Coming Attraction

A proposal to demolish this historic Bellingham building as part of the massive waterfront development plan was met with fierce opposition from the public. Here's an excerpt from a very eloquent posting by a local blogger. 

Through the early 20th Century, Washington chicken farmers sold eggs as small, independent producers, subject to the vagaries of local markets. In 1917 one hundred or so met in Seattle and created their own marketing agency. It became the Washington Egg and Poultry Cooperative Association, whose members built the towered, fortress-like storage and processing building on Roeder Street that remains a Bellingham landmark. In the depths of the Great Depression — in 1936 — they had 23,000 members, statewide.

Chicken feeds were blended to special formulae through a bewildering arrangement of elevators, bins and conveyors that still occupy the interior of the tower. Thousands of cases of eggs arrived by truck to be sorted for quality, repacked and sent by train and ship as far away as the east coast. At one point in its feathered history, Whatcom County produced more eggs than any other in the West, except for one county in California.

Thankfully, the plan was changed, and the building is to be renovated to include high-end apartments, offices, and restaurants.

P.S. Those are not real windows -- see the second extra photo.