After millennia of trips across Puget Sound made by Indigenous people, the British steamship Beaver becomes the first steam-powered vessel to navigate the region.

James Colman opens a dock at Seattle’s waterfront. It’s destroyed and rebuilt following the 1889 Great Seattle Fire and expanded in 1908 in anticipation of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Colman Dock eventually becomes Seattle’s primary passenger ferry terminal. In 2023, a fully remade Colman Dock opens after a $467 million renovation that creates a new passenger terminal and entry building.

Passenger ferry service in Washington really takes off in the 1880s, with the so-called Mosquito Fleet serving over 350 destinations of all types, including across Lake Washington and across Lake Sammamish.

The Puget Sound Navigation Company, later renamed the Black Ball Line, is formed in 1898 and becomes the largest privately owned ferry fleet in the US. In 1919, the Black Ball Line starts to convert most of its ferry fleet to carry autos. In 1951, after a long dispute over whether to raise fares to cover increasing costs, the State of Washington takes over operation of most routes operated by the Black Ball Line and Washington State Ferries (WSF) is born. With a $5 million payment, the state takes ownership of 16 ferries and 20 ferry terminals.

The vessel State of Washington carries a Stanley Steamer automobile from Hoodsport to Seattle, which is said to be the first car transported across the Sound.

The M/V Kalakala, with its unique deco design, enters regular service between Seattle and Bremerton. After providing tours of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the boat is retired from passenger service in 1967, but not dismantled until 2015. It becomes an icon of ferry travel in Washington.

The M/V Tillikum enters service. It currently runs in between the San Juan Islands—the oldest active ferry in the fleet.

The Hood Canal Bridge replaces a ferry that operated between South Point and Lofall. Other bridges that replaced former ferry routes include Bainbridge’s Agate Pass and the Tacoma Narrows. But the goal of replacing the entire ferry system with bridges, originally the plan after state takeover, proves infeasible.

In 1997, King County begins operating passenger ferry service between downtown and West Seattle during summer months. A decade later, after a Tim Eyman initiative leads the state to cut passenger ferry service, King County creates its own ferry district to operate the West Seattle line and takes over service to Vashon Island.

Voters in Kitsap County approve a sales tax increase to fund fast ferries between Seattle and Bremerton, Kingston, and Southworth. 

WSF solicits bids for the next generation of five hybrid electric ferries, set to be delivered by 2030.