Funding for encoding this
finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
Biographical Note
Donald N. Sherwood (c. 1916-1981), architect, commercial artist, and
historian, was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Ohio State
University, receiving a degree in commercial art. On a family vacation to the
Pacific Northwest, Sherwood found the climate more agreeable with his asthma
than Ohio's, and in the early 1950s moved to Seattle with his wife, Miriam, and
two children.
Soon after his arrival in Seattle, Sherwood accepted the position of
Junior Engineer with the Department of Parks. In that job he occasionally was
able to utilize his commercial art skills producing brochures and recreational
programs. Soon after accepting the position, the department architect left, and
Sherwood was asked to design small park buildings and to supervise their
construction. Working in an office which held property maps and records of park
improvements, Sherwood found himself responding to information requests from
the general public.
At the suggestion of the Superintendent's Office, Sherwood began
compiling sketch maps of the parks, annotating them with historical information
as he discovered it. He began writing individual histories for each facility
when the amount of historical information grew to the point where it would no
longer fit on the maps.
In the early 1970s, Sherwood discovered that older department files were
being destroyed as employees retired. Aware of at least four earlier
destructions (c. 1930, 1960, 1965, and 1968), Sherwood urged that valuable
Parks records be sorted, under the supervision of a librarian, and that
appropriate materials be preserved. In 1972 he was assigned the responsibility.
Although given little time with which to perform this duty, Sherwood threw
himself into the activity with vigor. As he pulled together the records, he
described the collection as "the correspondence and miscellaneous items found
in file [Sherwood's emphasis] that seem to best
describe the history of this park or playground."
Sherwood continued this work until his position was eliminated, due to a
budget reduction, in 1977. Some additional material was added to the collection
after this date by various Park Department employees. Sherwood continued his
research and writing on the history of Seattle parks until his death in
November 1981. The histories and drawings of the parks he generated after
leaving City employment were donated to the Museum of History and Industry
following his death.
Sherwood labored for the Department of Parks and Recreation for 22
years. During this period, in addition to his historical research, he designed
and illustrated numerous departmental brochures, maps, and annual reports;
designed exhibits for the Children's Zoo; and illustrated Gordon Newell's text
for Totem Tales of Old Seattle (Seattle: Superior
Publishing Co., 1956). Sherwood was a lifetime member of the Sierra Club, a
charter member of the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild, a member of the
Historical Society of Seattle and King County, and a member of the American
Historical Association.
Historical Note
Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation:
Administrative History
The Parks and Recreation Department administers Seattle’s parks system
and community recreation programs. It maintains over 6000 acres of city parks,
20 miles of shoreline, and 22 miles of boulevards. The department operates the
city’s 25 community recreation centers, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle
Aquarium, nine swimming pools, a tennis center, and more than 400 smaller
facilities. In addition, it is custodian for four public golf courses, three
moorages, and several other athletic and cultural facilities.
In 1884 David Denny donated a five-acre tract that was the site of a
cemetery to the City of Seattle, stipulating that it be designated a public
park. The site, initially named Seattle Park and later renamed Denny Park, was
the first ordinance-designated public park in Seattle. The ordinance that
accepted the property (Ordinance 571) also made allowances for its conversion
from a cemetery to a park and included a provision that three Park
Commissioners be appointed to oversee the conversion.
At that time, the City of Seattle was operating under its 1869 charter
which provided for a relatively small government of 13 elected officials and
three other officers, in whom all municipal authority was vested.
Legislation in 1887 (Ordinance 874) created the Board of Park
Commissioners, consisting of three members to be appointed by Council, and who
served three-year terms. This unpaid body was charged with all management
responsibilities for Seattle's parks and was expected to report to Council as
often as each quarter, making recommendations for improvements and for the
acquisition of new properties.
In 1890 the City of Seattle adopted its first home-rule charter. The
city’s population had expanded from 3533 in 1880 to nearly 43,000. The new
charter mandated a dramatically larger city government composed of 34 elected
officials, 13 departments, and six regulatory commissions, including a Board of
Park Commissioners. A park fund was also established, consisting of: proceeds
from the sale of bonds issued for that purpose; gifts; appropriations made by
Council; and 10% of the gross receipts from all fines, penalties, and
licenses.
The new Board of Park Commissioners, appointed by the Mayor, consisted
of five paid ($300 per year) members who served five-year terms. Although the
Board had all management responsibilities for Seattle's parks, including the
authority to appoint a superintendent and to negotiate for property, Council
retained the authority to purchase property.
In 1892 the Board appointed E. O. Schwagerl, a noted landscape architect
and engineer, to be the second Superintendent of Parks. During the four years
that he held the office, Schwagerl developed the first comprehensive plan for
Seattle's parks. This plan may have guided Assistant City Engineer George F.
Cotterill. Cotterill organized volunteers to construct 25 miles of bicycle
paths, the routes of which were utilized by the Olmsted Brothers in their 1903
city-wide plan for a system of parks and boulevards.
In 1896 Seattle adopted a new home-rule charter. This charter redefined
the Board of Park Commissioners as the Park Committee: five unpaid appointees
who reported annually to Council. In addition, all management responsibilities
of the parks, including the authority to obtain new properties, were vested
with the City Council. The Superintendent of Parks position was eliminated and
its responsibilities were assumed by the new Superintendent of Streets, Sewers,
and Parks, one of the three members of the Board of Public Works.
In 1903, City Council adopted the Olmsted Brothers plan to expand and
develop a system of parks and boulevards. At the same time, the Charter was
amended, re-establishing the Board of Park Commissioners and giving it the kind
of independence that park commissions in the metropolitan cities of the East
enjoyed. While Council retained the authority to approve the purchase of
property, the Board assumed all management responsibilities of the parks, as
well as the exclusive authority to spend park fund monies. In addition, all
park-related authority was removed from the Board of Public Works, and the
Board of Park Commissioners elected to appoint a superintendent.
Public support, both for the implementation of the Olmsted plan as well
as for the new, empowered Board, was substantial. In 1905 a $500,000 park bond
was passed; followed by $1,000,000 in 1908; $2,000,000 in 1910; and $500,000 in
1912.
In 1907 the Superintendent was joined by a new staff position, the
Assistant Superintendent, and in the following year the first directorship,
Playgrounds Director, was created. In 1912 the first full-time engineer
appeared under the title Chief Engineer, later to be changed to Park Engineer.
By 1922 a Head Gardener had been appointed, and two more directorships created:
the Zoo Director and the Bathing Beaches Director.
In 1925 the charter was amended such that no more money could be spent
in the acquisition of park properties than was available through the park fund.
In that same year, the Park Engineer was replaced by a new position, the
Landscape Architect. In 1926 the Board abolished the position of
Superintendent, distributing that position's responsibilities between the Head
Gardener and the Landscape Architect. In 1927 the position title of Park
Engineer was re-established, but with the duties and responsibilities of the
old superintendent, while the new Junior Park Engineer directly managed
engineering and construction activity.
