Everett Engineers history

A shipbuilding plant started on the peninsula's northern tip in 1865, but only one ship was built there, the sloop Rebecca, before the business ended.

Whaleback steamer City of Everett after launch, Everett, October 24, 1894

Soon after the purchase, Weyerhaeuser formed the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, incorporated on January 18, 1900.

In 1928 Everett Packing was purchased by Fisherman's Packing and operated as a co-op.

A primary piece of property on the city's bayside was sold in 1929 to a newly formed Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company, at the foot of 26th Street.

The Bozeman Canning Company began in 1944 on the bayside, and two years later it was renamed the Pictsweet Canning Company, which later became the Everett Fish Company, canning sole and cod caught in Washington waters.

In 1945, Everett and Doctor Jay Forrester of MIT began work on Whirlwind I, the first digital computer at MIT, and the fastest of its time.

When MITRE was established in 1958, Everett became its Technical Director.

In 1960 the federal government put the Everett Naval Shipyard up for sale.

In 1964 the company added a large-capacity freezer and started air freighting fish around the world.

EVERETT — Bill Rietkerk picked up his college diploma from the University of Washington’s aeronautical engineering program on a Saturday in 1966.

Rietkerk has been with the company since the Everett plant was built in 1967. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)

1968 — Open for business!

While the days of The Incredibles were over, there was still a sense of purpose in the Everett plant, recalled Bonnie Grisim, who had joined Boeing in 1969.

It opened in 1971, when gas guzzling muscle cars like the Ford Mustang still ruled the road.

Several faltering European aerospace companies collaborated to create Airbus, which saw its first airplane, the A300, take flight in late 1972.

The business was sold in 1973.

1990’s — Our workforce had grown to over 35 employees.

“Were there issues? Sure, there were,” former Boeing Everett manager Jim Johnson said in 2006.

In January of 2011 Kimberly Clark sold the Everett mill.

I’m conducting an oral history interview with Everett A. Weakley on January 13th, 2016.

Boeing expects to hand over the first tanker to the United States Air Force by the end of 2017.

In 2019 the Paine Field Airport opened for passenger flights.