The Battle for the Bellingham Waterfront
Fairhaven and New Whatcom are locked in a bitter struggle to claim the developing city of Bellingham for their own booming municipal territory.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It is somewhat astonishing that in the face of the fact that nearly every individual—men, women, and children—in Bellingham have not only petitioned to be incorporated with Fairhaven, but have protested against being incorporated with New Whatcom, that the attorneys of the New Whatcom interest should persist in endeavoring to force these people into their proposed corporation. The secret of the whole thing is that Sehome wants the Bellingham waterfront, and that town will use all the means in its power, fair or unfair, to achieve this end. Fairhaven interests are pushing now for a railroad to Whatcom and beyond, and the growth of Fairhaven is already doing much for Bellingham. There are numerous men of means in Fairhaven today who are only waiting to be assured that Bellingham will be incorporated with Fairhaven to begin valuable and adorning improvements on that side of the line.
“The secret of the whole thing is that Sehome wants the Bellingham water-front, and that town will use all the means in its power, fair or unfair, to achieve this end.”
This territorial dispute was a pivotal moment in the 1890s consolidation of what eventually became modern-day Bellingham. It highlights the fierce competition for control over natural resources and development, a familiar civic tension in the region’s long history of urban planning and political boundary setting.
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