In 1926 Mayor Bertha K. Landes appointed a Municipal Recreation
Committee, comprised of Park Board members, School Board members, and a
representative of the community at large, to analyze ways in which they could
cooperatively contribute to the municipal recreation program. The Committee
submitted its report to the Mayor in January 1928. The report detailed which
facilities were provided by the Park Board and which by the School Board; how
the facilities could be more efficiently utilized; and what additional
facilities were required.
A ten-year plan for the Department of Parks was announced in 1931. This
plan, based upon a projected population for the Seattle metropolitan area in
1940, was a program of development aimed at making better use of existing
properties, adding to those properties that needed more space, and acquiring
new properties in those parts of town that were experiencing growth. Much of
this plan would be realized by the Works Projects Administration later in the
decade.
In 1939 administration of playground programs and bathing beaches was
consolidated under the newly created position. In 1940, with the opening of the
West Seattle Golf Course (the city’s third municipal golf course) the position
of Golf Director was established. A 1948 Charter amendment required the Board
of Park Commissioners to appoint a park superintendent, and the position was to
be excluded from the classified civil service.
A Charter amendment in 1967 reconstituted the Board of Park
Commissioners as an advisory body to the Mayor, Council, the renamed Department
of Parks and Recreation, and other City agencies. The amendment placed the
fiscal and operational admistration of the department under the control of the
Superintendent of Parks, who was now appointed by the Mayor to serve a
four-year term. The specific duties of both the Superintendent and the Board,
as well as the number of members and term length for the latter, were to be
prescribed by ordinance. Council passed an ordinance in 1968 (Ordinance 96453)
which defined the Board as a seven-member body with three-year terms of
service.
The $65 million Forward Thrust bond was approved by voters in 1968. By
1974, with matching funds, interest, etc., it had grown to 92 million dollars
in working capital; by 1976, over 40 new properties had been obtained by the
Department of Parks and Recreation utilizing these funds.
By 1969 golf had ceased to warrant a director-level position and came
under the administration of the Recreation Director. A new directorship, the
Aquarium Director, was added in 1973. By the following year there were only
four executive positions reporting directly to the Superintendent: Zoo
Director, Aquarium Director, Assistant Superintendent of Management, and
Assistant Superintendent of Operations. In 1977, a charter amendment abolished
the four-year term for the Superintendent of Parks established by the 1967
amendment.
The Olmsted Brothers Plan
In 1903, on the recommendation of the Board of Park Commissioners,
Council contracted with the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts to
conduct a thorough survey of Seattle's park possibilities, and to submit a
comprehensive plan that could be used to guide future work. This move was
largely brought on by the public interest generated through the purchase of two
large tracts, Woodland and Washington Parks, in 1900, and by the desire to
prepare Seattle for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
The Olmsted Brothers had inherited the nation's first landscape
architecture firm from their father, Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New
York's Central Park, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and the campus of the
University of California at Berkeley. John C. Olmsted, the stepson of Frederick
Law and the senior partner in the firm, spent several weeks in the summer of
1903 studying the topography of Seattle and its parks. His report was accepted
by Council on October 19th of that year.
Although J. C. Olmsted's primary goal was to locate a park or a
playground within one half mile of every home in Seattle, the dominant feature
of the plan was a 20-mile landscaped boulevard linking most of the existing and
planned parks and greenbelts within the city limits. Furthermore, it emphasized
the speed with which the plan should be realized; desirable sites would soon be
developed privately or priced beyond the means of the City.
The Olmsted Brothers plan included numerous playgrounds and playfields,
a manifestation of the new concept of public recreation which had been
introduced with success in the East. These sites included buildings devoted to
recreation (field houses) and facilities like ball fields, tennis courts, and
playground apparatus which had unique maintenance requirements relative to park
facilities. Hence, from quite early on, the Parks Division and the Recreation
Division of the Department each had their own maintenance personnel.
During the first ten years after its submission, most of the primary
elements of the plan would, through purchase, gift, condemnation, or bonded
indebtedness, be incorporated into the city's structure.
Seattle became a city with hundreds of vistas,
turns in the path or the road that offer views in every direction, each
slightly different from the one just before or just after; and these were
wonderfully exploited in the Olmsted boulevards and the new parks they
connected. In a city that was little more than fifty years old one could claim
to find something older cities could not match. (Seattle, Past to Present, Roger Sale [Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1976], 85).
The Olmsted Brothers continued to work in Seattle, for both private and
public clients, until 1936, when J. C. Olmsted made his last visit to the city
to plan the Washington Park Arboretum. Over that 33-year period the firm would
see more of its designs realized in the region: the campus of the University of
Washington, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (which would dictate the
future of the U.W. campus), and the State Capitol plan.
Content Description
The Sherwood files comprise an artificial collection that was, for the
most part, accumulated and arranged during the mid-1970s by Don Sherwood, an
employee of the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department. In the late 1970s the
records were housed in the local government documents branch, then called the
Government Research Assistance Library, of the Seattle Public Library located
on the third floor of City Hall. In 1991, prior to the branch move from City
Hall to the library’s main branch, the Sherwood Collection was transferred to
the Seattle Municipal Archives.
The records are arranged in eight subseries: Annual Files; Parks History
Files; Olmsted Brothers Correspondence; Former Department Property; Proposed
Parks Sites; Subject Files; Parks Naming Files; and Photographs. A detailed
content description of each subseries is found below, followed by a folder
inventory for the respective subseries. The inventories include the box and
folder number, the folio title, and inclusive dates of the records.
Other Descriptive Information
The following essay was written by Don Sherwood
two years after leaving the employ of the Parks Department. It has not been
edited except for punctuation, capitalization, and, in a few places, the use of
added bracketed words to clarify passages. As the reader will note from the
final paragraphs, Sherwood did not complete this essay.
"Interpretive Essay on The History of Seattle's
Parks & Playgrounds" by Don Sherwood, July 13, 1979
In order to establish possession of lands recently acquired from
England, Spain-Mexico, France, as well as the native Indian tribes, the Federal
government divided the land into a grid pattern that was applied across
prairie, mountain, lake and river, and established a system of Donation Land
Claims whereby every white citizen would be given the land that he staked out
and homesteaded upon. The program began in Ohio in 1785 and was enacted in 1850
for the Oregon Territory, a portion of which became Washington Territory in
1853. The Oregon donation was for 160 acres per person, 320 to a married
couple. One of the founders of the townsite that became Seattle was a bachelor
named David Denny, who staked his claim north of the line that became Denny
Way. The following year, 1853, he was married. In 1864 the couple deeded a
portion of Denny's claim for "Seattle Cemetery." It was a long way from the
town that was clustered around the "Pioneer Square District" and was accessible
only by country roads. The town became a city in 1869 and began to grow by
annexing land; the Dennys' claim was included in the 1883 annexation.
