White City Amusement Park, Bellingham, WA. Enterprising friends, William Gwynn and C.H. Chandler, contributed funds and energy to the development of the White City amusement park in Bellingham, WA. With the advent of electricity amusement park developers started designing their parks to utilize mass quantities of light bubs, acquiring the nickname "White Cities." This novelty was especially popular in the evening hours as their lights illuminated the night sky. Bellingham's White City was located at Silver Beach on the north shore of Lake Whatcom. A roller coaster, ferris wheel, and carousel were built in 1906. The first weekend of operation, roller coaster riders numbered 3,000 but future plans to expand the park never came to fruition. Financing from Chandler dried up after he suffered a fatal heart attack, the novelty of electricty began to fade, and World War I diverted the nation's attention. It's believed the park closed around 1921.
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