Seattle General Depot. Signed lease by Henry Ford for the Seattle Port of Embarkation, dated 1939.
This record is the lease from the original acquisition of properties during World War II for the Seattle Army General Depot and the Port of Embarkation. The Seattle General Depot played a critical role in supplying the war effort in Alaska and the Pacific and in transporting Lend Lease shipments to the Soviet Union. Thousands of service members left for combat from the Port of Embarkation, and this is where survivors returned to Seattle at the end of the War. These properties were acquired by the government on the Duwamish Waterway from numerous corporations and individuals, most notably Pacific Terminals, Inc., and the Ford Motor Company. The records in this series were originally created by War Department officials who were in charge of supply operations in Seattle during World War II and contain interesting visual materials including maps, drawings, deeds, certificates of title, and abstracts of title volumes for the acquired properties. There are also court documents from related eminent domain cases.
Signed lease by Henry Ford for the Seattle Port of Embarkation, dated 1939. National Archives Identifier: 91397995
View and download the lease for the Seattle Port of Embarkation on the National Archives Catalog. This record is one example of the many real property records at the National Archives at Seattle, WA. You can explore more records held at the National Archives at Seattle through the National Archives Catalog or by visiting the National Archives at Seattle. This record is located within Record Group 291: Records of the Federal Property Resources Service, Series: Real Property Records Related to the Seattle General Depot Project, 1940–1953. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized. We encourage researchers to visit us onsite to explore these records and learn more about the archival collections held at the National Archives at Seattle.