Ballard Locks

Chittenden Locks and Lake Washington Ship Canal
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
An aerial view of the locks, facing west
Location	Salmon Bay, Seattle, Washington
Built	1911–1917
Architect	Charles A. D. Young (locks and dam) Bebb and Gould (support buildings)
NRHP Reference #	78002751
Added to NRHP	December 14, 1978

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay, in Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south.

The Ballard Locks carry more boat traffic than any other lock in the US, and the Locks, along with the fish ladder and the surrounding Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens attract more than one million visitors annually, making it one of Seattle's top tourist attractions. The construction of the locks profoundly reshaped the topography of Seattle and the surrounding area, lowering the water level of Lake Washington and Lake Union by 8.8 feet (2.7 m), adding miles of new waterfront land, reversing the flow of rivers, and leaving piers in the eastern half of Salmon Bay high and dry. The Locks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the American Society of Civil Engineers Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

As early as 1854, there was discussion of building a navigable connection between Lake Washington and Puget Sound for the purpose of transporting logs, milled lumber, and fishing vessels. Thirteen years later, the United States Navy endorsed a canal project, which included a plan for building a naval shipyard on Lake Washington. In 1891 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started planning the project. Some preliminary work was begun in 1906, and work began in earnest five years later under the command of Hiram M. Chittenden. The delays in canal planning and construction resulted in the US Navy building the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, which is located across the Sound from Seattle.