Now home to an acupuncture health center, a recording studio and offices, a building at 1303 Astor St. used to house a school to teach children life skills such as cooking, sewing and carpentry.
The Immanuel School of Industries was created in 1896 by a Baptist pastor, and the school constructed the two-story school building for its classes in 1906.
But by the 1910s, Immanuel Baptist Church closed as public schools began including “manual training” into their curricula — achieving the Immanuel School’s goal of “bringing attention to this need and its fulfillment and integration into the school system,” according to the building’s National Register of Historic Places application.
In the years since, the building housed the Bellingham Family Welfare Association in the late ’30s, followed by the State Welfare Department and Whatcom County Welfare Department. A Church of God used the space from 1948 to 1969. Taxidermist Carl Akers was based in the building from the ’70s to the late ’90s.
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Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
