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49 free Bellingham trivia questions with answers. Bellingham, Washington was four rival towns until 1903, sits 21 miles from Canada, and lies in the shadow of a volcano whose ski area once got 95 feet of snow in a winter. This quiz covers the City of Subdued Excitement from George Vancouver naming the bay in 1792 through coal at Sehome, Dirty Dan Harris and the Fairhaven boom, George Pickett's fort, the Georgia-Pacific mill and the waterfront rebuild. It also takes in Western Washington University and its Vikings, Ski to Sea, the Alaska Marine Highway terminal, Lake Whatcom, the 1999 pipeline explosion, the Whatcom Museum's Lightcatcher, the Bells, and the locals who made it big, from Death Cab for Cutie and Hilary Swank to Ryan Stiles. Easy questions ask which county Bellingham runs; the hard ones want the year Sehome Hill's tunnel was cut and Whatcom County's census count. Every answer has been checked against a reference encyclopaedia entry on the place, institution or person, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
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Q 01Bellingham lies between which two big cities, 52 miles from one and 90 from the other?
Vancouver and Seattle
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.
Q 02Who named Bellingham Bay in 1792, honoring Sir William Bellingham?
George Vancouver
Bellingham was the Royal Navy storekeeper who had provisioned Vancouver's expedition; he never saw the bay.
Q 03On what date was Bellingham officially incorporated?
December 28, 1903
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.
Q 04Which of the four founding towns is today's 'Old Town', begun with Roeder's mill in 1852?
Whatcom
Henry Roeder and Russel Peabody set up the lumber mill there; Fairhaven was platted by Dan Harris in 1883.
Q 05Who platted the town of Fairhaven in 1883 around his homestead on Padden Creek?
Dan Harris
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.
Q 06What resource was discovered at Sehome in 1854, driving the area's early economy?
Coal
San Francisco investors formed the Bellingham Bay Coal Company; mining lasted until the mid-20th century.
Q 07Which 1858 event caused a short-lived population boom in the Bellingham Bay settlements?
The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush
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.
Q 08Which Native nation's reservation lies directly west of Bellingham, formed after the Treaty of Point Elliott?
Lummi
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.
Q 09Which interstate highway links Bellingham with Seattle and the Canadian border?
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 runs through Bellingham, about 90 miles north of Seattle and 21 miles south of the Canadian border crossing at Blaine.
Q 10What was Bellingham's population at the 2020 census?
91,482
91,482: the 2020 census counted 91,482 people in Bellingham, up from 80,885 in 2010.
Q 11Bellingham holds which geographic distinction among cities of more than 90,000 people?
Northernmost in the contiguous US
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.
Q 12Which river, fed by North Cascades glaciers, empties into Bellingham Bay?
Nooksack
The Nooksack River drains glaciers of the North Cascades and winds past Lynden and Ferndale before emptying into the north end of Bellingham Bay.
Q 13The university on Sehome Hill started life in 1893 as what kind of institution?
A teachers' training school
Q 21Which Northwest grocery chain was founded in Bellingham in 1933?
Haggen
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.
Q 22Which snowboard race through a natural halfpipe has been held at Mt. Baker since 1985?
Legendary Banked Slalom
Pros and amateurs of all ages ride the same course over the same days.
Q 23Which highway runs east from Bellingham to the Mt. Baker Ski Area?
Route 542
Route 11 is the scenic Chuckanut Drive and Route 539 heads north to Lynden and the border.
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.
Q 14What is the nickname of Bellingham's university sports teams?
Vikings
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.
Q 15Which Western college, opened in 1969, was among the first US schools devoted to environmental studies?
Huxley
The 'Huxley' name was dropped in 2021 over Thomas Henry Huxley's racial views.
Q 16Which indie rock band formed in Bellingham in 1997 while its singer was studying at Western?
Death Cab for Cutie
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.
Q 17Which two-time Oscar winner grew up near Lake Samish and attended Bellingham's Sehome High School?
Hilary Swank
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).
Q 18Which Whose Line Is It Anyway? star founded Bellingham's Upfront Theatre improv venue?
Ryan Stiles
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.
Q 19By what Indigenous name is Mount Baker, the volcano east of Bellingham, also known?
Kulshan
Kulshan, or Koma Kulshan, is the Coast Salish name for Mount Baker; Tahoma is Rainier, Loowit is St. Helens and Pahto is Mount Adams.
Q 20What world record did Mt. Baker Ski Area set in the 1998-99 ski year?
Most snowfall in a single season
1,140 inches, or 95 feet, fell that winter; the resort averages 641 inches a year.
Q 24Bellingham's Ski to Sea race has how many legs?
Seven
Seven: cross-country ski, downhill, run, road bike, canoe, cyclocross and sea kayak carry teams about 93 miles from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay.
Q 25Where does the Ski to Sea race finish?
Marine Park in Fairhaven
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.
Q 26In what year did the first official Ski to Sea race take place?
1973
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.
Q 27Bellingham's Fairhaven district has been the southern terminus of which ferry system since 1989?
Alaska Marine Highway
Alaska Marine Highway: in 1989 Alaska's state ferry system moved its southern terminus from Seattle to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in Fairhaven.
Q 28Which Amtrak service stops at Fairhaven Station in Bellingham?
Cascades
Cascades: Amtrak Cascades trains between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. stop at Fairhaven Station, next to the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.
Q 29What is Bellingham's tongue-in-cheek nickname?
City of Subdued Excitement
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.
Q 30Bellingham gets its drinking water from which body of water?
Lake Whatcom
It supplies about 85,000 people and drains to the bay via Whatcom Creek; the name comes from a Lummi word for 'loud water'.