City of Blaine history

In 1891, Daniel Drysdale purchased the cannery at Semiahmoo, built several new buildings, and remodeled the docks.

In 1892, a railroad was projected to go through the city of Blaine.

In 1894, a one-year-old company named the Alaska Packers Association bought Drysdale’s cannery and also assumed management operations at the Wadhams cannery, located at what is now Lily Point on the southeastern edge of Point Roberts.

The church was destroyed by heavy winds and rebuilt in 1897.

The city hall burned down and a second was built on 109th and Radisson Road. It was then built in 1901 for $350 at the intersection of Radisson Road and 101st.

In 1904, the first fire department was organized by Frank Odell, who became the first fire chief.

The board agreed to fund construction, and the $25,000 lighthouse and fog signal station became operational in June 1905.

Much of the lumber helped rebuild San Francisco following the devastating 1906 earthquake and fires.

Across Drayton Harbor, Semiahmoo soldiered on for a couple of decades, but its post office closed at the end of 1908 (a death knell for vanishing communities), and Semiahmoo became primarily known as the site of the Alaska Packers Association.

The Blaine Journal's April 1909 special “homeseeker’s edition” lists five: Ainsworth and Dunn, the Blaine Packing Company, J.W. & V. Cook Packing Company, West Coast Packing Company, and the granddaddy of them all, the Alaska Packers Association.

The Peace Arch The Pacific Highway was dedicated in a ceremony at the border north of Blaine in 1915.

Smuggling, rum-running, and border-jumping soared in 1919 after Prohibition began in the United States.

In 1921, the Peace Arch monument was built.

A larger station opened on the highway in 1924, but the main customs office remained in downtown Blaine.

The United States Highway system was officially adopted in November 1926.

Semiahmoo was also home to the Alaska Packers Association's star fleet of about 30 large ships, which transported men and supplies from San Francisco to Alaska until approximately 1930.

In 1931 the main customs office moved again, briefly to a station on the Pacific Highway a mile to the east, and then to its present location near the Peace Arch.

In 1939, the University of Minnesota established a pilot training program in response to a threat of world war.

They purchased land and built an airport at the intersection of Highway 8 and County Road J in 1941.

In 1945, Valdermar Peterson was lying in the shade at the picnic ground of Golden Lake when an idea struck him.

The 260-acre site lacked room for expansion, so discussions were held in 1948 to relocate.

1,200 acres of land were purchased on the southern tip of Blaine township and the new airport opens in 1952.

The first Anoka County library was opened during 1958, in a rented space at 8409 Center Drive in Spring Lake Park.

In 1965, California real estate developer, Robert Muir, purchased 137 acres for a mall.

The Alaska Packers Association continued making labels for packed salmon there until 1974, and maintained a regional office on the spit until 1974.

The cannery was sold to the Trillium Corporation in 1982.

In 1987, the state legislator passed legislation that created the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission.

James Elwell purchased land in 1996 and built two giant farms.

In 1997, the groundwork began to design a new city hall.

The city boasts not one, but two slogans: the “Peace Arch City” and “Where America Begins.” Education, health, and social services were the dominant employers in Blaine in 2000, providing jobs for 15.2 percent of those 16 and older.

A few of the old cannery buildings and piers still (2009) remain near the resort, and the Semiahmoo Marina is a short walk away.