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Marysville, WA skyline from Interstate 5Photo: SounderBruce · CC BY-SA 4.0
CHistory
History · Marysville

Marysville dates to 1872, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #136 of 285 in Washington. What drives it

Most of Marysville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Marysville Opera House. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.

1872founded
1on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
17old photos & papers
8famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Marysville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Marysville began

When was Marysville founded?

1872

Marysville dates its founding to 1872 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1890.

First census: 262 in 18902020 census: 70,714154 years

How historic is Marysville?

C

More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1879.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Marysville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marysville is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #136 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marysville’s overall grade.
Founding era1872, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.4% of homes (±0.9) · typical WA town 4.3% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 0.1 per 10,000 residents · typical WA town 0.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 29%
NewerOlder
Washington towns of 2,500+ (285)Ahead of 52%

Few Washington towns list much on the Register (a typical Washington town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Marysville’s 0.1 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1872.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Marysville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages20 hamlets and corners are still on the map.A town in old photos17 old photos, postcards and papers, 1900–1922.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1892 to 1912, drew every building in Marysville.Famous sons and daughtersJack Metcalf, Jake Luton and 6 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Marysville’s post office has been open since 1879.

Marysville
1879–today
Lakewood
1909–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Brookside Mobile Home ParkCedar Lane Mobile Home ParkCountry Mobile EstatesCrystal Tree Village Mobile Home ParkEagle Point Mobile Home ParkEmerald Hills Estates Mobile Home ParkEnglishGlenwood Mobile EstatesKellogg Village Mobile Home ParkKruseKruse JunctionLa Tierra Mobile Home ParkLakewoodLiberty Village Mobile Home ParkMidway Gardens Mobile ParkMobile Haven Mobile Home ParkMobile ManorSands 55 Plus Mobile ParkStimson CrossingTwin Cedar Mobile Park
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Marysville
MarysvilleSaint Mary's

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

By decade

Marysville, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s16 items
Loggers and log dump at the Stimson Logging Company, Marysville, Washington, ca. 1900c. 1900Loggers and log dump at the Stimson Logging Company, …Logging railroad, Stimson Logging Company, Marysville, Washington, ca. 1900c. 1900Logging railroad, Stimson Logging Company, Marysville…Agent's home T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]1910Agent's home T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]Laundry T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]1910Laundry T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]Shop T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]1910Shop T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]Girls home T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]1910Girls home T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]Arthur B. Pracna standing on the lower level of the partially complete Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysville, circa…c. 1911Arthur B. Pracna standing on the lower level of the p…Construction of Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysville, circa 1911c. 1911Construction of Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysv…Construction of Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysville, circa 1911c. 1911Construction of Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysv…Construction of Mutual Shingle Company structure in Marysville, circa 1911c. 1911Construction of Mutual Shingle Company structure in M…Two men, one holding a dog, standing in front of the partially complete Mutual Shingle Company mill in Marysville, appr…c. 1911Two men, one holding a dog, standing in front of the …Marysville Hotel and Marysville Cooperative Association, 19121912Marysville Hotel and Marysville Cooperative Associati…Great Northern Railroad depot at Marysville, Washington, ca. 1913c. 1913Great Northern Railroad depot at Marysville, Washingt…Marysville, Washington, ca. 1913c. 1913Marysville, Washington, ca. 1913Marysville, Washington, ca. 1913c. 1913Marysville, Washington, ca. 1913Street scene showing the Marysville Cooperative Association and the Marysville Hotel to the right, Marysville, Washingt…c. 1913Street scene showing the Marysville Cooperative Assoc…
1920s1 item
Office and dining room buildings at the Marysville Camp, Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills, ca. 1922-19231922Office and dining room buildings at the Marysville Ca…
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Every building

Marysville, building by building, 1892–1912

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Marysville fire insurance map, 1892, sheet 11892Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Marysville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Marysville.

Read it all →

Marysville was established in 1872 by government-appointed Indian agent James P. Comeford, an Irish immigrant who had served in the Civil War, and his wife Maria as a trading post on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. The reservation, located to the west of modern-day Marysville, was established by the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855, signed by local Native American tribes and territorial governor Isaac Stevens at modern-day Mukilteo. The treaty's signing opened most of Snohomish County to American settlement and commercial activities, including logging, fishing and trapping. The modern name for Marysville in the indigenous Lushootseed language, spoken by the Coast Salish peoples, is sɬəp̓qs.

