Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

On May 29, 1922, Herbert Anderson drove with Elias Gillette from Seattle to Leavenworth. Herbert took photos and documented the trip in a travel journal along the way. His... — Updated 9/9/2021

Did you know 84th Avenue West to Five Corners and east to Edmonds-Woodway was originally part of what was called "Trunk Road"? Stick with me. We'll get to that. It was on a Monday... — Updated 8/26/2021

The name Diamond Knot is familiar to many residents of southwest Snohomish County. Many are acquainted with the brewpubs in Mukilteo and Mountlake Terrace, but few know the origin... — Updated 8/12/2021

We spent a day chasing history. The first location was the Cleveland High School Memorial Forest. After World War II, Cleveland High School students bought 20 acres on Issaquah-Fall... — Updated 8/5/2021

"Those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it" has become a popular phrase among apologists for the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The actual quote from George Santayana... — Updated 7/22/2021

On July 4th I didn't do the usual ritual of going to Civic Park to watch the fireworks show, but I did get a chance to enjoy it in another way. And I wondered how the first July... — Updated 7/15/2021

It is truly amazing what one may find when looking in places that haven't been visited in years. In my case, it was a search for my high school yearbooks. I was looking for the... — Updated 7/8/2021

Edmonds has many civic, cultural, and historic assets that are usually found only in larger cities. While COVID has upset some of the organizations, most continue, such as the... — Updated 6/17/2021

While I was doing some much overdue cleaning at my house, I found a series of photographs from the boatyard where my father had been superintendent during World War II. I was deligh... — Updated 6/3/2021

In the 1950s, The Seattle Times carried a column written by C. T. Conover about Seattle's early days. I don't know how often his “Just Cogitating” column ran. I suspect it may... — Updated 5/26/2021

May is a significant month in Washington history. May 1871, 150 years ago, the Northern Pacific Railway drove its first spike in Kalama, Washington. Northern Pacific intended to... — Updated 5/20/2021

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