The Seattle Division of Todd Shipyard Corporation originated in 1916, when the William H. Todd Corporation purchased the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company (formerly Moran Brothers Shipyard). Originally located on the Seattle waterfront, the shipyard built cargo vessels for the U.S. Shipping Board during World War I. Todd moved the operation to a new plant on Harbor Island in 1918, under the name of its new subsidiary, Todd Dry Docks, Inc.

Harbor Island, an artificial island on the southwest corner of Elliott Bay, was built by Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging in 1909 using soil removed from the Jackson Street and Dearborn Street regrading and dredged soil from the Duwamish River. Ideally located, it became a center for shipbuilding, conversion, and repair work, and its shipyards were an important part of the war effort during both World Wars.

The Todd Dry Docks Harbor Island yard underwent a huge expansion in 1940 to accommodate wartime demands, and with the Todd facility in Tacoma became the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation. The yard ultimately completed 45 destroyers and converted or repaired 576 ships for war service. In June 1944, the Washington shipyards were renamed Todd Pacific Shipyards, Inc. The Tacoma Division closed in 1952, and the Seattle Division continued at Harbor Island with ship building and repair operations for the next several decades.

In 2011, Vigor Industrial purchased the Todd Pacific Shipyards Seattle Division, and Vigor Shipyards continues to provide ship construction and repair services at the Harbor Island shipyard.