''The Bellingham Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (locat ...

, in the United States. It was founded on March 10, 1890, as ''The Fairhaven Herald'' and changed its name after Bellingham was incorporated as a city in 1903. ''The Bellingham Herald'' is the largest newspaper in

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan ...

, with a weekday circulation of over 8,700. It employs around 60 people. It is owned by

The McClatchy Company The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states and ...

History

''The Fairhaven Herald'' published its first edition on March 10, 1890, and was originally based in Fairhaven. The tri-weekly newspaper was one of several established in the Bellingham area in the late 19th century. The first editor, William "Lightfoot" Visscher, worked for the paper for 18 months before falling out with Nelson Bennet, the landowner. Visscher was fired in April 1891 and returned to his previous occupation in Tacoma. In 1900 the newspaper purchased the first linotype on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. In 1903, owner Sidney Albert Perkins merged the newspaper with a competitor and renamed it ''The Bellingham Herald.'' ''The Herald'' fended off competition from the ''

Puget Sound American Puget may refer to: *Puget (surname) *Puget, Vaucluse, a commune in France *Puget, Washington, a community in the United States See also *Puget Creek *Puget Island *Puget Sound *Puget-Ville Puget-Ville (; oc, Puget Vila) is a commune in the Va ...

'', which had been established in 1904 by ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

'' publisher

Joseph Blethen Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

. The ''American'' had merged with another existing daily, the ''Reveille'', but was unable to overtake ''The Herald'' in circulation. ''The Reveille'' was acquired by ''The Herald'' in 1927. The newspaper moved its offices to the newly-constructed Herald Building in 1926. Federated Publications bought ''The Herald'' from Sam Perkins in 1967 and merged with the

Gannett Corporation Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. The Herald switched to morning delivery in May 1997 and launched its website on February 15, 2000.

Knight-Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bran ...

acquired ''The Bellingham Herald'' in 2005. Knight-Ridder was acquired by McClatchy in 2006, putting ''The Herald'' under their ownership.

Herald building

The Herald building is located in downtown Bellingham at the corner of State Street and Chestnut Street. Built in 1926, the six-story

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building uses white

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

tiles and

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows depicting a

herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...

playing his

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

. The building was the first in downtown Bellingham to use a concrete-and-steel form and steam for heating. Bellingham_Herald_Building

The newspaper's main offices were located on the second floor, while tenant businesses occupied the remaining space, including a dentist, a restaurant, and the local

chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

. Prior to the construction of the Bellingham Towers in 1930, the Herald Building was the tallest in the city. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, as well as the State Historic Register. The employee offices were relocated to the Barkley Village area in 2019 after the newsroom was downsized.

Herald sign

The Herald rooftop sign, standing 40'x10', is managed by Kane Hall of Daylight Properties. Morse Hardware had a similar sign for decades - and boaters would use the two illuminated signs at night for navigation. The original sign was lit by more than 300

incandescent bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxida ...

s before changing to neon four years later. In 2016, Daylight Properties installed modern aluminum lights, "creating a programmable

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

lighting system that shows a variety of colors beyond the traditional neon red". The colors change to a bright red and green for the holiday season and can display multiple colors in accord with local festivals and holidays.

Subscription

The Bellingham Herald produces newspaper articles in print and digital form. The newspaper is printed alongside the ''

Skagit Valley Herald The ''Skagit Valley Herald'' is a daily newspaper serving Skagit County, Washington. The paper was founded in 1884 as ''The Skagit News'', a weekly newspaper. In 1913, it was renamed ''Mount Vernon Herald'' and transitioned to daily circulation i ...

'' in

Skagit County Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit Ind ...

and distributed to businesses, homes, and newspaper boxes in Whatcom County, excluding

Point Roberts Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Points ...

. The newspaper ended its Saturday print edition in 2019.

References

External links

*
The McClatchy Company's subsidiary profile of ''The Bellingham Herald''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellingham Herald, The Newspapers published in Washington (state) McClatchy publications Mass media in Bellingham, Washington Newspapers established in 1890 1890 establishments in Washington (state)