The museum building has two floors. The upper floor features an exhibit gallery which offers temporary rotating displays, a diorama depicting the 1910 Edmonds townsite and waterfront, and the Cook Victorian Parlor. The upper level also houses the administrative office, work rooms, a local history library and an extensive photography archive. The public is encouraged to use the research library, with an advance appointment.

The ground floor consists of the long-term exhibit conceived to commemorate the centennial of the incorporation of the City of Edmonds 1890/1990. "The Changing Face of Edmonds" is an encapsulated, thematic, and chronological history exhibit, interpreting the many changes that have taken place, from the age of exploration and discovery, through the founding and growth of the city, and up to the 1950s when the last mill closed. Highlights of the exhibit include a reconstruction of a room from the 1894 Stevens Hotel, and a working model of a shingle mill, representative of the mills that filled the waterfront at the turn of the century.

Carnegie Library History

The Historical Society is fortunate to have a building so well suited as a museum showplace. In 1910, a grant from the Carnegie Foundation enabled the City of Edmonds to erect a beautiful brick and stone building which served as a library on the upper floor, and as City Hall on the bottom floor. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. Through the efforts of the Historical Society, the cooperation of the Edmonds City Council and then Mayor Harve Harrison, the building was made available to the Historical Society for museum purposes. It was formally opened on August 3, 1973.