City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington

City of Bellingham Whatcom County, Washington

Mapped Location

City of Bellingham: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Bellingham

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Bellingham

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Bellingham	Official
Bellingham	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Bellingham

References to City of Bellingham that document the origin of its place name

BELLINGHAM, a city on the bay of the same name in Whatcom County. The first white man to enter the bay was the Spaniard Eliza, 1791, who named it Seño de Gaston or Gulf of Gaston. On June 11, 1792, the bay was surveyed by Joseph Whidbey in a boat excursion under Vancouver. The latter, on receiving his officer's report, charted the name Bellingham Bay. He does not say for whom the name was given, but he frequently associated the surnames and Christian names of those honored by giving them to nearby or related geographic features. He gave the name of Point William to the prominent point south of the entrance to the bay. In studying up his contemporaries, it was found that Sir William Bellingham checked over Vancouver's supplies and accounts as he was leaving England. There is very little doubt that Sir William Bellingham was the man thus honored. In that same year, 1792, the Spaniards of the "Sutil y Mexicana" Expedition again charted the bay and sought to retain a form of Spanish name by calling it Bahia de Gaston. The Spanish charts were not published for years, while the British charts appeared promptly and fixed the name permanently. David Thompson of the North-West Company of Montreal referred to the bay as "Ballsam Bay." The United States Coast Survey in 1854 showed the northern portion of the bay as "Gaston Bay," a partial recognition of the older Spanish name. The first town on the bay was given the Indian name Whatcom. Later there were established the towns of Sehome and Fairhaven. There were several combinations of these rival settlements, all of which later joined in the one City of Bellingham. Mrs. Ella Higginson, the poet, says she has had the distinction of having lived in three cities of Washington -- Sehome, New Whatcom and Bellingham -- without having moved out of her house.

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 17 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Related Catalog Titles

A Bibliography for City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington

Fairhaven a history by Brian L. Griffin

The complete history of that most southerly community on Bellingham Bay, one of the four original towns that were consolidated in 1904 to become the present City of Bellingham. Fairhaven, Washington--from the glaciers to today--the places, the participants, and the grand possibilities. A new arrival in 1889 said, "only crude raw beginnings, the primeval forest of giant firs and cedars barely pushed back to the hillsides, mud streets gouged out, raw with jumbled piles of burning stumps, flames and smoke obscuring the sky. On the beach, tents flap in the breeze and a few unpainted wooden structures suggest civilization is to come." In 2015, what would be recognizable to any of those old-timers would be the enterprising spirit of the latest inhabitants, who have done so much to create Fairhaven's modern growth and economic strength

xi, 275 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 1st Edition · Knox Cellars Publishing Company, Bellingham, Washington, USA, 2015
Related Catalog Items: City of Bellingham · Whatcom County · Fairhaven

The birth, death, and resurrection of Fairhaven by George Hunsby

101 leaves, 7 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 1st Edition · G. Hunsby, Bellingham, Wash., 1975
Related Catalog Items: City of Bellingham · Fairhaven · Whatcom County

Whatcom seascapes the influence of the sea on Whatcom County. An exhibition of the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Washington, October 9, 1970--April 30, 1971 by Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Susan H. L. Barrow

78 pages illustrations, map (on inside covers) 24 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

Exhibition catalogs · 1st Edition · Printed by Craftsman Press, Seattle, 1970
Related Catalog Items: City of Bellingham · Whatcom County

The fourth corner highlights from the early Northwest by Lelah Jackson Edson, Whatcom Museum of History and Art

xxiii, 298 pages illustrations, facsimile, maps, plans, portraits 27 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 1st Edition · Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Wash., 1968
Related Catalog Items: City of Bellingham · Whatcom County

Whatcom County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2025-09-23