slept is now decorated with Truman memorabilia.

Monrad was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1891, and raised in Galvaston, Texas and Everett. The family moved to Everett when he was ten years old. He went to Everett schools and the Washington State School of Optometry in Spokane, year of 1914. Returning to Everett, he was an optometrist and jeweler.

In the House, Wallgren was part of creating the Olympic National Park in 1938. Near the end of his fourth term, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy. Shortly after that, he left Everett. Interestingly, he was replaced by the young Henry M. Jackson who later lived at the other end of the block. Wallgren was important during the war years, involved in several important war efforts. These include saving the nation billions over defective airplanes and ships, and removal of Japanese-Americans from the west coast.

Wallgren beat the incumbant Governor Arthur Langlie in the 1944 election. After a controversial term, Langlie won the 1948 gubanatorial election again. The Wallgrens retired from public life, and he died from injuries from a car accident in Olympia in 1961.

Dr. Russell & Aileen Townsend bought the home in 1943. Dr. William (pediatrician, died 1970) & Dorothy Meyer bought it in 1951, and the family remained until 1975. Robert (manager JC Penney) & Mary Smith owned it until sold to the Stuchells in 1980. The current owners purchased it in 1997, saving it from potential demolition.

The result of the c, 1934 Knowles remodel of 1725 Grand Ave. Saundra Cope and Walt Gillette collection

The exterior of the home was significantly altered over the years, including removal of the balconies. The current owners have restored the exterior architecture to its original appearance as seen in 100 year old photographs. A garage built in the 1940s has been replaced with a two-story carriage house, built to match the architecture of the house. The foundation has been brought up to modern earthquake code.

Area near 1725 Grand. Jack O'Donnell collection
A postcard of 1725 Grand from 1911. Jack O'Donnell collection
West Coast Dairy trucks on 18th, June 23, 1928. Everett Public LIbrary archives

Eddy/Rumbaugh House (1915)

A view of the 1800 block of Grand and 1801/1725 Grand from a postcard mailed in 1919. Jack O'Donnell collection

Howard S. Wright, builder. Cost $8100.

James G. and Mary Eddy applied for water service in 1915 and lived here until 1930. He was owner and president of the Ferry-Baker Lumber Company in Riverside at the foot of 16th St. See Sept 30, 1915 Everett City Tribune article.

John O. and Almeda Morris were here from about 1930-37. He was general manager of Fishermen's Packing Co. and was involved in the Everett Packing Co at the foot of Bond near the Great Northern Depot.

Orrel A. and Marion Rumbaugh were here from about 1937-1970. They purchased Barron's Furniture in 1915, and renamed the 2800 Colby block business to Everett Department Store. In 1929 they had the Rumbaugh-MacLain department store built. That store later became the Bon Marche, Trinity Lutheran College, and Funko headquarters.

Earl and June Dutton of Lord Electric and Dutton Electric lived here for some time also.

For more tours, see Historic Everett walking tours. Write us below if you have comments, more history, or questions.


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