Bellingham

[bel-ing-ham]

Bellingham, city (1990 pop. 52,179), seat of Whatcom co., NW Wash., a port of entry on Bellingham Bay, one of the best harbors on the U.S. Pacific coast, near Canada; inc. 1904. It is an important shipping point for lumber, pulp, paper, and canned and frozen fruit. There is shipbuilding and diverse manufacturing (machinery, electrical equipment, concrete and wood products, food and beverages, and aircraft and vehicle parts). Settled in 1852 as Whatcom, it merged with three adjoining towns to form Bellingham in 1903. Western Washington Univ., Bellingham Technical School, and Whatcom Museum of History and Art are in the city, which has many notable scenic parks. The Lummi reservation is nearby. Moran State Park is on Orcas Island in Bellingham Bay.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham, Washington is the county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the largest city in Whatcom County and eleventh largest in Washington. It is situated on Bellingham Bay, which is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia. It lies west of Mount Baker and Lake Whatcom (from which it gets its drinking water) and north of the Chuckanut Mountains and Skagit Valley. Whatcom Creek runs through the center of the city.

The Census Bureau estimate placed Bellingham's 2003 population at 71,289, and a recent calculation pushes it to 74,770. Residents of Bellingham are often referred to as "Bellinghamsters". The boundaries of the city encompass the former towns of Fairhaven (now home to the southern ferry terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway System), New Whatcom, and others.

History

The name of Bellingham is derived from the bay on which the city is situated. George Vancouver, who visited the area in June 1792, named the bay for Sir William Bellingham, the controller of the storekeeper's account of the Royal Navy.

The first white settlers reached the area in 1854. In 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush caused thousands of miners, storekeepers, and scalawags to head north from California. Whatcom grew overnight from a small northwest mill town to a bustling seaport, the basetown for the Whatcom Trail, which led to the Fraser Canyon goldfields, used in open defiance of colonial Governor James Douglas's edict that all entry to the gold colony be made via Victoria, British Columbia.

Coal mining was commonplace near town from the mid 19th–mid 20th centuries. Coal was originally discovered by Henry Roeder off the northeastern shore of Bellingham Bay. In 1854, a group of San Francisco investors established Bellingham Bay Coal Company. The mine extended to hundreds of miles of tunnels as deep as 1200'. It ran southwest to Bellingham Bay, on both sides of Squalicum Creek, an area of about one squre mile. It employed some 250 miners digging over 200,000 tons of coal annually, at its peak in the 1920s. It was closed in 1955.

In the early 1890s, three railroad lines arrived, connecting the bay cities to a nationwide market of builders. The foothills around Bellingham were clearcut after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to help provide the lumber for the rebuilding of San Francisco. In time, lumber and shingle mills sprang up all over the county to accommodate the byproduct of their work.

In 1889, Cornwall and an association of investors formed the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company (BBIC). The BBIC invested in several diverse enterprises such as shipping, coal, mining, railroad construction, real estate sales and utilities. Even though their dreams of turning Bellingham into a Pacific Northwest metropolis never came to fruition, the BBIC made an immense contribution to the economic development of Bellingham..

BBIC was not the only outside firm with an interest in Bellingham utilities. The General Electric Company of New York purchased Bellingham's Fairhaven Line and New Whatcom street rail line in 1897. In 1898 the utility merged into the Northern Railway and Improvement Company which prompted the Electric Corporation of Boston to purchase a large block of shares. Bellingham was officially incorporated on November 4 1903. It was the result of the consolidation of four towns initially situated around Bellingham Bay: Whatcom, Sehome, Bellingham, and Fairhaven.

Bellingham's proximity to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and to the Inside Passage to Alaska helped keep some cannery operations here. P.A.F., for example, shipped empty cans to Alaska, where they were packed with fish and shipped back for storage.

Economy

The mean annual salary of a wage earner in Bellingham is $37,990, which is below the Washington State average of $44,710.

