About Our City

During the last quarter of the 19th century, the Fraser River gold rush unexpectedly enriched the lives of disappointed miners who discovered attractive spots to resettle in the territory of Washington. Many of them, apparently, didn’t sail back to California, or wherever. They decided to live along our west coast or at various locations in the Gulf and San Juan Islands.

Semiahmoo spit looked like a promising bit of land for a future fishing and lumbering industry, so a few settlers pioneered a village that shifted eastward over the bay to become known as Blaine, Washington—the town was named in honor of a man that didn’t quite make it to the presidency of the United States of America in 1876.

For many years it appeared the town would prosper while fishermen caught sockeye salmon and woodsmen felled the forest. But after the greater part of a century, it seemed the fish and firs were being depleted. So the cannery and sawmills eventually closed.

With so many failing communities investing in tourism, Blaine also began to promote that industry. It looked like the answer. But President Eisenhower eventually forged the way to a freeway that bisected our city, and enabled tourists an opportunity to bypass Blaine. And many, bound for Bellingham, Seattle, Oregon and California, did just that. The question became one of attracting the passersby.

Undeterred, the city annexed Semiahmoo spit with its uplands in 1974. Development was inevitable. The old cannery became a beautiful hotel, conference facility and destination resort. A gorgeous Palmer-certified golf course emerged. And the uplands grew to become a grandly gated community, attracting new residents every year.

Choosing the professional approach in 1982, Blaine hired a city manager. Expansion took place with various improvements and, additionally, a shopping center erected in the east side of the community. Seeing the need to vitalize downtown Blaine, streets were reconstructed. Peace Portal Drive—our city’s most traveled street—was widened, given bikeways, brick crosswalks, and graced at appropriate places with attractive bollards. The council/manager approach to city government and growth continues to this day.

The Blaine Community Chamber of Commerce established a “turn of the century city” theme. Buildings were revamped to make them look older, and an appropriate building code was adopted for downtown Blaine. Incidentally, if you’d like a glimpse of the city as an early 20th century pioneer described it, go to www.whatcomhistory.net and open “The Last Diary of Andrew Jackson Loomis.” The diary was pulled from a trash can in 1964, it was given to me, and I copied all 303 handwritten pages, edited it, didn’t copyright it at all, and now you can download and print up the entire manuscript for free if you wish. Loomis was an avid gardener who covered our founding mayor’s funeral.

The city’s latest project has become construction of a boardwalk designed to augment viewing of Blaine’s beautiful bay. On the boardwalk’s south plaza, a lovely sculpture called The Vigil will be erected. That’s how I got an idea that upgrades the role of our International Peace Arch. I call Robert McDermott’s masterpiece “Vigil for Peace.”

Our costal community, located on an international border, is buffeted by geodemographic variables that complicate planning. And more so while the world becomes increasingly complex. But Blaine keeps trying to transcend them with a larger vision. Parenthetically, geodemography is a recent addition to the sociological nomenclature. Demography is given a geographic context—appropriate for a greater understanding of Blaine in its unusual setting of natural and international boundaries.

Blaine has grown dramatically during the past two years. The population is moving beyond 4,000—largest ever. Elderly people are choosing to retire in our city; in fact, Blaine’s population holds the greatest median age of any incorporated city in our county. The city also serves as a bedroom community for younger people who find employment beyond the city limits.

Our community is pleasingly peaceful. Appropriately, the International Peace Arch has been Blaine’s center of attraction since 1921, and it continues to draw peace-loving visitors from all over the world.

©2006 Vigil for Peace. All Rights Reserved
www.vigil4peace.com

Email: vigil4peace@hotmail.com

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