Georgia-Pacific Corporation. Bellingham Division

In 1925, Washington state businessman Ossian Anderson purchased a mill site on Bellingham's downtown waterfront, which operated as the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. for the next four decades.

In 1963, the Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired the site and expanded to include a chemical plant and research lab. A great deal of innovation took place at the Bellingham mill throughout the twentieth century, and the mill was a major employer in Bellingham. During the 1970s and 1980s, the mill faced significant local pressure to upgrade its environmental safety standards and shut down environmentally harmful operations. In 1999, an explosion at the steam plant raised new concerns about the safety of employees at the mill as well as the surrounding community. Facing increasing pressures regarding environmental and industrial safety, and impacted by the energy crisis of 2000-2001, GP decided to terminate its Bellingham pulp mill operations in March 2001. GP transferred its waterfront properties to the Port of Bellingham in 2005, and terminated remaining tissue plant operations in Bellingham in December 2007.

From the description of Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records, 1892-2001 1926-2000. (Western Washington University). WorldCat record id: 496126572

In 1925, Washington state businessman Ossian Anderson purchased a mill site on Bellingham's downtown waterfront, which operated as the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Co. for the next four decades. In 1963, the Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific Corporation (GP) acquired the site and, in addition to continuing pulping and tissue-making operations, expanded to include a chemical plant and research lab. A great deal of research and innovation took place at the Bellingham mill throughout the twentieth century. For example, the Bellingham Barker was developed, allowing logs to be stripped of their bark through a hydraulic process as opposed to by hand. Furthermore, a number waste by-products created during the pulping process were found useful in other industries like agriculture, mining, and road building. The mill was a major employer in Bellingham, and produced hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its peak years.¹

During the 1970s and 1980s, the mill faced significant local pressure to upgrade its environmental safety standards and shut down environmentally harmful operations. In 1999, an explosion at the steam plant raised new concerns about the safety of employees at the mill as well as the surrounding community. Facing increasing pressures regarding environmental and industrial safety, and impacted by the energy crisis of 2000-2001, GP decided to terminate its Bellingham pulp mill operations in March 2001. The closure was accompanied by the loss of approximately 420 jobs.²

In 2005, GP reached agreement with the Port of Bellingham to transfer its waterfront properties to the Port in exchange for the cost and responsibility of site clean-up. In December 2007, GP (by then under the ownership of Koch Industries) terminated its remaining tissue plant operations on Bellingham's waterfront.

Sources: ¹ “Smells Like Money: The Story of Bellingham’s Georgia Pacific Plant,” documentary by David Albright in conjunction with Western Washington University and the Northwest Film School; ² G-P Press Release No. C-1665 (March 30, 2001).

From the guide to the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Bellingham Division records, 1892-2001, 1926-2000, (Western Washington University Heritage Resources)