Bellingham Washington

The beautiful city of Bellingham, located in northwest Washington is the county seat of Whatcom County and tenth largest city in the state. Situated between Bellingham Bay on the west and Mount Baker on the east, Bellingham is a picturesque Northwest city with breathtaking views everywhere you turn. 23 distinct neighborhoods make up the residential and business areas giving Bellingham residents a diverse choice of housing, shopping, entertainment and activity. Parks and outdoor facilities scatter Whatcom County and provide many types of recreation. Larger cities bordering Bellingham include, Vancouver B.C. about an hour north crossing the Canadian border and Seattle to the south, about and hour and a half driving on I-5. 

History of Bellingham

In 1792 explorer George Vancouver charted the area now known as Bellingham, naming the adjacent bay after Sir William Bellingham. It wasn’t until 1854 that the first white settlers arrived originally calling their town Whatcom. Captain George E. Pickett commanded the first stockade-“Fort Bellingham,” on Peabody Hill and his residence remains today as the oldest house in Bellingham.

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858 brought thousands of miners and fortune seekers north from California causing a population boom. Whatcom went from a small mill town to an active seaport almost overnight. This boom brought the first newspaper- the Northern Light, and the first brick building- T.G. Richards and Company Store. Almost as quickly as it grew, Whatcom returned to its small stature because access to the goldfields required a permit because of its overlapping into Victoria British Columbia. The miners went home and Whatcom went back to being a quiet town on the bay.

On November 4th 1903 Bellingham became an official city, incorporating the surrounding settlements of Whatcom, Bellingham, Sehome and Fairhaven. 

Throughout its early history, coal mining was standard in Whatcom employing many residents at various mines. An accidental explosion in 1895 killed 23 workers at The Blue Canyon Mine, which still remains Washington’s largest industrial disaster. Other mines continued to produce such as the Bellingham Coal Mines: employing over 250 miners and digging over 200,000 tons of coal per year peaking in the 1920s.

The lumber industry became important to Bellingham and Whatcom County after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. To help with the rebuilding of San Francisco, forested areas around the county were clear cut and lumber was shipped south. Post earthquake lumber mills continued to develop and became a source of jobs for many residents living in the Northwest.

Fishing also provided many jobs in the early 1900s with eight salmon canneries open in the area in 1925. Whatcom County alone produced close to a half-million cases of salmon a year. Soon after trapping was banned in Bellingham Bay and canneries were moved to Alaska. By the 1930s most of the industry had moved north excluding a few canneries that shipped empty cans to Alaska but kept the business alive in Bellingham.

Demographics

As recorded in the 2000 census, Bellingham’s population was 67,171 individuals with 27,999 households and 13,999 families. Population density equaled 2,619.3 people per square mile and 1,149 households per square mile. Out of the 27,999 households 23.1% included children under the age of 18, 37.5% were married couples, and 9.2% had only a female householder. 50% of households were non-families, 10.3% of the non-families were individuals 65 years of age or older living alone. The average household size was 2.24, and family size was 2.83.

The racial composition of Bellingham in 2000 was 87.88% White, 0.98% African American, 1.48% Native American, 4.25% Asian, 0.17& Pacific Islander, 4.63% Latino or Hispanic, and 2.16% various races. 3.08% were two or more races.

Age of residents in 2000 was divided with 17.7% under the 18, 23.8% from 18-24, 26.5% from 25-44, 19.6% from 45-65, and 12.4% 65 and older, with the median age at 30. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males, for every 100 females ages 18 and over there were 90.6 males.
 
Income for the median household was $32,530, and the median income for a family was $47,196. Males made $35,288 on average and females made $25,971. The city’s income per capita was $29,483. 20.6% of the population was below the poverty line, 17.2% of them were under the age of 18, and 9.0% were over the age of 65.

Weather- Bellingham has a normally mild climate. On average the yearly high and low temperatures are 57 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit. Rain is frequent, seasons lasting sometimes up to eight months but usually sticking to about six. Average rainfall per year is 34.8 inches. After the rainy season, Bellingham gets a mild late spring and summer.