Jensen Motor Boat Company was founded in 1922 by Tony Jensen (1889-1963), a Danish immigrant who came from a family of boat builders. In 1927, Tony, his wife Bessie (1892-1968), and two partners moved the company to 1417 NE Boat Street on Portage Bay. The company specialized in building boats with experimental designs. Sons George (1915-1977) and Anchor (1918-2000) continued the business, and Anchor Jensen 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. Slo-mo-shun IV was donated to MOHAI in 1959. The Jensen Motor Boat Company continued to work on boat boats repair and construction 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.

Tony and Bessie built this boat shop with living quarters above, where they raised George and Anchor. This photo, taken from Portage Bay, shows the property in the mid 1930s.

Caption information source: Jensen Motor Boat Company, http://www.jensenmotorboat.net/about/
Caption information source: "Builders of Classic Boats, Lake Union (Seattle)," by John Caldbick, HistoryLink.org Essay 20366
Caption information source: "Rising Tide of Seattle Growth Swamps Century-Old Jensen Motor Boat Co.," by Paul Roberts, The Seattle Times, November 23, 2018