It was the result of hard work by a group of Ballard citizens with Dwight S. Hawley leading the way when the Shilshole Bay Marina opened in 1958.

A bronze plaque honoring Hawley's work is now being refurbished by the Port of Seattle and will be installed outside the marina's new administration building later this year. The marina is in the final stages of an $80 million renovation project overhauling the docks and other facilities.

In 1973, Hawley was awarded the plaque from the Port of Seattle during a Ballard Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The plaque which was then put on public display at the marina's old administration building read, "Dwight S. Hawley, legislator and public servant, whose dedication and tireless efforts in coordinating the public interest resulted in the development of the $11 million Shilshole Bay Marina. Presented by the Port of Seattle in Grateful Recognition, March 1973."

Hawley was born and raised in Ballard. He passed away in 1981 at the age of 85.

Sitting in his real estate office on 24th Avenue Northwest, son Barry Hawley, 68, pulls out old copies of meeting minutes, letters, Western Union telegrams and newspaper clippings he has saved over the years.

"There were boxes," he said. "Dad kept them all."

Hawley spearheaded a community effort to build a seawall or breakwater near the entrance of the Lake Washington Ship Canal to protect the basin from storms and rough water and to assist ships waiting to enter the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, which opened in 1917.

"Ballard was full of hard working people with high goals. They had a desire to put in a marina to serve the boat traffic," said Barry Hawley.

He was the secretary of the Ballard Elks, executive secretary of the Ballard Commercial Club in the early 1920s.

Hawley was a State Representative of the 44th District, serving an impressive ten terms, and joined a small group of area businessmen in the 1920s to discuss the development of the Shilshole Bay and Golden Gardens areas.

He became the secretary of the Shilshole Breakwater Association in 1928 and was elected president of the association in 1945.

"My dad was involved from the beginning," said son Barry Hawley. "He was the point person and stayed with the whole project. At the time, Ballard was full of people working together."

People were collecting money to build the Ballard Hospital. Others were trying to get a road built leading to Golden Gardens.

The boat passage at the locks was growing, with 60,971 vessels passing through in 1951.

According to an article published in a 1952 issue of Pacific Work Boat, "Not only is the project needed to protect the canal's entrance in bad weather, but the outside boat harbors it would provide would do much to reduce the traffic through the locks. This traffic is mounting to unwieldy proportions especially over the weekends."

During a Seattle Yacht Club meeting on Sept. 18, 1929, club member John Graham talked about the congestion at the locks when numerous boats tried to pass through on Sundays and holidays. He said this could be relieved with a mooring basin where boats could be tied up.

From 1928 to 1941 meetings were held with engineers, local governmental agencies, the Port Commission and state of Washington officials. The project was interrupted by World War II and was revived in 1946 when Congress approved a study, engineering reports were done and the city's Park Board deeded the land to the Port of Seattle.

Hawley went to Washington D.C. several times armed with facts, charts and aerial pictures to sell the project to the House Subcommittee on Rivers and Harbors.

The Ballard community, city of Seattle, states legislature and the Port of Seattle were all united behind getting the project done, said Barry Hawley.

The Hawley family lived in Loyal Heights overlooking the water, as construction crews stacked boulders to build the breakwater. Son Bud Hawley, now 83, monitored the project from a window.

"We could watch them dumping the rocks," he said.

Dwight Hawley also had a third son, Bob who is now 79 and living in Sun Valley, Idaho.

During the marina's dedication, Hawley made these comments in his speech. "I am pleased to be here representing the many fine citizens, both living and deceased, who had a part in making this great project possible. This is truly a civic project in which there has been full cooperation between the public and all branches of government. Shilshole Breakwater and moorage will be a living monument to this effort. It will enhance the recreational value of our great Puget Sound area and Seattle, the boating capital of the world."

The Port of Seattle has not set a date for the reinstallation of Dwight Hawley's plaque.