The Cicero area is composed of a stretch of fertile valley along the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River.  Grant Creek, named after early settler John Grant, is the largest tributary of the river in the area, flowing down from the northern slopes of the valley near Fraily Mountain.  Bridal Veil Falls, now called Ryan Falls, was a real show stopper for travelers and could easily be admired on the Arlington-Darrington Road or by riding inland on the train.

In 1884 the first white settlers came to the area, a Mr. Ralph Collingwood & his wife. The event was recollected in detail. On the first day of March, 1884, Mr. & Mrs. Collingwood, Ed Fisher, & Mr. Parks pitched their tent at the McEwan place, three miles up the North Fork Stillaguamish River & took possession of an old bachelor cabin. They had been taken up the river by Siwash Friday & his klootchman.  They had reached this place the third day after leaving Stanwood. That night a heavy snow fell & the next morning the men began to cut a trail to Mr. Collingwood’s homestead claim three miles to the west, which required eleven days. Then a cabin was built, the supplies packed in & Mrs. Collingwood, the first white woman on the North Fork Stillaguamish River, along with her canine body guard ‘Shep’, moved into her first home.  They farmed their homestead many years eventually building a substantial dairy herd.  Her husband of 32 years, Mr. Collingwood died at his home on February 5, 1897.  Mrs. Jennie Collingwood soon after sold the dairy farm to Alfred & James Cavanaugh leaving a wilderness life she knew so well and the community that was then called Harmony.

Shortly after the Collingwoods arrived in the valley, Hiram Monty staked a claim in 1885 south of the river and built up a prosperous farm.  Other early homesteaders who settled around the Harmony area were the McNally brothers to the south of the river who cleared land for a sheep ranch and John Grant who, north of the river toward Fraily Mountain was putting in a large orchard of fruit trees. The Fock Brothers, south of the river planted a large apple orchard while Ben Hilderbrand on the north side was building up a successful farm and running the local ferry. Mr. Stephen Cicero and his wife Martha came up river on a two day canoe trip in 1889, bringing family, stove, furniture and provisions.  Mr. Cicero took pre-emption of a remote one hundred and sixty acre claim.  Sometime after the fist road to Cicero was built in 1897, he sold his land buying 20 acres closer to the river, the new road coming in, the wagon road to Kent’s Prairie and anticipating the future railroad.

In 1892 the growing members of this settlement built a schoolhouse, the Fock brothers donating the land. One Miss Kellogg was Harmony’s first school teacher. The school doubled as a community hall & place for religious services.  The first constructed road up the valley was to reach Harmony in 1897. Anticipating this great accomplishment Ben Hilderbrand asserted the importance of building a bridge over his land to provide a right of way to cross the river & connect their divided communities.  This was named the Hilderbrand Bridge and over time part of the settlement was referred to as Hilderbrand Crossing.  This bridge was where the current SR 530 bridge is today, the old bulkheads still visible between the highway & The Whitehorse Trail.  Charles Hillis came to the valley in 1896 working as a hired man for the Hilderbrand Farm. Ben Hilderbrand passed away that same year, on April 9, 1896.  H.O. Siler & Charles Hillis bought his farm & later Charles built a road to his place from the new county road that today still goes by the name of Hillis Road.

By 1899 the whole N.F. Stillaguamish Valley was anticipating the arrival of the train that would go all the way to Darrington.  Local farmers helped build the railroad grade and earned extra income selling meat & produce to the work crew. The tracks up the valley were completed to Harmony in 1900 & with it new opportunities arose in trade & businesses.  Wick, Christie & Murphy came to Harmony to build a shingle mill & sawmill.  A gentleman by the name of Jacob T. Lohr took over the two mills with his broad range of experience gained from working on ships, prospecting, farming & other former milling operations. Both mills, the Heath-Morely Sawmill & Robertson Shingle Mill incorporated & opened in 1901, the same year the train began operation.  The land where the sawmill was will later be purchased by Charles Hillis.  The office for the sawmill will become the dwelling for his son John Hillis. Larry Taylor Sr. leased the mill while also operating the mill up by Shomet.

At this time it was confusing to know what to call this settlement.  Some called it Harmony, the bridge crossing was Hilderbrand, the cabins that clustered closely near the mills were called Cabbage Patch.  With the arrival of the train, the Ciceros built a store with a post office.  Prior to this the closest post office was down river at Trafton.  Community joined together & decided to unify under one name, deciding upon Cicero, the name filed for their new post office.  When the post office opened, November 29, 1901 the settlement would forever be on the map as Cicero & Mrs. Cicero became the first postmistress. The town continued to grow and by 1906 was reported as having a sawmill, shake mill, store, post office, saloon, hotel & depot.

In 1910 the settlement of Cicero became divided by the river once again.  This event was remembered for many years as “The Great School Row”.  As the children in the area increased many felt the school needed to be more centrally located toward the north where the majority of the population was settled. Several fought bitterly to keep the school at the original location south of the river.  This led to a very lively school election with North vs South. The north won the fight & the new schoolhouse plus teacher’s house was built on the north side of the river.  The old “School Marm House” still stands today.

Stephen and Martha Cicero

1921 produced one of the worst floods Cicero had ever seen, both the north & south communities suffered much loss but not as much as the Cicero farm.  Living peacefully for many years on their farm with orchard & cozy home surrounded by Mrs. Cicero’s flowers their lives suddenly and drastically changed.  On December 11th at approximately 10am during very high flooding a log jam broke loose on the river. As waters began to fill their house the couple shuttled bedding, the family dog & the cat with her kittens upstairs. Mr. Cicero ventured downstairs to bring more provisions to the dry second story but noticed that the water was now above the cooking range in the kitchen. All night long they slept fitfully. They could hear and feel the grind of washed out trees piling up against the house & windmill tower a short distance away.  At about 3 a.m. a strange thing happened, the dog leapt out of the upstairs window and onto the porch roof.  Shortly after he returned indoors all frisky and happy.   Then the cat sniffed the dog up & down & it too leapt onto the porch roof.  She returned purring & went about tending her kittens. The Ciceros were filled with hope & within an hour following these events the water began to recede significantly. By 10 a.m. the next day the house was free of water.  Around their dwelling however the picture was pretty bleak, with trees piled high on the house and the fences & poultry house with 100 hens had all vanished. Their 20 acre farm following the devastation of the flood was now a mere 9 acres. They had escaped with their lives, a faithful dog and contented cat.

Returning to the ranch is a memory grandson Phillip remembers.  Phillip, grandson of Mr. & Mrs. Cicero remembers his folks saying “lets go to the old ranch” but Phillip only saw a river.  He learned about his grandparents and how they had lived here for many years until the place got completely flooded out.  His brother still remembers the old two story ranch house back in the 1950s as the river crept closer and closer, sometimes leaving mud on the floor.  One spring they came to visit the old ranch and the house was completely gone.

Much of Cicero’s past has disappeared, the store, hotel, school & post office are gone.  The depot is now a dwelling on the south side of the river. The house built for the school teacher is now a dwelling on the north side of the river. As you drive SR 530 or walk the Whitehorse Trail through Cicero today you will see subtle reminders of the past.  Watch for the random fruit trees planted long ago; remnants of the old winding highway; old railroad signs of the abandoned railroad; & a pond that once was the millpond for a growing community. This was Cicero, a place where dedicated pioneers once labored and contributed to the ever expanding idea of community and home.

Looking Back At Old Cicero