Carnegie Library
The Edmonds Carnegie Library building is one of only 271 of the original 1,681 Carnegie Grant Libraries still in use. In 1909, Reverend Lockwood acquired a $5000 Carnegie grant for a library building. The classical brick structure was dedicated on February 10, 1911. The books were housed in the upper level, with Edmonds city offices, meeting rooms, and jail cells on the lower level.
After relocation of both the library and the city offices in 1962, the Carnegie library building became home to Edmonds' Parks and Recreation Department. In the early 1970s, when the Parks and Recreation Department relocated to the Frances Anderson Center, members of the newly formed Edmonds-South Snohomish Historical Society approached the City with a proposal to transform the building into an historical museum. The South Snohomish Edmonds Historical Museum opened in August of 1973.
Ganahl-Hanley Log Cabin
Edmonds iconic log cabin, currently home to the Edmonds Visitor's Center, was originally built in the 1930s on the estate of Seaview Heights resident Gaston Ganahl. He commissioned a builder who had worked on the Yellowstone National Park guest cabins to create his hand-hewn Douglas fir log house from trees surrounding the building site.
The second owners, Lee and Dorie Hanley, donated the cabin to the City of Edmonds in 1975. The 26-foot-tall building made an historic 2-day journey from Seaview Heights to 5th Ave. N. and Bell St, with utility crews unhooking and reconnecting overhead wires as the cabin made its way to its new location.
In 1990, the cabin became the Edmonds Visitors Center, and a grassroots effort to restore the cabin raised over $100,000 from individual private donations, ensuring its survival into the new century.