The Jensen Motor Boat Company was founded in 1922 by Tony Jensen (1889-1963), a Danish immigrant and descendant of boat builders. In 1927, Tony, his wife Bessie (1892-1968), and two partners moved the company to 1417 NE Boat Street on Seattle’s Portage Bay. The company specialized in building boats with experimental designs.

Sons George (1915-1977) and Anchor (1918-2000) continued the business. Anchor co-designed and built the Slo-mo-shun IV, a hydroplane boat that won the "World Water Speed Record" in 1950 and established hydroplane racing in Seattle.

The Jensen Motor Boat Company lasted through the twentieth century, with the business passing to Anchor's son DeWitt Jensen (1952-) upon Anchor's death in 2000. In November 2018, the company announced its sale and closure as of August 2019.

Here, Anchor Jensen checks his mailbox at the company. He lived upstairs over the shop but spent most of his time in the work area. When this photo was taken, the company was one of the few boat building and repair shops remaining in the Portage Bay-Lake Union area.

Caption information source: “Anchor’s way: a lifetime of boat building”, by Carol Smith, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 2, 1997, pages B1 and B4.