Harper, Washington

 park, fishing area

 Upload a photo

Harper Washington is one of the original mosquito fleet landings in Puget Sound. Harper was the site of the Harper Brick and Tile Company. That brick factory land is now Harper Park.

The Harper Community Park was the site from the late 1800 to the early 1930s of the Harper Clay Products Company (later the Harper Brick and Tile Company). Many of these bricks can be found in the brick buildings around Pioneer Square in Seattle and other buildings around Puget Sound. The last major project for the company was to supply the bricks for the construction of the Governers Mansion in Olympia. Many thousands of rejected bricks can be seen on the beaches adjoining the park. The kilns where located near the current paved parking area of the park. Clay for the production of bricks was mined from the hillsides in the park and transported down to the kiln on carts via rails. These carts where first pulled by horses, and later by a logging steam donkey. The trail leading from the parking area follows the original rail grade to the mining area. There was also a hotel/boarding house located just north of the brick company (1896-1985).

The Harper Dock was originally build in the late 1800s to serve the small steam boats of Puget Sound. There was a large, two story grocery store built over the water just to the south of the dock. The dock was was rebuilt in 1919 to serve auto ferries (the store was gone by this time). This lasted until ferry service was transfered to nearby Southworth in the early 1960s. The Harper Fishing Pier, extends into Puget Sound and now offers fishing and crabbing opportunities.