Editing Edmonds, Washington (section)

===19th and early 20th centuries===
[[File:Main Street in Edmonds (17984083792).jpg|thumb|left|Main Street in downtown Edmonds]]

Prior to the 19th century, the Edmonds area was inhabited by the [[Suquamish]] tribe, who foraged and fished near the flat beach forming modern-day downtown.<ref>{{cite book |date=February 1998 |title=SR 104/Edmonds Crossing Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation |chapter=Affected Environment |page=3{{hyphen}}98 |publisher=[[Washington State Department of Transportation]] |oclc=41846900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7Q2AQAAMAAJ |via=Google Books }}</ref> No archaeological evidence of a permanent settlement in Edmonds has been found, despite claims that a fishing village had existed near the modern-day downtown.<ref>{{cite news |last=Landers |first=Jim |date=July 2, 2017 |title=Edmonds' heritage built on cedar dreams |url=http://myedmondsnews.com/2017/07/edmonds-heritage-built-cedar-dreams/ |work=My Edmonds News |access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref>

An exploratory expedition of [[Puget Sound]] led by [[Charles Wilkes]] charted the Edmonds area in 1841, naming "Point Edmund" (now Point Edwards) to the southwest of the modern-day downtown.<ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite web |last=LeWarne |first=Charles |date=March 27, 2008 |title=Edmonds — Thumbnail History |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/8542 |work=[[HistoryLink]] |access-date=March 23, 2018}}</ref> A {{convert|147|acre|adj=mid}} land claim for the area was filed by Pleasant Ewell in 1866 and was sold to various landowners before being eventually purchased by Canadian-born logger George Brackett in 1872 for $650. Brackett had allegedly found the future site of Edmonds in 1870 while searching for potential logging areas on his canoe, which was blown ashore during a storm.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref name="Cloud07">{{cite book |last=Cloud |first=Ray V. |year=1953 |title=Edmonds, the Gem of Puget Sound |pages=7–8 |publisher=Edmonds Tribune-Review Press |oclc=26225475 }}</ref> Brackett and his family moved from [[Ballard, Seattle|Ballard]] to Point Edmund in 1876, intent on creating a town. He drained a marshland near the waterfront and began logging the area, then known as "Brackett's Landing". Additional settlers arrived over the next few years, necessitating the construction of a wharf and general store by 1881.<ref name="Cloud07"/> In 1884, the settlement was [[plat]]ted and gained its first [[post office]], christened with the name "Edmonds", either a misspelling of Point Edmund or the name of [[George Franklin Edmunds]], a U.S. Senator from Vermont who Brackett admired.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=9}}</ref><ref name="Interstate1906">{{cite book |editor1-last=Hastie |editor1-first=Thomas P. |editor2-last=Batey |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Sisson |editor3-first=E.A. |editor4-last=Graham |editor4-first=Albert L. |title=An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties |pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00inte/page/354 354]–358 |chapter=Chapter VI: Cities and Towns |publisher=Interstate Publishing Company |location=Chicago |year=1906 |lccn=06030900 |oclc=11299996 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00inte |via=[[The Internet Archive]] |access-date=March 24, 2018}}</ref>

