Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

There’s plenty of history in Edmonds, but 20 years ago my late wife and I, and our three younger daughters, took a trip of discovery to canyon country: Grand Canyon, Bryce... — Updated 2/11/2021

In the past, I leafed through the 1889 R.L. Polk directory – which listed businesses – in the Edmonds Historical Museum. (The museum is currently closed due to the coronavirus p... — Updated 1/18/2021

Editor's note: Edmonds resident Tim Raetzloff, who writes the History Files column for the Beacon, was a contestant on a "Jeopardy!" episode that aired in January 1989. (His show... — Updated 1/17/2021

Editor's note: Edmonds resident Tim Raetzloff, who writes the History Files column for the Beacon, was a contestant on "Jeopardy!" in 1988. After the death of longtime host Alex... — Updated 1/11/2021

Have you visited Ferguson County lately? Maybe you just drove through and didn’t stop. Maybe the name just doesn’t sound familiar. That’s OK. Few people can rattle off the... — Updated 6/4/2020

Washington was admitted to the union Nov. 11, 1889, less than a year before Edmonds was incorporated. Every fourth grader in the state might be able to tell you that snippet of... — Updated 5/7/2020

Author Mary Daheim sent me an email that her cousin Steve Shelley, who is also an author, sent her a message reminding her that during the Spanish flu in 1918-1919 Alpine,... — Updated 4/16/2020

Back in the previous millennium, I was a stockbroker for seven years. I wasn’t a very good stockbroker because I rebelled against selling the high-profit products and that... — Updated 3/19/2020

The Stanley Cup still bears evidence of the Spanish flu, more than 100 years after the event. A couple of years ago I asked my friend Billy Gleeson to take a picture of the Stanley... — Updated 3/5/2020

Driving near Paine Field recently, I saw a sign for the Technology Corridor. I didn’t realize any of those signs still existed. For the Technology Corridor is mostly forgotten,... — Updated 2/20/2020

In studying history, like art and architecture, perspective is paramount. An acquaintance sent me a note, probably paraphrased of what he had read in an old journal from an early... — Updated 2/6/2020

I have heard various people complain that the history they remember isn’t taught anymore. And to some extent that is true. Many voices had been left out of the historical... — Updated 1/30/2020

I saw a high-school classmate posted a photo from Grays Harbor County on Facebook. It turned out to be the Moclips Hotel collapsing into the ocean. Before I read the caption I had... — Updated 1/23/2020

Washington has some lovely state parks that were once a part of the coast defense system. Fort Casey on Whidbey Island was one of the forts. Also Fort Worden at Port Townsend, and... — Updated 12/5/2019

Twenty-five years ago, I began to calculate the Abarim Snohomish County Stock Index . My hope for the index was that it would shine light on Snohomish County companies that... — Updated 11/26/2019

I think we all realize that western Washington isn’t like what it used to be. The forests we have are different from the forests that were once here. To see an old-growth tree, yo... — Updated 11/21/2019

If you take the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston, and then drive to Port Townsend, you will likely drive through Chimacum on Highway 19. A farm near Chimacum was the source of the... — Updated 11/7/2019

"You have no chance of winning. You are too old and your reflexes are too slow. These young people will all be faster." Such was the cheerful advice of Alex Trebek at dinner. One... — Updated 10/17/2019

I grew up in Seattle. Washington state history was in the curriculum one year; another year included U.S. history. One year in elementary school, we were taught Seattle history.... — Updated 9/12/2019

Thanks to William Russ, an article from 1907 in the Aberdeen Herald passed through my hands. The article reported the competing railroad plans to build belt lines around the Olympic... — Updated 6/26/2019

Thanks to William Russ, an article from 1907 in the Aberdeen Herald passed through my hands. The article reported the competing railroad plans to build belt lines around the Olympic... — Updated 6/21/2019

People give me things because they know that I am interested in history. Some of the things are given to me as gifts for me, such as a set of photos of cabooses, or books about... — Updated 4/24/2019 Full story

The display on my phone came from the 509 area code. I almost didn't answer, and waited several rings before I did. A young-sounding man on the other end identified himself as... — Updated 4/5/2019 Full story

"History is written by the winners." I have seen that quote attributed to George Orwell, Napoleon and, more recently, Dan Brown. The phrase itself represents how difficult... — Updated 3/20/2019

Pop quiz. What was the deadliest natural disaster in the Northwest, in terms of loss? I bet I get a lot of Mount St. Helens answers. The infamous eruption of May 18, 1980, was a... — Updated 3/8/2019