ChaptersFoundation and early historyEarly 20th centuryLate 20th century21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Marysville in 1926

Passages that mention Marysville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

nounced (June 6, 1885) that Comeford had sold store, wharf and warehouse and would confine himself to looking after his townsite interests and to managing the hotel. The buyers were Mark Swinnerton and H. B. Myers, who were partners and, later, rivals in trade and politics. The Star contains a writ…
History of Snohomish County, Washington, Volume I1926 · page 559Read the page →
Read the text

nounced (June 6, 1885) that Comeford had sold store, wharf and warehouse and would confine himself to looking after his townsite interests and to managing the hotel. The buyers were Mark Swinnerton and H. B. Myers, who were partners and, later, rivals in trade and politics. The Star contains a write-up of Marysville at this time, the reporter journeying from Snohomish to Marysville on horseback and passing the farms of Parker, Hogan, Crease, Packwood, and Hughes, who had +CO acres on Ebey Slough. At Marysville he found the hotel, by Comeford, the Swinnerton & Myers store and a two-story residence being erecied by J. C.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
King County, and running almost parallel with the Great Northern from Monroe through Snohomish to Everett. This road does a large freight and logging business, but is not a strong competitor for passenger traffic. The. fact that one pier of the new highway bridge construction on the cutoff to Marys…
History of Snohomish County, Washington, Volume I1926 · page 745Read the page →
Read the text

King County, and running almost parallel with the Great Northern from Monroe through Snohomish to Everett. This road does a large freight and logging business, but is not a strong competitor for passenger traffic. The. fact that one pier of the new highway bridge construction on the cutoff to Marysville is reserved for rightof-way for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, opens the field of conjecture as to the future extensions of this road, after it shall have surmounted the financial diffculties in which it is involved in 1926, The railroad mileage of Snohomish County exceeds that of almost any other county in the state of Washington. It is adequate

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Marysville, 1872 to 1996

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872
    FoundingMarysville is established
  3. 1879Post officeThe Marysville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveLoggers and log dump at the Stimson Logging Company, Marysville, Washington, ca. 1900
  6. 1901Born hereRobert A. Brady is born here
  7. 1909Post officeThe Lakewood post office opens
  8. 1910In the archiveAgent's home T.I.S. [Tulalip Indian School]
  9. 1911BuiltMarysville Opera House is built
  10. 1922In the archiveOffice and dining room buildings at the Marysville Camp, Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills, ca…
  11. 1927Born hereJack Metcalf is born here
  12. 1933Born hereJan Haag is born here
  13. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  14. 1996Born hereJake Luton is born here
On the map

Marysville on the map, 1941 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marysville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Marysville on the 1941 USGS mapMarysville on the 1956 USGS mapMarysville on the 1968 USGS mapMarysville on the 1973 USGS map1941Marysville sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Marysville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Loggers and log dump at the Stimson Logging Company, Marysville, Washington, ca. 1900
Retake this viewLoggers and log dump at the Stimson Logging Company, Marysville, Washington, ca. 1900, c. 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Marysville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Marysville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Marysville Opera House
Marysville Opera House, built 1911
Buildings
Marysville Opera HouseBuilt 1911

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Marysville, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,00065,00070,00075,000190019201940196019802000202070,714

Grew from 262 people in 1890 to 70,714 in 2020, more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marysville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

8 famous people were born in Marysville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Jack MetcalfAmerican politician · b. 1927
Jake LutonAmerican football quarterback · b. 1996
Robert A. BradyAmerican economist · b. 1901
Jan HaagAmerican writer · b. 1933
T
Trina DavisAssociation football player · b. 2001
J
John DeCaroAmerican ice hockey goaltender · b. 1982
Help out

Finish Marysville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLoggers and log dump at the Stimson Log…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Sisco HeightsIts storyC−Lake CassidyIts storyC−Arlington1 historic placeC+Lake GoodwinIts storyD

Questions about Marysville’s history

What year was Marysville founded?

In 1872, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Marysville’s post office opened in 1879, and the census of 1890 counted 262 people here.

How does Marysville rank for history?

Marysville is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #136 of 285 in Washington. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Marysville?

One place: the Marysville Opera House (listed 1982).

How old are the homes in Marysville?

2% of Marysville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (13), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.