Mercer Island, five miles long and two miles wide, sits in Lake Washington located east of Seattle and west of Bellevue. About 21,000 people call Mercer Island their home. Settlement of the island by non-Native Americans began in the late 1870′s. The island was named after one of the three pioneering Mercer brothers from Illinois, all of whom had great influence in the Seattle area.
Due to the difficulty of traveling to the island, Mercer Island was not settled as quickly as Seattle. The early settlers traveled by rowboats to the neighboring community of Seattle to pick up necessities. Transportation between Mercer Island and Seattle picked up in 1891 when C.C. Calkins built a luxurious resort on the western side of the island. To accommodate visitors a ferry dock was built and small steamers began making regular trips. Commuting between Mercer Island and Seattle was limited to water travel until July 1940, when the Interstate 90 floating bridge opened.
