Category Archives: Historic Sites Tour

Historic Gas Stations

Glass Tech building about 2003

Signal Gas Station

Image donated by a member of the Pearson Family who lived across the street. 2010.40.09

The window company Glass Tech has been at corner of 271st and 102nd NW (west side of Stanwood) since about 1997. This building and location once served travelers along the Old Pacific Highway (before I-5) .
Before 1924 or so the Old Pacific Highway once wound through the Stillaguamish River Valley towards East Stanwood across the railroad tracks. From the East Stanwood the road went west as it does now toward the waterfront that was the original Stanwood town. At the corner of 102nd and 271st NW it is said there was a Red Lion Gilmore Gas station that also provided automotive services. We have little information on this era of the building though the 1918 Sanborn plat map shows the buiiding footprint at this location much as it is today with its storage building in the back.

Manser Wangsness took it over in about 1933 on the rented land from Helen McDougall O’Melia. It was at that time known as the Signal Gas Station. Manser Wangsness was proprietor until about 1960 and it was locally referred to as Wangsness station or the Stanwood Station.

According to this little ad from the Twin City News in 1948 there was also a auto repair service at this location known as Lee’s Auto Repair operated by Levi Sherk.

1964 or 1965 view of the Flying A gas station era. Image donated by then owner’s daughter. 2015_04

Image of Flying A gas station in 1964 or 65. 2010_40_09

In 1964 it became known as the Signal Gas station and auto repair service and operated by Dick Aldrich. From the photographs it appears he added the garage on the north side of the building. In 1972 Howard Moffet opened How D Glass in this building. An article in the Stanwood News Dec 27 1972 says that by then the hand pumps had disappeared. Moffet began in the glass business in Lynnwood before moving to Stanwood in 1971. (How D Glass moved to another location nearby some time before 1981.)

In about 1981 it was a Steve’s VW Service. Another early business in the building was Bingo Auto Polish and in 1997 Glass Tech operated by Susan and Aaron James took it over though the property is leased by an owner who purchased in 2002. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you know more about this building.

Glass Tech – Gas Station turned window company, 2018.

Current Glass Tech building.

Brick buildings on the Brick Street

Our Historic brick Main street (270th St) has two of the very few brick buildings in Stanwood. The two brick buildings side by side on the south side of Main street appear as one building but are two.

The east building in the foreground on the right was built as the Citizens Bank in 1920. The Citizens bank company merged with the National Bank of Stanwood in 1921 when the National Bank of Stanwood on Market St moved from its corner location, the banks consolidated to be the First National Bank of Stanwood located in a new building across the street.

The original Citizen’s bank building (10018 270th St NW) was purchased from the bank by Dr. E. G. Wheeler and converted into medical and dental offices. The lot next door was sold to Ed Peterson who built the new building. (Stanwood News, Oct 29, 1931). The tenants that occupied it was first used as the West Coast Telephone Company when it was established soon after 1929 and occupied the building for many years. West Coast Telephone was one of the many independent community telephone companies that operated in small usually rural communities until 1961 when switchboards were no longer needed. In this 2018 photograph it is the location of “Wash & Wear Hair”

Once a town – East Stanwood, 1922-1960

East Stanwood Undated, circa 1900; shows early flooding and street view looking west from the depot and railroad tracks

Stanwood was once two towns. The original pre-1890s riverfront “town” grew during the 1870s and 1880s at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River. Then when the railroad went through a mile east, a new commercial district formed around the depot referred to as “East Stanwood.” The photos are then and now views of East Stanwood before the commercial buildings were built.

East Stanwood was platted in 1906 but not incorporated until 1922. In the meantime the commercial area we now know grew as the railroad provided more direct transportation than the steamboats that served the original Stanwood near the Twin City Foods area. In the top photo the H&H railroad tracks are visible on the left.

The two story building on the left still exists but was moved to 27122 88th Ave. N.W. It was known as the Peterson Apartments.

“East Stanwood” 2018

The early buildings in the top photo seem much closer to the tracks than they appear in this contemporary view.

Visit the museum for more of the story.

Irvine, Thompson, Sons of Norway Hall History

Sonner Av Norge or Sons of Norway Hall 2018; Fritjov Lodge, #17 – Organized April 24th, 1910. Building dedicated in 1914.

Sons of Norway Hall, dedicated in 1914.

Cropped from a street view of Main Street in 1917 showing the two story Thompson Hall moved across the street by the Sons of Norway and converted to their hall.

