HistoryLink Tours

You can zigzag your way 3 blocks north and 3 blocks east to Garfield Park.

23rd and Walnut Streets – Garfield Park (1931): In 1931, this 5.6-acre area was a willow swamp when the Lillian Stephens Women’s Christian Temperance Union proposed converting the land to a park. Chestnut Street didn’t continue through the park area, but drivers used it as a short cut, sometimes getting stuck. The area was also used for cattle grazing and possibly bootlegging, and hosted circuses and political rallies. The city bought the property, and in 1932 a Works Progress Administration project filled in the swamp and cleared brush.

The park was renovated in the 1970s. In 2003, Everett Parks in partnership with the Riverside Neighborhood Association created a new master plan for the park. This included new playground equipment, safety fencing, stone column entryways with art work, landscaping, parking and sidewalks.

Local artists and children have decorated the park. Shannon Danks worked with neighbors and students at Garfield Elementary School to create the tile mosaic in 2004. The welcome theme and joined hands fill the two paneled mosaic. In 2008, Dan Cautrell collaborated with neighbors and students from Garfield and North Middle Schools and the Sno-Isle Skill Center to create the main arch and the art panels set in river rock. Themes include play, history, nature and sports.

2216 Walnut Street – Garfield School (1969): Kitty corner across the street is Garfield Elementary School. The first school, designed by August Heide, opened in 1903, and cost $50,000. It started with twelve rooms, then in 1925 eight rooms were added. Located where the playground is today, it was demolished for the current school, built in 1969.

According to Riverside Remembers, the first School Patrol program started at Garfield in 1924 by Principal Grover Love and police officer Bill Tulin. By 1926, school patrols were in all of Everett schools and spread much wider.