King County Water Taxi
passenger ferry service in King County, Washington
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.
History
Early ferries of Puget Sound
West Seattle is the oldest neighborhood and the birthplace of the city of Seattle. It is surrounded on three sides by water and has both enjoyed and suffered its isolation from the "mainland" of downtown Seattle.
Between 1850 and 1930, hundreds of small, steam-powered ferries called the Mosquito Fleet carried travelers to and from numerous islands and peninsulas in the Puget Sound area, including West Seattle and Vashon Island.
The first licensed ferry in the Seattle area launched on December 24, 1888, traveled from Seacrest Park in West Seattle to downtown Seattle, as well as other water-bound location throughout the Puget Sound. It was a steam-powered sidewheel ship named the City of Seattle and made two trips a day, carrying West Seattle homesteaders east to the city, and weekend vacationers west to the beachfront. The King County government operated ferries to Vashon Island and West Seattle from Downtown Seattle from 1917 to 1922. The entire fleet was then leased to John L. Anderson. The West Seattle service was discontinued when the first bridge across the Duwamish River was built.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “King County Water Taxi” as passenger ferry service in King County, Washington. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as passenger ferry service in King County, Washington. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12061005. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1850, 1930, 1888 and 1917.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “King County Water Taxi”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow King County Water Taxi primary sources, King County Water Taxi archive and King research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “King County Water Taxi”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “King County Water Taxi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.