Tall Ship Waterfront
by James Williamson
Original - Sold
Price
$3,000
Dimensions
28.000 x 20.000 inches
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Title
Tall Ship Waterfront
Artist
James Williamson
Medium
Painting - Pen And Ink Watercolor
Description
Bellingham, Washington historic Citizen's Dock waterfront. Whatcom County City Hall in the distance.
Artist James Williamson ASMA,
Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists
Citizens Dock was a significant source of citizen and municipal pride. The first major in-shore dock on the northern Bellingham Bay shoreline it was a much-awaited facility. The depot-terminal for still thriving passenger steamship business was seen by all passengers leaving and entering Bellingham by steamship and it was an important symbol of Bellingham's progress as a port city. The wharf facility was named Citizens Dock in honor of the citizens committee which supported the project from its beginnings through to its successful completion.
Riffe Kirkpatrick Company of Bellingham was awarded the contract by Inland Navigation Company to build the dock on January 23, 1913. It was to be a reproduction of the Coleman Dock in Seattle, but not as large, would cost $30,000 to build and be completed in five months. The waterway dock, as it was referred to in the newspapers, was completed on time and dedicated July 1, 1913.
The dock building was a one-story structure with two story additions on either end. A large warehouse facility holding incoming and outgoing steamer freight occupied the center of the building, a passenger ticket office and steamship company offices were along the shorefront. Passengers entering from Roeder Avenue climbed a stairway to the second floor and followed an overhead bridge, above the warehouse, which led to spacious passenger waiting rooms at the bay end of the building. The front face of the water end provided an outside second floor pillared portico and view. Stairways led from each side of the portico to the wharf below. Large panels of windows in the second-floor viewing area provided a spectacular view of the bay and steamships. Walkways and observation rooms were open day and night allowing citizens recreation and rest at any time.
The Citizens Dock facade faced Roeder Avenue with the dock continuing out into the end of the Whatcom Creek waterway in a southerly direction. The dimensions were 100 X 300 feet with the dock house beginning 30 feet from the southern margin of Roeder Avenue, leaving room for a spur from the Bellingham Northern Railroad line. The Bay end of the dock house ended in a convex V shape, increasing space for larger boats to tie up to the end of the dock house as well as along the sides. The dock stood in 18 feet of water at mean low tide and the decking of the wharf was 18 feet above mean low water so that the largest passenger vessels could berth. Black and white photographs and paint samples collected by the artist indicate the building was originally painted two colors, red with yellow trim. Later the dock was completely painted gray.
Citizens Dock was the culmination of many years of citizen activism toward the development of port and maritime facilities to serve the needs and create pride of a growing community. A symbol of the rewards of a community pulling together.
The dock linked two important transportation systems. Bellingham residents traveled to the terminal by streetcar and connected to other cities via steamship. Streetcar tracks continued onto the wharf. Passengers were met by a proud sign that stretched the width of the building end exclaiming Steamers for all Ports on Puget Sound. Incoming passengers may catch the streetcar for many Bellingham destinations. Transportation to Citizens Dock also included walking, horseback, horse drawn buggies, and early autobuses.
Citizens Dock became the single terminal for the city of Bellingham. Steamers shuttled to and from Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Port Townsend, LA Conner, Port Angeles, The San Juan Islands, Blaine, Victoria, Sidney, Vancouver and many other small ports to Bellingham. Such well known steamers as the Kulshan, Whatcom, Comanche, Potlatch, Cleo, Islander, San Juan, Bellingham, Rosalie, Motor Princess, Kitsap, Chippewa, Tourist, Aloha, and many others made known their dockings with the echoing of steam whistles on the bay. As many as 80,000 passengers a year were being carried to and from Citizens Dock and 1784 vessels called as late as 1930. Five years later, by 1935, all scheduled passenger steamer runs were gone and only freight services remained. Freight tonnage dropped from 30,000 tons in 1924 to 13,000 tons in 1938.
Puget Sound freight lines purchased Citizens Dock in 1935 and continued using it for freight movement and storage through the 1960s. Puget Sound Freights Steamer Indian called at the dock until 1970. That year ended a century of waterborne commerce to and from Citizens Dock. The dock was used as a warehouse and occasional storage until 1980. July 29, 1980, the dock was sold to the city of Bellingham for $1 (one dollar). Mayor Ken Hertz said with a smile, we are happy to pay such a large price for this facility. The structure was valued at $150,000. Hertz pronounced the structure very sound; officials inspected the building last week to make sure it is in good condition. Plans called for Citizens Dock to become part of the City's Maritime Heritage Center using the warehouse as a maritime museum. This could have included a fishing pier, restaurant, retail space, moorage for historic vessels, etc. City officials spoke of grant money and state funds for renovation of the dock. Nothing became of all these plans, and in the best tradition of Bellingham's urban improvement, the dock was demolished after being damaged in a 1987 storm. The city of Bellingham paid $60,000 to have the dock removed saving Puget Sound Freight Lines $59,999.
There was a time when Bellingham boasted one of the finest steamship terminals on the inland waterways of the Pacific Northwest.
Bellingham City Hall: (formerly New Whatcom City Hall), 1892-93, restored 1965-74. One of the state's finest late nineteenth century institutional structures built in an austere Second Empire Style with overtones of Romanesque Revival. The massive brick structure which builds up from four corner towers to a high central cupola is still our city's major landmark and symbol of authority despite its use since 1940 as the Museum of History and Art. When the structure was damaged in a 1962 fire that destroyed the roof and central tower, a masterful campaign by the Whatcom Museum Society raised funds to restore the building and refurbish the interior. Now a major, multipurpose cultural center, the museum has received national recognition for its community-sponsored restoration.
The Daily Reveille, January 16,1892 described the new structure: a beacon to all vessels coming into our harbor, and a sure index to all comers, tourists, and travelers, of our taste, thrift, enterprise and intelligence.
An account of the City of New Whatcom given in Polk's 1892 Gazetteer of Oregon, Washington and Idaho: The city is admirably situated on Bellingham Bay. It is claimed that a sailing vessel can make New Whatcom wharves from the Ocean by only three courses of the wind. Here is one of the finest harbors on the Sound, capable of accommodating ships of the largest tonnage. These facts coupled with the railroad facilities, developed and in prospect, will make this city a formidable rival of the great cities farther up the sound...the city has street electric railway connecting with Fairhaven, gas works, an admirable volunteer fire department, six prosperous banks, and two daily newspapers: the Reveille (Rep) and Exponent (Dem)
The sailing ship James Drummond, built in 1880 in Phippsburg, Maine, was employed by Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company. The 1,556-ton Downeaster wrecked in the Seaforth Channel off British Columbia in 1914. Citizens Dock was built for steamships and a sailing vessel of this size rarely docked at the facility. However, I added the ship as an eclectic view of the romantic city of Bellingham. Many tall ships of this type regularly docked at the industries around Bellingham Bay.
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December 19th, 2012
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