Decades of county’s
pastimes on display

Snohomish County Business Journal/KIMBERLY HILDEN Photographs and news accounts detail Snohomish County's passion for baseball, basketball and other sports in a new exhibit at the Museum of Snohomish County History. Overall, the exhibit is about "hometown pride and fan loyalty," says Eric Taylor, the museum's executive director.

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” — David C. McCullough, author and historian

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

History museums often are on a tourist’s must-see list when traveling to a new destination because they provide a depth of knowledge about a place even if the visitor only has a day or two to spend there.

But what if a person has years to spend there? Well, then that depth of knowledge becomes enriched with personal connections, as a place’s and a person’s history become intertwined.

Such is the case with the Museum of Snohomish County History’s newest exhibit, “Pastimes in Snohomish County: A Look Back at Baseball & Other Sports.”

Museum of Snohomish County History Address: 1913 Hewitt Ave., Everett, WA 98201 Phone: 425-259-2022 Web site: www.SnoCoMuseum.org Hours of operation: 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday Other historical museums in Snohomish County Edmonds-South Snohomish County Historical Society Museum Address: 118 Fifth Ave. N., Edmonds, WA 98020 Phone: 425-774-0900 Web site: www.historicedmonds.org Hours of operation: 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday Granite Falls Historical Museum Address: 109 E. Union St., Granite Falls, WA 98252 Phone: 360-691-2603 Web site: www.gfhistory.org Hours of operation: noon to 5 p.m. Sunday Lake Stevens Museum Address: 1802 124th Ave. NE, Lake Stevens, WA 98258 Phone: 425-334-3944 Hours of operation: 1 to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday For a full listing of the county’s historical museums, go online to the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s Web site, www.snohomish.org.

The exhibit, which began showing in September and runs through spring 2007, focuses on the significance of local sports teams through photos and newspaper articles, said Eric Taylor, executive director of the museum.

“Some of the descriptions are very colorful,” Taylor said of turn-of-the-century sports writing.

The core of the exhibit is on loan from the Edmonds-South Snohomish County Historical Society Museum and highlights the baseball history of communities throughout the county, beginning in 1877, when baseball arrived in the area in the form of Snohomish and Lowell baseball clubs.

Researched by Dave Larson, author of “Wide Awakes, Invincibles & Smokestackers: Early Baseball in Tall Timber Country,” the exhibit reveals that professional baseball didn’t make its local debut in 1984 with the arrival of the Everett Giants, but some 79 years earlier with the Smokestackers.

Also of note are photos and a baseball card of Jimmy Claxton, a pitcher in Mukilteo in 1922-23 and in Edmonds in 1925. But before that, in 1916, he was the first player “to break the color barrier” in organized baseball, playing briefly for the Oakland Oaks, part of the Pacific Coast League.

Baseball luminary and Snohomish native Howard Earl Averill also is part of the exhibit. Known as the “Earl of Snohomish,” he was a six-time All-Star and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And then there are the lesser known, but no less interesting, athletes recorded on film — Little Leaguers from decades past, blue-collar workers who took part in “industrial leagues” at the turn of the century and military personnel who made up the Paine Field teams in the 1940s.

Museum of Snohomish County History: background and programs Started in 1954, the Museum of Snohomish County History has operated in the Everett Public Library, at Legion Park and, now, in an 800-square-foot gallery at 1913 Hewitt Ave. in downtown Everett. “We’ve been looking for another site almost since the beginning,” said Executive Director Eric Taylor, noting that the organization uses about 6,000 square feet of off-site space to store its exhibit pieces not in use. The nonprofit organization is funded through donations, membership fees and grants, holding a direct-mail fundraising campaign and a wine-tasting fundraiser annually, Taylor said. Along with the nearly 3,000 visitors it attracts annually with its changing exhibits, the museum also draws an average of 50 attendees to its regular programs held at the Everett Public Library. In October, the museum’s program was “History from a Tin Can,” featuring Douglas Rhoades, the collector and author of “Labels, Leadville and Lore,” a book detailing his collection of some of the oldest intact food tins found in the United States. This month, the museum will hold a program on the Everett Massacre at 2 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Everett Public Library, featuring historian David Dilgard, who will discuss the deadly 1916 incident between union organizers and citizen sheriff’s deputies that left a dozen dead and nearly 30 wounded. For more information on the museum or its programs, call 425-259-2022.

One 1943 Paine Field photo shows an all-black team of baseball players; the following year shows an interracial team — even though it was a time when “the military was segregated and so was professional baseball,” Taylor noted.

Along with baseball, the “Pastimes” exhibit captures the excitement of early high school sports. There are front pages of Everett High School’s Kodak student newspaper from 1920 and 1921 on display as well as information on Enoch Bagshaw, the football coach who led Everett High School past East Tech High of Cleveland, Ohio, to win the United States Championship in 1920.

The exhibit also acknowledges sports teams of today, with memorabilia from the AquaSox (bobblehead of J.J. Putz included) and the Silvertips.

Overall, the exhibit is about “hometown pride and fan loyalty” Taylor said.

From the Smokestackers to the Silvertips, they are themes that have endured in Snohomish County for more than a century — and are worth examining firsthand to make a personal connection.