HISTORY

MUSEO is housed in the recently-restored US Hotel building in Old Town Bellingham. The building and surroundings have long been associated with the Parberry family who began their first business here over 100 years ago.

In 1923, Louis Harrison Parberry Sr., after several years working as a foreman for the Great Northern Railway warehouse, started a second-hand furniture store at 604-606 West Holly Street. There were a number of second-hand stores along West Holly Street, as well as business ranging from hotels and groceries to industrial yards.

By 1940, the area at the mouth of Whatcom Creek, currently Maritime Heritage Park, had been designated by the city as a landfill site. Residents used the site for dumping household trash and unwanted items, Business and industry dumped coal slag, ashes, dredged soil, and metal scrap. Enterprising Louis Parberry Sr. seized the opportunity to supply the war effort and began salvaging discarded scrap metal.

In 1945, with the help of Louis Jr. who regularly sent money home while enlisted in the Army Air Force, the Parberry’s - father and son - were able to buy the large brick buildng at 700 West Holly Street, establishing it as the new headquarters for Parberry Iron & Metal.

By 1956, Louis Sr. retired and Louis Jr . was put in charge. He expanded the business to include new steel sales, hardware and appliance retail. In 1974, a household recycling operation was added with the purchase of Northwest Recycling.

Louis Parberry Jr, affectionally known as “the Mayor of Old Town”, was a committed and generous donor to many local causes, especially those involving children and sports. He was a founding sponsor of the Boys and Girls Club of Whatcom County in 1946, sponsored numerous sports teams and awards programs, and could always be counted on to lend a helping hand to people in need.

In 2008, the City of Bellingham created a plan to redevelop Old Town into one of several Urban Villages in the city. This included rezoning the area from light industrial to residential/commercial and required that, within a given timeframe, the Parberry salvage and recycling operations be relocated and the land be made available for development. Those requirements have been met, with the recycling operations being sold and/or moved, and the majority of the land being sold to developers. Brad Parberry, son of Louis Jr. retained ownership of the Parberry Iron & Metal building and contracted a complete historic restoration, with the upper floor - former hotel rooms - now rented as apartments, one lower half leased as commercial space and the remaining space…… MUSEO Art & Archive.