Let’s return to the Getchell House (#2) that was pointed out during our turn-of-the-century walking tour of Second Street last month. It’s on the north side of Avenue C at 1122 Second Street.
This handsome structure is the last one standing from a time when this street was a residential neighborhood with several family homes, large and larger.
The April 2, 1887, issue of The Eye reported:
“One day this week we were shown the plans of what, when completed will be one of the finest residences in Snohomish — the property of Joe Getchell. The main part will be 24 x 30 feet, two stories high, with a one story addition, 14 x 16. J. S. White, the architect, will commence work upon the building within a few weeks. It will occupy that sightly location on Mr. Getchell’s lots at the corner of C and Second streets.”
Joseph Getchell left his home in Maine as a young man, traveled through the Isthmus of Panama, up to San Francisco, then on to Snohomish, arriving in 1864. Evidently, he did well enough in the logging business to buy several lots around the intersection of Avenue C and Second Street soon after that location was named (and sold) by E. C. Ferguson in his 1871 plat of Snohomish City.
About the THEN photograph: This print is from a glass plate negative found in a box of glass plates donated to the Snohomish Historical Society some years ago. Note the use of lumber as a retaining wall and the location of a wooden plank sidewalk, well into the right-of-way of the modern street. the structure was one of the first commissions for J. S. White, who arrived in Snohomish with his family in 1884. He went on to complete many residential and commercial commissions from the town’s merchants and political leaders. (Courtesy of the Snohomish Historical Society.)
About the NOW photograph: The current owner, Dean Broome, grew up in the house, and once the children left, his father converted it into the rooming house that it is today in the 1970s. The photograph is by Otto Greule for a book in progress about the architect J. S. White.
Published in the Snohomish County Tribune, August 15, 2012.