During the first half of the 20^th century, Americans were fascinated by “human flies” who thrilled crowds by free-climbing tall buildings and doing acrobatic tricks. Three of these daredevils visited Bellingham during the 1930s. Their target was the same: the 15-story Bellingham Hotel at 119 North Commercial Street, known today as the Bellingham Towers.

Built in 1929, the building was (and remains) Bellingham’s tallest. Sponsored by local investors as a “community hotel,” it was a symbol of civic pride. And atop the 157-foot building was a 162-foot-tall metal spire that spelled out the hotel’s name in seven-foot-high neon letters.

The hotel seemed a perfect challenge for people who made a living climbing the nation’s tallest buildings. Enter the “human fly.”

Henry Rolland, 1930

Henry Rolland was the first “human fly” to visit Bellingham. Born in Germany, the 38-year-old climbed many of North America’s tallest buildings of the era, such as the Chrysler Building in New York City. He even ascended Seattle’s Smith Tower in 1928.

Rolland climbed the Bellingham Hotel at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on August 30 and 31, a total of four times. At the top he was joined by his wife, Blannis, a former United Artist Studio stunt double, to perform balancing acts for the crowd. Many local students attended the evening shows. Newsreel men filmed his Sunday evening climb, which he performed blindfolded and under the glare of a spotlight.

Rolland took the time to talk to reporters after his climbs. While he had enjoyed the view from the top of the hotel’s electric sign, he told them, it had begun to sway in the wind as he did a headstand, making his perch “extremely precarious.” It was the tallest sign he had yet climbed.

The “human fly” also told reporters of his disgust for “cheaters” who used ropes for their climbs and for local “smart alecks” who wanted to join him on climbs but who overestimated their abilities. Rolland’s next stop was Vancouver, B.C.

Jerry Hudson, 1932

The second human fly to visit Bellingham was Jerry Hudson on August 10, 1932. Hailing from Montreal, he regularly performed across North America. Hudson was a veteran of the Royal Air Corps and an American Legion member.

Claiming to have climbed 7,000 buildings in his 18-year career, ranging from 5 to 65 stories, Hudson declared it took him only 10 minutes to ascend the front of the Bellingham Hotel, starting from the sidewalk. A large crowd gathered at 7 p.m. to watch him do a headstand on the edge of the roof. His quick ascension time —far shorter than later climbers — might indicate that he did not climb the spire atop. Luckily, his program did not need to be rescheduled because of rain.

Rolland Returns, 1935

Rolland made his spectacular Bellingham return when he climbed the Bellingham Hotel on the Commercial Street side on Friday, March 1, 1935. He scaled it twice, once at 2:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Schoolchildren flocked to his evening climb.

The crowd, reporters for the Bellingham Herald gushed, “watched spellbound” as Rolland made it to the top “with the dexterity and sureness of the family cat climbing an apple tree in the backyard.” At the top, he was again joined by his wife Blannis. He gave her a piggy-back ride as he walked along the edge of the roof.

The spire, or top part of the hotel’s sign, was dismantled a little more than two weeks later, leaving only the word “hotel.” The manager cited economic reasons for the change.

Johnny Woods, 1938

The final famous human fly to climb the Bellingham Hotel was 43-year-old Johnny Woods on February 17, 1938, at 3:30 p.m. Born in Atlanta and dismissed by his teachers as a clown, he began his climbing career early. He performed in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, ascending landmarks like Seattle’s Smith Tower and the Woolworth Building in New York City. He even doubled for Harold Lloyd in the 1923 film “Safety Last.”

With over 20 years of climbing experience behind him, Woods drew an audience upwards of 3,000 to watch him shimmy up the hotel in 33 minutes “without any more effort than it would take you to walk into the parlor and turn on the radio,” according to the Herald.

Slipping at the fourteenth story, he fell four feet before regaining his hold on a window ledge. Woods was lucky; Henry Rolland had fallen to his death during a trapeze act in Tennessee only the year before.

But Woods was undeterred. “It was easy,” he was quoted as saying afterwards. “I didn’t even get a sweat up.” Woods entertained the crowd by hanging by his toes from the top of the building, and then balancing himself on a chair on the cornice, one of his signature tricks.

He was joined on the roof by his wife, Evelyn. She sat on his shoulders reading a copy of the Bellingham Herald while he paced along the cornice, blindfolded.

Ever on the road, his next scheduled stop was the Georgian Hotel in Vancouver, B.C. Woods continued to perform into his 60s.

Much has changed in Bellingham since the “Human Flies” visited. The Bellingham Hotel long ago transformed into the Bellingham Towers. But during the dark days of the Great Depression, these daredevils thrilled audiences with their death-defying climbs. If they could do the impossible, what more could ordinary people do?

