Fairhaven, Bellingham, Washington

The Fairhaven area is situated on the south side of Bellingham,[1] and borders Bellingham Bay on the west and Western Washington University on the northeast.

Since 1989 Fairhaven has been the southernmost terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway System, Alaska's state run ferry system. The Bellingham Cruise Terminal is also the departure point for summer passenger ferry service to the San Juan Islands and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada operated by Victoria/San Juan Cruises. Nearby is Fairhaven Station, a small transportation hub which serves as Bellingham's Amtrak Cascades station stop[2] as well as the Greyhound bus depot.[3] Connections can be made to local taxis or local transit. Whatcom Transportation Authority recently upgraded Fairhaven's bus service to every 15 minutes as part of its Red Line. Fairhaven also plays outdoor movies every weekend during the summer at the Pickford Outdoor Cinema in Fairhaven's historical district.

Fairhaven in 1890

First arriving in the area in 1854, Daniel J. Harris bought property along the coast and founded the town of Fairhaven in 1883.[4] By 1889, he had sold all his interests to developers such as Nelson Bennett and C. X. Larrabee, who were intent on building Fairhaven into a major city on the scale of Seattle or Tacoma.[5]

Fairhaven, like many other coastal Washington cities, competed with other Washington cities for the position of terminal city of the Great Northern Railroad, but that title ultimately fell on Seattle. During this period of competitiveness, which lasted from the late 1870s through mid-1880s, Fairhaven adopted its iconic 19th century style and took on an aesthetic appeal to architecture and design. Even after it was decided that Seattle would house the Great Northern Railroad terminal, population and aesthetically-minded construction continued to boom until the late 1890s. Fairhaven was officially incorporated on May 13, 1890. On October 27, 1903, citizens of Fairhaven and citizens of two neighboring cities on Bellingham Bay, Whatcom City and Sehome, voted to consolidate into one city named Bellingham. On December 28, 1903 the new city of Bellingham was officially established.[6]

Fairhaven is also known for its historical ties to salmon canning, and from the late 1800s through to the 1940s was the home of numerous salmon canning operations, employing as many as 4,500 workers in the area. In the 1940s the Pacific American Fisheries was headquartered in Fairhaven, and was known as the largest salmon canning operation in the world.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fairhaven, Bellingham, Washington.

• Fairhaven Historic District, City of Bellingham. Much historical detail and building-by-building description.
• fairhaven.com
• Fairhaven Neighbors (official website)
• Whatcom Museum History of Bellingham
• Bellingham Tourism website