Stanwood, Washington

How Stanwood is governed

Form of government not yet listed.

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

• Mayor

  Executive

  • Sid Roberts per Wikidata

  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

ci.stanwood.wa.us

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Population over time

From 6,231 in 2010 to 7,705 in 2020 (+23.7%).

History

The Stillaguamish, a Coast Salish tribe, have inhabited the area around the Stillaguamish River delta for several thousand years. At the time of the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855 there was a Stillaguamish village at the mouth of the river consisting of three large potlatch houses with an estimated population of 250 people. There were several other villages around the delta that totaled approximately 800 people, as well as graveyards that were later destroyed by settlers. The area at the mouth of the river is known as sdᶻəlgʷas, meaning strait or slough in Lushootseed.

The area's first American expedition was led by George O. and G. L. Wilson, who were led by Snohomish guides on a canoe expedition up the Stillaguamish River in 1851 and reported on its economic potential. The first permanent American settlement at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River was Centerville, a trading post established in 1866 by Robert Fulton on the south side of the river. Centerville gained a post office in 1870, and the settlement was moved to the north side of the river three years later. The post office was renamed to Stanwood in 1877 by its sixth postmaster Daniel O. Pearson, after his wife Clara's maiden name; Pearson also ran a general store and built a new steamboat wharf on the Stillaguamish River shortly after arriving. Pearson had arrived from Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1866; two of his sisters were among the original "Mercer Girls".

The surrounding area was cleared by loggers and managed using a series of levees along the Stillaguamish River before being opened for settlement by farmers and ranchers. The establishment of a Norwegian Lutheran church in 1876, the first to be built in the Pacific Northwest, brought the area's first wave of Scandinavian immigrants. The townsite's plat was filed by W. R. Stockbridge in 1888, ahead of a failed attempt to petition the county commission for incorporation as a city. Stanwood suffered from a major fire on June 2, 1892, which destroyed the church and thirteen buildings and caused damages of approximately $26,100 (equivalent to $813,000 in 2024 dollars); several businesses and the town's liquor supply were saved by volunteers from the town's Good Templars lodge, who had been at a regular meeting. By the end of the decade, the town had rebuilt its main street and gained a weekly newspaper, cannery, horse racing track, creamery, and a shingle mill. Stanwood was officially incorporated on October 19, 1903, a month after the town's men voted 74–16 in favor of becoming a city. Stanwood's businesses relocated a block away from the riverfront in the 1920s and 1930s after the main flow of the Stillaguamish River shifted to another slough. The change in the river rendered the wharf too shallow for steamboats and damaged dikes after several major floods.

The Seattle and Montana Railroad (later absorbed into the Great Northern Railway) was constructed through the Stanwood area in 1891, but bypassed the town

one mile (1.6 km) to the east, where it built a depot on ground that was less prone to flooding. Several businesses relocated to the area around the depot, including a bank and Washington state's first cooperative general store. Merchants in the old town boycotted the railroad and acquired a steamboat, the City of Stanwood, in 1893; the ship was lost after catching fire on Port Susan the following year.

A short railroad, known as the Hall and Hall Railway, was constructed in 1904 between the depot and downtown Stanwood and would operate until 1938. The community around the depot was platted in 1906 as "East Stanwood", but initially relied on a commercial club to govern in lieu of a formal town government. East Stanwood was incorporated on February 7, 1922, after a series of civic disputes highlighted the need for a city government. East Stanwood was eventually bisected by the Pacific Highway in the 1920s and connected to Stanwood and Camano Island by paved roads constructed a decade earlier.

The "Twin City" maintained separate government facilities, schools, banks, sawmills, creameries, and frozen food plants. The school systems for the two cities were merged in 1944, ending a decades-long football rivalry between the two high schools. By the early 1950s, the competitiveness between merchants and citizens of both Stanwoods had softened and groups cooperated on events and various initiatives. A formal merger of the two cities was proposed in 1954 and placed on the April 30 ballot; Stanwood voted in favor of the merger, but it failed to reach a majority in East Stanwood. The high cost of a modern sewage treatment system, required by the state government before further expansion could occur, spurred leaders in both cities to place a second consolidation referendum before voters on March 8, 1960. The referendum was passed by an overwhelming majority of voters in both cities and the merged government immediately approved a $520,000 sewer installation contract.

Development of a new suburban commercial center east of the city began in the 1980s, centered around the relocated Stanwood High School campus. A 55-acre (22 ha) farm at the intersection of State Route 532 and 72nd Avenue Northwest was redeveloped into a $50 million shopping and entertainment center. The commercial center opened in 1995 and has 50 businesses, 10 restaurants, office buildings, a movie theater, and an arcade. The development was later expanded to include multi-story condominiums and upscale apartments with ground-floor retail space. The area surrounding the center was developed into suburban subdivisions, contributing to a doubling of the city's population to nearly 4,000 people by 2000. The subdivisions were annexed by the city government in the early 2000s, despite testimony from citizens against further growth. In 2005, the city rejected a bid by Wal-Mart to build a store in Stanwood after public outcry from supporters of downtown businesses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Washington

• Seattle 737,015
• Spokane 228,989
• Tacoma 219,346
• Vancouver 190,915
• Bellevue 151,854
• Kent 136,588
• Everett 110,629
• Renton 106,785

All Washington cities →