Genealogy-Clark |
December 30, 2004 |
Great-great Uncle John J. and the Westward Movement
From the Everett Daily Herald 12-25-1914 Hale and hearty, J. J. Clark, a real pioneer of Everett, celebrated his 76th birthday anniversary yesterday. He was here before Everett really arrived, and has been closely identified with the city' progress from the time the first surveys were run. He came to Everett in 1891, and for 23 years had been an optimist among the most optimistic in regards to the certainty of the city's future. Much that he foresaw years ago has been realized, but the progress toward that ultimate Everett he has long cherished is still in the making, but each year brings the community a bit nearer the vision seen by Clark years ago, and he is content. "This is my 76th birthday", he stated yesterday. "I have been in active business on my own account for 58 years and never lost a day from my office. On applying to enlist in the United States army in 1861 for the North, I was turned down by the medical department at Fort Porter, Buffalo, for physical inability and advised to take lessons in physical culture to increase heart and long power Since then I have followed directions and have consequently never been sick and have retained full strength during my business career though I have been subjected to the trial test of several financial reverses. I have never been down by defeat or over-elated with success, but have kept pushing along, realizing that the world has no use for losers. "I first visited Everett in January, 1891, and saw a future for the city as the greatest center for lumbering and its co-industries in the world. Today I have witnessed developments in confirmation of my original impression. Our great present hope is that we will be blessed with city official servants that are honest in the interests of the people so that we older pioneers may finally see the full realization of our fond anticipations." (A bit of arithmetic returns a birth date of December 24, 1838. As you no doubt instantly remembered, the president of the US was Martin van Buren, Texas had been independent for two years, and the British empire was ruled by the newly crowned Victoria. --Ed.) |
Part of the lore surrounding Everett's beginning tells of a chance meeting on a train between Henry Hewitt, the driving force behind the city's founding, and John Judson Clark, a successful middle-aged merchant from Racine, Wisconsin.
Born in Canada to immigrant parents from Scotland, J.J. Clark entered the mercantile business at a young age after moving to Oshkosh and then Racine. Following several successful years in those locations, Clark began scouting around for more temperate climes to escape Midwest winters. Clark considered Salt Lake City as a possibility for relocating his business, but on a train ride to Tacoma in the early 1890s, was persuaded by Hewitt to move to the new town on Port Gardner Bay.
Clark was impressed with Hewitt's plans for a diversified industrial metropolis that showed good prospects for retail trade. Clark went so far as to accompany Hewitt to New York to meet with other city founders and to pick out what he considered a prime spot for a mercantile.
While in New York, Clark was witness to another episode steeped in local lore, the naming of the city. As the story goes, Clark, Hewitt and W.J. Rucker were dining with the Charles Colby family, when Hewitt asked the name of Colby's teenage son, who was devouring a dessert. When told that the boy's name was "Everett," Hewitt is reported to have said, "He wants the best of everything. We want the best of everything for our new city. We'll name it Everett."
Following the New York trip, J.J. Clark traveled to the newly christened community on Puget Sound to oversee the construction of his store building at the southeast corner of Hewitt and Wetmore. Clark's substantial brick structure represented a glimpse of future permanence within a raw environment. Everett pioneer author, Rosie Weborg, described Clark's construction as "a three-story brick building on Wetmore Avenue sitting in a sea of ankle-deep mud among blazing stumps, burning piles of brush and a couple of one-story shacks."
Clark's building may have been a sign of things to come, but it was not all smooth sailing at first. Clark had closed his Racine department store, which employed 40 clerks, and shipped the inventory to Everett. Unfortunately, the boxcars, loaded with store merchandise, arrived 3 months before the Everett building could be completed. A series of material shortages and other problems had delayed construction significantly. Clark moved quickly to solve the dilemma. He hired carpenters to erect a wood building across the street from his unfinished, but imposing, brick structure to provide temporary quarters for his store stock. The frame building, complete with canvas roof, was finished in a week and dubbed the "Wigwam."
Clark immediately began selling, buying and trading from the Wigwam, while construction continued on his permanent store. At that time, Clark's customers came mainly from the surrounding countryside, since Everett's new industrial work force had yet to acquire much buying power. Clark traded with local ranchers and Native Americans. His initial trading with individuals from nearby tribes marked the beginning of a long-standing relationship that would see Clark swap store merchandise for hand-woven baskets and woolen socks. Clark, in turn, sold the socks, known for their warmth, to merchants in St. Paul and the baskets to Marshall-Field's in Chicago. Some of those baskets are purported to be part of the Native American collection at the Field Museum today.
Upon completion of the Clark Department Store in February 1893, Clark moved his $60,000 worth of merchandise into the new building and began catering to the core of Everett's population, which at that time resided in the Riverside area. Clark provided free transportation to his Bayside location around what was then a large swamp extending from Everett to Pacific Avenues and from Broadway east.
When it opened, Clark's store was the largest enterprise of its kind between Seattle and Bellingham. He employed 20 clerks and enjoyed the patronization of farmers and ranchers from as far away as Coupeville and Oak Harbor. Clark's divergent customer base kept him in business despite the economic standstill that hit Everett with the 1893 national panic.
Those lean times prompted Clark to get creative with his assets in order to lift the spirits of the locals. In 1894, he dismantled, moved and rebuilt the Wigwam on a lot behind his department store. With the addition of a wooden roof, the renovated building became the Central Opera House, a theatre and community hall. Rosie Weborg described the building's transformation: "In about 24 hours, the Wigwam rose from its foundation and took off for a destination just south of the Clark Block on Wetmore Avenue, there to depart from its lowly role as a warehouse, to a structure where the great artists of the day were to tread its boards." Introducing a cultural institution to the Bayside during the depression represented a magnanimous gesture on Clark's part, since the enterprise was unlikely to turn a profit in the foreseeable future.
