Whatcom Middle School history dates back as far as Bellingham's consolidation vote

DEAN KAHN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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BELLINGHAM - The original part of what is now Whatcom Middle School was built of brick and sandstone blocks in 1903. It was called North Side High School, to go with South Side High in Fairhaven.

Whatcom is the oldest existing building in Bellingham School District, and one of the oldest in the state.

The building was designed in the American Renaissance style by architect Alfred Lee, who also designed Fairhaven High School, the Whatcom Museum building on Prospect Street and several noteworthy Victorian houses in Bellingham.

| COURTESY, Karen Hulford

Before 1903, high school students in the city of Whatcom attended school at two buildings on Dupont Street. That year, voters in the two communities on Bellingham Bay - Whatcom (which had earlier consolidated with the town of Sehome) and Fairhaven (which had earlier absorbed the town of Bellingham) - agreed to consolidate into one city called Bellingham.

North Side High was slightly enlarged in 1907, and a wooden annex was added later. A major addition in 1916 more than doubled the size of the school, which also had a new name, Whatcom High School.

In 1936, a concrete gymnasium was added behind the main building of the 1916 addition, and the exterior walls were covered with stucco and painted the same color.

The Greek-Revival entrance with the motto "Waste Not Thy Hour" inscribed above the doorway is located near the eastern end of the 1916 addition.

Whatcom High's play field was later expanded, given a grandstand and named Battersby Field. The grandstand was later demolished.

Whatcom High took on extra duty in 1936 when fire destroyed the main building at Fairhaven High School on the chilly, celebratory night of Dec. 31, 1935. At least some of Fairhaven High's 400 or so students finished out their school year at Whatcom High.

With the 1937 construction of Bellingham High School, students at Whatcom shifted to Bellingham High and Whatcom became a junior high, with students in seventh through ninth grades.

Whatcom remained a junior high until 1967, when it became a middle school for students in sixth through eighth grades.

Whatcom Middle School experienced several mishaps during the 1970s. On June 1, 1976, a plugged sewer pipe flooded the basement, prompting the evacuation of more than 800 students. Then on Dec. 13, 1977, a fire across the street spread and damaged the school's industrial arts building.

The fire that badly damaged Whatcom Middle School early Thursday, Nov. 5, was the second major fire at a Bellingham middle school in recent years. Fire gutted Kulshan Middle School in July 1993, just before the $8.6 million school was set to open.