First Street still faces the river. Snohomish, WA is a city of 10,770 (OFM, 2026) on the north bank of the Snohomish River where the Pilchuck joins it, in central Snohomish County. Its 26-block historic district, a riverfront trail and the southern end of the Centennial Trail shape daily life in a town that was the county seat for 36 years, until Everett took the title in 1897.
From Cadyville to county seat
Settlers staked claims at the confluence in 1859, and Edson Cady’s post office gave the place its first name, Cadyville. The city’s history page says the name Snohomish arrived in 1871, when a new plat joined E. C. Ferguson’s claim to the Sinclairs’ at Union Avenue. Ferguson platted numbered streets and lettered avenues; Mary and Woodbury Sinclair named theirs for trees.
The town won the county seat by vote in July 1861. HistoryLink tells how Ferguson came back from Mukilteo with the county records in his vest pocket, and how the seat went to Everett in 1897 after a three-year fight. On June 26, 1890, residents voted 360 to 21 to incorporate as a city of the third class, HistoryLink records.
What is First Street like today?
Two layers of protection overlap here. In 1973 Snohomish became the first city in the county to pass an ordinance creating a local historic district, the city says, and HistoryLink notes that since 1973 a 26-block area along the river, a mix of commercial and residential buildings, has also been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city’s Design Review Board, an advisory body created in 1979, reviews development in the district.
Two buildings anchor a short walk. The 1910 Carnegie Building on Cedar Avenue no longer holds a library, but the city calls it the oldest public building in town. The Blackman House Museum, built in 1878 from lumber the Blackman brothers milled, is the home of the Snohomish Historical Society. Since 2021, interpretive signs on First Street kiosks have turned the district into a self-guided tour, according to HistoryLink.
Where do people walk and ride?
The Riverfront Trail is a one-third-mile accessible path with benches, fishing access and interpretive signs, and with First Street and Maple Avenue it forms a one-mile loop; trailheads sit at Cady Park, Avenue A and Avenue D. The Centennial Trail begins here; the city describes it as a 30-mile paved trail on the old Burlington Northern line that ends in Skagit County, north of Arlington.
Smaller paths fill in the map: a half-mile Powerline Trail to forested wetlands north of Blackmans Lake, and a half-mile levee walk at the Riverview Wildlife Refuge for bird viewing, with a city warning to stay on the trail above the steep riverbank.
Kla Ha Ya Days and the parade calendar
Each July, Kla Ha Ya Days takes over the town; organizers called 2026 the festival’s 113th year. The 2026 festival ran July 15–19, with a carnival at Harvey Field, the parade on First Street on Saturday morning, a street fair, and a car show at Stocker Farms. A balloon glow followed at Harvey Field on July 25.
How do you get around from Snohomish?
Community Transit lists four routes here as of October 2026: Route 109 to Lake Stevens Transit Center and Ash Way Park & Ride, Routes 270 and 271 between Everett Station and Gold Bar, and Route 908 between Snohomish Park & Ride and Bellevue. From Everett Station, Sounder trains run to Seattle during weekday commute hours.
Living here
Brick on First Street, a river that still rises and falls with the moon, a trail that starts where the railroad ran: Snohomish keeps its nineteenth-century plat in plain view. Thinking about buying near First Street, or selling a house in the older blocks? Chase Hedin, Managing Broker, can walk you through how the historic district, the riverside streets and the drives toward Everett and Monroe fit your plans. Start a conversation · What’s my home worth?