Local history from Bellingham, WA | BellinghamHerald.com

Local History

Highway 99 left indelible but fading mark through Bellingham

When William Wegley opened his City Center Motel in 1952, it's location at 2419 Elm St. placed it nicely along busy Highway 99, the north-south route that pierced Bellingham. Today, the business lives on in the age of freeway travel as the Lion's Inn Motel.

If you're in the mood for a trip back in time, grab a copy of "Washington's Highway 99" and hit the road.

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Archive by category ''Local History

World's Fair

DEAN KAHN

Cross-country wizardry: Thomas Edison switched on Bellingham streetlights from Florida home

Many people know that legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow pushed a button from his New York studio in 1949 to light up a giant Christmas tree in Bellingham.
DEAN KAHN

Retired police chief John Burley worked tirelessly for veterans

When John "Jack" Burley saw Bellingham Bay for the first time in the late '40s, he knew he had found a home.
DEAN KAHN

Everson Police Chief Erik Ramstead remembered for his upbeat service to the community

EVERSON - Erik Ramstead, Everson's longtime police chief, was a big man who played a large role in his community, so his death at the age of 50 leaves a massive hole in many people's hearts.
DEAN KAHN

Bellingham historian documents 1880 slaying of Lake Padden's namesake

Last summer I wrote about a group that hosted a 40th anniversary party for Lake Padden Park. My story mentioned that Michael Padden, the Irish immigrant for whom the lake was named, had been fatally shot during a property dispute.
DEAN KAHN

Remembering Whatcom County residents who died in 2012

With the new year ahead of us, let's stop for a moment to remember some of the noteworthy Whatcom County people who died in 2012:
DEAN KAHN

History of jazz in Whatcom County revealed in new book

After years of research and interviews, Milt Krieger has written a wonderfully titled book that just might be the first of its kind in the country.
DEAN KAHN

For Bellingham's baby boomers, echoes of the '60s protest years continue

Forty years ago I was sitting in a political theory class at Western Washington University when the professor held up the latest issue of the Northwest Passage, an alternative newspaper that had started in Bellingham three years earlier.
DEAN KAHN

Nooksack Valley history photos now online at State Library

More than 500 historic photos from Everson, Nooksack and surrounding communities are now viewable online more than a decade after they were gathered.
DEAN KAHN

Downtown Bellingham buildings surveyed for possible historic listings

Some government reports deserve to collect dust on a shelf, but people interested in Bellingham history will want to take a gander at a new city document.
DEAN KAHN

Photos a century apart document glacial changes on Mount Baker

About seven years ago, when mountain photographer John Scurlock first saw the 1912 photograph of the south side of Mount Baker, he was smitten with its historical value.