The T.G. Richards and Company Store, also known as the Whatcom County Territorial Courthouse, has a specific distinction: it is the oldest surviving brick building in the state of Washington, dating to 1858. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and still stands in the Whatcom Creek area near the waterfront, looking slightly out of place amid the newer development around it.
The building's claim to oldest-in-state status comes from its construction during the territorial period, before Washington achieved statehood in 1889. It served as both a general store and courthouse in Whatcom's earliest days, when the settlement was competing with several other towns to become the dominant port on Bellingham Bay. It's a modest building — brick, two storeys, plain — but the combination of age and context gives it real historical weight.
story: > When the T.G. Richards building was constructed in 1858, Bellingham Bay was a contested prize among four rival settlements: Whatcom, Bellingham, Fairhaven, and Sehome. They eventually merged in 1903 to form modern Bellingham, but the civic rivalries between the districts still echo faintly in neighbourhood loyalties.