The Foundation of the Lumber and Shingle Mill Legacy
When you visit the interpretive exhibits at the Port of Everett you’ll experience a sampling of the rich history from 1880s through the 21st Century and beyond. This visual tapestry will leave one feeling firsthand the “salt on the brow and dust in the eye” day-to-day life of the gutsy workers and entrepreneurs who graced our waterfront.
In 1890 Tacoma industrialist Henry Hewitt and East Coast businessman Charles Colby formed the Everett Land Company with the financial backing of John D. Rockefeller. The city was planned as a home for a diversified industrial base and named for Colby’s son.
Though Everett began with a variety of industries, the lumber and shingle mills soon dominated the waterfront and Everett became a premier mill town, known as the City of Smokestacks. Everett carried this nickname until post World War II.
C-B Lumber and Shingle Company (above) and other mills (below) with their smokestacks that defined the city’s industrial image.
