Snohomish Historic Home Tour

Despite the mint green exterior, Christine Wakefield Nichols knew she was in love the moment she first walked through the door.

Something about this solid house in Snohomish’s historic district, with its covered porch, tall ceilings and wood floors, felt like home, said Nichols who purchased the house with husband Todd C. Nichols in 1997.

The couple didn’t know it then but the house, built in 1887, has a bookmark in history. It had served as home to one of the foremost civil engineers of the turn of the last century, John F. Stevens.

While serving as chief engineer for the Great Northern Railway, Stevens made several key discoveries that allowed the railroad to expand into the West. With the help of a Flathead Indian guide, he found Marias Pass in Montana, which allowed the railroad to pass through the Rocky Mountains without a tunnel. Stevens also found the route through Washington’s Cascade Mountains that is Stevens Pass, of course. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Stevens chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project. Historians credit Stevens for turning around the project by improving worker conditions and pushing engineering advances such as the lock system.

The 2,800-square-foot home retains much of its former character, including charming nooks and a decorative staircase as well as tasteful additions such as a window seat in the dining room and woodwork in the den. The couple dressed down the interior when they bought the house, removing heavy draperies and painting dark walls white. The mint green on the exterior went too. The result is a home that feels spacious and light.

Stevens’ former home is one of seven on the annual Snohomish Historical Society Home Tour set for Sunday. The tour includes a mix of architectural styles, including a Dutch colonial and a Victorian.

It also includes two new homes, including a replica of a Northern Pacific Railroad outfitted with railroad memorabilia owned by Bruce Ferguson, the great-grandson of founding father E.C. Ferguson. The other home, built in 2005, was included on the home because it’s “an outstanding example of appropriate infill within an existing neighborhood, according to tour organizers. This is the 36th year of the tour.

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or e-mail dsmith@heraldnet.com.