Mill Creek

History

The Mill Creek area was originally settled in the early 20th century by various farming families, from whom several local placenames are now derived. After the construction of the Bothell–Everett Highway in 1913 as part of the Pacific Highway, two junctions at Murphy's Corner and Wintermute's Corner gained small stores and filling stations to serve visitors. In 1931, Doctor Manch N. Garhart acquired in the area and used it to grow Gravenstein apples and Bartlett pears while also raising cattle. The Garhart property, named Lake Dell Farm for a small reservoir built by local families, was later sold in 1967 to real estate developers after the market for local lumber and fruits had declined. The Garhart property, along with several neighboring farms, were optioned by various real estate developers in the 1960s and 1970s as a potential master planned community due to its proximity to the recently completed Interstate 5. It would be the first modern planned city in Washington state, following in the footsteps of earlier planned cities like Longview, built in 1918. The community, named "Olympus", was planned to include in its first phase with for homes, an industrial park, a shopping center, and a golf course. After a local recession in the early 1970s, the development project was sold in 1973 to Tokyu Land Development and designed by a subsidiary of the Obayashi Corporation named United Development. The development was renamed "Mill Creek", beating out the Chinook Jargon word "Klahanie", although there had never been a mill in the vicinity and a waterway of that name was not present in the area until the 2000 renaming of Smokehouse Creek. Mill Creek's master plan was submitted to the county council in January 1974. A homeowners association was established in December…

Geography

The city of Mill Creek has a total area of according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The city limits of Mill Creek are generally defined to the west by North Creek, to the north by 132nd Street Southeast (part of State Route 96) and Everett, to the east by Seattle Hill Road and 35th Avenue Southeast, and to the south by 163rd Street Southeast and North Creek County Park. The city is surrounded by a larger urban growth area that encompasses unincorporated land, including the communities of Martha Lake and Silver Firs, with a population of 68,746 people in 2020. The urban growth area extends west to Interstate 5, including an overlapping claim with Lynnwood and south to 196th Street Southeast at the north end of the Bothell claim. Several creeks flow through the city, including North Creek (a tributary of the Sammamish River), Penny Creek, and Nickel Creek. A minor stream known as Smokehouse Creek was renamed to Mill Creek in 2001, retroactively giving the city a geographic namesake. The original plat of Mill Creek, located east of State Route 527, consists of 21 neighborhood subdivisions that are named for various types of trees.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  70,635
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  52,959
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  52,509
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  48,807
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  45,628
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  42,466
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  38,113
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  33,478

Most recent

• M 2.56 — 2026-09-12
  2 km ENE of Mount Vernon, Washington
• M 2.51 — 2026-08-09
  11 km SSW of River Road, Washington
• M 3.8 — 2026-07-02
  2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.5 — 2026-06-26
  11 km E of Carnation, Washington
• M 2.87 — 2026-06-08
  2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington