Been lookin' for interesting articles but I don't find that many, but I thot this one was worthwhile, so here 'tis: August, 2003 -The Third Age - Perspective On The Past by louise lindgren Titled: Centennial cities share common bonds Quoted: What do the cities of Arlington, Monroe and Standwood share in common? Just for starters, a 100 year history. Each is celebrating their centennial of incorporation this year with community celebrations and special events. Beyond that, however, there is much among these river-based cities that can be counted as shared experience. Name and location changes, railway influence, river access, slow but progressive development, jajor industries - all three cities have experienced these and more. A 100 year anniversary means a great deal to any community, but all three of these cities can trace their development back to an earlier time, two to the 1860s, long before their official incorporations. A fourth centennial city, Granite Falls, will be featured in nex month's Perspective on the Past. Stanwood, at the out let of the Stillaguamish River into Puget Sound, was first known as Centerville in the late 1860s, a name so common that the U.S. Post Office insisted on another moniker when the office was moved. Thus, pioneer D.O. Pearson submitted his wife Clara's maiden name, Stanwood, and that was accepted in 1878. Monroe started out as "Monroe at Park Place." When the great Northern Railway survey was finalized and the tracks were planned to cross wood's Creek at the county road about a mile farther east, the businessmen at Park Place saw that their prosperity depended on moving their shops to the rail line. The post office was moved there as well, abandoning Park Place, and the name Monroe was chosen for the budding community along the railway. Arlington did not chage its name, but the original center of business was at Haller City, north and across the river from Arlington, founded in 1888.. By 1890, J. W. McLeod had come to the area with his pet project, founding a town named for Lord Henry Arlington, a member of the nororious "Cabal" cabinet of Charles II of England. Again, a railway's decision to locate its station made all the difference. The Seattle, Lakeshore and Eastern Railway favored the Arlington plat rather than Haller City. True to form, the businesses of Haller City began to move toward the train station, knowing their future depended upon this vital connection. The Great Northern Railway"s decision to locate its station a mile east of Stanwood, at a location that became the competing town of East Standwood, effectively created a dual community that lasted until 1960, when the two cities finally combined as one. Having the station a mile east of town resulted in John Hall's entrepreneurial scheme which produced the "World's Shortest Railway," the H. & H., that shuttled goods from the East Stanwood station to the established older town. River access was important to all three towns long before rail lines were even a possibility. Homesteaders of all three areas depended, in the earliest days, upon canoe travel and the expertise of Native Americans who were familiar with waterways of Puget Sound and the inland rivers. They often hired these skilled people to ferry their goods upriver loaded on canoes, sometimes lashed together to form a sort of catamaran for transport of heavy loads. Travel by water was much easier than trying to hack through virgin timber before roads were created. And the ride was much smoother than trying to take a wagon down a bumpy puncheon road with bogs, marshes, fallen timber and gigantic tree roots in the way. Steamships of the popular "Mosquito Fleet" regularly served Stanwood from Puget Sound; others went up to Monroe on the Snohomish River. Arlington had only sporadic service as the Stillaguamish River was often blocked by huge logjams. All three cities had their major industries in addition to logging and farming which dominated the exconomic scene. Remnants of these industries are visible today and serve as landmarks of the communities. In Arlington, there is the condensery, a huge building used for transforming raw milk into canned, condensed and powdered milk. It was built in 1920 by the Snohomish Copunty Darymen's Association using the trademark, "Darigold." In Monroe, another condensery was built in 1908 by the Pacific Coast Milk Products Co., later called "Carnation Co." It had its won brick powerhouse and a railroad spur to serve it. Two large smokestacks marked the site; one of them 60 ft. high and five feet in diameter. Although the condensery has been gone for years, one of the smokestacks still stands and is used as a meeting spot for locals and those from out of town. Stanwood had a condensery as well, built in 1914 by Pacific Coast Milk Products. In aaddition it had a major cannery which evolved into Twin City Foods, still a thriving concern. It also had a lumber mill along the river and the smokestack for that mill stands as another community landmark, now decorated with a huge numeral "100" overlaying the repainted "Hamilto Lbr. Co." sign. All these cities have long and varied histories and many publications are available for those who want to delve into the past in detail. Some were written years ago, such as The Stanwood Story by Alice Essex, drawing heavily upon back issues of the Stanwood News. The Stanwood Historical Society has also produced a new pictorial history written by Karen Prasse, a highly respected historian of the area. The Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society came out in early 2003 with its pictorial history, Arlington Centennial: 1903 - 2003 and Monroe's history has been documented in two volumes by Nellie Robertson. All of the publications noted can be purchased at local museums. It is a credit to each community that these cities have museums which thrive; Stanwood's Pearson House, the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Museum in Arlington, and in Monroe, a museum converted from, and and thereby saving, the old City Hall. A visit this year to any of these centennial cities will be filled with opportunities to celebrate the past and enjoy the offerings of communities that, in spsite of recent growth, still retain a "small town" feeling. End of article, except to say that there is a PIX captioned: Stanwood's D.O. Pearson House, still a landmark in this Centennial Year. -photo couresty of stnwood historical society. (near turn of the last century group of persons standing in front of the house. What a far cry from the hustle, bustle of traffic and people among these historical places over the 100 yrs. of time. Carroll in Snohomish * * * 30 * * *