Editing Marysville, Washington (section)

===Foundation and early history===
[[File:Marysville Hotel and Marysville Cooperative Association, 1912.jpg|thumb|left|Front Street in Marysville, pictured in 1912]]

Marysville was established in 1872 by government-appointed [[Indian agent]] James P. Comeford, an Irish immigrant who had served in the [[U.S. Civil War|Civil War]], and his wife Maria as a [[trading post]] on the [[Tulalip Indian Reservation]]. The reservation, located to the west of modern-day Marysville, was established by the [[Point Elliot Treaty]] of 1855, signed by local Native American tribes and territorial governor [[Isaac Stevens]] at modern-day [[Mukilteo, Washington|Mukilteo]]. The treaty's signing opened most of [[Snohomish County, Washington|Snohomish County]] to American settlement and commercial activities, including logging, fishing and trapping.<ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite web |last=Dougherty |first=Phil |date=July 26, 2007 |title=Marysville — Thumbnail History |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/8227 |work=[[HistoryLink]] |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref><ref name="IllustHistory">{{cite book |editor1-last=Hastie |editor1-first=Thomas P. |editor2-last=Batey |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Sisson |editor3-first=E.A. |editor4-last=Graham |editor4-first=Albert L. |title=An Illustrated History of Skagit and Snohomish Counties |pages=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00inte/page/345 345]–349 |chapter=Chapter VI: Cities and Towns |publisher=Interstate Publishing Company |location=Chicago |year=1906 |lccn=06030900 |oclc=11299996 |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00inte |via=[[The Internet Archive]] |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref>

The timber industry was the largest active industry in the area during the 1860s and 1870s, with hillsides in modern-day Marysville cleared by loggers for dairy farms. The Comefords' trading post accepted business from the reservation and logging camps that were established near the mouth of the [[Snohomish River]]. In 1874, Comeford acquired three timber claims from local loggers for $450, totaling  {{convert|1280|acre|km2}}, and cleared the land in preparation for settlement. Comeford and his wife moved to the present site of Marysville in 1877, building a new store and [[wharf]].<ref name="HistoryLink"/> Although Marysville remained a one-man town until 1883, a [[post office]] and [[school district]] were both established by 1879 using the names and signatures of Native American neighbors of Comeford's, who were given [[Anglicisation of names|"Boston" names]] for the petition. Comeford completed construction of a two-story hotel in 1883 to welcome new settlers from outside the region.<ref name="HistoryLink-Comeford">{{cite web |last=Dougherty |first=Phil |date=October 5, 2007 |title=Comeford, James Purcell (1833–1909) |url=http://www.historylink.org/File/8309 |work=HistoryLink |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Comeford |first=T. F. |editor-last=Wilhelm |editor-first=Honor L. |date=November 1908 |title=Marysville, Washington |journal=The Coast |publisher=The Coast Publishing Company |location=Seattle |volume=XVI |issue=5 |pages=329–332 |oclc=81457448 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LARAAAAYAAJ |via=Google Books |access-date=March 18, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Herbert |last2=Kaylor |first2=Floyd C. |year=1917 |title=Washington, West of the Cascades: Historical and Descriptive |page=[https://archive.org/details/washingtonwestc00kaylgoog/page/n577 395] |publisher=[[S. J. Clarke Publishing Company]] |location=Chicago |oclc=10086413 |url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonwestc00kaylgoog |via=Internet Archive |access-date=April 10, 2017}}</ref>

The origin of the settlement's name, Marysville, remains disputed.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Banel |first=Feliks |date=September 6, 2019 |title=All Over The Map: Marysville named for a cannibal? |url=https://mynorthwest.com/1502569/marysville-cannibal-name/ |publisher=[[KIRO-FM|KIRO Radio]] |access-date=September 6, 2019}}</ref> According to the Marysville Historical Society, it was to be named Mariasville for Maria Comeford, but was changed to Marysville after the postal department identified a similarly-named town in Idaho.<ref>{{cite news |last=Powell |first=Steve |date=May 22, 2018 |title=Museum turns 1, exhibits much older than that |url=http://www.marysvilleglobe.com/life/museum-turns-1-exhibits-much-older-than-that/ |work=[[Marysville Globe]] |access-date=September 6, 2019}}</ref> Among the first residents to arrive in the area in the 1880s were James Johnson and Thomas Lloyd, who allegedly suggested that the town be named for their previous home of [[Marysville, California]].<ref name="IllustHistory"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Meany |first=Edmond S. |author-link=Edmond S. Meany |year=1923 |title=Origin of Washington Geographic Names |page=160 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |oclc=1963675 |url=http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/9548/Ori_Of_Was_Geo_Nam.pdf |via=[[Oregon State University|Oregon State University Libraries]] |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> Comeford sold his store and wharf to settlers Mark Swinnerton and Henry B. Myers in 1884, and moved north to the Kellogg Marsh (now part of Marysville) to farm {{convert|540|acre}} of land he purchased.<ref name="HistoryLink-Comeford"/>

Marysville was formally [[plat]]ted on February 25, 1885, filed by the town physician J. D. Morris and dedicated by the Comefords.<ref name="HistoryLink-Comeford"/> More settlers began to arrive after the completion of the town's first [[sawmill]] in 1887, joined by three others by the end of the decade.<ref name="HistoryLink"/> Marysville was officially [[municipal incorporation|incorporated]] as a [[City government in Washington (state)|fourth-class]] city on March 20, 1891, with a population of approximately 400 residents and Mark Swinnerton serving as the city's first mayor.<ref name="IllustHistory"/> The [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] also completed construction of its tracks through Marysville in 1891, building a [[drawbridge]] over Ebey Slough and serving the city's sawmills.<ref>{{cite book |last=Semple |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene Semple |date=October 10, 1891 |title=First Report of the Harbor Line Commission of the State of Washington |page=115 |chapter=Appendix |publisher=O. C. White, State Printer |location=Olympia, Washington |oclc=41141497 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m48LAQAAIAAJ |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref> A newspaper named the ''[[Marysville Globe]]'' was established by Thomas P. Hopp in 1892 and continues to be published in the city.<ref name="HistoryLink"/>