Hotel De McGinty, 1890 |
Courtesy of The Whatcom Museum Photo Archives
Fairhaven’s first jailhouse was nothing more than a re-converted old ship’s
hull, which was anchored at the point
where Padden Creek enters the bay. It could be
reached by a plank walk extending from Harris Avenue to the hull.
Most of the occupants
were drunks and small time crooks. The jail was named in honor of a man that drowned
himself
after losing his poke in a poker game and was created so Sheriff Blakely
wouldn’t have to keep captured hooligans at his own home.
