The Port of Poulsbo, around 1911

The Port of Poulsbo had its beginnings in the late 1880s when Jorgen Eliason and Ivar Moe, some of the earliest settlers, rowed their crops to Seattle in 12 to 14 foot boats.  In the early 1900s the port grew, with transportation provided by the steam vessels of the "mosquito fleet", and a fishing fleet that worked in Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca, then became the base of several larger boats and schooners working the fishing grounds of Alaska, under sail, for cod and salmon.  From around the turn of the 20th Century hrough the 1950s, local ferries and the “mosquito fleet” of steamboats to and from Kitsap County and Seattle serviced the city and port.  Once the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was rebuilt, passenger and freight trade diminished.

The harbor (Dogfish Bay, as it was known then) was home to a codfish fleet and had several oyster beds and fish processing plants.  In the 1960s the harbor still retained its fishing history with a large number of working vessels and it was in 1951 that the Port of Poulsbo was formally formed as a port.  Some commercial vessels still find their home here.

Since its formal establishment, the Port has grown to include seven main docks containing 254 permanent slips, 130 guest slips, a floatplane dock, fuel dock, sanitation pump-out facilities, restroom and shower facilities, laundry facilities and launch ramp.  There are plans (91 kb PDF file) for further expansion of the port and its facilities.