The Herald, (Everett, WA.) Mon. Nov. 30, 1998, Sec C, p. C1, Article titled: (ALL QUOTED AS FOLLOWS) Project rooted in Lynnwood history STREET SMARTS Bob Wodnik, w pix of him. Odd as it may sound, there is a genuine sense of history surrounding the new Lynnwood I-5 interchange. I was standing with Robert Dixon, Lynnwood's construction manager, one gusty morning last week watching gold welding sparks float down from underneath a partially built bridge, when he pointed out something of the past. There, right beside a huge concrete footing that helps support one of the unfinished overpass bridges, is the exact spot where an Interurban train station once served the chicken farms of Alderwood Manor. In the early 1920s, 500 cases of eggs a week rolled out of the surrounding five-acre farms in a place known as Lynnwood. Besides chicken eggs, those Interurban trains carried passenger from Bellingham through Snohomish County all the way to south Seattle (if they desired) in cars decorated with ornate lamps and woodwork, stained glass window arches and brass railings. Then, in one of the region's great transportation blunders, the Interurban trains stopped running in 1939 and the tracks were torn out. Weeds grew up. By then, the car was king and electric trains used to transport office workers, Saturday shoppers and Alderwood Manor chicken eggs were considered old- fashioned and outdated. Not far from the place where the Interurban once ran is Alderwod Mall, a regional shopping center that changed the look, feel and, of course, the traffic in Lynnwood. A city linked to a mall finds it a blessing and curse: tax dollars and clogged streets. There is a saying in Lynnwood that the population at night is 33,000, while during the day it's more than 100,000. And during this time of year, the holiday shopping season , it seems like more than a million brake lights are backing up traffic around the mall's parking lots and the endless storefronts on 196th Street and Highway 99. "Everything in Lynnwood is driven by traffic," Dixon said. That is why big road construction projects are timed to end, whenever possible, before the holiday shopping rush that starts the day after Thanksgiving and runs through December. Helping traffic move more easily onto and off I-5 near Alderwood Mall is the goal of a 10-year, $71million interchange project that began about five years ago. Enough of the project is completed that drivers will notice a difference this Christmas shopping season. The six-phase project includes: X A new Alderwood Mall Parkway, opened in time for the 1996 holiday season. It offers a way to skirt from the mall onto I-5. X New northbound I-5 on and off ramps opened in time for the holiday season last year. X A few weeks ago, just in time for this year's shopping season, a new freeway ramp for southbound traffic onto I-5 opened, easing traffic on congested 196th Street SW and near 37th Street SW. X A new southbound on, southbound off and a southbound loop to eastbound 196th Street remains to be built. XCollector distributor lanes are planned on both north and southbound I-5 near the mall, making it easier for freeway traffic to pass through Lynnwood. XThere is one last piece to the big interchange project, a pedestrian bridge that will one day cross I-5. ( Carroll says at this point to capture the IRONY of this story, I will now QUOTE IN ALL CAPS the final paragraph as follows) THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE HOOKS ONTO A WALKING AND BICYCLE TRAIL THAT RUNS ALL THE WAY INTO EVERETT. THE TRAIL IS CALLED THE INTERURBAN TRAIL, BECAUSE IT FOLLOWS THE PATH OF THE OLD FORGOTTEN TRAINS, THE VERY ONES THAT ONCE RAN RIGHT THROUGH THE PLACE THAT LATER BECAME LYNNWOOD. * * * 30 * * * END OF QUOTED ARTICLE FROM THE HERALD, EVERETT, WA. Comment: Some of you who read PSR recall the old Interburban between Seattle and Everett ( & even to Bellingham). My recollection of it is quite vivid, as my Mother and I rode the Interurban between Seattle and Everett many times while one our way back to Snohomish. To get to Snohomish, we had to stop at Everett Interurban/Bus Station Pacific and Colby ( the brick bulding still there on the NW corner) in Everett. There, we waited for the Galloping Goose (blunt faced engine/passenger + one more passenger car, if needed) Snohomish bound. The Interurban run was always interesting - the small RR buildings along the way with various names attached to them - Maltby, etc. and even more obscure names where passengers could wait and catch the Interurban or get off at that point. The trees then were so lush that at times it seemed we were riding along through a vertible tunnel of them, seldom seeing houses among them for some distance, in places. The building that has always stood out in my recollection was the Interurban Station at Alderwood Manor, with its wainscoating, almost European styled building that was a landmark through many generations. It still stands but sits falornly off to the side a short distance from its original site where the major construction goes on nearby. What the plans are for that landmark bldg. in the future, I have not heard, but many want it preserved, if possible. Time will tell. When we moved to Alderwood Manor in 1958, there was an Alderwood Manor Post Office (the Ald. Mnr. P.O. is the bldg occupied by TV Only store today), and that is where we got our mail, and where we shopped. They had a wonderful furniture store located there and a hardware store there still is sitting there today. We moved several miles North to GunnySack Hill -or about 144th & Hwy 99, about 5 miles away, where we lived 20 yrs. and we had an Alderwood Manor P.O. address, but during those years Lynnwood grew and eventually absorbed Alderwood Manor, so that we lost that P.O. and switched to the new Lynnwood address at the same residence. For those who remembered Alderwood Manor, fond memories of it remain. The old 1908 Alderwood Elementary School decommissioned in 1960 where I taught for 2 years, was replaced by 2 Lynnwood schools, and the 1908 school site became the Edmonds District 15 offices. The former playground for the school was cut through by Hwy I-5. I think of that as I pass right through our former playground area where kids played during recesses. Fond memories recall. One of these days, my "kids" or my granddaughter will probably bicycle along the path of the old Alderwood Manor Interurban site, along the rout where I used to ride the rails and marvel at the site of Alderwood Manor Station and the activity there - never realizing that someday I would live there and bring back the fond memories of it. * * * 30 * * * On p. 5C of The Herald, same date, sec. etc as above, but in the section called SEEM Like Yesterday By Jack ODonnell from Herald Archeves, I QUOTE : 50 YEARS AGO (1948) Joseph Irving, Everett pioneer and retired logger, 2930 Hoyt Ave., chuckled as he recalled the county seat election between Everett and Snohomish in 1894. When he visited the Courthouse in Snohomish he was checked for a gun. Later in the day he slipped a cap gun into the coat pocket of Everett attorney F. H. Brownell. Later when Brownell was checked all had a good laugh during the heated election where few were amused about anything. END OF QUOTED snip. cap gun = a toy pistol, usually, that fired caps, emitted a small amt of smoke, but a crack or bang of sound, depending on the size of the "cap" usually sold in rolls for automatic feed, or perf. sheets for single shots. Used all year for "wars" and other "shoot outs" and of course on 4th of July. Collectibles by today's "standards". Often time cast iron, but of various metal materials most often before plastics entered the scene. A lot of consternation took place when Everett "beat out" Snohomish for the site of the County seat, formerly that of Snohomish, corner of Ave D and 5th Street (site of Snohomish High School). The friction has come down through the generations, as a stigma via the two towns. Carroll in Snohomish. && Irony Happens && ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. 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