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Lowell Community Church in Everett burns on December 31, 1984.
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On December 31, 1984, in the early morning hours, Everett’s oldest church building, the Lowell Community Church (5216 S. 2nd Avenue), is destroyed by fire. The structure dates back to 1892, its land and construction materials having been donated by Lowell’s founder, Eugene D. Smith (1837-1909). The old church is considered a total loss, but the congregation will rebuild on the same site.
In September 1863, Eugene D. Smith and Otis Wilson set up a logging camp on the
Snohomish River at a site that eventually would become the town of Lowell.
Smith left in 1865 to try his luck in the Coeur d’Alene Gold Rush,
but came back to the Snohomish River broke and resumed logging. The
Smith camp at Lowell was situated on a hill, about a mile and a half
from the river. Here Smith built a timber-planked railroad to
transport the huge felled trees out of the woods. A 2,000-foot chute
allowed the logs to rapidly drop to the river below, where they were
transported to regional mills. An earlier settler, Reuben Lowe, had
operated a bordello here. In buying out Lowe, Smith decided to name
the proposed town after Lowe’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.
Smith platted the
town in 1873 and the community’s population continued to grow. The
beginnings of the city of Everett in the fall of 1891 changed
Lowell’s future, since part of the development plans included a
paper mill on the Lowell waterfront. Lowell soon became a company
town, focused around the mill. Homes were built and Lowell’s
population quickly grew, although the town was never incorporated.
(It became a part of Everett in 1962.)
1891, E. D. Smith donated land and materials for a community church.
Construction began that year and the structure was completed in 1892.
Over the years, it became a source of pride for Lowell, and many
residents attended. An addition to the structure subsequently was built, and the exterior was repainted and the interior refurbished. In the
mid-1980s -- shortly before the fire -- the church was re-sided and
the interior redecorated, the work done by volunteers.
Year’s Eve 1984
The Everett Fire Department received
the alarm call at 4:37 a.m. on December 31, 1984. When firefighters
arrived at the scene, the church was completely ablaze, with flames
roaring out through the building’s large stained-glass windows and
consuming the second floor. They began fighting the blaze from
outside, then went inside to inspect for several minutes and withdrew
to change fire lines. They watched as the church roof collapsed onto
the place where they had been standing only a few minutes before.
Inspection the following day determined
the fire to have been accidental. It appeared to have started in the
sanctuary near the altar and was likely due to faulty wiring.
Volunteer work and contributions helped to rebuild the church. At
the time of the fire, the congregation was affiliated with the United
Church of Christ Congregational and is, in 2012, the River of Life
Jim Haley, "Everett’s Oldest Church
Burns: Lowell Loses Landmark Church," The Herald, December
31, 1984, p. 1; Charles Z. Henderson, The Fire Boys: 100 Years of
Everett Firefighting History, p. 160, 221; "Church at Lowell
Gets Facelifted," The Everett Daily Herald, September 22,
Travel through time (chronological order):
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