HistoryLink Tours

Backtrack to 22nd, turn left (east) and walk a block towards Summit Park along the freeway. Go right (south) one block to 23rd, then cross the freeway overpass. Interstate 5 was built in the early 1960s. Pass Harrison Avenue and continue to Cleveland Avenue, turn right (south) for almost a block to the Sumner House.

You’ll pass two streets named in 1892 for opposing presidential candidates. Grover Cleveland was president of the United States from 1885-1889, but was defeated for a second term in the 1888 election by Benjamin Harrison. Harrison won the electoral college, but not the popular vote. They ran against each other again in 1892, and Cleveland won both the electoral college and popular votes for his second but non-contiguous term. Everett, perhaps hedging its bets, named the two streets in that election year. Cleveland Avenue curves roughly parallel to East Grand (which is against a bluff over the railroad tracks), while Harrison is straight like most Everett streets.

2328 Cleveland Ave – Frederick and Jennie Sumner House (1893). Architect: Frederick Sexton. The Sumner brothers Frederick and Thomas Sumner had a business in Hutchinson, Minnesota that made farm equipment, sleighs and small engines. Jim Hill of the Great Northern Railroad advised them of opportunities out west, so they came to Everett. For $1800 apiece, Thomas Sumner built two side by side twelve-room houses, one was for his family, the other for Frederick’s.

They started one of the very early industries in Everett, the Sumner Iron Works. Their plant was across the Snohomish River near present-day Highway 2, completed on Christmas Day, 1892. At first they made ore cars for the Monte Cristo mines and other mining equipment for Alaskan mines. When Everett’s industries turned to lumber mills, Sumner Iron Works produced sawmill machinery. In 1913, their factory was destroyed in a fire, but months later they completed a new plant on the Everett side of the river near Lowell.

The Thomas Sumner house at 2330 Cleveland Ave was converted to apartments, but due to deterioration was torn down in the mid 1950s. Fortunately, the grand Frederick and Jennie Sumner house survives in beautiful condition.