Bargreen's Coffee Company Turns 120

The smell of roasting coffee has hung in the air of downtown Everett since 1898 thanks to Bargreen’s Coffee Company, which is celebrating its 120th year in 2018.

To put that into perspective, the City of Everett was just eight years old when Samuel E. Bargreen opened the family business. The Everett Massacre wouldn’t happen for another 18 years.

In 1910 Bargreen’s Coffee Company moved to 2821 Rucker, where it’s still standing today.

The early days of Bargreen’s // Courtesy Bargreen’s Coffee Company

The business is still in the family. Owner Howie Bargreen oversees day-to-day operations just the way his father and grandfather did before him.

To say the Bargreen family’s roots run deep in Everett is an understatement. Howie Bargreen’s grandfather (on his mother’s side) paved roads for Henry Hewitt that became the gridwork for downtown Everett, and Howie’s father, Howard Bargreen, ran against Everett native Henry “Scoop” Jackson for office while growing the coffee business.

Bargreen’s and the city of Everett have existed alongside each other for so long, the two are intertwined.

“Everett’s been a great place to have a coffee plant, I believe, because we were a mill town, and because we’re a mill town the coffee plant fit right in with manufacturing,” Bargreen said.

“I think the people of Everett have been, over 120 years, accommodating to a processor like us and one that’s right downtown,”

A mix of Bargreen’s merchandise // Henry J

Bargreen’s sold coffee for the blue collar and the upper class in the early 1900s, with some tins of coffee costing as much as a day’s wage, Howie Bargreen said. Bargreen’s also sold tea, spices, housewares and more. A real catch-all for the kitchen.

Coffee consumption was more of an event 100 years ago than it is today, Howie Bargreen explained. Instead of going to a stand for a quick cup on the go, people would invite friends over to their homes to have a cup, sit and chat.

"When my grandpa started, (coffee) was a sexy thing,” Bargreen said. “Coffee was kind of a new thing, and so it had its heyday and almost like its golden era, in my opinion, way back 100 years ago.”

An Imperial Tea Co. delivery bike from the early 1900s, used to deliver Bargreen’s coffee // Henry J

As coffee became more common in the area, it became a commodity in grocery stores and less of an event, until a small coffee company called Starbucks started up.

“…along came (Starbucks founder) Howard Schultz and he changed a commodity like deodorant into perfume and he gave (coffee) that sex appeal,” Bargreen said, “and that helped all the coffee companies. There wouldn't be all these little coffee companies all over the country, in my opinion, if it wasn't for him."

Stepping foot into what Howie Bargreen calls the “pop-up museum” on Hewitt Avenue is like taking a trip back in time. The building itself was the original home for Crown Distributing in the 1930s and is now home to a display of the Bargreen legacy, which is, sadly, not open to the public.

Ephemera from bygone eras line the walls—old roasting machines, typewriters, cash registers, coffee tins and furniture fill the old Crown building.

Old roasting machines in the Bargreen’s pop-up museum // Henry J

Hopefully the artifacts that the Bargreen family has held on to for a century will soon be on display for the public, because it’s a fascinating glimpse at the history of not only a company, but of a city and a family.

After 120 years, Howie Bargreen and the Bargreen family have seen a lot of change and have sipped a lot of coffee, but are still thankful for their customers and their crew.

“Thank you to all our customers and employees and finally thank you to the people of Everett.”

Next time you brew up some Bargreen’s, raise a cup and toast to another 120 years of this Everett staple.