Because of his generous nature, Clark remained a well-regarded businessman and civic booster within the community. Although he sold his department store to Stone & Fisher in 1906, he continued in business with the Clark Investment Company, which dealt in real estate and insurance. The company continued under the direction of Clark's daughter, Dorcas, following his death in 1922.
Today, J.J. Clark's legacy is not readily apparent in Everett. Unlike many of the city's pioneers, Clark does not have a street named for him. His Central Opera House was torn down following a fire in 1916. The formidable Clark Block gave way to the wrecking ball in 1959 making room for what is now the Everett Branch of US Bank. Even the bronze plaque authorized by the city in 1931, when it renamed a park in his honor, appears to be missing from what is now known as Clark Park.
®2004 Snohomish County Museum & Historical Association
Established 1954
Born in Canada to immigrant parents from Scotland, J.J. Clark entered the mercantile business at a young age after moving to Oshkosh and then Racine. Following several successful years in those locations, Clark began scouting around for more temperate climes to escape Midwest winters. Clark considered Salt Lake City as a possibility for relocating his business, but on a train ride to Tacoma in the early 1890s, was persuaded by Hewitt to move to the new town on Port Gardner Bay.
Clark was impressed with Hewitt's plans for a diversified industrial metropolis that showed good prospects for retail trade. Clark went so far as to accompany Hewitt to New York to meet with other city founders and to pick out what he considered a prime spot for a mercantile.
While in New York, Clark was witness to another episode steeped in local lore, the naming of the city. As the story goes, Clark, Hewitt and W.J. Rucker were dining with the Charles Colby family, when Hewitt asked the name of Colby's teenage son, who was devouring a dessert. When told that the boy's name was "Everett," Hewitt is reported to have said, "He wants the best of everything. We want the best of everything for our new city. We'll name it Everett."
Following the New York trip, J.J. Clark traveled to the newly christened community on Puget Sound to oversee the construction of his store building at the southeast corner of Hewitt and Wetmore. Clark's substantial brick structure represented a glimpse of future permanence within a raw environment. Everett pioneer author, Rosie Weborg, described Clark's construction as "a three-story brick building on Wetmore Avenue sitting in a sea of ankle-deep mud among blazing stumps, burning piles of brush and a couple of one-story shacks."
Clark's building may have been a sign of things to come, but it was not all smooth sailing at first. Clark had closed his Racine department store, which employed 40 clerks, and shipped the inventory to Everett. Unfortunately, the boxcars, loaded with store merchandise, arrived 3 months before the Everett building could be completed. A series of material shortages and other problems had delayed construction significantly. Clark moved quickly to solve the dilemma. He hired carpenters to erect a wood building across the street from his unfinished, but imposing, brick structure to provide temporary quarters for his store stock. The frame building, complete with canvas roof, was finished in a week and dubbed the "Wigwam."
Clark immediately began selling, buying and trading from the Wigwam, while construction continued on his permanent store. At that time, Clark's customers came mainly from the surrounding countryside, since Everett's new industrial work force had yet to acquire much buying power. Clark traded with local ranchers and Native Americans. His initial trading with individuals from nearby tribes marked the beginning of a long-standing relationship that would see Clark swap store merchandise for hand-woven baskets and woolen socks. Clark, in turn, sold the socks, known for their warmth, to merchants in St. Paul and the baskets to Marshall-Field's in Chicago. Some of those baskets are purported to be part of the Native American collection at the Field Museum today.
Upon completion of the Clark Department Store in February 1893, Clark moved his $60,000 worth of merchandise into the new building and began catering to the core of Everett's population, which at that time resided in the Riverside area. Clark provided free transportation to his Bayside location around what was then a large swamp extending from Everett to Pacific Avenues and from Broadway east.
When it opened, Clark's store was the largest enterprise of its kind between Seattle and Bellingham. He employed 20 clerks and enjoyed the patronization of farmers and ranchers from as far away as Coupeville and Oak Harbor. Clark's divergent customer base kept him in business despite the economic standstill that hit Everett with the 1893 national panic.
Those lean times prompted Clark to get creative with his assets in order to lift the spirits of the locals. In 1894, he dismantled, moved and rebuilt the Wigwam on a lot behind his department store. With the addition of a wooden roof, the renovated building became the Central Opera House, a theatre and community hall. Rosie Weborg described the building's transformation: "In about 24 hours, the Wigwam rose from its foundation and took off for a destination just south of the Clark Block on Wetmore Avenue, there to depart from its lowly role as a warehouse, to a structure where the great artists of the day were to tread its boards." Introducing a cultural institution to the Bayside during the depression represented a magnanimous gesture on Clark's part, since the enterprise was unlikely to turn a profit in the foreseeable future.
Because of his generous nature, Clark remained a well-regarded businessman and civic booster within the community. Although he sold his department store to Stone & Fisher in 1906, he continued in business with the Clark Investment Company, which dealt in real estate and insurance. The company continued under the direction of Clark's daughter, Dorcas, following his death in 1922.
Today, J.J. Clark's legacy is not readily apparent in Everett. Unlike many of the city's pioneers, Clark does not have a street named for him. His Central Opera House was torn down following a fire in 1916. The formidable Clark Block gave way to the wrecking ball in 1959 making room for what is now the Everett Branch of US Bank. Even the bronze plaque authorized by the city in 1931, when it renamed a park in his honor, appears to be missing from what is now known as Clark Park.
®2004 Snohomish County Museum & Historical Association
Established 1954