Cropped from a street view of Main Street in 1917 the two story Thompson Hall has been moved across the street by the Sons of Norway and converted to their hall.

The Sons of Norway Hall has a long history in Stanwood. Its members were vital to the local culture as singers, musicians as well as business and religious leaders and Stillaguamish Valley farmers.

The hall building was originally located across the street west of the “Stanwood House” which was Thompson’s residence.
According to Gustav Joergenson (in his “History of the Twin Cities” article series) “Mr. Irvine’s new hall and warehouse was built on the North side of Irvine Slough during 1889-90” and used by the Masons until they built their own in 1895. J. H. Irvine sold the business and hall to Norwegian immigrants Thompson, Alfred Ryan and Carl Ryan in 1903 according to Grace Ryan Cornwell. In 1914 The Sons of Norway bought the hall from S.A. Thompson and moved it over to its present location where they rebuilt the hall in 1934 (see Twin City News April 8, 1937)

The store itself remained where it was evolving into the Hitching Post/Thriftmart IGA which burned in February 1978. Its location is now an empty lot (scroll down).

For more of the story—-

Original the Irvine store business was establish in about 1878 near the waterfront, was sold to S.A. Thompson. Circa 1903 which is possibly the occasion of the photograph.

The “modernized” Hitching Post, formerly the Thompson Store in Stanwood, burned in February 1978. At that time is was known as the Thriftmart IGA.

(Refer Stanwood Story, v.1, p63(il.),80, v.2, p103(il.); hall, v.2, p89; v. 3 p. 48)

Historic brick buildings alive and well

Brick buildings on the brick street, circa 2004; Both buildings are recognized in our Historic Plaque Program.

The photo above shows two of Stanwood’s historic buildings on Main Street.
Main Street is one of the few brick streets left in Snohomish County and the street itself is historic!
The “First National Bank” building on the right was built in 1930 when the original brick Bank of Stanwood outgrew its original location and merged with the Citizens State Bank across the street (see Echoes#60). It was built by a contractor named Ed Peterson at the corner of Center and Union St. replacing the Simonson shoe shop. It was constructed of “concrete with light colored brick, terra cotta and marble facing” (TCN Sept 11, 1930). It had several owners since 1967 when it moved again and is now called the First National Professional Center.

The Antique store (brick building on the left) was long known as Hartney’s Style Shop. The building was built by Jeremiah Hartney in 1925. He came to Stanwood in 1906 as a tailor and had a shop on Market Street in his early business years. Hartney died in 1945. Clyde Tolin managed the shop until his death in 1948 and according to the Stanwood Story (v.3 p. 31) it was sold to George Hammer and operated by Bill Bradford. Women’s wear was brought to store in the 1960s Bradford sold it to Ken and Audrey Carlson in 1974. It went out of business in October of 1997 after Ken Carlson died.

Circa 1904 view of Stanwood’s Historic Banking corner – Was Market Street and Broadway and is now 102nd Ave and S. R. 532.

1995 View of Stanwood’s 100 year banking corner.

In 1967 the National Bank of Stanwood moved back to its original corner and merged with the Bank of Stanwood. Through a series of mergers and owner changes, the Bank of Stanwood and the National Bank of Stanwood became part of Seafirst Bank which was ultimately (in 1998) acquired by Bank of America. Along this timeline, the National Bank of East Stanwood was also part of the complicated series of mergers and acquisitions of the local banks.

Stanwood Camano Giving Tuesday Dec 1st 2015

Click the image for a history of the D. O. Pearson House.

The Stanwood Area Historical Society is participating in the 24-hour online Giving Tuesday event organized by the Stanwood-Camano Area Foundation and partners*. Our project is our D. O. Pearson House window replacement project.
The south side of the D. O. Pearson House has taken over a century of wind, sun, rain and temperature fluctuations and the windows are bit worse for wear. Unfortunately they are beyond puttying and shimming. They must be replaced but replacing historic windows is not an off-the-shelf job. We will have to have the windows custom made to match the original size and character of the house and according to the Secretary of the Interior Historic Preservation guidelines. Please help if you can, we hope to have this house last another 100 years. If you have more questions, contact us!
Click here for more information. Donations can be made by check and dropped off on the day of the event at the Stanwood Camano Community Resource Center from 7 a.m. to midnight or at Camano Community Center from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Checks should be made payable to SCAF and specify which project(s) they are for.
Thank you,
Gail Ryer,

*Thank you to our Sponsors

Thank you to our Sponsors!