Originally Colman Dock was located at the foot of Columbia Street, and was immediately to the north of Pier 2. Before 1910, the wharf immediately to the north of Colman dock was used by the West Seattle ferry. In 1910 this wharf was replaced with the Grand Trunk Pacific dock.[1] In 1964 the entire area was used for the much larger ferry terminal dock which exists today.
History
Colman dock (clock tower on right) between 1912 and 1914.
Pier 52 was historically known as Colman Wharf. The original Colman Dock was built by Scottish engineer James Colman in 1882 for the Oregon Improvement Company's coal bunkers. It burned with most of the rest of the city in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, but was quickly rebuilt.[2][3] In 1908, Colman extended the dock to a total length of 705 feet (215m)[4] and added a domed waiting room and a 72-foot (22m) clocktower. This expansion was designed by the Seattle architectural firm Beezer Brothers.[5]
Colman also set up a company, the Colman Dock Company, to conduct the dock's business affairs.[6] Following the merger of the La Conner Transportation Company, headed by Joshua Green (1869–1975), with the Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSN), headed by Charles E. Peabody (1857–1926) the Colman Dock Company, and the Colman Dock itself, came under PSN control. In 1910, PSN was approaching monopoly control over the inland steamship routes of western Washington, with the company's most serious challenger being the Kitsap County Transportation Company (KCTC), headed by Kitsap County businessman Warren L. Gazzam (1864–1961). The rivalry between the two companies became almost a personal matter between Green and Gazzam. In 1910, Green, having obtained control of Colman Dock, and engaged in a rate war with KCTC, ordered KCTC not to land its boats at Colman Dock. KCTC then moved several piers north, to the Galbraith, Bacon dock.[6]
Colman Dock was seriously damaged when, on the night of April 25, 1912, the steel-hulled ship Alameda accidentally set its engines "full speed ahead" instead of reversing, and slammed into the dock. The dock tower fell into the bay and the sternwheeler Telegraph was sunk. The clock was salvaged, as was the Telegraph, and the dock was reconstructed with a new tower.[2] No one died in the Alameda accident, but a less dramatic accident the following month proved fatal. On May 19, 1912, a gangplank collapsed as passengers were boarding the Black Ball steamer Flyer. At least 60 people fell into the water. One woman and one child died.[7]
In 1917, Colman Dock was owned and operated by Colman Dock Company, with B. P. Morgan as manager. Colman Dock was the terminal of the Puget Sound Navigation Company, the Merchants Transportation Company, and several Puget Sound shipping lines. Colman Dock measured 700 by 115 feet (213 by 35m), with 1,400 feet (430m) of berthing space. In 1917 an overhead walk (still in existence in 1983[6]) led from the Seattle business district to the waiting room, from which most of the Puget Sound steamship passenger traffic originated. There were also adjustable passenger gangplanks and adjustable freight slips. In 1917 Colman Dock was equipped with a Barlow marine elevator. Colman Dock could accommodate 14 Puget Sound steamboats at one time. There were offices on the north side of the overhead walk.[1]
In 1951, Washington State bought out PSNC and took over the ferry system. The state paid $500,000 for the ferry terminal at Colman Dock.[6]
Work on the present terminal began a decade later; there have been several reconfigurations and modernizations since.[3] The very month that the state ferry terminal opened, it was the subject of another accident. The Kalakala, which had recently been voted Seattle's second biggest attraction after the then-new Space Needle,[8] rammed the terminal February 21, 1966. Though dramatic, the damage proved not to be severe. The ferry needed only minor repairs and was back in service the next day. Repairs to the slip cost $80,000 and took two months to complete.[9]
The clock from the old Colman Dock tower, dunked into the bay in the 1912 Alameda accident and removed in the 1936 renovation, was rediscovered (lying in pieces) in 1976, purchased by the Port of Seattle in 1985, restored, given as a gift to the Washington State Department of Transportation, and reinstalled on the present Colman Dock on May 18, 1985.[2]
The MV Wenatchee arriving at Colman Dock
Redevelopment
The first phase of the new terminal building opened on September 15, 2019.[10] The remainder of the 20,000-square-foot (1,900m2) main building was opened in November 2022 and can hold up to 1,900 passengers in the waiting area, which has 362 seats and twelve turnstiles.[11][12] The entry building along Alaskan Way was opened on August 3, 2023, with plans for a grab-and-go retail counter and other vendor spaces to open at a later date. The Colman Dock expansion added 50,000 square feet (4,600m2) of new indoor space, which was re-oriented to face the water, and cost $489million to construct.[13][14]
The pedestrian bridge, built parallel to Marion Street at the site of the former overpass, began construction in July 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in September 2023.[14] The concrete bridge is 110 feet (34m) long and 16 feet (4.9m) wide, supported by a series of Y-shaped columns.[15] The new bridge is expected to cost $6.3million with funding from WSDOT and the city government. A section of the former bridge along the north side of the Commuter Building was demolished in late 2020 following the opening of a temporary bridge above Western Avenue and Columbia Street.[16]
Service
Ferry unloading at Colman Dock, 2006.
Two automobile ferry routes currently depart from Colman Dock: the Seattle–Bainbridge Island ferry and the Seattle–Bremerton ferry. The terminal building can hold 1,900 people and the outdoor queueing area has space for 611vehicles.[13]
Two passenger-only ferry systems, the King County Water Taxi and Kitsap Fast Ferries, operate out of a separate facility at Pier 50 on the south side of Colman Dock. The water taxi serves West Seattle and Vashon Island, while the Fast Ferries serve Bremerton and Kingston. From 2017 to 2019, passenger ferries used a temporary passenger-only dock at the north side of Pier 52.[17] The new Pier 50 facility opened on August 12, 2019, with a covered waiting area that can hold 500 people. A pedestrian overpass opened in 2020 that connects it to the Washington State Ferries facility.[18]
Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a government agency that operates automobile and passenger ferry service in the U.S. state of Washington as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation. It runs ten routes serving 20 terminals located around Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands, designated as part of the state highway system. The agency maintains the largest fleet of ferries in the United States at 21 vessels. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 17,375,400, or about 39,200 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023. As of 2016, it was the largest ferry operator in the United States and the second-largest vehicular ferry system in the world.