The Dennys must have responded to the same feelings voiced by Joni
Mitchell: "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till
it's gone... took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum, and charge all
the people just to see 'em!" At any rate, the Dennys decided to rededicate the
5-acre "Seattle Cemetery" to park purposes and, unlike the European concept of
combined park and cemetery grounds, ordered the gravesites relocated at city
expense.
Thus was Seattle's system of parks and playgrounds born, on July 22,
1884. First known as "Seattle Park" it was renamed c.1887 in honor of its
donors as Denny Park.
Seattle was so busy in becoming a city -- and so surrounded by
wilderness -- that the “park concept” was slow to grow. By 1892 there were only
three major parks: (Denny, City [now Volunteer], and Kinnear) plus five small
ones. Nonetheless, in that year the [Board of] Aldermen appointed James Taylor
to assist the Park Commissioners by supervising the work in and of the parks.
The following year, E.O. Schwagerl, "one of the most prominent landscape
architect/engineers in the country" (i.e. St. Louis and Cleveland) was hired to
superintend the work. Schwagerl stayed only three years and then vanished, but
it was enough time to prepare the basis for a park system. A major portion of
the 1892 Annual Report of the Park Commissioners is devoted to the
Study Of Parkway Lying Between Madison Point And Through
Hunter's Glenn, Reaching To The Peninsula On The West Shore Of Lake
Washington. The report devotes itself to proclaiming the wonders of
Seattle's natural beauty, how fast it is being ravaged, what other cities are
doing, the need to commence a system of parks and boulevards in Seattle
including a code of park laws, the need for the power of condemnation to
acquire park land, and the need to increase the limit of bond indebtedness to
more than $100,000. The report goes on to propose two major parks on Lake
Washington, with the boulevard linking four of the "already most popular
gardens." The report stresses that "This proposition is the heart and center of
the magnificent system possible for the city." Mr. Schwagerl further proposed a
similar plan for the Puget Sound shoreline; two major parks with two boulevards
linking Woodland Park and Ravenna Park (both private) and the new University
grounds. In the 1893 Annual Report he identifies the proposed "Northwest Park
as overlooking Salmon Bay on Puget Sound (this became an Army post in 1897; Ft.
Lawton; finally Discovery Park in 1971), Northeast Park as overlooking Union
Bay on Lake Washington and Southeast Park as the peninsula on Lake Washington
(acquired in 1911 as Seward Park)." The popular gardens were all private:
Laurelshade, Madison, Madrona, and Leschi Parks. The Southwest Park was not
identified: Duwamish head was settled as the town of West Seattle. Alki Beach
became a park in 1910. Mayor J. T. Ronald vigorously endorsed the 1892-1893
plan...but no major action occurred until 1900 when the City Council
appropriated $100,000 for the purchase of Woodland Park (including a portion of
Green Lake) from the estate of Guy Phinney. There was an "enormous outcry" over
spending that much money for a park so far from town! That same year, George F.
Cotterill, Assistant City Engineer, published a map of bicycle paths for the
city of 55,000 residents who owned 10,000 bicycles. (The first automobile
appeared on Seattle streets in 1900.). Cotterill had walked about the city and
developed a 25 mile system of paths, chosen for grade and to take advantage of
the scenic beauty.
In 1873 the distinguished founder of American Landscape Architecture,
Frederick Law Olmsted, prepared a city plan for the new railroad terminus town
of Tacoma, but it was voted down. In 1895, according to R.C. Nesbitt (Judge
Thomas Burke’s biographer), Virgil Bogue outlined a plan to consolidate
Seattle's railroad/port-depot into a civic pier; it was rejected (E.O.
Schwagerl was Superintendent of park work at the time.). But the Olmsted
concept was catching on, all over the nation. So, in 1902, Seattle hired the
sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Mass., to
prepare A Comprehensive System of Parks and
Parkways for the city. It was adopted by Council in 1903 and fully
reported in the 1904 Annual Report. A Supplemental Report
on Annexed Territory and General Development was prepared in 1908 and
appears in the 1909 Annual Report: the annexations were Ballard, Columbia,
Rainier Beach, South Seattle and West Seattle. They are wordy reports and many
of the place names have changed, which made precise identification difficult.
The two-color print of the "Olmsted System: 1908" on a city map is
off-register, too, although the 1911 Bogue Plan for Seattle includes a "park
map" which shows Olmsted proposals. The Olmsteds were further retained (until
1930) to prepare landscape plans for 37 parks. Evidently a written report
accompanied each park design project to identify the landscape materials shown
on the plan by a number, plus a specific description of the intent and manner
of each park improvement. One general letter is critical of Seattle's existing
parks: "they all look alike with the same plants and design appearance; each
park should have an individual appearance." Only 18 reports are in file plus
some scattered correspondence.
The Olmsted Report recommended: the creation of a Park Commission
independent of the City Council; financing of property acquisitions and
improvements by long-term loans (bonds) and also from direct taxation for park
purposes; employment of a competent staff of a superintendent, foreman,
realtor, lawyer, designer, etc. (the hiring of a superintendent became a
condition of the Olmsted contract in 1904); and the establishment of a policy
re: donated property to be free of donor's requests for specific improvements.
The 1908 report felt the need to define the types of parks and playgrounds and
boulevards and the improvements thereon. Also that the park area should equal
32 acres per square mile of the city.
The accomplishments of the Olmsted Plan are enormous. Cotterill's
bicycle paths became the basis for Lake Washington Boulevard, Interlaken
Boulevard, Magnolia Boulevard, and their parkway from Montlake [and] the
University of Washington grounds (via 17th Avenue) to Ravenna Park/Boulevard to
Green Lake and Woodland Park was also accomplished. But their parkway from
Woodland Park to Queen Anne and to Golden Gardens was not done, nor Beacon
Avenue developed as a real parkway. Lake Washington Boulevard from Seward Park
to Atlantic City Park was successfully opposed and the Dunlap Canyon, Duwamish
Hill, South Borne, Sound Bluffs and South Seattle parkways were not
accomplished as such, but four parks and greenbelts did develop within some of
the "parkways". Duwamish Head Parkway was envisioned around the top of the
bluff; instead it became Alki Avenue and Harbor Avenue on a fill along the
beach and Sound Bluffs Parkway envisioned atop the slopes from Williams Point
to Alki Point became Beach Drive, a residential street. The Longfellow (Creek)
Park became a greenbelt [between] 1954-1965. Ballard Bluff Park became a
greenbelt. Parks which the Olmsteds proposed/endorsed [included] Seward,
Ravenna, Discovery, Colman, Mt. Baker, Observatory, Gas Works, Edwards,
Lincoln, Magnolia, Hamilton Viewpoint; playground sites at (or adjacent [to])
Garfield, Mercer (Seattle Center), Beacon Hill, Peppi's, Ballard, Gilman, Loyal
Heights, Hiawatha, South Park, Hutchinson, Van Asselt, South Seattle, Rainier,
Brighton, and Rainier Beach. (In 1907 the Olmsteds were hired by realtors to
develop Mt. Baker, Licton Springs, and Golden Gardens Parks, since acquired and
redeveloped.) The Olmsteds were contracted to design plans for 37 parks,
producing 375 drawings of which only 39 were found in major designs. Major
designs were for Volunteer, Woodland, Green Lake, Colman, Frink, Hiawatha,
Jefferson, Schmitz and Seward. (They designed the Arboretum in Washington Park
for the University of Washington in 1932.) In addition, the Olmsteds
recommended the adoption of the new concept of public recreation in Seattle:
playgrounds and buildings for year round indoor recreation (fieldhouses),
staffed and programmed by teachers.
