Originally published Saturday, July 12, 1997

By DON CARTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Although Everett has many historic structures, the city itself is actually fairly new in terms of Snohomish County history. The original county seat, Snohomish, and a half-dozen other cities in the county were founded in the 1860s.

Everett didn't pop onto the scene until 1890. And pop it did. A combination of money from Tacoma timber fortunes and East Coast capitalists made Everett the instant industrial boom town of the West.

In 1892, when "empire builder" railroad magnate James J. Hill brought the Great Northern to town, Everett dreamed briefly of growing into a giant port city linking the Orient with the East Coast through Hill's new transcontinental line.

The dreams were quickly dashed. Hill promptly ordered tracks installed to Seattle, which, already served by the Northern Pacific, was propelled into becoming the major Northwest port city.

New York oil baron John D. Rockefeller pumped millions into Everett's founding and, according to some accounts, skimmed off a million or so in profit when he sold his Everett holdings during the depression of 1893.

"It was the people Rockefeller sold to who took a bath," says historian May.

For the record, the city got its name from a hungry teenager.

Founding fathers Henry Hewitt and Charles Colby had been discussing the new city venture at a New York dinner party, to which Colby had taken his 15-year-old son, Everett.

The boy made no secret of his eagerness to plow into an elegant dessert.

"He wants the best of everything," an amused Hewitt is reported to have said. "We want the best of everything for our city. We'll name it Everett."