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Bellingham, Washington
Indians were the first inhabitants, the Lummi, Semiahoo, and Nooksack who lived here for thousands of years. The Indians lived on salmon, shellfish and used the trees from which they manufactured many goods. There were about 3,000 people there when the first Europeans arrived. In 1774, Spaniards had discovered the deep water bay with its many salmon, crab, and shellfish. At that time it became known as Bahia de Gaston. In 1792, British Captain George Vancouver explored here while he sailed through the Puget Sound. He was there to claim the area for Britain, to try to push out the Spanish and Russians. He loved the area and conducted a full scale exploration of the area. His Lt. Joseph Whidbey led some crewmembers to chart the coastline. They rowed through Hale Passage, between the mainland and Lummi Island, and into a large bay on June 15, 1792. Vancouver named the bay after Sir William Bellingham, the controller of the storekeeper's accounts for the British Navy.
Settlement in the area was slow until the mid-1800s. One of the first things that attracted settlers here was the timber. Timber was needed to help rebuild San Francisco after several fires. Some newcomers were miners who were disheartened by the gold rush in California, looking for another line of work. The lumber business seemed to be it. Henry Roeder and Russell Peabody came to the area looking for a good place to build a lumber mill. Lummi Indians showed them around the bay area. They found an ideal spot at the base of a waterfall on Bellingham Bay on December 15, 1852. The town that sprang up around the mill was first called Whatcom, a Lummi Indian word which means "noisy all the time."
The mill had been cutting logs for a year when someone discovered coal on Sehome Hill, just south of town. A San Francisco mining company bought the property and immediately built a dock, homes, and stores for the miners. They sold the coal in California. The Bellingham Bay Coal Company soon became the largest employer in the area. The town that rose around the mine was called Sehome.
In 1858, the gold was discovered on the Fraser River. The gold rush was on and more than 10,000 people came to the area as a grubstake center and trail head to the mines. The area depressed quickly though when the British Columbia government insisted that miners report to Victoria before heading to the diggings. Use of steamboats came in too and people were able to travel more quickly to the mines. However, coal mining and lumber milling kept the town alive for a while. Fire burned down the mill in 1873. That left the coal mine as the only major employer. It was the only coal being mined in Washington Territory, so it seemed like it would be a viable business for quite some time. But the mines mines shut down in 1878 after several fatal accidents, floods, and fires.
In the meantime, a new townsite had been surveyed in 1871, just south of Sehome. This new town would be called Bellingham. People hoped to bring the Northern Pacific Railroad to the town. The railroad ended up diverted south to Tacoma. By the early 1880s, the town had less than 100 people. In 1882, a fishing industry started developing and the population started to grow again. Soon there were canneries to support the fishermen. In 1883 the Roeder mill site was sold to a business co-op from Kansas. With the new mill, the bay area boomed into the late 1880s. Farming also contributed to the economy.
At the south end of the bay Dan Harris had platted the town of Fairhaven. He became a hotel owner and real estate tycoon. In 1888, Nelson Bennett, bought the town from Harris. He sold various lots to investors, who bought docks, mills, mines, and timberlands. The investors developed utilities and streetcar lines. Bennett and his investors also built a railroad south into Skagit County. They hoped to hook up with the Great Northern Railroad being built by tycoon James J. Hill. The towns of Sehome and Whatcom built a railroad north into British Columbia.
There were thousands in the area now. The boundaries of the four towns were starting to blur. The towns were considered consolidating. In 1890, Whatcom and Sehome merged and became New Whatcom. Fairhaven at first refused to join because they did not like the name of Bellingham. They also did not like the fact that the city offices would be located at the north end of the bay. Meanwhile, New Whatcom built a brand new city hall building, which today still stands as the Whatcom County Museum. Also, Western Washington University was founded in 1893 as a state normal school. It became a university in 1977.
Another depression followed. A nation-wide panic caused East Coast money to dwindle away. The Great Northern did not come to Fairhaven after builders couldn't find a route over the North Cascades. Local and West Coast business kept the town just barely alive. The economy picked up again by 1900, and East Coast money began flowing back.
By 1903, New Whatcom, Bellingham, and Fairhaven, finally consolidated into the one town of Bellingham. There was great discussion over the name of the town but finally Bellingham was chosen, named after the bay. It was the fourth largest city in the state at the time.
After the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco there became a big demand for Douglas fir to rebuild the city. Much of it came from Bellingham shipped from Bellingham Bay, making it into a boom town again. Investors and real estate magnates came in with hopes of cashing in. The town's historic district Fairhaven was the center of the boom, along 11th and Harris. Many Victorian era speakeasies, hotels, and billiard parlors from that era were later restored and turned into art galleries, restaurants, and specialty bookshops.
Copyright 2000 by Elizabeth Gibson
Last updated: 4/7/00