By the end of the decade, Edmonds had gained its first schoolhouse, sawmill, hotel, and drug store.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=10–12}}</ref> The Town of Edmonds was formally [[municipal incorporation|incorporated]] as a fourth-class village of {{convert|600|acre}} on August 14, 1890, following an election by residents on August 7. To meet the minimum population of 300 residents required for incorporation, a popular legend states that Brackett added the names of his two oxen to the census conducted prior to the election.<ref name="HistoryLink-1890">{{cite web |last=LeWarne |first=Charles |date=November 23, 2010 |title=Edmonds incorporates on August 14, 1890. |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/9636 |work=HistoryLink |access-date=March 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A history of the Edmonds Area |url=https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/cities_detail.aspx?i=5 |publisher=[[Washington Secretary of State]] |access-date=March 10, 2018}}</ref> Edmonds is the oldest incorporated city in Snohomish County.<ref name="Herald-2015Guide">{{cite news |last=Fiege |first=Gale |date=June 19, 2015 |title=Edmonds a great destination for artists, beach-lovers and foodies |url=http://www.heraldnet.com/life/edmonds-a-great-destination-for-artists-beach-lovers-and-foodies/ |work=[[The Everett Herald]] |access-date=April 7, 2018}}</ref> Brackett was elected as the town's mayor for several months, and the new town council passed ordinances to regulate or ban saloons, gambling establishments, and boarding houses.<ref name="HistoryLink-1890"/> The same year, Edmonds was selected as a stop on the [[Seattle and Montana Railroad]] (later absorbed into the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]]), sparking interest from real estate investors. The Minneapolis Realty and Investment Company bought {{convert|455|acre|km2}} of the townsite from Brackett for $36,000,and built a new hotel and wharf.<ref name="Cloud13">{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=13}}</ref> The railway arrived in 1891, but failed to spark a land rush and the investment plan fell apart during the [[Panic of 1893]], leaving Brackett to [[foreclose]] on the land.<ref name="Cloud13"/>

[[File:Great Western Lumber Co, Lake Ballinger, Aug, 19, 1907 (CURTIS 245).jpeg|thumb|right|A [[wood shingle|shingle]] mill on [[Lake Ballinger]], pictured in 1907]]

Edmonds was supported by four [[wood shingle|shingle]] mills that prospered in the 1890s, along with an [[iron foundry]] that manufactured steel plates for shingles.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=16}}</ref> By 1908, the town had gained its own water system, electricity, paved streets, and telephone service.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=19–20}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Swift |first=Joan |year=1975 |title=Brackett's Landing: A History of Early Edmonds |page=41 |publisher=Washington State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission |oclc=931074846}}</ref>  In September 1908, Edmonds voted to become a third-class city, with a reported population of 1,546 residents.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=27}}</ref> The city unsuccessfully lobbied for a branch of the [[Seattle–Everett Interurban Railway|interurban line]] from [[Everett, Washington|Everett]] to [[Seattle]], which would have supplemented passenger steamships on the [[Puget Sound mosquito fleet|Mosquito fleet]] and passenger trains operated by Great Northern.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=31, 38}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=September 11, 1909 |title=Work Progressing on S–E Interurban |page=1 |work=The Edmonds Review}}</ref> A major fire on July 8, 1909, destroyed one block of buildings on Main Street and caused $20,000 in damage. After the fire, the destroyed buildings were bought by a member of the city council, and replaced by a two-story concrete building.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=30–31}}</ref>

The first automobile owned by an Edmonds resident arrived in 1911 and was followed by the completion of the North Trunk Road through modern-day [[Lynnwood, Washington|Lynnwood]]. A branch road to Edmonds was completed in 1915 and [[stagecoach]] lines were extended to the city.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=39–42}}</ref> Automobile ferry service began in 1923, with the inauguration of the [[Edmonds–Kingston ferry|Kingston ferry]], which would be acquired by the [[Puget Sound Navigation Company]] and continue to serve the city after the decline of the Mosquito fleet.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|pp=79–80}}</ref> During the 1920s, Edmonds expanded its wharf and ferry dock, while a site on the south end of the waterfront was acquired by the [[Union Oil Company]] (later Unocal) for the construction of an [[oil terminal]] in 1922.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=64}}</ref> A second major fire struck downtown Edmonds on April 11, 1928, damaging several buildings on the same block of Main Street as the 1909 fire.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=63}}</ref> Despite the increasing scarcity of local timber, the sawmills on the Edmonds waterfront remained the city's main industry in the 1920s.<ref>{{harvp|Cloud|1953|p=84}}</ref> During the [[Great Depression]], all but two mills continued to operate and were supplemented by local improvement projects organized by the federal [[Works Progress Administration]], including regraded streets, new parks, and the addition of an auditorium and sportsfields to the [[high school]].<ref name="HistoryLink"/>