Crab boats, schooners, tugs, pleasure yachts – all of them have passed through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks since the first one did 100 years ago.

Yesterday the Ballard Locks passed its centennial. Though it was officially opened July 4 of 1917, the first ship passed through on August 3, 1916.

Named after Hiram M. Chittenden, a man who headed the Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle at the time. Chittenden supported building the locks and saw to it that its construction began in 1911. The locks weren’t formally named after Chittenden to start. They were initially called Government Locks. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Today the “Ballard Locks” are the busiest locks in the country moving 50,000 vessels a year. The site also attracts over 1.3 million tourists annually.

Despite its essential use in the movement of vessels, the Locks are underfunded because the funding is based on commercial cargo locking through. Recreational boats make up the majority of the traffic and move through gratis. Also, fishing boats are largely unloaded of their hauls before they move through the locks to moor at Fishermen’s Terminal. The Corps is aiming to find other funding sources to cover the costs of maintaining the aging locks. The actual centennial celebration is not planned until July 4 of 2017, when the Corps will reveal their plans for facility improvements.