The Fire and Water Birth of Kla Ha Ya Park
Snohomish Stories: February 2020
The oldest element in our historic town is pretty much ignored most days until it flows free of its boundaries — then we come to watch the Snohomish River.
Over the years, I have adopted Kla Ha Ya Park, a riverfront park below First Street between Avenues B and C in Historic Downtown Snohomish, to practice Tai Chi. For me, it’s a place to appreciate the historic beginnings of our town, and I’m not alone these days. Since the flooding began on the winter solstice (pictured above), people have been coming to check out the rising river. Some stand with their toes right up to the edge, others further back to snap a wide shot to share on social media.
On Sunday morning, the second day of February, I went a step further and set up my camera to capture my practice of Tai Chi alongside the rushing river several feet above the riverfront trail and very close to my spot of green in the park
Our riverfront park, with the odd name translated as Welcome, is the proud product of community action that has risen from the destructive powers of fire and water.
The first commercial buildings of 19th-century Snohomish were made of wood. On the riverside of Front Street, they were built on tall wooden pilings, some 20 feet high, to raise the structures to street level.
The Great Fire of 1911 destroyed all the buildings between Avenues B and C on both sides of the street. As if named from a Dickenson novel, the three-story Burns Block at 1118 First Street, built of brick in 1890, stopped the fire and saved the two wooden buildings still standing as neighbors today.
Both sides of the street were quickly rebuilt of brick; the south side is pictured above. Snohomish was railroad rich around this time as the Milwaukee Road had just begun passenger service on its line running on a trestle built over the north bank. The building at the far end of the photograph was the former Wilbur Drug Store, which became a train depot.
Instead of wooden pilings, the brick buildings were brick all the way down to the foundation, and flooding over the years weakened the brick foundations. In the early 1940s, the liquor store and restaurant had become home to Poier Motors, the local Chevrolet dealer in town. A floor displaying a new model collapsed toward the river, nearly killing an employee. The entire block of brick buildings was condemned immediately. The storefront structures remained vacant for over 15 years.
It was not until 1965 that funds were appropriated to finally tear down the abandoned structures, and community groups rallied to create a riverfront park.
We imagine the former editor of the Tribune, Bill Bates, sold this ad idea to the business community.
The River Front Trail, as it was, was severely damaged in the 1995 flood, which led to the development of a master plan. The plan includes this sketch for Kla Ha Ya Park, which would feature sitting areas and ramps leading down to the water.
One of several informative plaques on the Riverfront Trail, which was based on the master plan, the trail as we know it today opened in 2006.
Captured Saturday, February 8th, from the ramped section of the trail that is meant to honor the history of the railroad that once followed this route on a wooden trestle.
Well that sure filled in some gaps for me. Thanks Warner.