Little, old Marysville house with historic ties preserved

MARYSVILLE — The house had been on the corner of Eighth Street and Delta Avenue for nearly as long as Marysville has been a city.

Now there’s an empty lot where it stood all those years. Someday, the Marysville police station and civic campus will sprout up in its place.

The little white house with rust-colored trim isn’t gone, though.

It was loaded onto a truck Tuesday night by Nickel Bros., a structural moving company. The business plans to renovate and sell the house.

“It’s an almost 120-year-old house that’s going to have another chapter,” city spokeswoman Connie Mennie said.

It was built around 1900, about a decade after the city was incorporated. The address was 1328 Eighth St.

Official hand-written documents say the house was sold in 1961, 1974 and 1983.

Snohomish County records show that the Duborko family owned it until last year. The buy date is not clear.

Dorathy Duborko moved to Marysville in 1956, where her parents had settled, according to her obituary. There, she met Arthur Duborko.

He moved to Marysville in 1919, when he was about 5 years old.

Census data shows that he lived on Cedar Street around that time, said Lisa Labovitch, a historian with the Northwest Room in the Everett Public Library.

Arthur Duborko’s obituary says he would walk through what is now Comeford Park to get to school at Seventh Street and Columbia Avenue.

He grew up and became a shingle weaver at the William Hulbert Mill Co. in Everett. He later worked at a shipyard, and then for Reinell Boat Works in Marysville.

He was appointed to the Marysville City Council in 1953. He stayed for more than a decade, until he was elected mayor.

Arthur Duborko and Dorathy Duborko married in 1961.

The couple joined multiple local groups, including the Marysville Historical Society.

Dorathy Duborko also practiced wood carving with the Quilceda Carvers. She loved to sing, and sewed matching outfits for herself and her husband to wear square dancing.

Both were in their 90s when they died. Dorathy Duborko passed away in 2015, seven years after her husband.

A couple of years later the title for the home moved from her estate to her daughter’s name. The city bought it last year for $290,000.

The four blocks between Fourth and Eighth streets along Delta Avenue were nearly clear early this week. Demolition started about six months ago.

Buildings previously there included a Baptist church and the Flapjack Restaurant. The house is the only structure to be preserved.

Voters approved a 0.1 percent sales tax increase last year to build a jail and police station there. Other civic buildings may follow.

The project is expected to go to bid in the fall. Construction likely will start next year, Mennie said.

The house was loaded onto a trailer Tuesday evening. It was moved early the next morning, between midnight and 2 a.m.

The trip was about 6 miles to the Nickel Bros. yard on 156th Street NE, near Twin Lakes Park.

Nick Carpenter is the sales manager for the company.

He previously read an article about the city tearing down the buildings. He reached out to see if the business could take any of them.

The crew usually moves much bigger structures, such as the Weyerhaeuser Building on Everett’s waterfront.

“This one was more short and small, so we were able to navigate the entire route without disrupting any power lines whatsoever,” Carpenter said.

They moved the 840-square-foot house for no charge. Upcycling the structure means it’s kept from a landfill.

Now it’s getting a facelift.

The idea is to convert it from two bedrooms to one. The original fir wood floors are intact and expected to be restored. Brand-new kitchen cabinets and counter tops may be installed. Finally, the walls get a coat of fresh paint.

After that’s finished, the company hopes to sell it. Carpenter thinks it’ll take about a month.

The home could be placed anywhere, but will comply with Marysville’s rules for a detached dwelling unit. That way someone could place it in their yard as a guest space.

The old house had watched a lot of change from its corner. This week it got to tour the city.

Stephanie Davey: 425-339-3192; sdavey@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @stephrdavey.