Washington Street Boat Landing

This iron and steel pergola was built in 1920 for the city’s harbormaster. For centuries before that, the site served as a docking area for canoes. Ballast Island to the south was created in 1880 from the ballast of arriving coal ships. Before loading coal at the King Street Coal Bunkers, the ships dumped their ballast in the bay near the foot of S Washington St. Around 1884, the island likely started to be used as a temporary encampment for Native Americans. Over time, Mosquito Fleet steamers and the Washington State Ferry System replaced Native American canoes on the Puget Sound. Until the 1970s, the Washington Street Boat Landing was still used as a functioning public boat landing.