Historians David Dilgard and Margaret Riddle, who started at the Everett Public Library in 1977, are shown in the early days of their careers in a space now used to sort books. Riddle retired in 2008. Dilgard’s last day on the job was March 22, 40 years after he and Riddle started at the library. Together they worked to create the library’s Northwest Room. (Everett Public Library photo)

Historians David Dilgard and Margaret Riddle, who started at the Everett Public Library in 1977, are shown in the early days of their careers in a space now used to sort books. Riddle retired in 2008. Dilgard’s last day on the job was March 22, 40 years after he and Riddle started at the library. Together they worked to create the library’s Northwest Room. (Everett Public Library photo)

David Dilgard, Everett Public Library’s ‘Mr. History,’ retires

Wisecracking comedian Groucho Marx once bought a Studebaker from an Everett dealership. In the 1920s, the Paddock and Fowler car business was on the northeast corner of Wetmore Avenue and California Street. But don’t look for that in history books.

For that tidbit, and so much more, we owe thanks to a local history treasure — David Dilgard. With a wealth of knowledge gleaned from research and oral histories, Dilgard talked about the famous Marx brother during one of his popular Everett walking tours in 2008.

A history specialist at the Everett Public Library, the 71-year-old Dilgard retired March 22. It was 40 years after he and historian Margaret Riddle, who retired in 2008, launched their careers at the library and began to create its Northwest History Room.

“David retired exactly on his 40th anniversary,” said Eileen Simmons, Everett Public Library director. “Somebody on Facebook commented about Mister History going out the door. And that is true.”

Describing Dilgard as a storyteller and raconteur with a way of bringing history to life, Simmons wants people to know he didn’t want a high-profile retirement party. And although it’s the end of an era, she said the Northwest Room’s mission will continue in capable hands.

History specialist Lisa Labovitch, who has worked in the Northwest Room since 2012, was joined last week by Dilgard’s replacement, historian Mindy Van Wingen. Her face is familiar at the library. Van Wingen was first hired in 2008 after Riddle retired, but left in 2012.

“I know what a challenge it is to fill David’s big shoes,” Van Wingen said. “I really respect his 40 years of public service to this community. If you came to talk to him and didn’t have an appointment, he would make time for you and get engaged in your project. He kept inviting people back and back.”

Van Wingen has seen Dilgard draw crowds at his programs, and pull up a chair with someone doing research. “His ability to engage on any subject at any moment is amazing,” she said.

Labovitch and Van Wingen plan to build on the foundation he and Riddle built, with an emphasis on bringing more of the library’s collections online. Dilgard and Riddle recorded oral histories years ago, and Van Wingen said they may revive that work.

Dilgard did decades of research and gave talks on the Everett Massacre. The waterfront shootings, sparked by labor strife, left two deputies and at least five Industrial Workers of the World members dead on Nov. 5, 1916. Simmons, though, believes his favorite local subject may be theater history. “He wrote the definitive book on Everett theaters,” she said, referring to Dilgard’s 2001 “Mill Town Footlights.”

He attended Rosehill School in Mukilteo and Everett’s Cascade High School. Riddle said she met Dilgard in 1969 when he was an artist in Seattle. They first worked together on historical survey projects for the city of Everett. By 1977, they had been hired at the library for two positions funded by the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Mark Nesse, the library director before Simmons, kept them on as employees. “We were lucky,” Riddle said.

Jack and Larry O’Donnell, retired educators and Everett historians, both said Dilgard is a great friend and the undisputed authority on local history.

“There are several of us historians in Everett, and all of us would yield to David on interpretation and facts,” Jack O’Donnell said. “He’s just a brilliant man. And he’s really a trove of information on other things he’s interested in.” That expertise extends from architecture to Elvis Presley.

On March 23, Larry O’Donnell was emcee at an Everett Museum of History event honoring the library’s Northwest Room. Dilgard couldn’t attend, but Simmons, Labovitch, Van Wingen and Nesse were there.

“Like everybody else, I’m kind of in awe of David Dilgard. He’ll take a piece of local history and fit it into a bigger picture,” Larry O’Donnell said. He said Dilgard is equally adept at helping discover if someone’s ancestor was a shingle weaver or assisting someone with a Ph.D.

“He treated everybody, little kids to elderly adults, with great compassion and interest,” Larry O’Donnell said. “He is such a good person with a tremendous sense of humor. He’s witty and has this insatiable curiosity.”

Van Wingen recalled the day in 2008 when the Northwest Room had a call from Jim Shipman, a retired funeral home director who once managed Evergreen Cemetery. Shipman, now deceased, wanted to confirm that Barack Obama’s great-great-great grandmother, Rachel Wolfley, was buried in the Everett cemetery.

Along with Shipman, Jack and Larry O’Donnell got involved in the research, said Van Wingen, who remembered Dilgard zipping out to the cemetery. “He’s going to get out there and solve that riddle,” she said. “That’s David. He’s sort of this connector and organizer. Everybody wanted him involved in their project.”

Labovitch sees a paradox in Dilgard.

“He’s very good at entertaining a crowd, but he is very private,” she said. “It’s about the material, about the Northwest Room, not about him.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein @heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

More in Local News

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP)
A new movie based on OceanGate’s Titan submersible tragedy is in the works: ‘Salvaged’

MindRiot announced the film, a fictional project titled “Salvaged,” on Friday.

Craig Hess (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Sultan’s new police chief has 22 years in law enforcement

Craig Hess was sworn in Sep. 14. The Long Island-born cop was a first-responder on 9/11. He also served as Gold Bar police chief.

Cars move across Edgewater Bridge toward Everett on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, in Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edgewater Bridge redo linking Everett, Mukilteo delayed until mid-2024

The project, now with an estimated cost of $27 million, will detour West Mukilteo Boulevard foot and car traffic for a year.

Lynn Deeken, the Dean of Arts, Learning Resources & Pathways at EvCC, addresses a large gathering during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Cascade Learning Center on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
New EvCC learning resource center opens to students, public

Planners of the Everett Community College building hope it will encourage students to use on-campus tutoring resources.

Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman announces his retirement after 31 years of service at the Everett City Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett police chief to retire at the end of October

Chief Dan Templeman announced his retirement at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. He has been chief for nine years.

Boeing employees watch the KC-46 Pegasus delivery event  from the air stairs at Boeing on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 in Everett, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Boeing’s iconic Everett factory tour to resume in October

After a three-year hiatus, tours of the Boeing Company’s enormous jet assembly plant are back at Paine Field.

A memorial for a 15-year-old shot and killed last week is set up at a bus stop along Harrison Road on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Teen boy identified in fatal shooting at Everett bus stop

Bryan Tamayo-Franco, 15, was shot at a Hardeson Road bus stop earlier this month. Police arrested two suspects.

A memorial for a 15-year-old shot and killed last week is set up at a bus stop along Harrison Road on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Rival gang members charged with killing Everett boy, 15, at bus stop

The two suspects are accused of premeditated first-degree murder in the death of Bryan Tamayo-Franco, 15.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Witnesses contradict gunman’s account of killing Monroe prison officer

Dylan Picard, 22, was driving on South Machias Road when Dan Spaeth approached his car to slow it down to avoid hitting a deer.

Most Read