Snohomish County awards $100,000 in funding for historic projects
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash., May 22, 2023 – The Snohomish County Historic Preservation Commission recently awarded $100,000 in grant funding to nine local cultural heritage preservation projects:
- The City of Lynnwood was awarded funding for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and accessibility accommodations for the Urban Railcar Exhibit at Heritage Park.
- Sno-Isle Libraries will use funding to digitize Snohomish Times newspapers from 1921-1941. They have already digitized Snohomish Times newspapers from 1910 to the mid-1920.
- The HistoryLink Project will add Snohomish County historical information to HistoryLink.org, an online resource for Washington State history. This year’s grant focus is Snohomish County people, businesses and places that have shaped the county’s history and will include 13 new articles and an online self-guided walking tour.
- The Lake Stevens Historical Society will use funding to digitize its remaining newspaper collections as well as an early school newspaper, and several smaller short-lived local papers. The digitization will preserve some of the more fragile newspapers and make them available to the public online.
- The Sno-Isle Genealogical Society Project was awarded funding to digitize the Edmonds Tribune from 1908 to 1927 and further, if funding allows. This project will make these newspapers available and searchable to the public online.
- The Stillaguamish Pioneer Museum will hire professionals to clean and store fragile glass negatives that contain photographs of early Arlington settler families.
- The Evergreen State Fair Park will replace the deteriorated roof on the beloved Shannahan Cabin. Not only is the cabin an annual stop for many fairgoers at the Evergreen State Fair, but it is also the first building to be placed on the Snohomish County Register of Historic Places.
- The Edmond South Historical Society will create a travelling exhibit in partnership with the historic Edmonds Theatre which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary.
- The Monroe Historical Society will complete the digitization of the Monroe Monitor from 1980 to 1999.
“Snohomish County is rich with history, but sometimes our cultural heritage needs extra dollars to help in the completion of the preservation work in our community,” said Gretchen Kaehler, the Snohomish County Archaeologist and manager of the grant program. “The Historic Preservation Grant can help make a difference.”
In 2007, Snohomish County Council created the Historic Preservation Commission to provide financial assistance to a variety of projects related to the protection and preservation of archeological and historical resources. The Commission utilizes a recording document surcharge of $1 to help fund historical programs. The funding from the recording fee is used to provide preservation information but also to fund projects preserving the uniqueness of Snohomish County’s local history. The Snohomish County Historic Preservation Commission Grant Program was started in 2009 with the purpose of funding and promoting historic preservation projects across the county to educate residents on their past.
This year, The Historic Preservation Grant received 13 applications amounting to $178,000 in funding requests.
SOURCE: Snohomish County Government