To begin the accomplishment of the Olmsted Plan, Seattle approved its
first park bond in 1906 for $500,000, followed in 1908 with another bond for
$1,000,000, and a third in 1910 for $2,000,000. With these funds, 26 parks and
playgrounds were acquired and many of them developed.
In 1909, "urged by certain individuals, the American Institute of
Architects (Seattle office) called a meeting, during which was formed the
Municipal Plans League, from which was formed the Municipal Plans Commission in
1910." The Commission called upon Virgil Bogue to prepare a
Plan for Seattle. His plan encompassed all phases
of Seattle's activities; highways, civic center (five blocks southwest of
present Seattle Center), park improvements, municipal decorations, harbor
improvements, Port of Seattle and transportation steam trains, rapid transit,
tunnels, interurban cars, street trolley cars and ferries. His 43 proposed
sites included: a 65-acre park encircling Bitter Lake (seven acres were
acquired in 1961); 27 acres in vicinity of Black River Junction (Ft. Dent
Athletic Center--55 acres acquired in 1972); 185 acres/or all 4,000 acres of
Mercer Island; parks at Richmond Beach, Lake Ballinger, Lake Burien, Three Tree
Point to Black River Junction, around Lake Sammish to Snoqualmie Falls, to
Tacoma along the bluff overlooking the Sound, to Mt. Rainier, around the
Olympic Peninsula, etc. He proposed that these plans should be accomplished by
either the city, county or state or done cooperatively. Bogue had engineered
railways in Peru, Mexico, New Zealand, Nova Scotia and Alaska. He concluded his
park plan with: "The Goves were God's first temple...the grand scene of Mt.
Rainier, hoary with its thousand ages, is awe inspiring and the beholder is
deeply impressed with a sense of the Infinite Presence and begins to understand
why the native Indian had but one god - the Great Spirit." Nevertheless, even
though no bond issue was asked for, the plan was vetoed by the voters, its
opposition stemming from specific proposals like creating a whole new Civic
Center/business, port, railroad, transportation, etc. away from the heavy
business investments around Pioneer Square to the south end of Lake Union. (Yet
21 of his 36 park/playgrounds came to be, and most of the seven roads, though
not as boulevards.)
In 1912 another park bond issue was approved by voters: $500,000, mostly
for the development of properties already acquired. In 1924 a $30,000 park bond
was also approved, this one entirely for development and construction.
In 1928 Mayor Bertha K. Landes initiated a Survey
of Recreation Facilities. Produced jointly by the Park and School
Boards, it was an inventory of the facilities of each Board and recommended
minimum standards for recreation. The Mayor's intent was to establish joint
planning between the two boards, but that didn't formally begin until 1950. The
two boards had jointly used the playground at Highland Park School in 1919.
Acting upon the Olmsteds' recommendation, the Park Board, in 1904,
through initiative petition, freed itself of City Hall control and became
self-governing except for financial support (tax revenues, Council
appropriations, and bond funds for specific voter-approved projects.)
This financial dependency, regulated by Council's approval or
disapproval of each request for funds, became a real drag, especially if
Council proceeded to fund a project over the objections of the Park Board. This
came to a head in 1928 when Council authorized the purchase of a portion of
property adjoining that given by Morgan Carkeek for Carkeek Park, plus the
Matthews Beach. The Park Board objected on the grounds that council had not
provided sufficient funds to maintain and develop property already owned. A
minority of the Board attempted to complete the split with the City Council by
proposing a "Metropolitan Park District" capable of self-support through
taxation. But the voters were negative towards additional taxation, and the
Governor vetoed the necessary revision to State law. In 1958 City Hall
attempted to take control of the Park Department away from the Board, but the
voters supported the Board. Yet, in 1967, the voter-climate had so changed that
they approved the Charter Amendment returning control of the department to City
Hall, changing the name to Department of Parks and Recreation and the
Superintendent becoming a 4-year political appointee.
To cope with the nation-wide unemployment of The Great Depression of
1929, the federal government initiated a public works program: the Federal
[government] paid for the labor and the cities, counties and states provided
the materials and equipment for the approved projects. To this end, the Park
Engineer, E. R. Hoffman, prepared A Ten Year
Program in 1931, which detailed and inventoried facilities and provided
cost estimates of the needs of each park and playground in Seattle as a basis
for projects of the Works Projects Administration (WPA). As a result, Seattle's
park system benefited greatly through this program. Only partial/quarterly
summary lists of completed projects have been found, so a final recap of
finished projects is difficult to establish, though some of the last projects
were cut back due to the diversion of funds and workers into World War II
efforts. The largest WPA project in this district ($1,090,920 WPA/$108,941 City
funds) was the development of the West Seattle Golf and Recreation/Camp Long
area. Hoffman's program also recommended new sites, of which the following were
acquired: E. C. Hughes Playground (1945), Van Asselt Playground (1933), Rainier
Beach Center and Pool (1969), Loyal Heights Playfield (1941), Montlake
Playfield (1933), Pritchard Island Beach (1934), Matthews Beach (1951),
Snoqualmie Ski (1933-38), Arboretum (UW, 1934), Ft. Lawton (1972); [and] also
recommended acquiring 2000 acres of south end of Mercer Island (suburbia got
it!) -- the fort or island were proposed new sites for the zoo and an
aquarium.
The joint development program between the Park and School Boards was
formally inaugurated with the construction of a gymnasium adjoining Laurelhurst
School and park playfield in 1950. Both the development of plans and financing
were done jointly. From this date has come a long and often difficult program
of joint-use and development of recreation centers, playfields and indoor
swimming pools.
