Clark Park: Everett's Oldest Park Heads Into Its 132nd Summer with a New Dog Park, a Gazebo Memory, and a Twist on Where That 1921 Bandstand Is Going

Tennis courts open until 9 p.m. A dog park where the bandstand used to be. And a 1921 gazebo that’s about to live a second life on the other side of town. Here’s where Everett’s oldest park stands as it heads into its 132nd summer.

Where is Clark Park and what makes it special?
Clark Park sits at 2400 Lombard Avenue in Everett’s Bayside neighborhood and is the city’s oldest public park. The City of Everett bought the land in 1894 and renamed it Clark Park in 1931 in honor of pioneer resident John J. Clark. Today the 2.4‑acre park is open 6 a.m. to dusk, has a playground with rubber surfacing, tennis courts available until 9 p.m., a new off‑leash dog area where the historic 1921 gazebo once stood, and benches scattered under mature shade trees.

The Oldest Park in Everett, Quietly Heading Into Its 132nd Summer

If you’ve spent any time in Bayside, you’ve probably crossed Clark Park without realizing what you were walking through. It’s small — 2.4 acres — tucked between Lombard Avenue, Wetmore, and 24th and 25th Streets, just east of the Cathedral District and a short walk from Hewitt and downtown. The kids’ play structure is colorful. The tennis nets get re‑strung every spring. A handful of dog owners are usually leaning on the new fence on a warm afternoon.

What’s easy to miss is the date stamped into the park’s identity on the City of Everett’s own facility page: established 1894. That makes Clark Park older than the public library, older than the high school’s current building, older than the Hartley Mansion up on Rucker Avenue. It opened as “City Park” just three years after Everett was platted. The 1931 rename honored John J. Clark, one of the city’s pioneer residents.

For 130‑plus years, this two‑and‑a‑half acres has been the neighborhood’s living room. Summer band concerts in the gazebo. Easter egg hunts. Protests and prayer gatherings. Pickup basketball before basketball was the dominant pickup sport. There’s old HeraldNet reporting that lists a grandstand, a cannon, and a little house made from a giant stump among the structures that have come and gone here. If you’ve lived in north Everett longer than a decade, you almost certainly have a Clark Park memory.

The 1921 Gazebo — and Where It’s Going Next

The most photographed feature in Clark Park for a century was the gazebo. The City of Everett spent roughly $20,000 in 1921 to build it — about $360,000 in today’s dollars, per HeraldNet’s archival accounting. Architect Benjamin Turnbull designed it. For decades it anchored everything: summer band concerts, civic speeches, wedding photos, religious services, occasional impromptu poetry.

In November 2024, the city carefully disassembled the gazebo to make room for a new off‑leash dog area — a use the surrounding Bayside neighborhood had been asking for over multiple budget cycles. The decision was emotional. A century of north Everett history doesn’t come down without a few residents standing on the sidewalk that day taking pictures.

The news many longtime Clark Park visitors haven’t fully caught up with: the gazebo isn’t gone forever. In March 2026, the city announced plans to recreate the gazebo at Harborview Park, the bluff park along Mukilteo Boulevard on Everett’s west side. According to that HeraldNet report, the rebuild will be “faithful to local architect Benjamin Turnbull’s original design.” The structure will look like the one Bayside grew up with — just standing over the Puget Sound view instead of the Lombard Avenue trees.

So if you go down to Clark Park this spring and squint at the spot where the gazebo used to stand, the right way to read it isn’t “something we lost.” It’s “something the city moved” — and a piece of Everett’s civic memory that’s about to overlook the water.

What’s Actually at Clark Park Right Now

Pulling from the City of Everett’s facility page, here’s the current 2026 layout:

Address: 2400 Lombard Avenue, Everett, WA 98201
Size: 2.4 acres
Hours: 6 a.m. to dusk (tennis courts stay open until 9 p.m.)
Playground with rubberized surfacing, suitable for kids from toddler to about ten
Tennis courts — lit for evening play through 9 p.m.
Off‑leash dog area — the newest addition, built in 2024–2025 on the former gazebo footprint
Shaded lawn and benches — a remarkably good place to read on a sunny weekday afternoon
Contact: 425‑257‑8300 ext. 2 or recreation@everettwa.gov

Street parking on Lombard, 24th, and Wetmore is free and almost always available. There’s no off‑street lot — this is a true neighborhood park, the kind you walk to, not the kind you drive to as a destination.