At the mouth of Whatcom Creek, signs on Bellingham’s waterfront buildings denote an “Old Town” — traditionally the oldest part of a city. Throughout the Columbia and Letter Streets neighborhoods, bordering the Central Business District, visitors can observe this original townsite of Whatcom.

Whatcom started in 1852 and merged into New Whatcom, with Sehome, in 1891; it merged again, with Bellingham and Fairhaven, in 1903. The first merger coincided with the center of industry shifting toward Bellingham, a more level townsite than Whatcom’s infrastructure, which was built over tideflats. Spared from rapid development, most of Bellingham’s oldest surviving historic landmarks await discovery within this single area.

Bellingham’s Oldest Buildings

Old Town Bellingham is home to two record-setting historic buildings. Pickett House is Washington’s oldest wooden building surviving on an original foundation, and the T.G. Richards and Company Store is Washington’s oldest surviving brick building.

The Pickett House (910 Bancroft Street) remains the oldest house in Bellingham, and a site of both local and national significance. Before Confederate Major General George E. Pickett led his infamous charge in the Civil War, he served as a United States Army Captain at Fort Bellingham.

Built 1856, Pickett House uses wood from the original Roeder-Peabody lumber mill on Whatcom Creek. Pickett and his Haida wife only lived there the following year, after which it passed through multiple hands — including Hattie Strother, who donated it to the Washington State Historical Society in 1936. Today, the Daughters of the Pioneers operate Pickett House Museum tours.

The T.G. Richards Building (1308 E Street) dates to 1858. Built from San Francisco bricks, it started as a general store, warehouse, and bank that supplied prospectors during the Fraser River Gold Rush. This event had caused Whatcom to boom with tent cities of over 10,000 people for just one year.

In 1863, the building became the Whatcom County Territorial Courthouse. It served as an overcrowded jail until a new courthouse was built in 1884, after which its tenants included fraternal organizations, pharmacies, and newspapers. When the city filled in tideflats while constructing E Street, the first floor became the basement and the second floor became the ground floor. Today, the building serves as the Helen Loggie Museum of Art.

From New Whatcom to Old Bellingham

Several other landmarks, from nearer the turn of the twentieth century, also still stand in Old Town.

Lottie Roth Block (1100-1106 Holly Street) dates to 1890, bearing a ghost sign that reads “Welcome to Old Town.” Built by Seattle architect Elmer H. Fisher with Chuckanut sandstone in the Richardson Romanesque style, it honors Lottie Roth, author of History of Whatcom County (1926) and daughter of Henry Roeder. It has been an apartment complex since 1918.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (2117 Walnut Street) originated in 1885 as Whatcom St. Paul’s. Henry Roeder donated land used for the building, which architect F. Stanley Piper reconstructed in 1925-1927. In 1956, Eleanor Roosevelt visited the church and Leopold Hotel.

Elizabeth Park (2205 Elizabeth Street) remains the oldest city park in Whatcom County. Henry Roeder donated 4.5 acres in 1883, after which Elizabeth Park gained over 55 species of some of Bellingham’s tallest trees.

Many historic buildings supported social growth. Immanuel School of Industries (1303 Astor Street) taught children practical trade skills from 1906 to 1916, its building housing New Deal administrations during the Great Depression and condominiums today. An event venue today, the Aftermath Clubhouse (1300 Broadway Street) hosted one of Bellingham’s philanthropic social clubs from 1904 to 1977.

Old Town still operates many of Bellingham’s historic railroads. The Great Northern Railroad Passenger Station, built by F. Stanley Piper in 1927, now operates under Burlington Northern. The 1905 Great Northern Freight Depot structure stands nearby.

Both historic City Hall buildings remain in the Old Town area. New Whatcom City Hall (121 Prospect Street) — now Whatcom Museum, since 1941 — originated in 1892 with land donated by Henry Roeder. Present-day Bellingham City Hall (210 Lottie Street) started as a Public Works Administration project in 1939.

The New Old Town

Still other businesses and public institutions from Old Town Bellingham remain in service today.

Old Town Café (316 W Holly Street) began in 1904 as the Mobile Restaurant, one of Bellingham’s first African-American-owned businesses. It gained its current name in the 1960s, when it appealed to the local hippie scene.

Since 1912, the Waterfront Seafood & Bar (521 W Holly Street) has stood atop the original pilings that elevated Old Town above the mudflats.

Maritime Heritage Park has occupied the former site of the Roeder-Peabody Mill and a later sewage treatment plant since 1978. It supports a Bellingham Technical College salmon hatchery and salmon-inspired art.

Mount Baker Theatre, Bellingham Public Library, and Bellingham Theatre Guild are among the cornerstone institutions visitors can find on the way to downtown. Through recognition and respect for historic landmarks, we can all breathe new life into Old Town.