I wrote recently about the articles that had appeared in the TRIBUNE, and Senior publications re the Proposed new Senior Center but no article had appeared about it in The HERALD of Everett, WA which serves Snohomish and Island Counties. I am a bit late getting this news on here, but Saturday, November 15, 2003 there appeared the article that reported on this proposed or desired senior center that had been placed on top of the Snohomish Cemetery located at 2nd and Cypress Avenues in Snohomish including blacktop for the facility. So, here is the article that appeared in the HERALD: Ref. The HERALD, Everett, WA. Date: Saturday, November 15, 2003 Section: Front page Site: http://www.heraldnet.com/about Article: Snohomish seniors seek a larger center The current center is cramped, but fund-raising isn't the only hurdle to be cleared By Jennifer Warnick, Herald Writer With PIX (by Meggan Booker, The Herald) captioned: Patsy Danhof of Snohomish puts together a jig-saw puzzle earlier this week at the cramped Snohomish Senior Center. COMMENT: Mentions "a 1,800-square-foot converted house". That old house was given, and was moved on top of the cemetery and blacktop for parking added atop the cem. The house had an upper story apartment which has been rented, accessible from the rear of the house. The house has been there at least 10 years, but a 30 ft. addition to the house had to be added to the house in order to provide space for Bingo and other activitirs.-that was added in an easterly direction. Closeby to the corner of that addition are large tomb base stones most of which are of the old sandstone variety with the criss-cross carvings in them typical of those very early tombstone bases. But, one of the large bases is of granite, polished and of a redish color with the letters T H O M A S on it. All are dumped in a pile beneath a couple of young trees and hardly discernible, but they are huge and heavy bases. The article goes on to say, "But the seniors'dream for a bigger center has its share of complications Along with fund-raising, the seniors and the city will have to tackle a recurring land-use issue for that particular spot off Cypress Avenue by the Pilchuck River. The parcel where the center now sits is a former pioneer cemetery where some of Snohomish's earliest residents were buried until the early 1900s." (Pilchuck Julia who died of smallpox in 1923 was buried near the SW corner of the cem., and there may have been additional burials through possibly 1925 at that cem. - CC.) The article goes on to mention that in the 1940s ( 1947 to be exact - CC.) as a result of the state highway (HWY 2 - CC) "more than 100 remains and headstones to the nearby Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery (GAR cem. just outside the city limits, west of Snohomish-CC). I could guess that 100 remains may have been exhumed from just the Hwy 2 dig which was just a portion of the three acre cem. but certainly there were no 100 tombstones removed. A few of the stones went to the GAR and are lined up out there. In fact one stone was moved out there at the request of the descendants because of vandalism that was taking place at the old cem. The descendants had the stone removed but not the remains that were beneath it, so that the remains were not moved from the cem. Several of the stones were taken across the Hwy 2 passage-way and eventually placed on top of the northern portion of Snohomish Cemetery as a replica cemetery along with old buildings from various sites in and near Snohomish that was placed there to replicate a sort of pioneer village example. The log cabin there came from toward Machias direction just near the parking area just outside the Snohomish City limits near the parking area for the Centennial Trail. We used to ride our bikes past that old log cabin, and marvel at its location on a knoll overlooking the valley-like area. Schoolchildren used to visit the cabin to see a real pioneer log cabin. This cabin now sits on the N portion of the original Snohomish Cem very near the Hwy 2 cut. Since the 1947 cut highway 2 now circumvents the town of Snohomish so that the cem. cut now is just 2nd Street and no longer called Hwy 2 -a bridge over the Pilchuck River is the site - the road that goes toward or from Monroe when leaving Snohomish. In the article it mentions that "the city must eventually move toward decertifying the cemetery." according a ruling by the court in the 1990s." The article also mentions the archeological work that needs to be done. Though city officials maintained that there were no remains, as reported by past articles before and after earlier archeological procedures were done, additional archeological probing and digging did, in fact, disclose skeletal remains - foot bones, ankle bones and that of the bones below the knee were exposed, but the whole skeleton was not further exposed, and the find was quickly refilled with dirt and the Herald reported the fact that remains were found and witnessed in a clearing just NE of the 30 ft. addition to the older senior center house. This was in the large area portion of the cem. that had not been dug up when the Hwy 2 project took place. In other words, who's to know how many skeletal remains still remain in that portion of the cem. that Hwy 2 didn't touch, and where the present senior citizen building with its blacktop on the westerly portion, then the larger portion of the cem. that hasn't been built on as yet. The proposed new senior center and low income housing separated from the sr ctr would take up most of the rest of the cemetery. In fact only 37 parking spaces would be provided and the access to that would have to enter from the SW corner postions rather than from the westly access as it is today. "The Snohomish Senior Center has applied for an $800,000 community development block grant from the county." the article states. I have heard 3 different estimates for the cost of just the buildings $670,000 at the meeting, then $620,000 as reported in a senior publication, and an estamated $600,000 reported by The Herald. Just the buildings, that is. Jennifer Warnick may be contacted at 425-339-3429, or jwarnick@heraldnet.com * * * Carroll in Snohomish * * * 30 * * *