The Seattle Zoning Commission was created in 1919 but dealt only in real
estate. In 1925 it was expanded into a cumbersome 25-member planning commission
which was reduced in 1946 to 11 members, but given a budget and a staff. Almost
immediately this commission began to study a "Comprehensive Plan for Seattle"
-- zoning, highways, parks, etc. -- and in 1954 produced a report
Planning for Recreation. It was produced in
cooperation with all city departments, official agencies, citizen groups and
private individuals, to provide a general framework for public and private
growth requirements as forecast for the next 25 years. Elements of the plan
were subject to continuous review, adjustment and refining to represent the
best long-range guide based upon the current information. Elements included
land use, arterial thoroughfares, community and neighborhood boundaries. The
basic purpose [was] to locate and integrate the various elements like parks,
playfields and recreation centers. The plan identified needs: 69 new
playgrounds prioritized, 33 were acquired; nine new playfields, six acquired;
six community centers, five new; three major parks, three [acquired]; 32 minor
parks, 24 acquired; 15 waterfront acquisitions; two new boat moorages; eight
launching ramps; and 14 greenbelts (in Building Department jurisdiction).
Thornton Creek Parkway was proposed as an urban trail in 1969 instead of a
separate parks area. The abandonment of the Burlington Northern Railroad was
hoped for as a marine drive; instead, it was the "Burke/Gilman" Railroad along
Lake Washington that became a trail in 1974. The "Central Freeway" became the
route of Interstate Highway 5 (1960). In 1958 a "Betterments Program"
implemented the 1954 Plan.
The conclusion of the WPA program in 1941 -- the outbreak of U.S.
involvement in World War II -- was followed in 1944-1946 by the Federal Lanham
Act Grant for recreation leadership, programs, and improvements related to
servicemen/areas where they were stationed or "processed." In 1946 the State
funded $1,000,000 for developments in Seattle parks and playgrounds. A
$2,500,000 Park Bond was voter approved in 1948, almost entirely programmed to
improve a "worn out" park system. Then the voters turned against park bond
proposals in 1952, 1954, and two submitted in 1958. In 1960 the Department
joined with the Engineering Department in a bond proposal which was approved,
providing $4,500,000 for park improvements.
Ever since year one, the City Charter had required each of the
departments to submit annual budgets to the Council for review, revision,
adoption, and funding. The Park Department budget was prepared by the park
staffs, based upon needs for salaries, maintenance, repairs, development, and
proposed property acquisitions. As such, the budget was a plan for the year
ahead based upon the staff assessment of needs. But all the proposed budgets
were subject to Council review and revision -- which often was extensive and
resulting in an exasperating "tug-of-war" with Council. In 1960 the annual
budget was replaced with a six-year Capital Improvement Program. This program
schedules capital expenditures under a priority system for the six-year period,
which is advanced each year, based upon an annual review and revision regarding
changing conditions and projections.
In 1961 the Federal government initiated the Open Space Program with
funding to be available through the existing HHFA (Urban Renewal) agency: this
was expanded by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Act of 1965, then by
the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (BOR) in the Department of the Interior in
1965. The funding was to be administered by each state: in Washington by the
Interagency Committee (IAC) for Outdoor Recreation. The IAC was also charged
with the administration of funding from the State Outdoor Recreation Bonds
(Referenda 11 and 18) and the unreclaimed Recreation-Use Gasoline Tax refund.
Both Federal and State funding was predicated upon a percent basis for
participating agencies: BOR = 50%, IAC = 25%, City = 25% of the total cost of a
project approved at all three levels. A firm requirement of the BOR and IAC was
that before any local agency could qualify for funding it must develop an
Outdoor Recreation and Open Space Plan approved by
the local government, including the availability of matching funds. The staffs
of the Park Department and of the Planning Commission prepared Seattle's plan
in 1965. It established standards for parks and recreation and produced a
current inventory of both park and school facilities which revealed deficient
areas of Seattle, which was followed with an action program with priorities
that would bring the City up to national standards -- predicated upon funding
assistance from the BOR and IAC.
That same year, 1965, a Seattle/King County "Committee of 200" was
organized by attorney James Ellis, who had "fathered" METRO (Municipality of
Metropolitan Seattle) which, approved by district voters in 1958, established
the development of a metropolitan sewer system which successfully ended the
pollution of waters adjacent to Seattle. The new "Committee of 200" assessed
the total needs of Seattle and King County in all categories, as the Bogue Plan
had done, but prepar[ed] then 13 separate plans rather than one plan as Bogue
had done. The entire package was titled "Forward Thrust" and was the result of
30,000 hours of committee work. The committee identified the needs (but not
specific sites or development details as Bogue had done) for each neighborhood,
community, town and city in King County; the sites were to be selected by
citizen workshops. They would participate in the formation of design
developments to be included in each park or playground. The program established
funding for design [and] a Design Review Commission, as well as dollar
estimates for acquisition, development or rehabilitation. The Forward Thrust
program was submitted to the voters in 1968, presented as 13 separate bond
proposals. The voters approved only six, including $118 million for parks and
recreation in King County, of which $65 million was allocated to Seattle
projects. It was the third largest park and recreation bond issue to be
approved in the U.S. Legal requirements determined that the bond proceeds must
be allocated to a maximum 12-year period so that the County would not exceed 85
percent of its debt limitation.
The dollar estimates of the Forward Thrust program could not anticipate
the approval of any project by the BOR or IAC, so, after the program was
prioritized and put into action, various projects were submitted for IAC and
BOR approval. Before the mid-point of the Forward Thrust program was reached,
matching funds from IAC and BOR for approved projects plus bond investments,
the Model City Program, private/community sources, etc., had stretched the
working capital of Forward Thrust to $92 million. Due to the massive scope of
the work envisioned in the program plus the 12-year accomplishment limitation,
the Department staff was greatly increased for the management of finances,
project design and implementation, inspection, and the citizen workshops.
However, at the time Forward Thrust was conceived, it was agreed that staffing
and maintenance should derive from funds normally allocated in the budget to
the Capital Improvement Program. So, the battle of the budget continues.
Outstanding accomplishments of the Forward Thrust park and recreation
program in Seattle are: seven new indoor swimming pools (the siting of several
became community controversies; all were planned in cooperation with schools);
Waterfront Park; Seattle Aquarium; Freeway Park; expansion of the Children's
Zoo (the PONCHO Theater was a gift); development of the Burke/Gilman Trail for
hiking/biking; Occidental Square and redevelopment of Pioneer Square with help
from J.E. Casey; improvement of Gas Works Park; Madrona Dance Studio; Seward
Park Art Studio; Bathhouse Theater; upgrading of West Seattle Stadium;
enlarging the [West Seattle] golf course; six new playfields; indoor tennis
courts; eight playgrounds; 25 mini-parks; [and] more waterfront. Two major
parks were the gifts of the Federal government: most of Fort Lawton (Discovery
Park) and a portion of Sand Point Naval Air Station (Magnuson Park) are under
development. The Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park is an outstanding
improvement by the United Indians of All Tribes. The undetailed improvement of
the Zoo in the Forward Thrust program created a great furor of objection when
designer Bartholick located one of the specified exhibits buildings as a "lid"
over Aurora Avenue -- the controversy was ended by voters in 1974.