Adjusted for inflation, wages in Bellingham and Whatcom County have been declining for more than 30 years as service-oriented jobs gain prominence in the local economy, and goods production (mining, construction and manufacturing) decline as a share of total employment. Service oriented jobs now constitute at least 77% of all non-agricultural employment in Whatcom County.

Between 1989 and 1999 median household income grew 41% in Whatcom County while housing costs grew 108% over the same period. In each year 1998-2000 the average wage in Whatcom County was not enough to afford a two-bedroom rental unit.

For the year 2005, the median price of all homes sold in Whatcom County was $259,000 while the median price of homes sold in the Bellingham area was $269,000. This compares with a statewide median home price of $260,900.

Geography

The city is located at (48.750178, -122.474975). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.7 square miles (82.2 km²), of which, 25.6 square miles (66.4 km²) of it is land and 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²) of it (19.19%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 67,171 people, 27,999 households, and 13,999 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,619.3 people per square mile (1,011.5/km²). There were 29,474 housing units at an average density of 1,149.3/sq mi (443.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.88% White, 0.98% Black or African American, 1.48% Native American, 4.25% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 2.16% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 4.63% of the population is Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 27,999 households out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.5% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.0% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the city the population was spread out with 17.7% under the age of 18, 23.8% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,530, and the median income for a family was $47,196. Males had a median income of $35,288 versus $25,971 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,483. About 9.4% of families and 20.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.2% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

In the 2004 US presidential election, Bellingham cast 67.44% of its vote for Democrat John Kerry.

Weather

Bellingham's climate is generally mild. The average yearly high and low temperatures are 57 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit (14 and 5 °C), respectively. Although the rainy season can last as long as eight months or more, it is usually about six months long, leaving Bellingham with a picturesque late spring and mild, pleasant summer. Although Bellingham receives an average annual rainfall of 34.8 inches (884 mm), many long weeks of short and cloudy days are commonplace in Winter.

Bellingham's location and geography occasionally subject it to an unusual and harsh weather pattern known locally as a "Nor'Easter." Effectively, an 'inverted' jet stream can drive down cold sub-Arctic air from the Canadian interior, usually through the Fraser River Canyon. This cold air mass can collide with a Gulf of Alaska cold front and create high winds, road ice, snow, or heavy rains. A "Silver Thaw" can result and wind chill equivalents can slide well under . Such an event was recorded on November 28 2006. Outside air temperatures of 12 °F (−11 °C) were accompanied by 30 to 48 mph (48 to 77 km/h) winds with humidity as high as 61%. Wind chill equivalents reached −10 °F (−23 °C) according to NOAA.

Another weather phenomenon, known as the "Chinook wind," happens in the autumn. For most of a day an unusually warm and steady wind comes out of the south. It is essentially a reverse "Nor'Easter." Some film of a "Nor'Easter and a "Chinook" can be seen at this link:

Education

Bellingham is home to several educational institutions, including Whatcom Community College; Bellingham Technical College;Evergreen Team Concepts; Lean Leadership Institute; Trinity Western;and Western Washington University, which includes, among others Fairhaven College; Huxley College; and the Woodring College of Education.

Local culture

Events

The Ski to Sea Race - This longstanding Bellingham tradition, owned and organized by the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry, was first held in 1973, but is traceable to the 1911 Mt. Baker Marathon. It is a team relay race made up of seven legs: Cross country skiing, downhill skiing (or snowboarding), running, road biking, canoeing (2 person), mountain biking, and kayaking. The racers begin at the Mount Baker Ski Area and make their way down to the finish line on Bellingham Bay. The Race attracts participants from all over the world. In 2005, the Ski to Sea Race was featured nationally on the "Fox Sports Northwest" network, reaching 3.2 million households. The event brings thousands of people from around the Pacific Northwest, and many from around the world, to Bellingham and Whatcom County, and generates over $5 million for the local economy.

