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Mount Vernon was able to beat out LaConner and Anacortes to become the County seat in 1884; and was incorporated six years later on June 27, 1890 (the incorporation petition and associated documents were received and filed with the Secretary of State on July 6, 1890).
Becoming an incorporated City was quite the process for Mount Vernon; click here for a chronology of the events leading up to the City’s incorporation. On June 27, 1890 the first general election was held and the City’s first Mayor Mr. C. D. Kimball; and Councilmen: Mr. J. B. Moody, Mr. G. E. Hartson, Mr. L. R. Martin, Mr. M. McNamara, Mr. William Murdock, Treasurer: Mr. V. E. Campbell were elected. Mayor Kimball and the Council appointed Mr. F. G. Pickering, City Clerk; Mr. F. E. Pape, Police Judge; and Mr. E. H. Vaughn, City Marshal. Mr. Hartson acted as Clerk for the meeting. Council meetings were scheduled weekly on Wednesday evenings. Interestingly, Council continues to meet on Wednesday's to this very day.
In 1912, the Sanborn Map Company lists the City population at 2,600. Following is a link to ten maps that Sanborn created for the City at this point in time. These maps identify buildings that existed, what they were constructed of, and other related details. Click here for a link to these maps.
Along the Skagit River, between the City and the sound there was at least 15 streamboats documented in 1889. The Great Northern Railway finished construction of their rail line through Mount Vernon in 1891. There were major floods in 1892 and 1894 that motivated the construction of a massive levee system in 1894. These floods were likely also the reason that homes began to be constructed on ‘the hill’ as it was referred to then and now. As the residential population began to shift to the hill, other public buildings including Lincoln and Roosevelt Schools were also constructed there.
In 1960 the City’s first Comprehensive Plan was created and adopted. Copies of this document are available are the City Library and at the Community & Economic Development Department.
The 1970s marked the first large scale increase in the City of the City with an annexation of 2.32 square miles. Click here for a map that identifies all of the annexations that have occurred within the City over time.
There have been a number of books written that document the history of Mount Vernon. Following is a list of some of these books and other resources where information on Mount Vernon’s history can be found:
The Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties
Their People, Their Commerce and Their Resources with an outline of the early history of State of Washington endorsed was authentic by local committees of pioneers published in 1906
Chechacos All: The Pioneering of Skagit - 1973 by a committee of the Skagit County Historical Society, Margaret Willis, editor
Skagit County Grows Up 1917 - 1941
Edited by Helen O'Brien Barrett, Anne Summers Carlson and Margaret Wilis
Skagit County Historical Society 1983
Skagit Settlers: trials and triumphs, 1890 - 1920
By a committee of the Skagit County Historical Society, Margaret Willis, editor. 1975
Skagit Memories: stories of the Settlement years as written by the pioneers themselves
Charles M. Dwelley, editor, Helen May Dwelley, assistant editor. 1979
The Buildings of Old Skagit County: ten self-guided tours - 1977
Margaret Willis, editor
Walking Tour of Historic Mount Vernon
Dick Fallis. 1986
Skagit County Centennial Almanac, 1883 - 1983
Dick Fallis. 1983
Bridgeside: Selected Stories of Dick Fallis, Skagit County Historian
Compiled by Dick Fallis and Dan Royal. 2012
Sources:
Mount Vernon Comprehensive Plan, Background Analysis. Mount Vernon, WA; 1998.
John Graham and Company. Mount Vernon Comprehensive Plan, History. Mount Vernon, WA; 1960.
Dick Fallis. Walking Tour of Historic Mount Vernon, ‘The Enterprising Town of Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon, WA; 1986.
Noel V. Bourasaw. Skagit River Journal, Jasper Gates: Mount Vernon Pioneer and the related Kimble and Bozarth families. Document accessed via website at on August 28, 2012: www.stumpranchonline.com/skagitjournal, website states that article was posted January 9, 2002 and updated December 15, 2004
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