Historic Sites

An evening on the lake reveals a sparkling city skyline. One hundred years ago, most of the shoreline was dark.

During the heyday of cod fishing in the early 1900’s, spring was marked by the departure of huge schooners on their way to the Bering Sea. Each fall the schooners returned full of salted cod.

On Lake Union, houseboats comprise Seattle’s most unique and coveted real estate. Now cherished features of the lakeshore, houseboats were not always accepted by mainstream Seattle.

A seaplane carrying 60 letters launched from Lake Union in 1919 en route to Victoria, British Columbia, where it completed the country’s first international mail flight. The historic flight took off from a floating hangar at the foot of Roanoke Street, the first location of Bill Boeing’s airplane business.

Imagine waking up one morning to discover that your house, next to lapping water when you went to bed, was now next to a wide mud beach. The lowering of Lake Washington happened overnight when the Montlake Cut was completed in 1916 through the natural isthmus between Portage Bay and Lake Washington. Washington dropped nearly 9 feet to match Lake Union’s depth. Before the cut provided passage to large ships, a crude canal and log flume moved timber from Lake Washington shores to the sawmills on Lake Union.

The last home inhabited by a Native Duwamish family stood near the site of the present-day Seattle Yacht Club.

During Prohibition, Portage Bay became a tolerance zone where houseboats provided alcohol and companionship.

In 1912 there was one boat shop on the lake, in the Tokyo Tea House on the University of Washington campus shoreline.

Newfound wealth from the timber, fishing, transportation, and retail businesses in the 1920’s fueled demand for luxury boats. The Blanchard Boat Company was one of the leading yacht builders of Seattle.

An ancient cedar becomes a canoe, a rotting rowboat is renewed, a fleet of children set sail, and modern urbanites master ancient seafaring skills.