Trolley No. 55 is on displayed at the Lynnwood-Alderwood Manor Heritage Association. It was one of handful of cars that ran the Interurban Railway between Seattle and Everett. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

Trolley No. 55 is on displayed at the Lynnwood-Alderwood Manor Heritage Association. It was one of handful of cars that ran the Interurban Railway between Seattle and Everett. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

The Interurban Railway: Everett’s first rapid transit line

The trolleys ran to Seattle from 1910 to 1939, along a similar route to what light rail will follow.

LYNNWOOD — When Sound Transit’s Lynnwood Link Extension opens in 2024, it won’t be the first rapid transit line to connect Snohomish County and Seattle.

More than 110 years ago, the first electric trains began running along the Interurban Railway linking Everett and Seattle. From 1910 to 1939, the trolleys followed what would become Highway 99 until about Lynnwood, where they then shifted east to where I-5 lies today. In Everett, the route meandered away from the highway as it swung through different neighborhoods.

Prior to the Interurban, travelers moving between Everett and Seattle had two choices; a steamship traversing the Puget Sound or a train along the Great Northern Railway. In 1900, as the region experienced a population boom similar to that seen today, Fred Sander saw an opportunity to link the two urban areas and access the cheap land in between, according to the 1988 book “To Seattle by Trolley,” by Warren Wing.

Construction on the line began in 1901 in Ballard. Six years later, track was put down to Halls Lake in south Lynnwood, according to Wing. In the summer of 1909, the operator proposed continuing the line to Everett and meeting the goal of completing the route the following year.

On May 2, 1910 service began. Trains ran about every hour from early in the morning to late into the night. The roughly 90-minute, 29-mile ride cost riders $1.30, according to an article in The Everett Daily Herald at the time.

Inside the last intact Seattle to Everett Interurban trolley. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

Inside the last intact Seattle to Everett Interurban trolley. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

That’s about $34 in today’s dollars.

A crew of two, a conductor and a motorman, worked each trolley. The ornate cars had inlaid mahogany interiors, colored glass windows and leather seats. For the trolley, much like today, the greatest delays came when mixing with Seattle traffic, according to Wing.

Soon after the Seattle to Everett route was completed, construction on a northern route between Mount Vernon and Bellingham began. A bus ran between the two lines.

The rise of automobile ownership and the highway system eventually spelled doom for the Interurban.

On Feb. 20 1939, the last day the trains were scheduled to run, a reporter from The Herald poetically noted: “A ‘Swan Song’ will hum along the iron trail between Everett and Seattle this Monday evening, as the Interurban rattles and romps, bounces and bangs over the line on its final trip.”

Signs of the long abandoned line still exist. A dispatcher’s window hangs on the northern side of the former Everett depot at the corner of Pacific and Colby avenues. A statue, “Waiting for the Interurban,” stands in the Seattle neighborhood of Fremont. Bikers and pedestrians travel the old route every day as they pedal and walk along the Interurban Trail.

The ornate cars had inlaid mahogany interiors, colored glass windows and leather seats. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

The ornate cars had inlaid mahogany interiors, colored glass windows and leather seats. (Lizz Giordano / The Herald)

The last intact trolley car, No. 55, can be seen at the Lynnwood-Alderwood Manor Heritage Association.

When the city of Lynnwood purchased the trolley in 1993 it had been sitting nose down in a ravine of mud and muck near Snoqualmie where it had been used as a ticket booth, according to Jeanne and Gary Rogers, docents at the museum. Before that it was a hamburger joint at the corner of 75th Street SE and Evergreen Way.

Rail history runs deep in Jeanne Rogers’ family. Her father, Walter Shannon, was one of the last motormen to work the Interurban Line. After the line ceased operating, Shannon drove the buses that replaced the trolley cars. Later, he helped the city restore car No. 55.

Jeanne Rogers’ maternal grandfather was a conductor on the line. And she herself worked on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

“What really put this line out of service is when the state of Washington opened Highway 99,” she said. “That was the death knell for the Interurban.”

Today cars clogging up I-5 has brought back the need for a rapid transit line, which will follow a similar route to its predecessor.

About light rail reaching Snohomish County, Jeanne Rogers said, “It’s about time.”

Got a question? Email me at streetsmarts@heraldnet.com or call 425-374-4165. Please include your name and city of residence.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.