Even before the city of Everett was incorporated in 1893, the people who ran things knew what kind of community they wanted – one that used the abundant natural resources to produce lots of jobs and money.
Backed by the wealth of the Rockefeller family back east, the movers and shakers crowded the waterfront with factories that sawed logs into lumber, produced pulp and paper, canned fish, smelted ore into metals and pumped out nails and wire.
It’s no surprise that the community developed the nickname of “City of Smokestacks” and later “Milltown.”
Through the years, the mills died and the city evolved. The only smokestack left on the water is at the Kimberly-Clark Corp. pulp and paper mill. And what comes out of that stack is more steam than smoke.
In the late 1960s, Boeing built what has become its largest production facility in Everett, changing the city into a major aerospace center.
Naval Station Everett opened in 1994, helping to transform the community into a Navy town.
It was during this period that the city leaders started coming up with some pretty goofy slogans to convince people that the community was no longer a smelly factory town. A good but too-cutely-named program called ForEverett helped spruce up the downtown area with flowers and a push to redo some of the historic buildings.
Later came slogans such as “Everett: We Rock on Water!” and “Everett: Great Thinking – With a View.” And who can forget “Everett, It’s a Whole New Game.”
I also remember at some point the city adopted a lower case “e” as a symbol. I forget what year that was and why it was done. Maybe it was a salute to writer e.e. cummings. But that was sort of goofy, too.
Those marketing slogans were well-intended efforts to make people forget about some of Everett’s unpleasant history and to attract outside investors to help the downtown rebuild itself.
It was hard going, but the city’s efforts to create a new public arena and transit center seemed to have sparked a turnaround. Maybe it was the slogans, but I don’t think so.
Today, part of the waterfront once dominated by smokestacks is being redeveloped into a $300 million neighborhood with expensive condominiums, office buildings and retail space. The Port of Everett is partnering with Chicago’s Maritime Trust to make that happen. A similar public-private partnership is sketching out the same thing for city land along the Snohomish River.
Karen Shaw, who has worked hard on the city’s behalf to redevelop the downtown area for the past couple of years, said developers have now started calling her because they’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Everett.
This is a long-winded way of getting to the point, which is I think the new Everett needs a new nickname. This special section is called Growing Up for a reason. Actually more than one reason. Everett is about to get a wave of tall buildings. And the community itself is getting more mature and more sophisticated.
In this column, I’ve occasionally referred to Everett as New Jet City. The logic is that Seattle dropped the Jet City nickname to become the Emerald City. And since it no longer builds jets, I think Jet City is up for grabs.
But I think you can do better than simply grabbing a discarded nickname. And I’m willing to put some money where my mouth is. Send me your suggestion for a new nickname for Everett. Do it quickly. Let’s say by Aug. 1.
A panel of esteemed judges from The Herald newsroom will pick a winner. And The Herald will kick in four tickets to an Everett AquaSox game and money for some good eats.
O.K. That’s not a huge prize. But do it for fun, not for money.
This contest is not sponsored by the city. But we’ll certainly pass along the winning suggestion if the city would like to use it.
In addition to a night at the ballpark, I will also use the winning entry as the official nickname for Everett in this column.
Business editor Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@ heraldnet.com.
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