[[File:Stanwood WA Main St.jpg|thumb|left|Looking west on 271st Street Northwest, formerly the [[main street]] of East Stanwood]]
The [[Stillaguamish people|Stillaguamish]], a [[Coast Salish]] people, inhabited the area around the Stillaguamish River delta for several thousand years. An area at the mouth of the river wasis known as {{Lang-lut|sdᶻəlgʷas|label=none}},<ref name="Hunt" /><ref name="Lushootseed">{{Cite web |title=sdaʔdaʔ gʷəɬ dibəɬ dxʷləšucid ʔaciɬtalbixʷ – Puget Sound Geographical names |url=https://tulaliplushootseed.com/places/ |website=Tulalip Lushootseed |publisher=Tulalip Tribes |accessdate=October 16, 2023}}</ref> meaning ''[[strait]]'' or ''[[Slough (hydrology)|slough]]'',<ref name="Hunt" /> and a nearby Stillaguamish village consisted of three large [[potlatch]] houses with an estimated population of 250 people.<ref name="Lane1973">{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=Barbara |title=Anthropological Report on the Identity, Treaty Status, and Fisheries of the Stillaguamish Indians |year=1973}}</ref>{{rp|24}} There were several other villages around the delta that totaled approximately 800 people,<ref name="Lane1973"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hollenbeck |first1=Jan L. |last2=Moss |first2=Madonna |year=1987 |title=A Cultural Resource Overview: Prehistory, Ethnography and History: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest |publisher=[[United States Forest Service]] |page=153 |oclc=892024380 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005998596 |via=[[HathiTrust]] |access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref> as well as graveyards that were later destroyed by settlers.<ref name="Lane1973"/>{{rp|26}}
The area's first American expedition was led by George O. and G. L. Wilson, who were led by [[Snohomish people|Snohomish]] guides on a canoe expedition up the Stillaguamish River in 1851 and reported on its economic potential.<ref name="Lane1973"/><ref name="Times-1957">{{cite news |last=McDonald |first=Lucile |author-link=Lucile Saunders McDonald |date=December 8, 1957 |title=Two of Stillaguamish River's 3 Mouths Threatened by Siltation |page=5 |work=The Seattle Times}}</ref>
