George Washington Lightfoot (1889 – 1941) was an American business owner known campaigning for more than 12 years to build what was then known as the Lake Washington Floating Bridge"Lake Washington Floating Bridge is dedicated on July 2, 1940." Washington State Department of Transportation. http://www.historylink.org/File/682 connecting the island to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

across

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

. George Lightfoot, commonly known as "Speed", and his brother, Ewart Gladstone Lightfoot, commonly known as "Hap", ran Lightfoot Enterprises on Mercer Island from 1914 through the early 1980s. Lightfoot Enterprises included the first grocery store, post office, gas station, dance/movie hall and bakery on Mercer Island. George Lightfoot was also a talented

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

musician who performed under the stage name "The Jolly Hobo Globetrotter" along with his sister, Eva, known as "The Mandolin Banjo Fiend". Lightfoot was born in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

in 1889. He died in

Mercer Island Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue t ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in 1941.

References

* * Hilliard, N. (2008). Mercer Island Old and New - Redux. 1889 births 1942 deaths People from Mercer Island, Washington {{US-business-bio-1880s-stub