[8][9] Outing was later vacated and sold between various investors before the townsite was acquired in 1905 by the Rucker Brothers, who planned to build a sawmill after a previous venture by Jacob Falconer had failed.

[10] The Rucker Brothers constructed a railroad spur from Hartford and redirected the flow of Cassidy Creek, the main outlet of the lake, to prepare land for their shingle mill, which opened in 1907.

[7] A plat for the town of Lake Stevens was filed by the Rucker Brothers on February 8, 1908, including a business district and residences to accommodate the mill's 250 workers.

[16] The first Hewitt Avenue Trestle was completed in 1939, providing an elevated highway over the Snohomish River floodplain between Everett and Cavalero Hill, with onward connections to areas around Lake Stevens.

Business owners in downtown Lake Stevens proposed incorporation in 1958 to prevent retailers from relocating to the new shopping center, offering local control of policing and street maintenance with no increase in taxes.

[18][19] The development of resorts around Lake Stevens also caused water quality to deteriorate, necessitating the creation of a voluntary drainage district in 1932 to manage runoff and pollution.

It was replaced in 1963 by an independent sewer district, which mandated vegetation buffers for homes and later installed a large aeration system to slow the growth of algae in the lake.

[21][22] Hewlett-Packard won approval from the county government to build a 125-acre (51 ha) manufacturing plant northwest of Lake Stevens in 1983, despite opposition from local residents looking to preserve the area's rural character.

The unincorporated areas to the west of the lake also grew to over 20,000 people, adding multi-family housing to its existing inventory of single-family neighborhoods, and rejected an attempt to build a second shopping center and commercial complex on Cavalero Hill.

[27] The largest annexation, consisting of 9 square miles (23 km2) in the southwest corner of the Lake Stevens urban growth area, was completed in December 2009 and added more than 10,000 residents.

[29] The city government adopted plans in 2018 to redevelop downtown Lake Stevens with denser housing and commercial use, including mixed-use buildings and walkable streets.

[29][39] The city lies on a plateau between the Snohomish River delta, which separates it from Everett and Ebey Island to the west, and the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

[51] The city's largest employer is the Lake Stevens School District, followed by aerospace manufacturer Cobalt Enterprises, which is headquartered in the Hartford industrial area and expanded its facilities in 2016.

[49] Hewlett-Packard opened a large manufacturing facility on Soper Hill northwest of Lake Stevens in 1985 for its test and measurement division, following a planning dispute with the county government.

[45] A Costco store opened in December 2022 at the intersection of State Route 9 and 20th Street Southeast with a 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m2) building, a gas station with 30 pumps, and 800 parking stalls.

A development agreement was approved by the city government in December 2019 after a year of planning and several lawsuits from residents over impacts to the environment and traffic conditions.

[66][67]: 34  The council holds regular meetings twice a month at the Lake Stevens School District administrative headquarters and a work session during other weeks as needed.

[67] It has 85 employees organized into departments of economic development, finance, human resources, parks and recreation, planning, policing, and public works.

[69] In addition to elected and executive positions, Lake Stevens has seven boards and commissions that advise the city council on a variety of specific issues.

[73][74] The boards and commissions are tasked with managing arts, civil service and police, the public library, parks and recreation, planning, city salaries, and veterans' rights.

[69][75] At the federal level, Lake Stevens is part of the 1st congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Suzan DelBene and stretches from Arlington to Bellevue.

[82] The city's annual summer festival, Aquafest, is held at North Cove Park in downtown Lake Stevens over a three-day weekend in late July.

[85][86] Lake Stevens has 195 acres (79 ha) of parks and open space managed by the city government, Snohomish County, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

[88] In addition to public facilities, the Lake Stevens area has 139 acres (56 ha) of private parks and open spaces that are owned by homeowner associations and other entities.

[90] Lake Stevens Community Park is located east of downtown and includes several soccer and baseball fields on 43 acres (17 ha) of former timber land.

[88]: 19  Lake Stevens plans to develop and connect these routes into a full network, including the Bayview Trail on the transmission line in collaboration with the City of Marysville.

The city government presented a 98-acre (40 ha) site on the southwest side of Cavalero Hill that was among the four finalists in 2007, but attracted controversy from neighbors for using land promised for a county park.

[115][116] The Lake Stevens proposal scored the lowest in a survey of the finalists and the project was abandoned entirely in 2008 due to a state budget shortfall.

[27] Sno-Isle proposed a larger library with 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of space as part of a civic campus on Chapel Hill near Frontier Village, which would cost $17 million and be financed by a bond issue paid through property taxes.

[132][133] The Hewitt Avenue Trestle, which carries US 2 to Everett, is a four-lane freeway that is frequently congested and is planned to be rebuilt to fix capacity issues.