The County Commissioners served as the main legislative and executive body of county government from 1853 until the County Charter became effective in May 1969. The Charter changed the form of government in King County from a Board of Commissioners to an elected Council and Executive. For most of this period the Commissioners were elected from three districts: the City of Seattle, the section of the county south of the city and the section north of the city. The Commissioners planned for county operations and implemented everyday county functions. The Commissioners oversaw the organization and usage of county land and properties and distribution of services, such as those related to transportation, education, health and sanitation. The duties of the Commissioners included the maintenance of a courthouse and jail, the construction and maintenance of roads, and fiscal responsibilities such as setting tax rates and paying bills. Powers included licensing saloons and other businesses, enacting police and sanitary regulations, and increasing or decreasing county debt. Through their actions, they created instruments and records such as resolutions, agreements with citizens and entities, communications, referrals and instructions to county agencies. The County Auditor kept the official records of the Commissioners. The Commissioners created Proceedings, which document their meetings, and actions; and an Index to their records. While some records pertaining to matters were retained by the Commissioners or the county agency involved, others were destroyed. Details about Commissioner actions and matters brought before the Commissioners may be found in the Commissioners' Proceedings, Commissioner record series or in other record series.

Note: Some of the series descriptions on this page include links to container lists in portable document format; these files are indicated by a (PDF) following the series title. In order to view the PDF container lists, you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader®. Please click here if you need to obtain a free download of the software.

011-285 Annual report and distribution of expenditures, 1937- 1955
Annual financial report submitted to State Auditor, including detailed breakdown of tax levy, balance sheets for county facilities and operations, and comparison of agency budget with actual expenditures. Balance sheet, budget and expenditure detail is missing for some years.

Volume: 0.3 cu ft

011-102 Aviation files, 1920 - 1928
Petitions, correspondence, resolutions, property records and contracts concerning the county's central role in securing property for Sand Point Naval Air Station. Includes correspondence and deeds regarding transfer of the Sand Point property to the Federal Government. Resolutions have been moved to the Resolutions file.

Volume: 1 cu ft

011-288 Boeing Field files, 1928 - 1971
Deeds and other property records, appraisal reports, and bond issue files relating to the acquisition of property for the construction and development of the King County International Airport (Boeing Field). Bulk of the material documents the efforts to acquire land to expand the airport "clear zone" in the late 1950s, including a detailed appraisal report from 1955. This report contained individual photographs of over 100 homes and other sites in the Georgetown and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. A separate index to the photographs is available.

Volume: 1.3 cu ft

011-106 Contracts, 1921 - 1969
Original contracts for typical county construction projects, agreements with other corporate bodies, and agreements for the provision of social services. Includes correspondence concerning change orders, plans and specifications. These records contain samples of typical contract files, including those for construction and modification of historically significant structures. The complete text of all contracts is recorded in the Commissioners' Proceedings.

Volume: 2 cu ft

011-326 Highway plat book (1890)
Atlas of King County showing platted county roads, other roads and trails, and bodies of water.

Volume: 1 cu ft

011-339 Index to Commissioners' records, 1853 - 1969
This index provides lists of names, topics and location information for entries in the Commissioners' Proceedings (Series 011-118). It also provides information about record series that further detail Commissioner actions. The index comprises 18 volumes arranged in various formats over time. For the most part the following information is presented in alphabetical and chronological line entries: personal, corporate or agency name; subject; year; proceedings volume and page; remarks (Commissioner action taken or other details); and record series file numbers. At times, Commissioner actions included referral to another county body (e.g. the Engineer or Prosecuting Attorney). While some records pertaining to the matters brought before the Commissioners were retained by the Commissioners or the county agency involved, many were destroyed.

Volume: 8 cu ft

Note: A guide to using the Index is available at the King County Archives.

011-342 Index to franchises, permits, easements and agreements, 1889-1918
The records in these files were copied from the official proceedings of the King County Commissioners (Series 011-134), county deeds, or official Auditor's filings. They constitute a selective transcription of transactions which relate to the use of county property and rights-of way. The transactions include franchises, permits, easements, and other agreements for projects and activities such as railroad grade crossings, utility lines, gravel pits, and road vacations. The handwritten transcriptions were apparently made c. 1915-1918 and may have served as a reference file or index. The records are arranged by topic; record entries are variously arranged within each topic but all entries include cross-references to proceedings or deeds volumes, or to the Auditor's filing number. Related series: 011-299, State regulatory agency cause files, 1910-1959; and 035.07-319, Franchise files, 1893-1991.

Volume: 0.1 cu ft

011-321 Index to road records, 1853 - 1914
List of county roads arranged by road number. Includes legal description, indication of whether road was platted, and citation to where records of road are recorded in road books. Volume 1, Index to Road Records (1853-1914), is succeeded by a second unnumbered volume, Index to Roads (1901-1914).

