HistoryLink Tours

Walk one block northbound on Highland Avenue to 22nd Street.

There are two buildings on each side of Highland Avenue constructed to house orphan children. In 1898, the Orphan’s Home Society of America was formed in Everett. The next year, trustees bought eight lots in southeast Everett, and built a house and barn, and leased it to a family. In June 1909, that first facility opened to orphan children, but within a year it was too crowded. The organization changed its name in 1910 to Snohomish County Orphanage Association, and later that year purchased 13 lots on Highland Ave.

2131 Highland – Deaconess Children’s Home (1910): By December 1910, this wooden frame building was complete and children moved in. The next year the organization again changed its name to The Deaconess Association. A fire in 1927 interrupted the children’s lives while the building was repaired. With its capacity of 50 it was overcrowded, so Deaconess decided to build a larger facility. The building was sold within a year after the new building across the street was complete, and converted to apartments.

2120 Highland – Deaconess Children’s Home (1929): Architect: Earl W. Morrison. Funded by a city-wide fund drive, the $46,000 new building was completed in May 1929 with a capacity of 72 children plus eight babies. The cottage-style building had six apartments, each with a dormitory for 14 children, living room, dining room and kitchenette. Accommodations for babies ended in 1931. In the mid 1950s, the building was repurposed as custodial care for troubled youth. By 1969 the organization decided to have disbursed sites scattered throughout Everett, and by 1980 most programs were closed. The 2120 Highland building is now condominiums.