Fairhaven - Old Bellingham Boundary Marker — Bellingham, WA
Posted by: Dunbar Loop
N 48° 43.439 W 122° 30.304
10U E 536400 N 5396891
Located on the pre-1888 boundary between Fairhaven and 'Old' Bellingham. When Fairhaven emerged in the 1880s its founders aquired the platted area of Bellingham.
Waymark Code: WME2TE
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 03/26/2012
Views: 10
FAIRHAVEN
The town was platted and named in 1883 by its principal land owner Daniel Jefferson Harris who had settled on the land and lived on its beach since 1853. Fairhaven blossomed in the 1889 - 1891 land boom when it was thought the Great Northern Railway would meet salt water here. The RR terminus went elsewhere, the nation slipped into recession and Fairhaven fell on hard times. The consoldiation with Whatcom in 1930 caused further decline as modern Bellingham's commericial center developed to the north.
OLD BELLINGHAM
The land north of here has had several names, in 1854 William Pattie took a donation claim on the land and established a coal mine which soon failed. In 1862 the village of Unionville was created, named and owned by the Union Coal Company. It was completely destroyed in the forest fire of 1868. The town of Bellingham was platted on the land in 1883 and a lumber mill was built. the mill was not successful and old Bellingham was almost forgotten. In 1888 Fairhaven developers bought the land and merged it with Fairhaven.
Dedicated in 2004
A City of Bellingham Centennial Project
Gift of the Rotary Club of Bellingham