Bellingham Then & Now: An Index

Yup, we’re bringing back the good ol’ Bellingham Then & Now series. Literally every month, one or two blog posts from this series ranks in our top ten webpages. Y’all like your Bellingham history-nerd content (wahoo!) so we want to keep it organized for you!

As with any 26-part blog series written over the course of several months, it stands to reason that not every article would be a masterpiece, and I, the original writer of every single one of these, want you to start with only the best. 

General premise of the series: over the fall & winter of 2019-2020, we researched every single building in Bellingham that’s included in the National Historic Register (along with a few others).

• The Robert I. Morse House / The “Blue Mansion” (#5, 10/03/2019) - an overview of Queen Anne architecture and one of my favorites. Introduces architect Alfred Lee who designed several of the buildings in this series.

• The Herald Building (#6, 10/09/2019) - Structurally inspired by Miranda Priestly’s iconic speech in The Devil Wears Prada.

• George Bacon House (#12, 11/14/2019) - a discussion of neoclassism and an essay on how architectural inspiration doesn’t follow a chronologically linear path. Also, the Lincoln Memorial.

• Elmheim (#15, 12/11/2019) - the one that made me mad and sad. Proceed at your own risk.

• Alfred L. Black House (#14, 12/05/2019) - the last mayor of Fairhaven and the politics of place. 

• Roland G. Gamwell House (#1, 09/03/2019) - President Taft and Mark Twain showed up here, and Gamwell was instrumental in developing the Fairhaven and Bellingham public libraries.

• Wardner’s Castle (#7, 10/17/2019) - the story of an investor who won big - and then lost more.

• Montague Manor (#9, 10/24/2019) - a short post talking about a dry goods store in downtown Bellingham and the rumors of ghosts and other Halloweeny happenings at this old house. The article is a bit chopped up, but so was the goat involved.

• Eldridge Mansion (#10, 10/31/2019) - Some information about Bellingham’s earliest settlers, and an introduction to F. Stanley Piper, a notable local architect whose work is covered multiple times in this series.

• Morse Hardware Building (#11, 11/09/2019) - the story of how the oldest continually operating business in Bellingham thrived during the Alaskan & Klondike gold rushes, and survived the Great Depression a generation later.

• Victor Roeder Home (#16, 12/19/2019) - The gingerbread house that’s currently run by the Parks Department and is available for private rental.

• George E. Pickett House (#17, 1/09/2020) - Oldest building in Bellingham; owner was a Confederate so we’re not a fan. Most interesting thing here is the commentary from the Archives people (gotta love the admin mindset).

• Larrabee House / Lairmont Manor (#18, 01/16/2020) - Arguably the most beautiful buildings & grounds in Bellingham; played host to the iconic contralto Marian Anderson in 1941.

• J.J. Donovan House (#19, 01/22/2020) - Mostly about trains and timber.

• Axtell House (#24, 02/27/2020) - The eponymous woman and her adventures in woodworking, politics and probation.

• Viking Union (#2, 09/12/2019) - article focuses on the architect, Fred Bassetti, who also designed other projects on Western’s campus.

• Mount Baker Theatre (#3, 09/19/2019) - description of the era as well as our ghostly friend Judy.

• The Leopold (#4, 09/26/2019) - written soon after the Leopold went through a major change and the article reflects that.

• Sycamore Square / Mason Block (#13, 11/21/2019) - the revival of Fairhaven in the 1970s. Also, Mark Twain.

• Broadway Hall / The Aftermath Club (#20, 01/30/2020) - Twelve women started a club that lasted a century. Rock on ladies.

• St. Paul’s (#21, 02/06/2020) - Not a ton of info here; but a couple of iconic names like Roeder, Roth, and Piper appear.

• Great Northern Railroad Passenger Station (#22, 02/13/2020) - discussion of the development of railroads in the area. Oh, and how we soaked a bunch of dignitaries by accident.

• Laube Hotel (#23, 02/20/2020) - Not a ton of info here.

• Old City Hall / Whatcom Museum (#25, 03/26/2020) - drama around picking the build site. Humans are human-ing, no matter the era.

• Fairhaven Hotel / Fairhaven Tower (#26, 04/02/2020) - Fairhaven’s business district from the 1880s to 1970s.

• Horseshoe Cafe (#27, 04/09/2020) - Reflects the time in which I wrote this.

• A Look Back (#8, 10/18/2019) - a discussion of how fires in San Francisco indirectly led to development in Bellingham via explorers Henry Roeder and Russell Peabody.

• Then & Now (03/24/2019) - a 15-minute braindump of everything we’d learned over the six months of this series (be nice; our team had JUST creating video content).

What’s your favorite blog post in this series? Reach out to tiffany@cohengroupnw.com and let me know!

Written by Tiffany Holden without any AI support. Every blog post on this website is written by real CGNW team members in our own words, based on our real experiences living in Whatcom County.