49 Fun Facts About Bellingham

Bellingham lies between which two big cities, 52 miles from one and 90 from the other?

Vancouver and Seattle: Bellingham sits about 52 miles south of Vancouver, B.C. and 90 miles north of Seattle, the last sizeable US city before the Canadian border, 21 miles away.

Who named Bellingham Bay in 1792, honoring Sir William Bellingham?

Bellingham was the Royal Navy storekeeper who had provisioned Vancouver's expedition; he never saw the bay.

On what date was Bellingham officially incorporated?

Bellingham was incorporated on December 28, 1903, when the cities of Whatcom and Fairhaven consolidated; Whatcom and Sehome had already merged in 1891 as New Whatcom.

Which of the four founding towns is today's 'Old Town', begun with Roeder's mill in 1852?

Henry Roeder and Russel Peabody set up the lumber mill there; Fairhaven was platted by Dan Harris in 1883.

Who platted the town of Fairhaven in 1883 around his homestead on Padden Creek?

Dan Harris, nicknamed 'Dirty Dan', platted Fairhaven in 1883 on his Padden Creek homestead; a land boom in 1889-90 swelled the town as it chased the Great Northern terminus.

What resource was discovered at Sehome in 1854, driving the area's early economy?

San Francisco investors formed the Bellingham Bay Coal Company; mining lasted until the mid-20th century.

Which 1858 event caused a short-lived population boom in the Bellingham Bay settlements?

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush: in spring 1858 thousands of miners bound for the Fraser River camped at Whatcom, briefly swelling it to some 10,000 people before the boom collapsed within months.

Which Native nation's reservation lies directly west of Bellingham, formed after the Treaty of Point Elliott?

Lummi: the Lummi Reservation on the Lummi Peninsula and Portage Island, just west of Bellingham, was set aside under the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott.

Which interstate highway links Bellingham with Seattle and the Canadian border?

Interstate 5 runs through Bellingham, about 90 miles north of Seattle and 21 miles south of the Canadian border crossing at Blaine.

What was Bellingham's population at the 2020 census?

91,482: the 2020 census counted 91,482 people in Bellingham, up from 80,885 in 2010.

Bellingham holds which geographic distinction among cities of more than 90,000 people?

Northernmost in the contiguous US: at about 48.75 degrees north, Bellingham lies north of every other Lower-48 city with more than 90,000 people, including Seattle and Spokane.

Which river, fed by North Cascades glaciers, empties into Bellingham Bay?

The Nooksack River drains glaciers of the North Cascades and winds past Lynden and Ferndale before emptying into the north end of Bellingham Bay.

The university on Sehome Hill started life in 1893 as what kind of institution?

A teachers' training school: the legislature created the New Whatcom Normal School in 1893 to train teachers; it opened in 1899 and became Western Washington University in 1977.

What is the nickname of Bellingham's university sports teams?

Vikings: Western Washington's teams compete as the Vikings in NCAA Division II; the women's rowing squad won the school's first NCAA team title in 2005.

Which Western college, opened in 1969, was among the first US schools devoted to environmental studies?

The 'Huxley' name was dropped in 2021 over Thomas Henry Huxley's racial views.

Which indie rock band formed in Bellingham in 1997 while its singer was studying at Western?

Death Cab for Cutie: Ben Gibbard formed the band in Bellingham in 1997 while at Western, releasing the cassette You Can Play These Songs with Chords before the 1998 debut Something About Airplanes.

Which two-time Oscar winner grew up near Lake Samish and attended Bellingham's Sehome High School?

Hilary Swank grew up near Lake Samish and attended Sehome High School before moving to Los Angeles; her Oscars were for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Which Whose Line Is It Anyway? star founded Bellingham's Upfront Theatre improv venue?

Ryan Stiles, a longtime Bellingham resident, founded the Upfront Theatre downtown; he also played Lewis on The Drew Carey Show and Herb on Two and a Half Men.

By what Indigenous name is Mount Baker, the volcano east of Bellingham, also known?

Kulshan, or Koma Kulshan, is the Coast Salish name for Mount Baker; Tahoma is Rainier, Loowit is St. Helens and Pahto is Mount Adams.

What world record did Mt. Baker Ski Area set in the 1998-99 ski year?

1,140 inches, or 95 feet, fell that winter; the resort averages 641 inches a year.

Which Northwest grocery chain was founded in Bellingham in 1933?

Haggen: Ben and Dorothy Haggen opened their first grocery store in Bellingham in 1933, and the chain kept its headquarters in the city for decades.

Which snowboard race through a natural halfpipe has been held at Mt. Baker since 1985?

Pros and amateurs of all ages ride the same course over the same days.

Which highway runs east from Bellingham to the Mt. Baker Ski Area?

Route 11 is the scenic Chuckanut Drive and Route 539 heads north to Lynden and the border.

Bellingham's Ski to Sea race has how many legs?

Seven: cross-country ski, downhill, run, road bike, canoe, cyclocross and sea kayak carry teams about 93 miles from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay.

Where does the Ski to Sea race finish?

Marine Park in Fairhaven: the sea-kayak leg ends at Marine Park on Bellingham Bay, where the finish festival is held each Memorial Day Sunday.

In what year did the first official Ski to Sea race take place?

