In 2003 – 2004, Bellingham, WA is a thriving community in the northwest corner of Washington State with a population of 69,260. Although the downtown core and Fairhaven districts are still located along the perimeter of Bellingham Bay, the city limits have also stretched eastward to the shores of Lake Whatcom. Throughout the past century the development of the automobile has been a major factor in the city’s physical growth. New business districts now exist at various access routes along the Interstate 5 freeway including Bakerview Road, the Guide Meridian, Sunset Drive, Lakeway Drive and Samish Way.
Yet many of the high priority city and community goals of the first part of the 21st Century are the same ones that seemed important in the first part of the 20th century a hundred years ago!
1903 vs. 2003:
Community leaders in 1903 asked the same questions community leaders ask in 2003, including:
- How do we build up and retain the downtown business core?
- What should the waterfront be used for and how do we get it?
- How do we attract and keep major employers in the area?
- How can we best transport people through the city efficiently and cheaply?
- How can our natural environment make the community a better place to live?
- How can city government help to support the community and make it a better place?
- What to do with the Lake Whatcom watershed?
More than 25 Bellingham businesses have remained in operation for the past 100 years. Bellingham’s active waterfront still supports fishing, cold storage, boat building, shipping, paper processing and marina operations. The Bellingham Cruise Terminal is also home to the Alaska Marine Highway System ferries. The Bellingham International Airport welcomes daily flights of both private and commercial aircraft.
The city is also home to Western Washington University, the state’s third largest institution of higher education, with a student population of more than 12,000. Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College register more than 7,000 students per quarter.
Bellingham is highly regarded for the quality of its parks and outdoor recreation as well as its cultural amenities. The Fairhaven district has retained the charm of its historic buildings and has become a hub for specialty stores while Bellingham’s downtown is experiencing the growth of new building projects. The city has been rated by numerous national publications as one of the best places in America for quality of life.
