Bellingham’s Industrial Boom of 1888
A look back at the rapid transformation of the three Bellingham Bay towns as railroads and mills reshaped the landscape.
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.
The population of Bellingham Bay has just about doubled during the past year owing to the improved condition of mining and the prosperous outlook for the future. The population of the three bay towns is probably not less than 2,500, including, of course, a great number of new arrivals. The railroad and milling movements, supplemented by the fact that we have a broad and productive agricultural county to back us, is the secret of this wholesome growth. The recent high prices paid for land by such railroad men as Nelson Bennett warrants other men in believing that something more than logging or coal railroads are to be built in the near future. Already, Mr. Cornwall is building his railroad to the coal mines of the Nooksack River, and within a few days, 50 men will be at work erecting his large sawmill at Fairhaven which will cut 40,000 feet per hour. These are some of the substantial improvements which are building up a great city on Bellingham Bay. For the size of the place, there are probably more buildings in course of erection at Fairhaven than anywhere else in the territory for the reason that the railroad company requires every man who buys a lot to build upon the same. Two new wharfs are to be built out to deep water from Whatcom within the next few months.
“The recent high prices paid for land by such railroad men as Nelson Bennett warrants other men in believing that something more than logging or coal railroads are to be built in the near future.”
This 1888 report captures the frantic, speculative energy of the Pacific Northwest during the late 19th-century railroad boom. Just as Bellingham's growth was then predicated on resource extraction and developer-mandated housing, modern Seattle continues to grapple with the tension between rapid urban densification and the infrastructure required to support it.
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