Skykomish, Washington

How Skykomish is governed

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

skykomish.org

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Population over time

From 198 in 2010 to 161 in 2020 (−18.7%).

History

The name "Skykomish" derives from the Skykomish or Skai-whamish tribe (originally considered a subdivision of the Snoqualmies) who inhabited the area before European settlement.

John Maloney, a guide for the surveying team on the Great Northern Railway, settled a flat spot in 1892, which got the name "Maloney's Siding". The following year the railroad was completed, and when a post office was established, the place became known as Skykomish. The townsite was platted in 1889 and was officially incorporated as the town of Skykomish on June 5, 1909. Maloney opened Maloney's General Store in 1893. A hotel, the Skykomish Hotel, soon followed. In 1902 this hotel burned to the ground and was replaced by Schneider's Hotel. In 1904, a fire burned down every commercial building except the store. Maloney's General Store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1997. In 2000, the entire commercial district, with the historic Skykomish Hotel (erected to replace the burned-down Schneider's Hotel in 1904) as its cornerstone, was also placed on the NRHP.

From the 1890s to 1974, Skykomish was a maintenance and fueling station for the Great Northern Railway, which eventually became part of the Burlington Northern Railroad, and presently the BNSF Railway. At its peak, eight passenger trains serviced Skykomish daily, and it saw stops by several named passenger trains including the Great Northern Flyer, the Oriental Limited, the Cascadian, the Western Star and the Empire Builder. It was also once the western terminus for electric operations (1928–56) on the Cascade Tunnel route all the way to Wenatchee. Here, steam or diesel locomotives were changed or coupled to electric locomotives. The Great Northern Depot, the former Skykomish station, was moved to a new city park in 2012 and today serves as a visitors center and history museum.

The town gained a public library service operated by the King County Rural Library District in 1944, its library opening the following year in the city hall. It moved to a new building in 1993, which was expanded in 2006. As of 2026 the Skykomish branch is open three days a week.

Skykomish's population peaked at around 8,000 in the 1920s and shrank to under 300 by 1990 due to the loss of businesses and jobs.

Legal but ill-advised waste disposal practices, common during that era, resulted in the contamination of its soil, its groundwater, and the Skykomish River by oil and heavy metals. The video class of the local school chose to document the oil under the town as the "An Oily Sky" video, winning the 2001 Brower Youth Awards and the 2002 President’s Environmental Youth Award. While BNSF (then BN) and the Washington State Department of Ecology had begun remediation discussions in the mid-1980s; in 2006, they agreed to a plan whereby the railroad would pay up to $50 million to clean up the area over a three-year period (completed in 2009). This effort involved massive excavations—essentially removing the contaminated soil and replacing it with clean soil—and the rebuilding of a levee. (The eventual total cost of the cleanup exceeded $100 million.)

Twenty two of Skykomish's buildings – both homes and business – were temporarily moved during the cleanup process. After the contaminated soil under them was removed, the buildings were moved back to their original locations on new foundations and utilities connections. The town was restored with modern conveniences such as sidewalks and street lights, but the historic character of Skykomish was maintained. The greatest benefit of the cleanup to every resident and business in town was the installation of the new wastewater treatment system connected to every building.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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