In 1973 the City Council and Mayor created the Seattle 2000 Commission,
composed of citizens and city government officials. They prepared a plan, Goals for Seattle/Year 2000, [that] was adopted by the
Council and Mayor to "serve as a basis for continuing administrative and
legislative decision-making." The Goals for Parks, Recreation and the Arts
included "the protection, preservation and best use of Seattle's natural
assets; like shorelines, streams, views, topography, trees and natural
vegetation; to improve opportunities for ALL citizens for recreation, use of
leisure time, and the understanding, enjoyment of and participation in the
arts." The report points out that a broader base of funding is needed, with
possible facility/activity user-fees and that development funding should
include costs of maintenance.
However, the "base of funding" continued to shrink, and by 1979 the
operation of golf activities, the new tennis center, and some park maintenance
was being done by concessionaires or through Community Councils. Concession
operation produced income for the Department rather than salaries against
players fees.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access :
Records are open to the public.
Preferred Citation :
[Item and date], Don Sherwood Parks History Collection, Record Series
5801-01. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Administrative Information
Arrangement :
The Sherwood Parks History Collection is arranged in eight subseries:
I: Annual Files
II: Parks History Files
III: Olmsted Brothers Correspondence
IV: Former Department Property
V: Proposed Parks Sites
VI: Subject Files
VII: Parks Naming Files
VIII: Photographs
Within each subseries, records are arranged alphabetically or
chronologically.
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection.
Subseries I: Annual Files, 1884-1979
7.2 cubic ft.
The Annual Files are primarily records used in compiling the
department’s annual reports and for other basic administrative functions. The
records include annual reports, correspondence, financial materials, brochures,
inventories, copies of legislation, maps, newspaper clippings, policies and
procedures, schedules, and Don Sherwood's notes and essays (photocopies).
The records document the administration and activities of the
department as represented in its annual reports. Subjects include property
acquisition, park improvements, recreation programs, capital improvement
planning, civil defense, education programs, department finances, security,
training, cooperation with the public schools, personnel and payroll issues,
community recreation needs, and youth groups and activities, among others. Also
included is the department’s interaction with with or relation to the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the City Planning Commission, Works Projects
Administration, and Forward Thrust.
Of special interest is the Seattle Cemetery Removal and Reburial
Register. This volume includes information regarding the exhumation of bodies
from the cemetery land donated by the Denny Family to the City for its first
park and the reburial of those bodies in other cemeteries. The volume lists the
plot number, its owner, and names of those interred in the old cemetery,
followed by the respective cemetery and plot where the bodies were reburied.
Also included are the reports of the Commissioners who oversaw the process, a
financial statement of costs, drawings showing the position of the new park in
relation to the old cemetery, and a map of the cemetery.
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
1/1
Seattle Cemetery Removal and
Reburial Register
1884
1/2
Great Fire of 1889, Burn
Area Map
1889
1/3
Annual Report
1892
1/4
Annual Report
1894
1/5
Annual Report
1884-1904
1/6
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1904
1/7
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1905
1/8
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1906
1/9
Annual Report
1906-1907
1/10
Estimate of
Expenses
1907
1/11
Annual Report
1907-1908
1/12
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1908
1/13
Annual Report
1909
1/14
Correspondence
1909
1/15
Parks, Playgrounds, and
Boulevards of Seattle
1909
1/16
Ravenna Park - Big Tree
Park
1909
1/17
Recreation and
Education
1909
1/18
Annual Report
1910
1/19
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1910
2/1
Construction and
Maintenance
1911
2/2
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1911
2/3
Recreation and
Education
1911
2/4
Annual Report
1912
2/5
Construction and
Maintenance
1912
2/6
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1912
2/7
Recreation and
Education
1912
2/8
Annual Report
1913
2/9
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1913
2/10
Recreation and
Education
1913
2/11
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1914
2/12
Recreation and
Education
1914
2/13
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1915
2/14
Personnel
1915
2/15
Recreation and
Education
1915
2/16
Annual Report
1916
2/17
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1916
2/18
Personnel
1916
2/19
Recreation and
Education
1916
2/20
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1917
2/21
Personnel
1917
2/22
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1918
2/23
Construction, Maintenance,
and Facilities
1919
2/24
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1919
2/25
Recreation and
Education
1919
2/26
Safety and
Security
1919
3/1
Construction and
Maintenance
1920
3/2
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1920
3/3
Inventory
1920
3/4
Personnel and
Payroll
1920
3/5
Recreation and
Education
1920
3/6
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1921
3/7
Annual Report
1922
3/8
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1922
3/9
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1923
3/10
International Association of
Park Commissioners Meeting
1923
3/11
Inventory, Woodland Park
Zoo
1923
3/12
Recreation and
Education
1923
3/13
Construction and
Maintenance
1924
3/14
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1924
3/15
Recreation and
Education
1924
3/16
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1925
3/17
Recreation and
Education
1925
3/18
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1926
3/19
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1927
3/20
Recreation and
Education
1927
3/21
Annual Report
1928
3/22
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1928
3/23
Survey of Recreational
Facilities
1928
4/1
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1929
4/2
Metropolitan Parks
Proposal
1929
4/3
Recreation and
Education
1929
4/4
Annual Report
1923-1930
4/5
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1930
4/6
Recreation and
Education
1930
4/7
View Maps
1930
4/8
Annual Report
1931
4/9
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1931
4/10
Recreation and
Education
1931
4/11
Ten Year Program for the
Seattle Park Department
1931
4/12
Ten Year Program for the
Seattle Park Department: Draft
1931
4/13
Annual Report
1932
4/14
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1932
4/15
Personnel
1932
4/16
Recreation and
Education
1932
4/17
Annual Report
1933
5/1
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1933
5/2
Annual Report
1934
5/3
Construction and
Maintenance
1934
5/4
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1934
5/5
Recreation and
Education
1934
5/6
Annual Report