Motor Vessel Kalakala was a ferry that operated on Puget Sound from 1935 until her retirement in 1967.
The King County Water Taxi is a passenger-only fast ferry service operated by the King County Metro Transit Department, Marine Division. It operates two routes between Downtown Seattle and West Seattle or Vashon Island.
The M/V Kitsap was a ferry built in 1925 at the Lake Washington Shipyard in Houghton, Washington. She was 165 feet (50 m) long, and her original capacity in 1925 was 95 cars and approximately 800 passengers. By 1960, cars had become much bigger and her capacity was reduced to 32 modern automobiles and 325 passengers. A 600-horsepower Estep diesel engine allowed her to sail at 12 knots when originally built. Almost every part of her was from Washington state; her hull and superstructure were built from Washington-grown fir, and her Estep engine was built in at Washington Iron Works in Tacoma.
The steamboat Monticello (2) operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. The vessel went through several reconstructions and remained in service until 1962, when she was lost in Alaska waters. Her later names were Penaco and Sea Venture. (This Puget Sound steamer should not be confused with the smaller Monticello, which also ran on Puget Sound, but was built in 1895 for Captain Z.J. Hatch of the Monticello Steamship Company.
State Route 304 (SR 304) is a state highway in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It connects SR 3, a regional freeway, to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and downtown Bremerton. The designation of SR 304 continues onto the Seattle–Bremerton ferry operated by Washington State Ferries to Colman Dock in Downtown Seattle, terminating at SR 519 on Alaskan Way.
The Seattle–Bremerton ferry is a ferry route across Puget Sound between Seattle and Bremerton, Washington. Since 1951, the route has primarily been operated by the state-run Washington State Ferries system, currently the largest ferry system in the United States. Kitsap Transit also runs passenger-only "fast ferries" service on the route.
The Central Waterfront of Seattle, Washington, United States, is the most urbanized portion of the Elliott Bay shore. It runs from the Pioneer Square shore roughly northwest past Downtown Seattle and Belltown, ending at the Broad Street site of the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Tacoma was a steamship that served from 1913 to 1938 on Puget Sound. Built of steel, Tacoma was known for being one of the fastest and best-designed vessels to operate on Puget Sound. Tacoma was particularly noted for high-speed service from 1913 to 1930 on the route between Tacoma and Seattle.
The Kitsap County Transportation Company was an important steamboat and ferry company that operated on Puget Sound. The company was founded in 1898 as the Hansen Transportation Company.
Florence K was a steamboat that was operated on Puget Sound from 1903. This vessel was later renamed Gloria and was rebuilt as a steam ferry and renamed Beeline.
Inland Flyer was a passenger steamboat that ran on Puget Sound from 1898 to 1916. From 1910 to 1916 this vessel was known as the Mohawk. The vessel is notable as the first steamer on Puget Sound to use oil fuel. Inland Flyer was one of the most famous vessels of the time on Puget Sound.
The Alki–Manchester ferry was a ferry route in Washington State that from 1925 to 1936 ran between Alki Point and Manchester, Washington, across Puget Sound.
The Seattle–Bainbridge ferry is a ferry route across Puget Sound between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington. The route was called the Seattle–Winslow ferry before the city of Winslow annexed the rest of the island and changed its name. Since 1951 the only ferries employed on the route have belonged to the Washington state ferry system, currently the largest ferry system in the United States.
The Grand Trunk Pacific dock was a shipping pier in Seattle, Washington. The original pier was built in 1910 and was destroyed in a fire in 1914. The pier was then rebuilt and continued in existence until 1964, when it was dismantled. The area where the pier stood is now part of the Seattle terminal of the Washington State Ferry system.
Pier 54 is a tourist pier in Seattle, Washington. Previously an active shipping pier and warehouse, Pier 54 was originally known as Pier 3 until it was renumbered during World War II. This pier was also known as Galbraith dock and the Galbraith Bacon dock. Because of the large number of smaller local steamships, generally built of wood, that used the pier up until the 1930s, the pier was also known as the “Mosquito Fleet dock”.
Suquamish, built in 1914, was the first diesel-engined passenger vessel in the United States. Much later Suquamish was converted to a commercial fishing vessel and was registered as a Canadian vessel under the name Terry.
Speeder was a motor launch built in 1908 which served on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. From 1908 to 1922 this vessel was named Bainbridge.
The MV Willapa was a car ferry that served on the San Francisco Bay and later on Puget Sound. She was one of the Steel Electric-class ferries built in 1927 for service across the San Francisco Bay. Originally named MV Fresno, she was operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad and provided ferry service across the bay.
Kitsap Fast Ferries is a passenger ferry service operating between Seattle and Kitsap County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is funded and operated by Kitsap Transit and began service in July 2017, with a single boat traveling between Seattle and Bremerton. A second route, from Seattle to Kingston, launched in November 2018, and a third route serving Seattle and Southworth began operating in March 2021. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 791,000, or about 35,100 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023.
Thomas Street History Services (November 2006), Context Statement: The Central Waterfront(PDF), Seattle: The Historic Preservation Program, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle, archived(PDF) from the original on December 29, 2021, retrieved January 23, 2019
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