Walkin' Thru Monroe History

Updated May 24, 2004

As part of Monroe's Walkin' in the Rain Program spearheaded by Valley General Hospital, the Monroe Historical Society offers A Walk Through Monroe History. This four-mile loop walk along the streets of Monroe can be easily broken into parts. The walk is generally on sidewalks, but it crosses many streets, some with heavy traffic, so please always watch for traffic. As time permits this page will be updated with additional photos and information. Use the map to link photos and articles posted here to the actual historical locations along the walk.

Begin your walk at Monroe's Lewis Street Park on the East Side of South Lewis Street just north of the bridge, Point 1 on the map. Park in the large parking area at the south end of the park just north of the bridge, which is the fourth bridge to cross the Skykomish River here. Before leaving the park pause at the Centennial Monument and then walk over to the east side of the park and look down at Woods Creek, which joins the Skykomish River here. The creek now runs through an old channel of the Skykomish River, which is evident in this 1910 Plat Map of Monroe. Notice that much of what is now Alan Borlin Park on Buck Island was under the river then.

As you walk north on Lewis Street you will see an imposing brick church, which is the home of today's United Methodist Church, Point 2a. It was built in 1924 and replaced Monroe's first church, what was then called the Methodist-Episcopal Church, which was built in 1896. As you continue north, at the southeast corner of Lewis and MacDougall Streets is Monroe's oldest church building, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Point 2b. Turn east on MacDougall for a block to Ferry Street and then turn north.

As you walk north on Ferry you will pass the Monroe School District Administration Building on your right, Point 3. It was built in 1916 as the district's new elementary school, Central School, replacing three earlier Grammar School buildings. The first was moved from Park Place and installed on this three-acre site in 1899. The second building was built in early 1900 and connected to the first by a vestibule. The third building was constructed in 1904 and allowed the district to offer nine grades until Monroe Union High School was organized at the end of the decade. By 1913, Monroe schools had a substantial student body.

Continue north on Ferry Street to Main Street. The southeast corner of this intersection was the site of the Vanasdlen Store and Post Office, Point 4, after it was moved from Park Place, Point 4a, in 1892 to what became the City of Monroe. Across the street, Point 5, is Old City Hall built in 1908 and now the home of the Monroe Historical Society Museum. Looking east up Main Street is the intersection of the Great Northern Mainline, completed in 1893, where it ran through the plat of Tye City. Just beyond that is the old Carnation Condensery Smokestack, Point 6.

Continue west down Main Street retracing the route in reverse that the Vanasdlen Store and Post Office took as you walk toward Park Place, Point 4a. The first block you cover on the south side of Main Street between Ferry and Lewis, Point 7, is the block that burned in Monroe's 1901 Fire. The block was quickly rebuilt and many of the buildings there today are recognizeable in this 1912 photo of Main Street looking west from Ferry Street. Continue past Lewis Street until you come to the southeast corner of Main and Blakely, Point 8, and the site of Stephens Hospital.

As you continue west down Main Street, pass the Dishmaker House on the southwest corner of Main and Kelsey streets, Point 9. Dishmaker designed and was the first superintendent of the Great Northern Greenhouses. Continue heading west on Main until you reach Village Way and then turn south and follow it around to the new Monroe Library where you want to cross to the south side of the library parking lot, Point 10, and stand on the old riverbank and look down where the Skykomish River ran until the 1930s when major flooding caused it to move its channel further south leaving Park Place much further from the river than it used to be. Continue around Village Way then west on Main Street to its intersection with 179th Ave. SE, shortly before Point 4a. At this point turn back and head east up Main Street. If you want a short side strip but not on sidewalks, you can add a loop around 178th Ave SE and SE 160th St., Point 12, and walk past the site of the Park Place School, which is now a school baseball field. Park Place is where settlement in Monroe began and the home of the second school district in the county.

You have covered much of the same territory photographed in this spectacular 1913 Panorama Photo of Monroe. More historical information will eventually be added to this walk.