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The nomina3on to the Na3onal Register centered around how the construc3on and coopera3ve <br />effort to raise funds for the building healed some of the social conflicts that plagued Evere< <br />from early in its history. The City of Evere< began in the early 1890s as a comprehensive <br />industrial development underwri<en by John D. Rockefeller and a syndicate of powerful <br />investors associated with him. Evere<'s rapid rate of growth and the centraliza3on of power in <br />the hands of a few industrialists accentuated the labor problems which accompanied the <br />lumber industry in the Pacific Northwest and the difficulty the ci3zenry experienced establishing <br />successful pa<erns of social interac3on and ethnic assimila3on during the period prior to World <br />War One. In response to these problems, organized labor was building an effec3ve base in <br />Evere< and ci3zens turned to a profusion of clubs and organiza3ons as social outlets within the <br />rela3vely narrow boundaries of their common backgrounds or interests. <br /> <br />Confronta3ons between the working class and the powerful men who controlled the city <br />reached tragic propor3ons in November 1916, when a bloody encounter between labor <br />demonstrators and depu3zed gunmen represen3ng the Commercial Club lek several dead, an <br />event which became known as "The Evere< Massacre." Prior to World War One a<empts to <br />forge a single community from the many poli3cal, ethnic and religious fac3ons within the city <br />had proved unsuccessful but the global conflict provided a rallying point which eroded many of <br />the barriers. <br /> <br />The Knights of Columbus Community Center was perhaps the earliest sign of a new sense of <br />coopera3on and civic spirit generated by the experience of the Great War. The an3-Catholic <br />feeling that flourished in many quarters of the city a decade earlier made the possibility of <br />broad support for such an undertaking seem unlikely. The success of such an ambi3ous effort <br />obviously required a fusion of the support of the mill owners and organized labor, fac3ons that <br />had been literally at war less than four years earlier. Using the renewed patrio3sm and civic <br />pride that followed in the wake of the First World War, the Knights solicited and received the <br />endorsement of both the Commercial Club and the Central Labor Council. The Labor Journal <br />applauded the project with a front page editorial while dona3ons were received amoun3ng to <br />thousands of dollars from banker William Butler and mill owners Roland Hartley and David <br />Clough. A painted thermometer atop the Realty Building recorded the gains of a week-long <br />campaign in June 1920. Each evening the 350 workers, numbering children and veterans in <br />special squads of canvassers, gathered at St. Ann's Hall to count the dona3ons. By the end of <br />the week they had gathered $151,322. and most of it was in cash. <br /> <br />The Evere< Tribune wrote, "In the face of circumstances beyond human control the ci3zens of <br />Evere< and Snohomish County have supported the Knights' campaign in a manner almost <br />incredible." <br /> <br />The building is an architectural landmark in Evere<'s Central District. During the campaign to <br />raise funds for the building's construc3on, full-page newspaper ads pictured a four-story <br />Italianate building which differs considerably from the one eventually built. During the year that <br />elapsed between the fund drive and the actual commencement of construc3on, a more <br />restrained and formal Second Renaissance Revival design was selected which remains one of