Starting Our
Next Century for Everett and the World
Rotary Club of Everett Celebrates 100 Years of Service
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With help from Rotar y, Everett For more AVID stud on our com ents prepar mitment to e for their youth, see future. page 4.
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ubbed “The City of Smokestacks,” a century ago Everett was a far different place. Tall ships docked on Port Gardner Bay to load the timber and shingles produced by the city’s mills. Streetcars traveled Hewitt and Colby avenues. A bitter labor dispute erupted, and the city was shaken by the deaths of seven people on that same waterfront, in the “Everett Massacre.” But there were also signs of hope. On Dec. 15, 1916, Everett business leaders met at Weiser’s Café, 1617 Hewitt Ave., to dedicate themselves to fellowship and public service by forming a Rotary Club. This was a relatively new idea: the first Rotary Club was formed in Chicago just 11 years prior. The Tacoma Rotary (Club No. 8), which sent members to help organize the Everett chapter, was only six years old. The Seattle Rotary (Club No. 4) also sent a large contingent. In the century since, the Everett club has built a powerful record of service to Everett and the world. The club has expanded Rotary service by sponsoring “offspring” clubs in Marysville, Arlington, Snohomish and Edmonds, as well as the Port Gardner and South Everett Mukilteo clubs in Everett. These in turn have sponsored clubs in Lake Stevens, Stanwood, Monroe, Marysville and Duvall.
Mill Town Everett from Rucker Hill, Circa 1912.
Photo courtesy of the Everett Public Library.