History of Camano/Camano City

History of Camano/Camano City. . , History Of Camano/Camano City , (Early records often interchanged these place names)

In 1898 the Esary brothers with assistance from Porter Garrison and sons established one of Camano's major logging companies, in the area surrounding the schoolhouse. They also collaborated as landowners and developers.

From 1908 to 1910 the Camano Commercial Company operated a narrow-gauge, logging railway that climbed the hill along the north side of nearby Chapman Creek.

Between 1900 and 1910 local entrepreneurs touted "Camano” as growing, vibrant "metropolis” with unlimited potential. An inland acre sold for $20 to $40. A waterfront acre sold for $75.

When the schoolhouse was built around 1905, Camano City was a thriving community with two hotels, a general store, post office, a blacksmith, several shingle mills, a boatyard, and Saratoga Passage wharf. A variety of "steamers" provided frequent ferry services, west to Whidbey, south to Seattle, to points north on Camano Island and along the Skagit River.

But, by 1927 the Camano Commercial Company dissolved, and dreams of "Camano City” as a major "metropolis” were long past.

At the Camano City Schoolhouse and Community Hall, the Camano Schoolhouse Foundation/CSF will recreate the distinctive yesteryear ambience of a 1905 classroom. The rejuvenated Community Hall will become a rental venue for a diverse mix of family Education and and entertainment events that illuminate and Preserve for Posterity, the intriguing history of all eras of early Camano Island life. ,