EVERETT — The city will remove a 103-year-old gazebo in Everett’s oldest park to make way for a new dog park, the mayor said on Saturday.

For over 130 years, Clark Park, at 2400 Lombard Avenue, served as a gathering space for events like concerts, Easter egg hunts, sports and protests. In recent years, increased drug use and other crimes at the park left residents concerned for their safety.

Everett added the park, a few blocks east of Everett High School, to its list of high drug crime zones in 2017. Since then it’s been the site of several drug arrests, and a stabbing in 2022.

“We take these concerns very seriously and have spent time considering different options to address the current safety issues,” Mayor Cassie Franklin said Saturday in a Facebook post. “As a part of these efforts, we will be removing the gazebo and adding a new dog park. With the removal of the gazebo, we will be able to expand the dog park, which I know will make neighborhood dog owners happy.”

An off-leash dog area in Clark Park has been in the works since 2019.

The city, including members of the historical commission and parks department, had been in talks over what to do with the gazebo for at least a decade.

“The city has considered several options including moving/storing the gazebo, closing it off completely, making updates to it and removing it,” said city spokesperson Simone Tarver in an email on Friday.

In late 2022, the city asked an architect to draft plans to remodel the gazebo, including a shutter system to close the gazebo when not being used for events. That would have cost up to $400,000, Tarver said.

“After considering these options, the decision’s been made to remove the gazebo,” Tarver said.

The city hasn’t said whether removal means the gazebo will be demolished, or if it will be relocated. A removal date hasn’t yet been announced.

For almost 20 years, the gazebo was locked behind a fence in an attempt to reduce vandalism and other crimes.

Clark Park is not included in the city’s “no sit, no lie” zones, created in 2021 to keep unsheltered people from gathering in certain areas. Parks are exempt from this rule, being some of the only places unsheltered people can gather without facing fines or jail time.

The park is also one of Everett’s “Stay Out of Drug Areas,” where a municipal court judge can prohibit people convicted of drug-related crimes from entering. People with such a court order can be arrested if they violate the ban.

The gazebo was built in 1921, according to the Bayside Neighborhood Association.

Clark Park, originally named City Park, was purchased by the City of Everett in 1894. It was renamed to Clark Park in 1927, in honor of John J. Clark, one of Everett’s pioneer residents.

Ashley Nash: 425-339-3037; ashley.nash@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @ash_nash00.