The Charles Lettelier Bungalow

View from Baker Ave

A bungalow from the Craftsman era, this one-story home has a dual-pitched roof, full-width front porch, and 7 rooms. The living room, dining room, and master bedroom have ten foot coved ceilings. The second bedroom includes an original light fixture. The bathroom has the original tub and has not been remodeled except for a replaced pedestal sink and the WC. Only the kitchen was remodelled, probably in the 1940s, and the butler's pantry is now a utility room. There is a 2/3 basement with original forced-air ducting. The original knob and tube wiring went to ceiling lights in the center of each room. Only the major rooms had wall switches. Three rooms had only five electrical outlets. Three were in the living room, and one in each bedroom. The bathroom originally had a wall-mounted toilet tank. Little has changed in the house, probably due to the Everett economy from the Lettelier's ownership until recent years.

Everett's tremendous growth

Everett's first neighborhood (if you consider Lowell a separate town) was Riverside, starting in 1892. The first decade of the 1900's saw much growth in Everett, the "City of Smokestacks". By 1908, 29,050 citizens lived where fifteen years earlier was "an impenetrable virgin forest". It had electric street railways, water/sewer, two telephone systems with 3400 telephones, gas works, electric lights, and a theatre that would be a credit to any eastern city, nine letter carriers. Industries included lumber and shingles, arsenic, turpentine, creosote, paper mill, and tannery were some of the employers.

The Everett Box Company

Walter and Charles Lettelier, with their brother Roy and father George started a business they had known in California -- box shooks, berry baskets, and fruit packages. Walter was the president, Charles vice president of the Everett Box Company. The Letteliers arrived in Everett in 1905. George, the father, died in 1906. In 1907 they all lived at 2912 Maple.

Business must have gone well. The factory was located near 3rd Street in Lowell, and warehouse on 32nd and Walnut. Both had the same phone number: 42. Charles got the deed to 2510 Baker for $1000. The Letteliers had several other legal transactions, including deeds for several other properties.

The Charles Lettelier House was built about the same time as many homes on the 2500 block of Baker, in 1908. The water was turned on May 18th of that year. A 1914 insurance map of Everett shows the house in present layout, plus three outbuildings near the alley.

Charles' brother Walter H. Lettelier built a larger four-square home a few houses further north at 2430 Baker. That house has the same roof, gable, and porch features as 2510 Baker.

The 1911 Polk directory includes Clara Lettelier. Did they marry in Everett or earlier? Charles pays $225 in taxes for 1916. Meanwhile, Roy is proprieter/manager of the Riverside Theatre, residing at 2913 Pacific Ave.

Fire!

But the heady days of early industrialism had its tragedies. The September 18, 1916 Everett Daily Herald had the large headline "Box Factory is Totally Destroyed in Spectacular Fire". Due to inadequate water service, fire fighters waged a difficult battle using water from from the Haynes tannery 1000 feet away. 600 feet of the interurban trestle caught fire. The nearby Walton Mill was barely saved. 1000 motor cars of spectators from Everett and Snohomish watched the flames. High voltage wires fell and sputtered with blue flames. Estimated loss was $25,000 (partially insured).

After the fire, records from Polks Directory of the Letteliers disappear, except for Roy. George's wife left a large unsettled estate in New York City worth many millions of dollars. Perhaps they went back to NYC to fight for their millions. Charles and family show up in the 1920 census in southern California.

Post-Lettelier years

The house appears to have changed hands frequently for the next couple decades. Little is known until the Polk directory lists by address. In 1932, Stoney (Solveng) Anderson is a shipping clerk at Lee Grocery Co. Florence (clerk) and Samuel J (laborer) and Malinda Klatt live there in 1937. John Poat, millworker at WTCo and his wife Marie had the home in 1939.

In 1941, Ingvald Berg and his wife Martha C own the house for 36 years. Ingvald goes through many jobs as a millworker, then warehouseman for Washington Co-operative Egg and Poultry Association, then as a janitor for Washington Co-op Farmers Assocation, then a laborer for CB Lumber and Shingle, then a janitor at Collins Casket by 1954. Ingvald and Martha's phone number was ALpine 2-3475. Martha was listed as a retired widow through 1977. An assessors document shows the house was in poor condition in 1974: "82 year old widow, ill, unable to check all of interior, but was was observed needed help in and out."

In 1978, IE and Zena H Bonebrake are shown as retired homeowners. In 1981, an employee of General Telephone is homeowner. She retires and moves in 1986. The carport and replumbing is done about 1999, by a couple who moves to another old house on Rockefeller Ave. Another couple work on cosmetic fixes, then sell it in 2002. They also move within Everett. A retired woman from the SE US buys it, but sells to the present ownerafter only 7 months.