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Donovan House
2301 Highland Avenue
Continue eastbound one block past the park on 23rd Street to Highland Avenue.
The southern few blocks of Highland Avenue near Hewitt Avenue weree originally named Market Street. Due to its vice problems, the city changed the street name sometime before 1902.
2301 Highland Ave – Donovan House (1914): This house was built for C. E. Hand in 1914. Within two years, the Donovan family lived here. Edward Donovan built about 160 cottage-style houses in Everett and Monroe between 1915 and 1931. The Historic Donovan District on Lombard and Oakes at about 13th and 14th Streets near Providence Hospital honors a large group of them. When the hospital was expanded around 2006, many of those homes were destroyed. Fortunately, some were moved to the newly designated Donovan Lane in the Delta neighborhood.
Donovan arrived in 1900 to work in Marysville at a large hotel/saloon. He moved to Monroe to work in the real estate business. The family built four houses, and lived in each one until the next was built.
During World War I he took a hiatus from real estate and ferried cattle from Whidbey Island to Lowell. But by 1920 he returned to real estate and built most of his Everett homes. The Donovan homes have a distinctive style: cottages with gabled roofs, small porches, tiled fireplaces, and cove ceilings. These houses sold for about $4,500 to $5,000 when new.
Donovan’s real estate business folded during the Great Depression. After working for the Charles Erickson campaign for mayor, he became a city street supervisor. Edward Donovan died in 1937 at 62 years old.
Geraldine Donovan Matteson recalls in 1916 the snow piles drifted up to the second story of this house. Her brother Tim jumped out of the second story window into the pile of snow, unhurt. In 1916, 1918, and the 1920s they had a cow and chickens. The cow was tethered where Garfield Park is now.