1935
5/7
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1935
5/8
Recreation and
Education
1935
5/9
Annual Report
1936
5/10
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1936
5/11
Annual Report
1937
5/12
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1937
5/13
Annual Report
1938
5/14
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1938
5/15
Personnel
1938
5/16
Annual Report
1939
5/17
Construction and
Maintenance
1939
5/18
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1939
5/19
Personnel and
Payroll
1939
5/20
Recreation and
Education
1939
5/21
Zoo Inventory
1939
5/22
Annual Report
1940
5/23
Construction and
Maintenance
1940
6/1
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1940
6/2
Personnel and
Payroll
1940
6/3
Recreation and
Education
1940
6/4
Zoo Inventory
1940
6/5
Annual Report
1941
6/6
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1941
6/7
Personnel and
Payroll
1941
6/8
Recreation and
Education
1941
6/9
Zoo Inventory
1941
6/10
Annual Report
1942
6/11
Construction and
Maintenance
1942
6/12
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1942
6/13
Military Use of Parks, Civil
Defense
1942
6/14
Penny Milk
Program
1942
6/15
Personnel
1942
6/16
Recreation and
Education
1942
6/17
Annual Report
1943
6/18
Construction and
Maintenance
1943
6/19
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1943
6/20
Defense Plans
1943
6/21
Military Use of Parks, Civil
Defense
1943
6/22
Personnel
1943
6/23
Recreation and
Education
1943
6/24
Wartime
Rationing
1943
7/1
Annual Report
1944
7/2
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1944
7/3
Military Use of Parks, Civil
Defense
1944
7/4
Personnel and
Payroll
1944
7/5
Post-War Park Improvement
Program, Proposed Five-Year
1944
7/6
Recreation and
Education
1944
7/7
Recreation Survey: Northwest
District
1944
7/8
Annual Report
1945
7/9
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1945
7/10
Recreation and
Education
1945
7/11
Report on Proposed Public
Buildings Areas
1945
7/12
Zoo Inventory
1945
7/13
Annual Report
1946
7/14
Construction and
Maintenance
1946
7/15
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1946
7/16
Recreation and
Education
1946
7/17
Annual Report
1947
7/18
Construction and
Maintenance
1947
7/19
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1947
7/20
Recreation and
Education
1947
7/21
Zoo Inventory
1947
7/22
Annual Report
1948
7/23
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1948
7/24
Parks Bond Issue
1948
7/25
Personnel
1948
7/26
Recreation and
Education
1948
8/1
Annual Report
1949
8/2
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1949
8/3
Recreation and
Education
1949
8/4
Annual Report
1950
8/5
Civic Memorial Arts Center
Site
1950
8/6
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1950
8/7
Annual Report
1951
8/8
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1951
8/9
Annual Report
1952
8/10
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1952
8/11
Location of Municipal
Facilities in the Northern Annexation Area
1952
8/12
Preliminary Report on Sites
(Puget Sound Parks Study)
1952
8/13
Annual Report
1953
8/14
Community Recreation
Facilities Summary
1953
8/15
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1953
8/16
Growth by Annexations: City
of Seattle, 1869 - 1953
1953
8/17
Population Trends and
Projections Seattle Standard Metro Area
1953
8/18
Recreation Areas and
Facilities
1953
8/19
Seattle's Land: A
Preliminary Land Use Plan
1953
8/20
Too Little! and Too Late?
Public Beaches, Parks and Parkways
1953
8/21
Annual Report
1954
8/22
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1954
8/23
Parks Bond Issue
1954
9/1
Planning for
Recreation
1954
9/2
Recreation and
Education
1954
9/3
Annual Report
1955
9/4
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1955
9/5
Metropolitan Seattle: The
Shape We're In!
1955
9/6
Seattle Park Department
Civil Defense Code
1955
9/7
Seattle's Land Use, 1952 -
1954
1955
9/8
Annual Report
1956
9/9
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1956
9/10
Future Suburban Parks
(Robert Moses Article)
1956
9/11
Our Vanishing
Shoreline
1956
9/12
Procedures for Capital
Improvement Programming
1956
9/13
Annual Report
1957
9/14
Administrative Survey,
Volume IV, Park Department
1957
9/15
Construction and
Maintenance
1957
9/16
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1957
9/17
Recreation and
Education
1957
9/18
Annual Report
1958
9/19
Bond Issue
1958
10/1
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1958
10/2
Maps and Miscellaneous
Materials
1958
10/3
Seattle's Central Business
District: A Land Use Survey
1958
10/4
Annual Report
1959
10/5
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1959
10/6
Personnel
1959
10/7
Publications
1959
10/8
Recreation
1959
10/9
Annual Report
1960
10/10
Bond Issue
1960
10/11
Capital Improvement Program,
1960 - 1965
1960
10/12
Correspondence
1960
10/13
Public Recreation in the
Central Puget Sound Region
1960
11/1
Recreation
1960
11/2
Annual Report
1961
11/3
Bonds
1961
11/4
Capital Improvement Program,
1961 - 1966
1961
11/5
Correspondence and Financial
Records
1961
11/6
Recreation
1961
11/7
Survey and Evaluation of the
Public Recreation Program
1961
11/8
Annual Report
1962
11/9
Capital Improvement Program,
1962 - 1967
1962
11/10
Correspondence
1962
11/11
Downtown Park Sites for the
City of Seattle
1962
11/12
Annual Report
1963
11/13
Analysis of Typical Shelter
Houses and Comfort Stations, 1908 - 1963
1963
11/14
Capital Improvement Program,
1963 - 1968
1963
12/1
Correspondence
1963
12/2
Park and Recreation Training
Institute
1963
12/3
Recreation
1963
12/4
Annual Report
1964
12/5
Capital Improvement Program,
1964 - 1969
1964
12/6
Correspondence
1964
12/7
Recreation
1964
12/8
Annual Report
1965
12/9
Bonds
1965
12/10
Correspondence
1965
12/11
Guide for School
Planning
1965
12/12
Outdoor Recreation and Open
Space Plan
1965
13/1
Recreation
1965
13/2
Southeast Seattle Community
Study
1965
13/3
Annual Report
1966
13/4
Beautification
Projects
1966
13/5
Capital
Improvements
1966
13/6
Correspondence
1966
13/7
Pioneer Square Redevelopment
(John Graham and Company)
1966
13/8
Preliminary Report on Land
Use Goals, Principles and Standards
1966
13/9
Recreation
1966
14/1
Annual Report
1967
14/2
Capital
Improvements
1967
14/3
CAMP, Operation Street Tree
Planting and Beautification
1967
14/4
Correspondence
1967
14/5
Neighborhood Youth
Corps
1967
14/6
Outdoor Athletic Fields
Study
1967
14/7
Recreation
1967
14/8
Study of Current and Future
Recreation Needs of Teenagers
1967
14/9
Annual Reports
1968
15/1
Capital
Improvements
1968
15/2
Correspondence
1968
15/3
Personnel
1968
15/4
Publications,
Brochures
1968
15/5
Recreation
1968
15/6
Annual Report
1969
15/7
Annual Population
Report
1969
15/8
Capital
Improvements
1969
15/9
Correspondence
1969
15/10
Parks and Recreation in the
Urban Crises
1969
15/11
Recreation
1969
15/12
Summary and Recommendations,
Survey of Vacant and Undeveloped Natural Ravine and Creek Sites
The Parks History Files document the acquisition, development,
improvements, and use of over 200 department maintained facilities, including
parks, boulevards, bathing beaches, golf courses, moorages, playgrounds and
playfields, squares and mini-parks, stadiums, the Seattle Aquarium, and the
Woodland Park Zoo. The largest files include: Alki Beach Park, Discovery Park,
Green Lake, Jefferson Park, Madison Park, Pioneer Square, Ravenna Park, Seward
Park, Volunteer Park, Woodland Park, and the Zoo.
