Ruth Campbell De Merritt Collection on Bellingham History, 1880-2008

Ruth Campbell De Merritt's father, Roderick Hugh Campbell, and mother, Mary Jane Campbell, were both born in Scotland. They and her older sister Maude moved from Boston to Whatcom in 1900, where Ruth was born in 1904. The family attended the First Advent Christian Church and lived in an apartment house at the foot of J Street before building their home at 2421 Madrona Street. Raised in the Columbia District, she attended Columbia Grade School, Roeder Middle School and Whatcom High School. After attending the Bellingham Normal School for several years, she studied piano at Cornish School, in Seattle. Ruth and her husband, Howard De Merritt, who worked for Puget Sound Power and Light, resided at 1807 Eldridge from 1937-1991, where she lived and taught piano lessons until her death in 1991.

In the early 1970s several events piqued Ruth's interest in historic preservation, including her Whatcom High School 50th class reunion, local government review of policies on historic buildings, the Bicentennial, and her neighbor, Michael Sullivan, a Whatcom County Parks staff member. He prepared the application that eventually led to the creation of the Eldridge Avenue Historic District, placed on the State Historical Register in 1978 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Ruth was a driving force in the establishment of the Eldridge Historical Society, whose members advanced the historical consciousness of the neighborhood, researching homes built between 1885-1910. A book outline titled "Eldridge Avenue – Past and Present" was developed but never written. She supported both the Eldridge Avenue Residents Association and the Bayside Eldridge Homeowners Association, which sought to upgrade the neighborhood through local political action, often aimed at addressing the problems created by the Burlington Northern Railroad switching yard located below the bluff. Ruth, along with Galen and Dorothy Biery, presented many slide shows, and she and other residents conducted numerous annual home tours to draw attention to the district. Ruth DeMerritt eventually assumed responsibility for the considerable amount of information gathered by Columbia District residents which now comprises this collection.