How Clark Park Fits Into a Bayside Walk

One of the quiet pleasures of Bayside is how walkable the neighborhood’s anchors are. Start at Clark Park, head two blocks west, and you’re on Rucker. Six blocks north and you’re at the Carnegie’s historic shell on Wetmore. Drop south and you’re on Hewitt — restaurants, the Schack Art Center, and the Historic Everett Theatre’s 1901 marquee. A Saturday morning loop that starts at Clark Park, swings through downtown, and ends at Grand Avenue Park’s bluff viewpoint covers most of north Everett’s greatest hits in under two hours.

Clark Park is also a useful landmark if you’re new to Everett. It’s right in the heart of Bayside — one of the city’s most walkable neighborhoods — and it’s the kind of place a long‑time neighbor will mention by name when they’re giving you directions. “Two blocks past Clark Park, on the left.” If you understand where Clark Park sits, you’ve oriented yourself to north Everett.

The Dog Park: What Bayside Asked For, What Bayside Got

The new off‑leash area is the practical news of Clark Park 2026. Off‑leash space is a chronic shortage in dense, older Everett neighborhoods — most of the existing dog parks are at Howarth or Walter E. Hall, both of which require driving for Bayside residents. The Clark Park off‑leash area is the first walking‑distance dog space for several thousand north Everett households.

If you’re using the dog area for the first time: it’s small (this is a 2.4‑acre park, not Marymoor), it’s fenced, and Bayside dog owners have built a real informal community around morning and 5‑p.m. visits. New neighbors typically figure out the social rhythm within a week.

What’s Coming — Memorial Day Through Summer

Memorial Day weekend kicks off the active summer use of Clark Park: playground steady all weekend, tennis courts booked, the shade trees genuinely useful for the first time since October. Bayside has historically had small neighborhood gatherings here through the summer, though the formal “Concerts in the Park” series has long since migrated to other Everett parks now that the gazebo is gone. (Watch this space when the gazebo’s replacement opens at Harborview Park.)

The Bayside Neighborhood Association meets quarterly and has been the long‑running advocate for Clark Park improvements. Their Clark Park history page is a good lay‑reader summary of the park’s 130+ years — written by neighbors, not city staff.

Why Clark Park Still Matters

Cities don’t accidentally hold onto a 2.4‑acre block of land in their oldest neighborhood for 132 years. Clark Park exists because, in 1894, a brand‑new mill town decided some pieces of the map shouldn’t be for sale. Every generation since — the people who built the gazebo in 1921, the parents who lobbied for the playground rebuild in the 2000s, the dog owners who pushed for the off‑leash area in the 2020s — has updated the park rather than replaced it.

That’s a good model for what Everett can be. The gazebo’s going to live again at Harborview Park overlooking the Sound. The dog park is humming through every dry afternoon. And the same shaded lawn that watched 1920s band concerts is watching toddlers learn to walk in 2026. Clark Park is doing what it’s always done. It’s just doing it with a slightly different cast.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the address of Clark Park in Everett?

Clark Park is at 2400 Lombard Avenue, Everett, WA 98201, in the Bayside neighborhood. It is the City of Everett’s oldest public park.

When was Clark Park established?

The City of Everett established Clark Park in 1894 as “City Park.” It was renamed Clark Park in 1931 in honor of pioneer resident John J. Clark, per the city’s official facility records.

What happened to the historic gazebo at Clark Park?

The 1921 gazebo, designed by architect Benjamin Turnbull, was carefully disassembled in November 2024 to make room for a new off‑leash dog area. In March 2026 the City of Everett announced it will recreate the gazebo at Harborview Park along Mukilteo Boulevard, faithful to the original design.

What are Clark Park’s hours?

Clark Park is open 6 a.m. to dusk daily. The tennis courts are available until 9 p.m.

Is there a dog park at Clark Park?

Yes. A fenced off‑leash dog area opened on the former gazebo footprint in 2024–2025. It’s the first walking‑distance off‑leash space for many Bayside households, who previously had to drive to Howarth Park or Walter E. Hall Park.