Stanwood is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, set at the mouth of the Stillaguamish River where it flows into Port Susan, an arm of Puget Sound. Settlement began around 1866 near the river's mouth under the name Centerville, serving the farmers and loggers who were staking claims upriver and across the delta. The community later developed as a pair of twin towns, Stanwood and East Stanwood, which together served as the commercial and school hub for the small surrounding settlements—Warm Beach, Florence, Woodland, Victoria, Freeborn, and Cedarhome—and for nearby Camano Island. East Stanwood was incorporated in 1914. The city's modern role is that of a gateway between Camano Island and the mainland and a bedroom community for Seattle and Everett. Since the 1990s, Stanwood has annexed uphill areas that were developed into suburban subdivisions, expanding well beyond its original riverfront core while retaining the character of a small Puget Sound town. Roughly 9,700 people live in the city today, and its urban growth area extends to include additional unincorporated land such as Northwest Stanwood. Stanwood's identity is tied to water and farmland. The Stillaguamish delta, Port Susan, and nearby Skagit Bay frame the landscape, and Camano Island lies just across the State Route 532 causeway. Residents enjoy a slower, outdoors-oriented pace with direct access to boating, fishing, and shoreline parks, while the Stanwood-Camano School District and a compact, walkable downtown give the community a genuine town center. A shopping and entertainment district developed in the 1990s brought restaurants, retail, and a movie theater to town. For commuters, the city offers a train station on the Amtrak Cascades corridor and bus connections toward Everett and Seattle. The drive to Seattle is roughly 50 miles and typically takes well over an hour, which keeps Stanwood oriented toward local services and the Everett-area job market while still drawing households who value a quieter, waterfront-anchored small town on the north Puget Sound.