Dividing Line
by Sean Monahan
Irene Baker associates Interstate 5 with a failed business and a neighborhood split apart. Baker, 79, a lifelong resident of Bellingham’s York neighborhood, remembers a working class area where neighbors knew each other. After the construction of I-5, things began to change.
I-5’s construction has irrevocably altered neighborhoods. The opening of the freeway in Bellingham on December 5, 1960, changed the character of the York neighborhood and influenced how it grew.
"It’s basically changed the whole complexion of the neighborhood,"
Baker said.
Baker and her family ran a neighborhood grocery store, Chetwoods, from
1931 to 1974, when the store was forced to close because of a decline
in business. Because the freeway divided the neighborhood, customers were
physically separated from the store.
Baker remembers preparing and refrigerating orders for customers who did not have refrigerators of their own. The store served as a gathering place for the neighborhood, where kids could buy candy and adults could visit and catch up with friends, she said
I-5 was only a few houses from the grocery store. After the split, it was inconvenient for many of their customers to patronize their store and it eventually had to close.
"It sliced right through and the neighborhood has been divided into
separate areas," Baker said.
Doug Starcher, 45, a member of the York Neighborhood Advisory, did not
live in the neighborhood when I-5 came through but has seen its effects.
Living four blocks from I-5, he said the noise and increased traffic are
constant reminders of the interstate’s presence in the York neighborhood.
The land where the Lakeway Golf course once stood is now a Fred Meyer. Homes that once held families on Lincoln and Gladstone streets were either torn down or relocated to make room for I-5. Baker said she believes the neighborhood has deteriorated. Now full of rental houses, the neighborhood has the image of not being a desirable place for families to live, she said.
"You don’t have a neighborhood," Baker said. "You
have a place with a lot of people living (here)."
She said absentee landlords who do not worry about keeping the houses
in good condition is a concern in the area. She said this trend has led
to fewer family homes and more student rentals.
Baker said the York neighborhood used to be like a small town for her, composed primarily of Swedish immigrants along with a large number of Greek families living on Humboldt Street.
Baker said one business that has helped maintain the friendly atmosphere in the York neighborhood is Nelson’s Market, the neighborhood’s remaining grocery store.
Jon Ostby, the owner of Nelson’s, has lived in the York neighborhood for 27 years and owned Nelson’s for 20. Along with nostalgic advertisements for beer and soda, Nelson’s holds accounts for neighborhood customers on index cards. Half of the grocery store is filled with tables and chairs used for neighborhood meetings and watching baseball games on the television.
Ostby said he feels that I-5 and its proximity to the neighborhood is
an asset to the community. He enjoys the convenience of having an on-ramp
to I-5 a few blocks away and thinks the neighborhood prospers because
of it.
For four decades the York neighborhood has had to adapt to I-5. Baker
said she believes that Jon Ostby and Nelson’s have helped the neighborhood
retain a sense of community.
Despite the effects of I-5, Baker has no plans to move. Living in the York neighborhood allows her to watch her grandchildren grow up in the same neighborhood she did. She enjoys her community of family and friends in the York neighborhood.
"It’s just home," she said.
