Historic Landmarks in Friday Harbor and San Juan Island

The Town of Friday Harbor has over 150 historic sites and other places of interest within walking distance of the ferry terminal, public harbor and airport. Twenty-six of these sites are described in the Historic Friday Harbor on Foot: Historic Downtown guide.

San Juan County Courthouse, built in 1906
Located at the corner of Second and Court Streets
Used continuously as the county courthouse and government offices. On the National Register of Historic Places.

Odd Fellows Hall, built in 1892
Located at 62 First Street
Originally used by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Mt Dallas Lodge #95, as a meeting hall, today it is a museum dedicated to whale and marine life research and education known as the Whale Museum. It is designated on the Washington Register of Historic Places.

San Juan Island National Historical Park
commemorates the Pig War and its peaceful resolution in two locations: English and American Camps, with historic buildings, interpretive centers, a formal garden, walking trails, shoreline, prairie, and British cemetery.

Lime Kiln Point State Park (also known as Whale Watch Park,)
Located at 1567 Westside Road
A 36-acre state park that is considered one of the best places in the world to view orca whales from land. In 1919, the Lime Kiln Lighthouse was built; it is still used to aid navigation, as well as for orca whale research, interpretation and lighthouse tours. Nearby, several surviving lime kilns from the island’s once thriving lime industry were acquired by State Parks in 1996. One has been renovated and interpreted for the public.

Roche Harbor 1860-1910
Located at Northwest tip of San Juan Island
Formerly the site of a substantial lime quarry and kiln operation that lead to the creation of a company town, it is known today as Roche Harbor Resort; the resort is home to the Hotel de Haro,  and other historic buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Hotel de Haro was built around an existing log bunkhouse in 1887. It provided twenty-two guest rooms for owner, John S. McMillin’s, customers while they were at Roche Harbor negotiating the purchase of lime from the company’s lime works. Today, yellow pavers (fire bricks) from the lime kilns line the road in front of the hotel, and nine former “married employee” cottages from the McMillin-era are still used for guest accommodations. Nestled in the woods nearby, stands the McMillin family mausoleum, a stone memorial comprised multiple architectural elements symbolizing the religious and Masonic symbolism McMillin held dear.

Memorial Park, circa 1890’s
Located at the intersection of Spring and Front streets
This postage stamp-sized park has long been the meeting place for those arriving and departing San Juan Island. On November 11, 1921, a granite memorial—the first of its kind in the state of Washington—was erected to commemorate the nine Island servicemen who were lost in World War I. Many of those lost were buried where they fell, in French battlefields. For their families and the tight-knit community, Memorial Park became sacred ground. Years later, in August 1945, islanders gathered at the park to celebrate the end of WWII. On more than one occasion, the monument has been struck by run-away vehicles, but each time stood its ground. In 1972 and 2004, debates about the park’s impact on traffic flow and the potential for reduced ferry service between San Juan and the mainland because of it, caused some to advocate for moving the park and monument to a more out-of-the-way location. In the end, the monument prevailed, and in 2006 the park was renovated and extended to the shoreline. Fittingly, the re-dedication took place on Memorial Day.

San Juan County Bank, 1907
Located at 105 Spring Street
This building is remembered for San Juan County’s first bank and continues to be one of the most significant structures in downtown Friday Harbor. San Juan County Bank was founded in 1893 when the economy on the island, and in the Northwest in general, was beginning to blossom. The original wood-frame building was located across the street. The new masonry structure, more substantial and ornate than any of the town’s other commercial buildings, reflected the town’s growing prosperity. It took seven months to construct, and boasted a “burglar-proof vault with burglar-proof safe.” The bank’s first president was J.A. Gould of Seattle; his son, Gene, was the bank’s first cashier. During his lifetime, Gene Gould was notable for being both the youngest cashier (at age 19), and later, the youngest bank president in the United States (at age 29). San Juan County Bank was central to the Island economy, at that time based upon farming, fishing, logging and the lime industry. When the Town of Friday Harbor was incorporated two years after the construction of the building, bank president Gene Gould became the Town’s first mayor. The bank continued to operate in this location until 1978. Today the building is a fine example of adaptive re-use, housing the Coldwell Banker Realty offices.