He was a prominent member of the Republican Party, being friends with President of the United States James Garfield who appointed Everett as U.S. government director of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Everett's involvement with transportation led him to help finance and build some of the first U.S. electric streetcar systems in Akron, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania.

[1] They commissioned Charles F. Schweinfurth to come to Cleveland from New York City to build the Romanesque style Sylvester Everett Mansion, started in 1883 and completed in 1887.

[2] Everett had speculated in stocks, including the Northern Pacific Railway, with his own money, which was contrary to bank rules.

It failed in 1884, amid later allegations by Horace Weddell that Everett and his brother had misrepresented the bank's solvency.