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History · Skykomish

Skykomish’s post office opened in 1893, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1910.

1893first post office
3on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Skykomish’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Skykomish began

When was Skykomish founded?

1893

The Skykomish post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 238 in 19102020 census: 161133 years
Founding year: the first Skykomish post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Skykomish’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Skykomish’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 562 in 1930; 161 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Skykomish’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Skykomish’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewBaseball field showing baseball game, S…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Skykomish came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Skykomish.

Read it all →

The name "Skykomish" derives from the Skykomish or Skai-whamish tribe (originally considered a subdivision of the Snoqualmies) who inhabited the area before European settlement.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Skykomish, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 562

Peaked at 562 in 1930; 161 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Timeline

Skykomish, 1893 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1893BuiltMaloney's General Store is built
  3. 1893Post officeThe Skykomish post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1913In the archiveBaseball field showing baseball game, Skykomish, ca. 1913
  6. 1923In the archiveBloedel Donovan mill and lumber operations, Skykomish, Washington, ca. 1923
  7. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 562
  8. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Skykomish, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1920s3 items
Baseball field showing baseball game, Skykomish, ca. 1913c. 1913Baseball field showing baseball game, Skykomish, ca. …Baseball game, ca. 1913c. 1913Baseball game, ca. 1913Bloedel Donovan mill and lumber operations, Skykomish, Washington, ca. 1923c. 1923Bloedel Donovan mill and lumber operations, Skykomish…
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
Date unknown1 to date
Teacherage, 117Sixth Street NorthDate?Teacherage, 117Sixth Street North
Today5 recent
View of hillside north of Skykomish - Night2022View of hillside north of Skykomish - NightVisitors to the Cascade Mountain town of [Skykomish], Washington, get a minature-train ride through a micro-sized versi…2018Visitors to the Cascade Mountain town of [Skykomish],…You wouldn't guess that this is a public library, but it is, in the little Wenatchee National Forest town of [Skykomish…2018You wouldn't guess that this is a public library, but…The rushing Wenatchee River, near [Skykomish], Washington, in the Wenatchee National Forest2018The rushing Wenatchee River, near [Skykomish], Washin…A minature train, awaiting riders at a park in [Skykomish], Washington2018A minature train, awaiting riders at a park in [Skyko…
On the map

Skykomish on the map, 1965 to 1982

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

Skykomish on the 1965 USGS mapSkykomish on the 1982 USGS map1965Skykomish sheet · 1:24,000

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

Every building

Skykomish, building by building, 1908

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 sheet.

Skykomish fire insurance map, 1908, sheet 11908Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

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.

Baseball field showing baseball game, Skykomish, ca. 1913
Retake this viewBaseball field showing baseball game, Skykomish, ca. 1913, c. 1913

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 listings protect 15 historic buildings

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
15
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Great Northern Depot
Great Northern DepotMaloney's General Store, built 1893Skykomish Historic Commercial District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Commercial Vernacular1
Craftsman1
Western False Front1
Moderne1
Through Warren Truss1
Great Northern DepotCommercial Vernacular
Maloney's General StoreBuilt 1893
All 3 listings
Skykomish Historic Commercial DistrictDistrict · listed 2000

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

Questions about Skykomish’s history

What year was Skykomish founded?

The Skykomish post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Skykomish?

Three places: the Great Northern Depot (listed 1997), the Maloney's General Store (1997) and the Skykomish Historic Commercial District (2000).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.