Mountlake Terrace History You May Not Know

Hi neighbors,

“To know a history is to grow in intimacy with a place.” That line, from Laura Poppick’s new book Strata: Stories from Deep Time, has been echoing in my head this week. Strata traces Earth’s deep history, showing how ancient events shaped the planet we live on today. It is about learning to read the stories written in stone and soil.

Reading that, I thought of Mountlake Terrace, and how knowing our own history makes us feel more rooted here. Which is why I want to recommend another book, one that is much closer to home: Mountlake Terrace: A History of Four Square Miles by local resident and retired teacher Randal Gravelle.

Many of the stories in Randal’s book I already knew. But many I heard for the first time. It covers everything from mammoths roaming this land, to Coast Salish presence, to a trolley line that once ran through, to the postwar boom that created the city. It tells of Boeing layoffs, tax revolts, local political fights, murder mysteries and even the rise of gangs in the 1990s. The book is full of old photos and surprising details that make you see familiar streets in a new light.

Randal describes Mountlake Terrace as “a mirror in miniature of the American story.” That framing really stuck with me. This four-square-mile city reflects so many of the broader cultural, economic, and political shifts we have gone through as a country.

One of the parts that struck me most was his honest look at the city’s origins as a whites-only development, even after the Supreme Court had ruled those covenants unenforceable. In the 1960 census, Mountlake Terrace counted just twelve Black residents. Randal tells the stories of several of them, showing what it meant to make a home and a life in a community that had officially tried to keep them out. Those stories add a depth and humanity to our city’s past that I had never seen captured before.

Another passage I loved is about the way the original developers thought about young families. As LaPierre explained, “With an eye on the nation’s rising birth rate, we figured that a young couple would need an inexpensive home to start with, but as more children were born, would want to expand their first home rather than move to a larger place.” Or, more plainly, “Once you have a slab and a roof, any palooka or piano player can add a room.”

In a more candid moment, LaPierre admitted that he and his team called them the “Minus, Minus Houses.” He said, “In this first house, there were 29 things missing. We didn’t have a back door, and do you know people would go in and out of that house and never notice it? We didn’t have any shades, for example. Hell, you go buy them yourselves! The cabinets in the kitchen? Hell, there were no doors to them.”

Despite all that, the developers came up with creative ways to make the houses affordable. They sold refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, and dryers for a dollar each, folding the true cost into the monthly mortgage so new couples would not be scared off.

What makes this book so powerful is that it is not just a record of dates. It is the story of people and place shaping one another. You meet community builders like Lillian Boot, who stood up against threats and fought for political power, and Pat McMahan, who at just 23 helped incorporate the city. You see the struggles and the resilience of a community still finding its way.

For me, this project has a personal connection too. Years ago, while helping run a Mountlake Terrace history page on Facebook, I worked on digitizing thousands of old photos with the Mountlake Terrace Community Foundation. Some of those photos ended up in the book, and to my surprise, I was acknowledged in the back. That was a first for me, and it meant a lot. Thanks Randal.

If you are curious, you can find the book on Amazon, or better yet, hear Randal speak about it later this fall and pick up a copy in person.

Event details:
Mountlake Terrace: A History of Four Square Miles
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 10:00 to 11:00 AM
Wickers Building at Heritage Park, 19921 Poplar Way, Lynnwood
Free event with coffee and donuts, hosted by the Lynnwood-Alderwood Manor Heritage Association.

I hope some of you will pick up the book or come out to the event. To know a history is to grow in intimacy with a place, and this book has deepened that intimacy for me. I think it will for you too.

Until next time,
Dustin