Historic Fairhaven district of Bellingham Washington USA
by D70
The Fairhaven Historic District, a town site first platted in 1883, encompasses an area of three and a quarter blocks and contains the areas best preserved commercial buildings. By 1904 Fairhaven and adjoining communities along Bellingham Bay had consolidated to the City of Bellingham. Separated from greater Bellingham by the topographical barrier of Sehome Hill, Fairhaven came to be known as South Bellingham after consolidation.
Fairhaven boasted the city's most extensive deep-water frontage. When speculators promoted the town site as the anticipated terminus of the transcontinental railroad a sizable business district mushroomed there in 1889-1890. Fairhaven proved to be an ideal manufacturing town because of its ready access to coal and timber. Its lumber and shingle mills and large salmon cannery were among Whatcom County's prime industries.
