The University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) was established as a marine biology field station in 1903 by Trevor Kincaid, an assistant professor of zoology at the UW. The station was founded as a summer program for high school and college teachers. Courses in zoology, biology, botany and other topics were offered.

In 1923, FHL moved to Point Caution, their current site, which has 484 acres of land and over two miles of shoreline. By the following year, the campus included two laboratory buildings, a dining hall, and a curator's cottage. It expanded in 1925 to two more laboratories. The University of Washington's Oceanography department took control of the site in 1930, and the research station was renamed the Oceanographic Laboratories. The Oceanographic Laboratories focused on the training of professional researchers rather than biology teachers.

The M.V. Catalyst was the University of Washington's first oceanographic research vessel. Seattle naval architects Roland and Strickland designed the vessel based on recommendations by Friday Harbor oceanography scientists who previously had been forced to rely on converted fishing boats for research expeditions. The Catalyst was completed in June 1932 and was used by the Oceanographic Labs for data collection until 1942, when the vessel was lent to the U.S. Navy. The Navy used the Catalyst in the Aleutian Islands to look for Japanese submarines. After WWII, it was sold to a mining company and used to haul ore, supplies, and passengers through the Inside Passage. After a series of other owners, the vessel is now used for natural history cruises in Puget Sound and the Inside Passage to Alaska.

During the war years, the field station at Friday Harbor was used by the US Marines as a training facility, returning to normal operation in 1947. In 1951 the labs received their final name change, to the present Friday Harbor Laboratories.