Program

Hometown Heritage®

Subject

Building

Location

427 E Fairhaven Ave, Burlington, WA 98233, USA

Lat/Long

48.475669847782, -122.32918190981

Grant Recipient

Burlington Historical Society

In 1901, J. H. Knutzen, a Danish immigrant and local farmer, took over a wooden-frame general store in Burlington. He operated the business, named J. H. Knutzen & Son, alongside his son George. Following the elder Knutzen’s retirement by 1908, George and his brother Edward assumed control of the business as the Knutzen Brothers. The brothers initiated a $20,000 expansion and rebuilding project, constructing a two-and-a-half-story cement building that opened in 1909.

The new structure, commonly referred to as “the Knutzen block,” housed the brothers’ hardware and grocery store on the first floor. The second floor contained medical offices, and the rear of the building featured a 600-seat opera house equipped with fireproof curtains and modern fire exits. The following summer, the Knutzens built a storage warehouse addition onto the back of the building.

In 1956, a severe fire broke out, reportedly originating in a storage room and intensifying when barrels of tar in the warehouse ignited. Firefighters battled the blaze for eight hours, and the resulting black smoke was visible across the Skagit Valley. The building was empty at the time, and no injuries were reported. However, the fire entirely destroyed the warehouse and the upper floors, including the majority of the opera house and the second-floor medical and dental offices.

At the time of the fire, the building was owned by George’s widow, Anna Knutzen, and the store was managed by their son, Elmer Knutzen. Total damages were estimated at $250,000, while insurance coverage was limited to $20,000 and applied only to the merchandise inventory. The upper floors were not rebuilt. The first floor was subsequently repaired and sold, and the lower level that once housed the grocery and hardware store remains on the site as of 2026.