LinuxFest Northwest is held at Bellingham Technical College during the last weekend in April. It is dedicated to discussion and development of the Linux operating system and other open source and free software projects. It is free to the public and draws nearly a thousand computer professionals and enthusiasts from across the northwestern U.S. and western Canada. First held in 2000, it has grown to become one of the largest Linux events in the U.S.

The Bellingham-based Whatcom Peace & Justice Center publishes a calendar of upcoming activist events with a theme of non-violence, community dissent, and worldwide Peace.

The Bellingham Festival of Music will return for it's 15th year of orchestral and chamber concerts, July 5 - 20, 2008, hosting world-class musicians from North America’s top orchestral ensembles.

Local attractions

Popular locations for both residents and visitors include:

Whatcom Museum of History and Art - Sponsors art, natural and local history exhibits, fund-raising events, gallery walks, walking tours of the historic buildings of the city, history and art lessons for local schools and adult groups, and historic cruises on Bellingham Bay.
American Museum of Radio and Electricity - Features a collection of artifacts from 1580 into the 1950s.
Bellingham Farmers Market - Saturdays from April to October. First opened in 1993, now features approximately 50 vendors, music and other events. There is a tradition that "on opening day a cabbage is thrown by a city official to a long standing vendor." The association also operates a Tuesday and a Wednesday market.
Whatcom Falls Park - A park encompassing the Whatcom Creek gorge. The park, with its four sets of waterfalls and several miles of walking trails, is a hub of outdoor activity connecting and defining several different neighborhoods in the city. Noted activities include swimming, fishing (The park has a fishing pond for kids less than 12 years), walking trails.
Bellingham Railway Museum - Has displays on the history of railroading in Whatcom County, as well as model trains, and a freight-train simulator.
Mindport - A privately funded arts and science museum.
Mount Baker Ski Area - Home to many of the world's first snowboarding champions, it holds the world record for the greatest amount of snowfall in one season (winter 1998-1999).
Whale watching
Washington State Route 11 also known as Chuckanut Drive
Larrabee State Park
Lake Samish
Lake Whatcom

Transportation

The Bellingham International Airport offers regularly scheduled commuter flights to and from Seattle and Friday Harbor, Washington, and regularly scheduled jet service to Salt Lake City, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; Reno, Nevada and seasonal service to Palm Springs, California. The airport is home of the first Air and Marine Operations Center, to assist the US Department of Homeland Security with border surveillance.

Amtrak Cascades provides Bellingham with regularly scheduled passenger rail service to Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Music scene

Supported by the presence of a large university-age population, Bellingham has been home to a number of regionally and nationally noted musical groups such as: Death Cab for Cutie, The Posies, Crayon, Idiot Pilot, Mono Men, The Contra, Federation X, Feed & Seed, Outpatient, Human Infest, Mysterious Chocolate, The Trucks, Shook Ones, Ash-Burned, Megatron, Yogoman Burning Band, David Weiss , Black Breath, The Pale Pacific, the Love Lights, Karate Kitchen, Dragline, Crossfox, the Growers, the Russians, 76 Charger, 10 Killing Hands, Racetrack, Kiss Goodbye, Our Fallen Heroes, Haf-Sac, Cast of Characters, Strait A StudentsVoodoo Grace Notes, and Below Average Productions all originate from the area.

Local independent record labels include Estrus Records, Clickpop Records, Murder Mountain Records, Soapbox Records, New Regard Media and Boogie Man Records.

Film scene

Bellingham also has a burgeoning independent film community, which is supported by the Whatcom Film Association, a local group of film appreciators with over 1500 members and the Northwest Film School, a hands-on filmmaking program. While not as large-scale or well-financed as some of Seattle's independent film efforts, Bellingham's annual NW Projections Film Festival has grown substantially in attendance since its creation in 1999. Several award-winning short films originated in Bellingham, as well as a handful of feature films.

Literary references

Robert James Waller’s 1992 best-selling novel, The Bridges of Madison County, began with the story of a fictitious National Geographic photographer from Bellingham, but Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation omitted this starting point.

