Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Snohomish County show the footprints of commercial buildings and houses and indicate building materials. Sanborns can be used to determine if a building on your property is "pre-existing" or "non-conforming" because they predate the 1955 County cutoff. This information may be helpful during the rebuilding or remodeling permit process.

The Everett Public Library has physical and digital color copies of the 1914 and 1955 Everett Sanborn maps. The library also has microfilm copies of all Sanborns issued for Arlington, Edmonds, Everett, Gold Bar, Granite Falls, Index, Marysville, Monroe, Mukilteo, Silvana, Snohomish, Stanwood, Startup and Sultan.

Other Maps

The Northwest Room has historic editions of the Kroll and Metzger plat books, and the 1910 Anderson Map Company Plat Book of Snohomish County. Details include property owners and some building detail. 

AncestryLibrary

Users with access to AncestryLibrary or personal Ancestry accounts can use the uploaded census records to find out more information about the people who lived at a given address. Use the below precinct maps to determine your ward and precinct designations.

1900 Everett Precincts Map

1910 Everett Precincts Map

1920 Everett Precincts Map

Newspapers

Newspapers often include information about buildings. The Everett Public Library has copies of the Everett Herald, Everett Morning Tribune, Monroe Monitor, Stanwood Tidings, Snohomish EYE, and the Northern Star. Indexing is limited and searches are most productive using a known date.

Photographs

Pictures of street views, buildings, neighborhoods, and residences may be available in the Northwest Room. Some  local historical societies have photograph collections. Past residents and neighbors may have old property photos in personal collections.

City Directories

The Polk’s city directories were issued from 1893 to 1999. They contain an alphabetical index of residential and business properties. County communities were included in some early volumes, but county addresses are often vague or non-existent. 

The householders index--a listing of properties by address--is included in volumes from 1932 onward. Before 1932, searching must be done using the alphabetical name index. City directories often include occupations, family members, home ownership, and phone numbers.

The Everett Public Library has copies of the city directories in print and on microfilm in the Northwest Room.

Books

The following useful books can be found in the Northwest Room:

• A Survey of Everett’s Historical Properties, by David Dilgard and Margaret Riddle (1996)
• Hands On! The Rehabilitation Handbook for Everett’s Historic Homes, by the Everett Historical Commission and the Everett Planning Department (1992)
• Snohomish County Cultural Resource Inventory, by Brent Lambert (1981)
• Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, by Betsy J. Green (2002)
• House Histories: A Guide to Tracing the Genealogy of Your Home, by Sally Light (1989)
• Small Houses of the Twenties: The Sears, Roebuck 1926 House Catalog, Dover (1991)
• 500 Small Houses of the Twenties (also called Books of a thousand homes, vol. 1), Dover (1990)