Butler/Jackson Mansion – 1703 Grand Ave. National Register of Historic Places
One of Everett’s prized National Register properties, the Butler-Jackson house, is recognized for its architectural history and for its connection to two prominent Everett residents, William C. Butler 1866-1944) and Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (1913-1983). Years apart in time, Butler and Jackson also were of different politics and personalities, Butler a conservative Republican and Jackson a New Deal Democrat. As a young man, Jackson delivered newspapers to the Butler’s home.
William Curtis Butler and Eleanor Hughes married in 1890 and headed west out of New Jersey, settling in Everett during its initial boomtown years. Both were from wealthy East Coast families and the Butlers’ ties to John D. Rockefeller and associates enticed them to take a chance on opportunities in Everett. As a mining engineer, William was involved in plans to develop a smelter that would refine ores from the Monte Cristo region in the Cascades, but he also became a banker, as well as investing in the region’s timber lands and the lumber-shingle economy. Butler was the local person most responsible for making Everett a “Mill Town: and by the turn of the new century, his influence dominated Everett’s economy.
In 1910 he and Eleanor hired prominent local architect August F. Heide to design a home for them on a prominent lot with a view of Everett’s mills below. Over the years the home’s exterior has remained much the same as the original design, except for enclosure of the sun porch.
The National Register form describes it as “a two-and-one-half story Colonial Revival town home with Federal style features. In front, a large central pillared entry porch is flanked by symmetrical sets of windows on the first two floors, with three gabled dormer windows above. Inside, a large foyer opens to an elegant stairway. A spacious living room, formal dining room, and library occupy the front of the first floor. The rear was given over to servant work areas, including kitchen (that portion of the home has since been remodeled). The family bedrooms and a billiard room take up the second floor. The third floor (also since remodeled) originally housed maids’ rooms and a workroom”.
The Butlers kept to themselves, demanding privacy and avoiding news coverage, and while they attended social events, their home saw few visitors. Many oral history stories suggest that their reclusive nature may have come following their son’s death at age 16 from appendicitis.
In sharp contrast, Henry Jackson grew up in Everett as the son of working-class Norwegian immigrants, his father Peter changing the family name from Gresseth to Jackson upon arriving in the U. S. Henry graduated from Everett High School in 1930 and began a career in law and politics, first elected to public office as Snohomish County Prosecutor in 1938 and then six terms in the United States House of Representatives and six in the Senate.
Jackson’s wife Helen Hardin Jackson adds her own compelling story to the home’s history. In 1961 she and Henry married when she was working in the office of his Senate colleague Clinton Anderson of New Mexico. The couple had two children, Anna Marie (b. 1963) and Peter (1966-
2020). When the Jacksons were not in D. C., they made Everett their home, purchasing he Butler house in 1967 and frequently sharing it for social, charitable and fundraising events.
Helen actively campaigned in all of Henry’s re-election runs as well as his two unsuccessful presidential bids. Following her husband’s death in 1983, she established the Henry M. Jackson Foundation as a living memorial to him and continued to live in the Everett home. In an essay written for HistoryLink.org, Mindy Van Wingen wrote: “The foundation assists public officials, diplomats, and journalists in addressing international problems and funds scholarships, visiting faculty, and other programs at the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies.” Helen also took on a variety of leadership and philanthropic projects in and around Everett and during the 1980s and 1990s often hosted fundraisers in her home. The Helen H. Jackson Endowed Chair in Human Rights at the Jackson School of International Studies was created in 2008 to recognize her personal commitment to human rights.” Helen died in 2018.
Daughter Anna Marie and Dan Laurence currently live in and lovingly care for the historic home.
No doubt the Jacksons would have enjoyed the large, elegant house and its impressive views regardless of its past, but Scoop certainly got extra pleasure in knowing that his family now occupied the home built by the Republican banker who dominated the town of his boyhood and looked down on workers and immigrants. While showing people around the house, the Senator liked to say:
“Wouldn’t Mister Butler turn over in his grave if he knew that a Democrat — the blockheaded son of an immigrant Norwegian laborer — owned his big house?”
Written by Margaret Riddle
Sources:
National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Butler Jackson House, 1998, available at Washington State Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation “Historic Sites” website.
“ButlerJackson house”, HistoryLink.org essay by Kit Oldham and “Jackson, Helen Hardin”, HistoryLink.org essay by Mindy Van Wingen.
Writings for 2023 Calendar by Jack O’Donnell and David Chrisman.
Watch the video
Scoop: Commemorating Senator Jackson’s Life provided by The Henry M. Jackson Foundation.