Volume: 0.5 cu ft

011-111 Lake Washington toll bridge files, 1925 - 1936
Correspondence, resolutions, franchise applications, plans, protests and reports from the King County Planning Commission, Seattle City Council and Engineer on construction of a toll bridge from the Bailey Peninsula (Seward Park) to Mercer Island. The state legislature enabled King County and the City of Seattle to jointly grant a franchise for a Lake Washington toll bridge.

Volume: 0.3 cu ft

011-429 License application recommendation lists, 1964-1969
Letters from the License Director to the Board of County Commissioners formally forwarding applications, with a listing of the names and addresses of applicants for various types of licenses. The Director, noting that the appropriate fees have been paid and relevant inspections passed, recommends to the Commissioners that the licenses be issued. Letters are arranged chronologically and each letter has been stamped with the volume and frame number of the Commissioners' Journal microfilm.

Volume: 0.66 cu ft

011-323 License files, 1959 - 1969 
Applications and records of licenses and permits granted for dances, pool halls, card rooms, bowling alleys, amusement parks and other entertainment-related businesses. Arranged by type of license and chronologically.

Volume: 2 cu ft

011-113 Liquor license files, 1901 - 1916
Applications, correspondence, protests and petitions for and against the issuance of county licenses for saloons and billiard halls up to the time of local option prohibition. Includes letters of recommendation from breweries and a list of saloons in the county whose license fees were partially refunded when prohibition took effect in 1912. The Commissioners' Proceedings also record all issuances of liquor licenses.

Volume: 1.3 cu ft

011-440 Plat files, 1916 - 1970
Applications submitted for the final approval of a plat by the Commissioners. The files are arranged chronologically and by assigned filing number. An individual file typically contains a certificate prepared by an attorney indicating that the ownership of the property and the payment of taxes have been verified, along with the recommendations from the office of the County (later Road) Engineer. A small number of the files contain plat maps (see series file for listing). A second numbering sequence of the files was begun in 1969. Approvals for plats were recorded in the Commissioners' Proceedings (Series 118) and are indexed by plat name in the indexes to the Commissioner's Records (Series 339).

Volume: 10.66 cu ft

011-335 Plat vacation files, 1889 - 1978 
Petitions, maps, engineer's reports, correspondence, and orders of vacation documenting applications and approvals of plats previously recorded with the County Auditor. Includes records of vacations of entire plats as well as vacations of platted road and street rights of way.

Volume: 13.25 cu ft

011-118 Proceedings, 1853 - 1969
The Proceedings contain minutes of meetings, resolutions and records of other actions of the County Commissioners. Complete transcriptions of contracts, leases and franchises are present, as are proceedings of joint meetings with Commissioners of Snohomish and Pierce Counties on matters of common concern, such as Inter-County River Improvement. The Proceedings consist of 74 bound volumes with microfilm copies (March 5, 1853 to September 23, 1963) and a sequence of microfilm volumes only (September 26, 1963 to April 28, 1969). In the bound volumes, references to records declared obsolete and destroyed are cross-referenced to the Commissioner resolution authorizing the destruction. Details about Commissioner actions and matters brought before the Commissioners may be found in other Commissioner and county agency record series.

Volume: 30 cu ft

011-164 Property transaction files, 1855-1959
Abstracts, deeds, leases, mortgages, resolutions, titles of insurance, and other records relating to the acquisition and sale of property by the county for various purposes. Specific sites include Harborview hospital and "Willows" Farm. Different types of property sites include gravel pits, ferry docks, and bridges. The files, which were transferred from the Real Property Division, were highly disordered when processing was begun. The original arrangement used a file numbering sequence that apparently was discontinued at some point. The numbered files contained either a complete set of documents about a specific site (for example, the Madison Park ferry slip) or a set of documents about a type of site (for example, gravel pits). The present arrangement of the files begins with the numbered files that were found, followed by a set of gravel pit files in chronological order. The remaining files are arranged by type of document in chronological order. A folder level index to the documents is available.

Volume: 1 cu ft

011-263 Prosecuting Attorney's opinions, 1927 - 1970
Correspondence between the County Commissioners and the King County Prosecuting Attorney concerning the legal basis for County activities, including interpretation of State law and County resolutions.

Volume: 2 cu ft

011-120 Puget Sound ferry system files, 1921 - 1925
Correspondence, resolutions, contracts, equipment inventories, and annual reports concerning ferry service to Vashon Island. Most documents pertain to arrangements King County made with Kitsap County Transportation Co. for repairs and operation of King County ferries between Marion Street and Fauntleroy Docks, Vashon Heights, and Harper in Kitsap County. Original copies of the resolutions have been placed in the resolutions file.

