The Colman Dock has held a prominent place on Seattle's waterfront since it was built by Scottish engineer James Colman in 1882. It was rebuilt in 1889 after the Great Seattle Fire, then expanded in 1908 to include a domed waiting room and a 72-foot clock tower. Struck by the steamship Alameda in 1912, the clock tower fell into Puget Sound but was reinstalled on the dock until 1936 when its Edwardian features were deemed to old-fashioned to sit next to the newly launched Art Deco-style ferry Kalakala.

This image of the clock tower was taken in 1936, after the tower was dismantled during the refurbishment of the dock. Fortunately the clock itself was saved and eventually rediscovered in a warehouse in 1976. The clock was restored and reinstalled on the present Colman Dock (Seattle Pier 52) on May 18, 1985.

Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, December 1, 1936, page 9
Caption information source: "Colman Clock (Seattle)," by Alan J. Stein, HistoryLink.org Essay 7559
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.