A HISTORY OF THE WATERFRONT

For over 100 years, Bellingham’s waterfront has served the regional economy as a thriving industrial area, transportation gateway and home to many maritime activities. In 1891, the Great Northern Railroad finished an overwater rail trestle across the mud flats on Bellingham’s central waterfront allowing the distribution of goods across a new, nationwide rail network. In the early 1900s, the Whatcom Creek federal waterway was established and silt from the dredged waterway was used as fill along parts of the waterfront.

A CENTURY OF COMMERCE

In 1926, Ossian Anderson opened Bellingham’s first pulp mill on The South Side of the Whatcom Waterway creating a new economic opportunity for Whatcom County’s extensive timber resources. In the years after, Pacific Coast Paper Mills and Puget Sound Pulp were founded and operated as major employers on the waterfront.

Through the 1930s and ‘40s, the Bellingham waterfront saw major commercial activity and in 1963 one of the world’s largest paper companies, Georgia-Pacific, took over the pulp and tissue mills on the Whatcom waterway.

THE WATERFRONT TODAY

In 2013, the Port entered into an agreement with Harcourt Bellingham LLC to develop the downtown waterfront area.

As of 2019, completed projects include the restoration of the historic Granary Building and Waypoint Park.

Additional projects proposed over the coming years include a hotel, condominiums, commercial retail space, offices, and more public parks and greenways.

BELLINGHAM WATERFRONT RENEWAL

At its peak, Georgia-Pacific’s Bellingham operation included major industrial facilities and employed 1,200 local workers, making it a key producer of lignin and other products. The industry declined over time and closed in the 2000s.

Following the closure, the Port of Bellingham purchased the site and began an environmental cleanup. The city committed to long-term investment, including new infrastructure, parks, trails, and restoration. Together, the Port and city are developing a heritage trail to highlight remaining historic elements of the former ~
mill site.