 Bellingham is the county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of 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), north of the Chuckanut Mountain and Skagit County, and Whatcom Creek runs through the center of the city. Census Bureau estimate placed Bellingham's 2003 population at 71,289, and a recent 2006 calculation pushes it to 74,770
The tongue in cheek nickname of Bellingham is the "City of Subdued Excitement."
In the early  1980s, a local politician called Bellingham this in seriousness, and the local alternative press and alternative culture has been using this nickname ever since.
The boundaries of the city have grown to add the former cities of Fairhaven (now home to the southern ocean ferry terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway System), New Whatcom, and several others. Bellingham is also home to Western Washington University and Whatcom Community College.
The Bellingham International Airport serves regularly scheduled commuter flights to and from Seattle and, more recently, flights to Las Vegas, Nevada, that serve locals but mostly Canadian residents from nearby Vancouver and British Columbia . As of August, 2004 , the airport is home of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security 's first Air and Marine Operations Center , to assist with border surveillance. Amtrak also serves Bellingham, which is the first stop in the United States for southbound trains from Vancouver, British Columbia.
History
The name of Bellingham is derived from the bay which the city is situated on. 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 . The original settlement was named Whatcom, located where Whatcom Creek empties into the bay. In 1858, the Fraser River Gold Rush caused thousands of miners, storekeepers, and scalawags to head north from California. Whatcom grew overnight from a sleepy northwest village to a bustling seaport. The first brick building in Washington was built at this time, the T.G. Richards brick warehouse. The first newspaper in Whatcom County, the Northern Light, was published by William Bausman during the boom. Just as soon as it started, the boom went bust with the miners being forced to stop at Victoria, B.C. for a permit before heading to the mining fields. Whatcom's population dropped almost as quickly as it had grown, and the sleepy little town on the bay returned, for a few decades at least. 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. A fictionalized account of the history of Bellingham is "The Living" by Annie Dillard .
Bellingham has seen a resurgence of real-estate development recently even as house prices continue to climb, caused mainly by an onslaught of 'Seattleites' moving northward to escape a crowded Seattle, and rapid expansion of Western Washington University, bringing new students
The foothills around Bellingham were clearcut after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to provide the lumber for the rebuilding of San Francisco. In the past, coal mining was commonplace near town, with the Blue Canyon mine at Lake Whatcom being the site of Washington's worst industrial accident, which occurred April 8 , 1895 .
During the energy crisis of 2000 , one of the city's larger employers, Georgia Pacific was forced to shut its doors after many aggreged citizens protested the use of diesel generators by the downtown facility. During this same period, Alcoa, an aluminum smelter, was also forced to cease operations and terminate employees as greater profits could be had by reselling the now-unused contracted energy back to the BPA rather than actually smelting Aluminum.
In March 2005, Kiplinger’s named Bellingham one of the top retirement cities in the nation, and anecdotal evidence at Boulevard Park seems to indicate that ‘active seniors’ from all parts of the country have heeded the siren’s call. Home prices have risen at breakneck speeds, quickly soaring out of reach for many workers in the region, a fact not lost on the national press as they describe the local housing market as ‘bubbly.’ Fortunately for college students and those unable to afford to purchase, rent has remained relatively stable for the past several years.
Future Development
to the city. In order to accommodate the boom, Bellingham has been developing heavily in 3 key areas: Downtown, Fairhaven, and Cordata. 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 with lifted height caps on new downtown buildings.
New Whatcom
Bellingham's long-term urban planning includes the creation of the New Whatcom neighborhood in the current location of the now closed Georgia Pacific facility downtown. The 137 waterfront acres acquired from the Port of Bellingham in early 2005 provide the foundation for a 20-year redevelopment plan, with land use proposals ranging from a waterfront extension of WWU to high-rise apartments and offices.
The official plan from the City of Bellingham 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, and a new marina', and despite the expense and scope of this massive project, it has received a relatively high level of acceptance throughout the community, with very few active opponents to the venture. Though it is still in the planing stages, deconstruction on the site has already begun to take place.
Whatcom towns and cities
Some of the towns and locations we provide services to include Bellingham, provide services to Ferndale real estate, Lynden real estate, BirchBay real estate, Blaine real estate, Everson real estate, Sumas real estate, Deming real estate, Kendal real estate and Sudden Valley real estate.
Geography
Bellingham is located at 48°45'1" North, 122°28'30" West (48.750178, -122.474975). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 82.2 km² (31.7 mi² ). 66.4 km² (25.6 mi²) of it is land and 15.8 km² (6.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 19.19% water. - partially courtesy of Wikipedia
Bellingham's Neighborhoods : Alabama Hill :: Birchwood :: Columbia :: Cornwall Park :: Downtown :: Edgemoor :: Fairhaven :: Geneva :: Guide Meridian :: Happy Valley :: Lettered Streets :: Meridian :: Mount Baker :: Puget :: Roosevelt :: Samish :: Sehome :: Silver Beach :: South :: South Hill :: Sunnyland :: Western Wash. University :: Whatcom Falls :: York |