A history of Lynden,
since 1874
Postcards, papers and photographs of Lynden from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In 1870, Phoebe Judson and her husband Holden founded Lynden on the lands of the indigenous Nooksack people, near a settlement called Squahalish. Judson named the post office in 1893 after the Bavarian Hohenlinden as described in Thomas Campbell's poem "Hohenlinden", a town on a hillside by a river with a view of a mountain, because Lynden fit this description. According to her book A Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home, Judson changed the spelling of "Linden" to be more visually appealing. Lynden was officially incorporated as a city on March 16, 1891. A statue of Judson at the intersection of Front and 6th Street was dedicated in 2017.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Lynden’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
3 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewTwo young unidentified girls, Lyn…, c. 1888: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Lynden
See all 4 →
Lynden, decade by decade
1960s
1990s
3 historic places in Lynden
3 places in Lynden are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1991US Post Office-Lyden Main
Listed 2003Berthusen Barn and Privy
Listed 2011Lynden Department StoreThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Two young unidentified girls, Lynden, Washington, ca. 1888 (c. 1888) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (1) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.