Jim Ellis papers

James Reed Ellis (August 5, 1921–October 21, 2019) was a municipal bond lawyer and civic leader based in King County, Washington. Ellis was known for his involvement in the campaign to clean up Lake Washington, the creation of Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (commonly referred to as Metro), Forward Thrust initiatives, the preservation of farmlands, the establishment of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and Washington State Convention and Trade Center expansion.

Ellis was born in 1921 in Oakland, California to Hazel and Floyd Ellis and moved to Seattle in 1926. He attended John Muir Grade School and Franklin High School. Ellis enlisted in the Air Force while at Yale University and, after graduating in 1942, was called to active duty in 1943, where he served as a weather forecaster for bomber groups in training in Idaho. He married Mary Lou Earling in 1944 and they had four children: Robert, Lynn, Steven, and Judy. After graduating from University of Washington Law School in 1948, he joined the law firm Preston, Thorgrimson and Horowitz, later Preston Gates & Ellis, where he became a partner in 1953.

In the 1950s, Ellis became a member of the Municipal League of Seattle and led efforts to address a wide variety of regional concerns, including transportation, sewage, land-use, and garbage disposal through a combined regional authority, although voters only approved the establishment of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (commonly known as Metro) in 1958 to address wastewater management and water quality issues in Lake Washington. In 1972, Ellis also led efforts to establish the King County Metro bus system after voters rejected measures to fund a rail transit system in 1970. Ellis’s advocacy for a regional authority and leadership role resulted in his “Father of Metro” nickname. He also served as Metro’s general counsel for about 20 years.

In the 1960s, Ellis founded the committee and campaigned for a series of bond measures collectively known as Forward Thrust, which focused on various public works plans in and around Seattle, including capital improvements for parks, fire stations, swimming pools, streets and storm sewers, low-income housing, and rapid rail transit. In 1968, seven of the twelve initiatives were approved by voters, including building the Kingdome and Seattle Aquarium, and development of new parks and trails, including the Jim Ellis Freeway Park built in 1976.

In the 1970s, Ellis focused on preservation of farmlands through a bond measure for $50 million to protect farms and green belts from development. He also advocated for the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle (later Seattle Convention Center), which was completed in 1988, and its subsequent expansion, completed in 2001. In 1990, Ellis founded the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to preserve 1.5 million acres of land along the Interstate 90 corridor between Seattle and Ellensburg and served as its chairman.

Ellis served as president of the Seattle-King County Municipal League, as chairman of the metropolitan government committee of the American Bar Association, and as a regent of the University of Washington during his career. He received numerous awards over his career, including a national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities, a Lifetime Achievement award from American Lawyers, a First Citizen award from Seattle-King County Association of Realtors, an A.K. Guy Award for Community Service from the YMCA of Greater Seattle, and an Isabel Colman Pierce Award for Excellence in Community Service from the YWCA.

For more information, see HistoryLink entry on Jim Ellis: https://www.historylink.org/File/7833