1973: the first Ski to Sea was run in 1973 as part of Bellingham's Blossom Time festival, reviving the spirit of the 1911-13 Mount Baker Marathons.

Bellingham's Fairhaven district has been the southern terminus of which ferry system since 1989?

Alaska Marine Highway: in 1989 Alaska's state ferry system moved its southern terminus from Seattle to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in Fairhaven.

Which Amtrak service stops at Fairhaven Station in Bellingham?

Cascades: Amtrak Cascades trains between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. stop at Fairhaven Station, next to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.

What is Bellingham's tongue-in-cheek nickname?

City of Subdued Excitement: the unofficial motto pokes fun at the town's laid-back pace and appears on local T-shirts, stickers and shop signs.

Bellingham gets its drinking water from which body of water?

It supplies about 85,000 people and drains to the bay via Whatcom Creek; the name comes from a Lummi word for 'loud water'.

What disaster struck a Bellingham creek-side park on June 10, 1999?

A gasoline pipeline explosion: the Olympic Pipeline spilled about 237,000 gallons of gasoline into Whatcom Creek, which ignited, killing two 10-year-old boys and an 18-year-old fly fisherman.

Which Civil War general built Fort Bellingham in 1856 and left behind the city's oldest house?

George Pickett, later famous for Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, built Fort Bellingham in 1856; the Pickett House he built that year is Bellingham's oldest surviving house.

Which bloodless 1859 standoff with Britain over San Juan Island drew troops from Fort Bellingham?

The Pig War: in June 1859 American farmer Lyman Cutlar shot a Hudson's Bay Company pig rooting in his potato patch, sparking a 12-year joint occupation of San Juan Island.

Which company ran a pulp mill on Bellingham's downtown waterfront from 1963 to 2001?

Georgia-Pacific bought Puget Sound Pulp and Timber in 1963 and ran the waterfront pulp mill until 2001; the Port of Bellingham later took over the site for redevelopment.

Which Whatcom Museum building, designed by Olson Kundig, opened in 2009?

The Lightcatcher, designed by Olson Kundig, takes its name from a translucent wall 37 feet high and 180 feet long; Old City Hall and the Syre Education Center complete the museum's campus.

Bellingham's Old City Hall, now a museum, was built from red brick and which stone?

Chuckanut sandstone, quarried just south of the city, trims the red-brick Old City Hall of 1892, designed by local architect Alfred Lee.

What is the name of Bellingham's collegiate summer baseball team, founded in 1999?

Bells: the Bellingham Bells, founded in 1999, play collegiate summer ball at Joe Martin Field and have been members of the West Coast League since 2005.

Bellingham International Airport grew in the 2010s largely on travelers driving in from where?

Canada: Vancouver-area travelers crossed the border for Bellingham's cheaper US fares on Allegiant and Alaska, at one point making up an estimated two-thirds of its passengers.

Bellingham's main shopping mall, which draws Canadian shoppers, opened in 1988 under what name?

Bellis Fair opened in 1988 on Bellingham's north side, and its closeness to the border made it a magnet for Canadian shoppers whenever the loonie was strong.

In which year did Bellingham's Mount Baker Theatre, a restored movie palace, open?

1927: the Mount Baker Theatre opened in April 1927 as a movie and vaudeville palace; restored in the 1990s, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Which Bellingham museum, once the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, has a replica of Tesla's 'Egg of Columbus'?

SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention: the museum took the SPARK name in 2012 after two radio collections merged in 2001; its MegaZapper Tesla-coil show is the signature attraction.

Sehome Hill Arboretum, next to the WWU campus, has a tunnel hand-cut into rock in which year?

1923: the sandstone tunnel on Sehome Hill was hand-cut in 1923 for a scenic auto road; it later became part of the arboretum's trail network below the wooden observation tower.

About how much rain does Bellingham get in a typical year?

About 35 inches: Bellingham averages roughly 35 inches of precipitation a year, a little less than Seattle, with November the wettest month.

Which Japanese city has been Bellingham's sister city since 1958, and regularly sends a Ski to Sea team?

Tateyama, in Chiba Prefecture, has been paired with Bellingham since 1958; Port Stephens in Australia, Punta Arenas in Chile and Cheongju in South Korea are other sister cities.

Which 1921 monument at Blaine, Washington straddles the US-Canada border?

Peace Arch: railroad builder and lawyer Sam Hill dedicated the arch in September 1921 to mark a century of peace since the Treaty of Ghent; the border line runs through it.

Which part of Bellingham's county can only be reached by land through British Columbia?

Point Roberts: the 49th parallel slices the tip off the Tsawwassen Peninsula, leaving this 5-square-mile piece of Whatcom County reachable by road only through British Columbia.

What was the population of Bellingham's county at the 2020 census?

226,847: the 2020 census counted 226,847 people in Whatcom County, up from 201,140 in 2010; the county is coterminous with the Bellingham metro area.

Which Hillside Strangler killer was arrested in Bellingham in 1979 after murdering two Western students?

Kenneth Bianchi, who had moved to Bellingham from Los Angeles, killed WWU students Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder in January 1979; his arrest there unraveled the Hillside Strangler case with cousin Angelo Buono.

Which free software conference draws over a thousand people to Bellingham Technical College each spring?

The weekend event in late April or early May is devoted to Linux and other free-software projects.