Local theater

Bellingham is home to a rich theater culture which is further boosted by the performing arts department at Western Washington University. There are several notable theaters and productions in Bellingham:

Bellingham Theatre Guild - This non-profit community theater is nearly 80 years old. Hilary Swank performed here before moving to LA to pursue her career in acting.
Historic Mount Baker Theater - This beautifully restored theater built in 1927 features a fine example of Moorish architecture and is the largest performing arts facility north of Seattle. The theater is listed on the register of National Historic Places..
Upfront Theatre, an improv comedy venue established by Bellingham resident Ryan Stiles from Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame.
iDiOM Theater
The high schools of Bellingham School District perform a combined musical production every several years.

Activism

Bellingham is home to the longest-running Peace vigil in the US. Started by Howard and Rosemary Harris more than 46 years ago, it has seen more than 4 generations. On the corner of Magnolia Street and Cornwall, in front of the Federal Building, every Friday starting at 4pm and lasting until usually about 5pm.

International Day of Peace has been observed for the last four years by hundreds of participants. The event commemorates the United Nations' observance of September 21st as a day for international peace and cease-fire. Participants hold a rally at Maritime Heritage Park, and then marched to an event at First Congregational Church.

The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center was founded in 2002 by local activists, and has been one of the most active such centers in the nation.

Bellingham has a strong chapter of Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, and also a chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Chapter #32.

City Councilman Terry Bornemann has been a staple of the local activist community, and sponsored the October, 2006 Troops Home! resolution, making Bellingham the first city in the state of Washington to pass the resolution.

Future development

In March 2005, Kiplinger's Personal Finance named Bellingham one of the top retirement cities in the nation. Purchase price of homes has risen, but rent has remained relatively stable. Many of the condominiums recently built as a result of the demand for affordable housing have subsequently become rental units.

Bellingham has seen a resurgence of real-estate development as house prices climb, caused in part by new residents moving in to the community. In order to accommodate this growth, new properties have sprung up all over the city, including the Downtown, Fairhaven, Happy Valley, Cordata, and Barkley neighborhoods. The city has reiterated their commitment to developing a wide range of housing options for all income categories, while retaining the integrity of existing communities. Annexation of surrounding farmland and county wilderness has been kept to a minimum due to public concern for environmental preservation, but several controversies have risen over the city's decisions to counteract the loss of land by allowing taller buildings in the city core, major new development on previously undeveloped land, and a lack of parks and open spaces in some of the more recently developed areas.

Waterfront redevelopment

The Bellingham waterfront has served as an industrial center for the past century, most notably the area encompassing the former Georgia-Pacific mill. G-P purchased the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company in 1963 and operated a pulp mill on the central downtown waterfront until 2001. In 1965, G-P built a Chlor-Alkali facility, which became a source of mercury contamination in the Whatcom Waterway and on the uplands of the site for decades. The site has since been purchased by the Port of Bellingham chiefly to create a marina in the 37 acre wastewater lagoon. The Port of Bellingham purchased the G-P site for $10 with the understanding they would assume liability for the contamination. The City of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham entered into several interlocal agreements in which the City agreed to pay for all infrastructure costs, and the Port would create a marina, clean up the site, and retain all zoning.

The City and Port have entered into a partnership to redevelop the property, which has been unofficially renamed New Whatcom after the township of which the area was originally a part. A general plan for the city's waterfront was developed by the Waterfront Futures Group, and the new Waterfront Advisory Group has been convening to develop a more detailed plan focused on this particular site. The draft plan includes "a new city neighborhood with homes, shops, offices and light industry, as well as parks and promenades, a healthy shoreline habitat along Bellingham Bay..."

Some citizen groups have opposed the Port's plan, most notably the Bellingham Bay Foundation (formed in 2005). During the summer of 2006, the Bellingham Bay Foundation formed People for a Healthy Bay over a concern that many of the areas slated for development contained high mercury levels (as high as 12,500ppm in the soil under the former Chlor-Alkali facility). People for a Healthy Bay launched an initiative that would have required the City of Bellingham to advocate for removal of mercury to the highest practical level. The City successfully sued to keep the initiative off the ballot.

