Hear first-hand accounts of Everett’s early days

It’s a fair bet that no one is left who can give a first-hand account of the great Everett courthouse fire of 1909, and few can tell you about seeing the national champion Everett High School football team of 1920. Luckily, we can still hear accounts from those who witnessed history.

Historians David Dilgard and Margaret Riddle recorded a series of interviews in the 1970s to preserve people’s memories of the early 20th century in Everett. Dozens of full-length interviews can be found at the Oral History section of the Everett Public Library’s website.

The library also edited some of the interviews for a fascinating series of podcasts, called “Everett Voices.” You can find those here.

We first wrote about the “Everett Voices” recordings a few years ago. Since then, the collection has grown to 11 podcasts on topics as varied as baseball, circus performers and prostitution in the city’s rough early days.

The narrator on one of the podcasts notes that downtown Everett was a “carnival of whores and drunks.” Something to think about next time you stroll down the nice, mostly quiet streets of today.