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Nelson Bennett  Fairhaven Promoter   The development of the town of Fairhaven owes a great deal to the economic stimulus and personal impact of Nelson Bennett and also to the men he brought with him to share in the challenge of building a new city.   "Behind the scene [i.e. the establishment of the Bellingham Bay Gas Company] was the master entrepreneur Nelson Bennett who was the chief promoter behind almost everything happening in Fairhaven” (p. 169, Boulevard Park and Taylor Avenue Dock, Brian L. Griffin).

Bennett first met Edward Merton Wilson in Utah where they were both engaged in railroading and mining.  In the summer of 1884, Wilson came to Washington Territory to work with Bennett on the contract for the Cascade division of the Northern Pacific Railroad during the years 1884-1886.  In 1887, Wilson built branches of the Northern Pacific in Montana.  Wilson then took his earnings to Tacoma where Bennett was now headquartered, and invested in real estate.

Edgar Lea Cowgill was a stock broker in Philadelphia before relocating to Tacoma in 1884.  He was engaged as a clerk in Bennett’s railway construction supply store at South Prairie, Washington, where E.M. Wilson was manager.  During the years 1886-1888, Cowgill built miles of railroad for Bennett.

Bennett became interested in a coal mine in Skagit County near the present town of Sedro Woolley, which he purchased from E.B. Ebey (son of Colonel Ebey of Whidbey Island).  He hired Wilson and Cowgill in February of 1888 to study the possibilities of developing the mine and building a railroad to Fairhaven where the ore would be shipped.  A favorable report was generated, and Bennett’s investment in the town of Fairhaven was launched.

The first step in developing the city of Fairhaven was the acquisition of properties.  In November 1888, Bennett formed the Fairhaven Land Company with his associates E.M. Wilson, E.L. Cowgill, and brothers C.X. Larrabee and S.E. Larrabee (or, Larabie) whom he had met through business dealings in Portland.  They bought the majority of Dan Harris’ townsite property, platted by Harris in 1883, for $70,000.

While negotiating land deals, Bennett was also developing his railroad, the Fairhaven and Southern, linking his Skagit coal mine property to Fairhaven.  For this project, he sought the aid of a young civil engineer he had met while working on the Northern Pacific Cascade project.  John Joseph (J.J.) Donovan accepted his offer of employment and moved to Fairhaven in January, 1889, with his new wife, Clara Nichols Donovan.

Donovan was also hired as the chief engineer for the Fairhaven Land Company and in 1889, re-platted the now expanded Fairhaven properties. From this plat arose the current street names of Larrabee, Donovan, Cowgill, Wilson and Bennett.

Additional acreage was acquired for the town of Fairhaven when Bennett and associates, operating as the Bellingham Bay Land Company with added partners Edward Eldridge and Erastus Bartlett, purchased the land immediately to the north of Fairhaven known as Bellingham.  This land was then re-incorporated into Fairhaven.

The boom was on.  Lot prices soared, the population rose from 400 people to 8,000 within one year, and building construction was non-stop.

Bennett and Donovan were also laying track to the north into Blaine and New Westminster, connecting Fairhaven with British Columbia.  These railroad interests, however, were soon sold to James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railroad which was expanding into this region.

Toward the end of 1890, Bennett was losing interest in Fairhaven, spending more time and energy on developing the city of Tacoma.  C.X. Larrabee subsequently purchased his interest in the Fairhaven Land Company (renamed it Pacific Realty), also the Fairhaven Hotel, and Bennett’s remaining share of the Fairhaven and Southern RR for a total of $495,954.50.

There is no doubt that Bennett’s influence on the development of Fairhaven was profound. Not only what he achieved during the boom years of 1888-1890, but for the quality of the men he brought to Fairhaven who stayed and became an integral part of Fairhaven’s legacy in the years to come.

Nelson Bennett also remains a renowned figure in the history of the city of Tacoma for his contributions there both economic and philanthropic.  He died in Tacoma on July 20, 1913.