Volume: 0.3 cu ft

011-124 Record of franchises, 1889 - 1917
Transcription of franchises granted by County Commissioners, including easements, permits and other agreements for use of county road right of way.

Volume: 0.1 cu ft

011-124 Resolutions, 1911 - 1969
Legislation of the County Board of Commissioners dealing with establishment of boards and commissions, incorporation of municipalities and taxing districts, property transactions, election administration, construction of public facilities, public works, zoning and planning, and other major policy decisions of the board. All resolutions are also recorded in the Commissioners' Proceedings.

Volume: 50 cu ft

011-346 Rezone map filings, 1939 - 1966
Vicinity maps of areas affected by changes in land use zoning classifications. Record information on each one-page mimeographed map includes owner name, legal description of property parcel, township-range-section notation, proposed reclassification code, and proposed new use of property. Each map also refers to the specific zoning map amended by the change, and to Planning Commission and County Commissioner resolutions approving the rezone. The maps are arranged by broad chronological periods and then by the county auditor's seven-digit filing number. The Index to Commissioners' Records cross-indexes by owner name.

Volume: 1.2 cu ft

011-320 Road books, 1877 - 1895
Record of actions by County Commissioners on road matters, including petitions, orders of appointment of road viewers, survey reports, field notes, and legal descriptions of road rights of way. These volumes, numbered 1-9, contain greater detail than the Commissioners' Proceedings (Series 118). Volume 2 is not present. Volume 3 contains an index, arranged by road number, to volumes 1 through 5. Index entries include a brief description of the route of the road. Volume 4 consists entirely of plat maps for roads established between 1877 and 1881.

Volume: 2 cu ft

011-271 Road files, 1899 - 1916
Contracts, petitions, protests, plans, and maps concerning county road projects. Files are arranged numerically by Auditor filing number, an approximate chronological ordering. Most maps and plans have been removed and are housed separately by Auditor filing number.

Volume: 13 cu ft

011-320 Sales files, 1959 - 1969
Bills of sale, correspondence, and other records pertaining to sales of county-owned real and personal property.

Volume: 0.3 cu ft

011-299 State regulatory agency cause files, 1910-1959 (PDF)
The state of Washington, through its agencies, regulates and supervises providers of public utilities and transportation systems within the state. These records consist of King County's copies of documents filed with state regulators in causes which either directly affected county property (e.g., county roads and rights-of-way) or were those in which King County maintained an interest (i.e., where the actions affected unincorporated areas of the county). During the time period covered by these records, they were physically maintained in the office of the County Engineer as two subseries: railroad grade crossing permit files (1910-1941) and utility permits and franchises (1939-1959).

1. Railroad grade crossing permit files, 1910-1941. The state of Washington is responsible for inspecting and maintaining the safety of public grade crossings. Formal orders for grade crossing improvements (e.g., construction or widening of public crossings, installation of signals, closing of crossings) have been issued over time by the state's Railroad Commission (1905-1911), Public Service Commission (1911-1921), Department of Public Works (1921-1935), Department of Public Services (1935-1945) and successor agencies. The files in this subseries consist of (a) applications to these agencies (by King County commissioners and by railroad, streetcar and logging companies) for construction or modification of grade crossings on King County roads; and (b) challenges by King County or railroad companies to the applications. Principal railroad companies represented include the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company (Milwaukee Road); the Great Northern Railway Company; the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the Pacific Coast Railroad; and the Puget Sound Electric Railway Company. Many logging railroads are also represented. Record types include copies of application documents (petitions, interrogatories and answers, maps); copies of official orders and permits; correspondence; copies of County Auditor filings; and copies of County Engineer record cards for each cause. Arrangement is by state agency cause number. A small number of files without a cause number, containing principally non-finalized applications and correspondence, are arranged chronologically at the end of the subseries.

2. Utility permits and franchises, 1939-1959. The state of Washington is empowered to authorize the occupancy of state highway rights-of-way by persons, associations, corporations, governments or agencies for the purpose of constructing and maintaining utility lines. The permits and franchises in these files were granted by the Washington State Department of Highways to various entities for the purpose of building telephone, electricity and water lines in unincorporated King County. Record types include copies of application documents and franchises; copies of related correspondence; and maps and construction diagrams. The files, maintained by the County Engineer as a reference collection, are arranged by Department of Highways cause number.

Volume: 1.25 cu ft

011-336 Subject files, 1922 - 1972
Correspondence, reports and copies of resolutions relating to matters before the County Commissioners. Bulk of material dates from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Volume: 1.3 cu ft

011-128 Voting machine files, 1916 - 1957
Resolutions, contracts and bond issue records concerning the County Commissioners' purchase and deployment of voting machines. Original copies of the resolutions are filed in the Resolutions file.

Volume: 0.3 cu ft