Usually a rowing club starts with some rowers and a coach, then some boats and oars, and eventually a boathouse. But with SRA, the boathouse came first. In 1994, Hod Fowler, a former collegiate rower, learned of an old boathouse in Marymoor Park. The boathouse was originally built by the Overlake School on the site of a former sewage-treatment plant. Overlake later abandoned the building, and Fowler discovered it was weeks away from being demolished as part of a toxic-site cleanup project.
Fowler quickly recruited a community of interested rowers. With support from King County, Fowler and a small number of co-founders established a non-profit dedicated to serving a broad range of members. They incorporated in 1995 and settled on the name Sammamish Rowing Association, choosing "association" over "club" to reflect the inclusive, non-elite, public nature of the organization.
While the Marymoor site underwent rehabilitation, the new rowing organization spent its first year (1996) in a temporary one-bay boathouse in Idylwood Park. During that time, SRA grew to include about 40 rowers, spread across a 5 a.m. team, a mid-morning team, and a junior program. After one year in Idylwood, SRA moved into the old Overlake boathouse in 1997. Volunteers replaced the rotted roof, and the 5 a.m. team started the generator each morning until a volunteer work party eventually ran power and water from the street.
SRA continued to grow with steadily expanding juniors' and masters' programs. After a five-year search for a new home, the Marymoor site was recognized as the best location. SRA received a shoreline permit in 2005, and in 2010, after years of setbacks, disappointments, and persistence, SRA was finally awarded a building permit and allowed to begin construction. Over the next six years, SRA built the new boathouse in phases as funding permitted.