The Washington State Department of Ecology is currently reviewing public comment for the Port's cleanup documents of the Whatcom Waterway.

Ecology will host a second public comment period for the Cleanup Action Plan, at which time the specifics of the cleanup will be discussed and decided. The City of Bellingham and the Port of Bellingham will develop a Master Plan and implement tax-increment financing for the City's portion of funding of infrastructure. Infrastructure alone is expected to cost roughly $200 million. Whatcom County has declined participation in the financing, citing unmet gaps in funding, a lack of benefit to the County, and the need for County taxes to go toward emergency, jail, and mental health services.

Sports

Club	Sport	League	Stadium
Bellingham Bells	Baseball	West Coast Collegiate Baseball League	Joe Martin Field
Bellingham Slam	Basketball	International Basketball League, West Conference	Whatcom Pavilion
Bellingham Roller Betties	Roller derby	Independent circuit	Bellingham Sportsplex
Bellingham Bulldogs	Football	Evergreen Football League (EFL)	Civic Field

The people of Bellingham pursue a diverse range of amateur sports, with skiing and snowboarding at the Mount Baker Ski Area popular in the winter and kayaking and cycling in the summer. Mt. Baker claims an unofficial world record for seasonal snowfall, with recorded in the 1998-1999 season.

Western Washington University, located in Bellingham, is home to NCAA Division II National Women's Rowing Champions. Although always nationally ranked, the Lady Vikings, in 2005, became Western's very first NCAA champion team and won again in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Western Washington University also operates a successful collegiate road cycling program that took top-5 positions nationwide at the 2006 nationals.

Media

Newspapers

The Bellingham Herald is published daily in Bellingham. Other newspapers include The Cascadia Weekly, The Western Front, Whatcom Watch, the Whatcom Independent, the AS Review, and The Bellingham Business Journal.

Television

Bellingham and Whatcom County are part of the Seattle television market.

KVOS is an independent television station licensed in Bellingham. The station broadcasts on channel 12. KVOS also enjoys significant viewership from neighboring Metro Vancouver and Victoria.
KBCB is a ShopNBC telelvision station licensed in Bellingham. The station broadcasts on channel 24.
Bellingham TV Channel 10 (BTV10).

Magazines

Frequency The Snowboarder's Journal is an independent snowboarding magazine based in Bellingham, published quarterly.
What's Up! is a monthly music magazine focused on local music. It covers live shows, band bios and new artist releases.

AM radio

Frequency (kHz)	Call Sign	kW (day)	kW (night)	Owner
790	KGMI	5	1	Saga Communications
930	KBAI	1	0.5	Saga Communications
1170	KPUG	10	5	Saga Communications

FM radio

Frequency (mHz)	Call Sign	kW	Owner
89.3	KUGS	0.1	Western Washington University
91.7	KZAZ	0.12	Washington State University
92.9	KISM	50	Saga Communications
102.3	KMRE-LP	0.1	American Museum of Radio and Electricity
104.3	KAFE	60	Saga Communications

Notable people

Sister cities

Bellingham maintains sister city relationships with four Pacific Rim port cities. A fifth, Cheongju, South Korea will officially be recognized when Bellingham's mayor and sister city delegation visit Cheongju in September, 2008.

Tateyama, Chiba, Japan - Since 1958
Port Stephens, New South Wales, Australia - Since 1982
Nakhodka, Russia - Since 1989
Punta Arenas, Chile - Since 1996

Bellingham Sister Cities Association is very active in promoting Bellingham's sister city relationships and is very well supported by the community. The relationship with Tateyama, the oldest relationship celebrating it's 50th year in 2008, is the most active and includes regular events such as an annual city hall staff exchange and community cultural visits. Tateyama frequently fields a team for the Ski to Sea race, or at minimum has representation in the Ski to Sea parade.