The records in this subseries include correspondence, excerpts
from annual reports, Board of Park Commissioners committee reports, brochures,
City Council committee reports, maps and drawings, copies of legislation,
petitions, reports and studies, and newspaper clippings. Also included are
copies of drawings, notes and essays by Sherwood for most of the parks.
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
19/1
Alki Beach Park
1910-1970
19/2
Alki Beach Park, Finances
and Concessions
1911-1965
19/3
Alki Beach Park, History and
Origins
1910-1965
19/4
Alki Beach Park, Newspaper
Clippings
1927-1985
19/5
Alki Beach Park, Natatorium
and Field House
1911-1966
19/6
Alki Beach Park, Natatorium
and Field House, Finances and Concessions
1934-1955
19/8
Alki Beach Park, Natatorium
and Field House, Safety and Sanitation
1911-1954
19/9
Alki Playground
1915-1970
19/10
Alki Playground, Finances
and Concessions
1915-1958
19/11
Alki Playground, Newspaper
Clippings
1944-1975
19/12
Alki Playground, Alki Avenue
and Parklands Master Plan
1974
19/13
Alki Playground, Alki Beach
Development and Neighborhood Recreation Study
1950
19/14
Andover (West)
Street
1949-1959
20/1
Aquarium
1928-1949
20/2
Aquarium
1950-1958
20/3
Aquarium
1959
20/4
Aquarium
1961-1970
20/5
Aquarium, Newspaper
Clippings
1957-1961
20/6
Aquarium, Other
Cities
1956-1964
20/7
Armeni Boat Ramp and
Park
1953-1983
20/8
Atlantic City
Park
1910-1970
20/9
Atlantic City Park, Project
Development
1926-1972
20/10
Atlantic City Park / Beer
Sheva Park
1977-1980
20/11
Bagley Viewpoint
1916-1964
20/12
Ballard Parkway
1914-1962
20/13
Ballard
Playground
1914-1962
20/14
Ballard Pool
1965-1972
20/15
Banner Place
1962-1970
20/16
Bar S Play Field
1968-1970
20/17
Barnett Park
1963-1970
21/1
Bayview
Playground
1915-1964
21/2
Beacon Hill
Playground
1912-1955
21/3
Beacon Place
1911-1957
21/4
Bellevue Place
1963-1967
21/5
Belvedere Place
1927-1966
21/6
Belvedere Place, Newspaper
Clippings
1939-1965
21/7
Belvoir Place
1957
21/8
Benefit
Playground
1979-1980
21/9
Bergen Place
1965-1975
21/10
Bhy Kracke Park
1969-1974
21/11
Bike Routes
1920-1971
21/12
Bike Routes, Comprehensive
Bikeway Plan
1972
21/13
Bitter Lake
Playground
1915-1960
21/14
Blaine Place
1945
21/15
Blue Ridge
Circle
1960
21/16
Boat Moorages and
Ramps
1955-1969
21/17
Boat Moorages and Ramps,
Seattle Pleasure Boat Moorage
1950
21/18
Boren - Interlaken
Park
1904-1976
21/19
Boren - Interlaken Park,
Maps and Drawings
1919-1940
21/20
Interlaken Park, Newspaper
Clippings
1942-1975
22/1
Bradner
Playground
1958-1970
22/2
Brighton Play
Field
1911-1973
22/3
Broadway Play
Field
1904-1955
22/4
Broadway Play Field, Capitol
Hill: Broadway Recreation Study
1948
22/5
Broadway Play Field,
Newspaper Clippings
1934-1973
22/6
Broadway Play Field, Renamed
Bobby Morris Playground
The major portion of this subseries consists of correspondence
from the Olmsted Brothers regarding the planning and development of the system
of parks and boulevards in Seattle. Subject matter also includes the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the Olmsteds’ ideas regarding responsibilities
of a Parks Superintendent, the hiring of J.W. Thompson as superintendent, and
John C. Olmsted’s trips to Seattle.
In addition to correspondence, the records include agreements,
news articles and clippings, brochures, drawings, expense accounts, plan index
cards (photocopies), reports, and Don Sherwood's notes and essays. The
photocopies of the plan index cards, which were obtained from Olmsted
Associates, Inc., include the subject, scale, and date of Seattle parks and
facilities drawings that the firm has on file.
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
53/1
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1902
53/2
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1903
53/3
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1904
53/4
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1904
53/5
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1905
53/6
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1906
53/7
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1908
53/8
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1909
53/9
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1910
53/10
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1911
53/11
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1912
53/12
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1913-1919
53/13
Olmsted Brothers,
Correspondence
1920-1929
53/14
Olmsted Associates, Inc.,
Correspondence
1972-1975
53/15
Olmsted Brothers, Agreement
with Board of Park Commissioners
1904
53/16
Olmsted Brothers, Articles
and Special Reports
1906-1914
53/17
Olmsted Brothers, Drawings
(Copies from Microfiche)
1906-1929
53/18
Olmsted Brothers, Frederick
Law Olmsted Historic Site
Subseries IV: Former Department
Property, 1905-1974
0.5 cubic ft.
This subseries includes information on over 20 properties that
were once administered by the Department of Parks and Recreation and either
have been placed under the jurisdiction of another City agency or are no longer
owned by the City. An example of the former is the Mercer Playfield property,
which is now under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Center.
Records in these files include correspondence, excerpts of
annual reports, maps and drawings, copies of legislation, newspaper clippings,
petitions, reports, and Don Sherwood's notes and essays (photocopies).
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
54/1
Armory Park
1973
54/2
Aurora Triangle
1934-1965
54/3
Beacon Hill Lots
1910-1944
54/4
Bell Street Pier
1916-1941
54/5
Brooklyn Boat
Ramp
1952-1958
54/6
Former City Property,
Miscellaneous
1929-1956
54/7
Fortson Square
1905-1964
54/8
Forty-third Avenue NE Center
Strip
1933-1951
54/9
Graham School and
Playground
1944-1957
54/10
Greenwood Park
1927-1940
54/11
Handicapped Center / Stadium
Homes
1954-1968
54/12
Harvard Place
1931-1939
54/13
Irving (West)
School
1940-1949
54/14
James Street Cable
Barn
1946
54/15
Johnson Park
1930-1951
54/16
Lacy Murrow Bridge Launch
Approach
1971-1974
54/17
Lake Way
Triangles
1940-1942
54/18
Laurelhurst
Triangle
1962-1968
54/19
Little's 85th Street
Addition
1951
54/20
Mercer
Playground
1913-1960
54/21
Mercer Playground, Civic
Memorial Arts Center Site
1950
54/22
Ronald (Judge J.T.)
Playground (Fulton School)
1946-1969
54/23
South Seattle
Playfield
1951-1967
55/1
South Seattle
Playfield
1912-1967
55/2
South Seattle Playfield,
South Seattle Industrial Park
1966
55/3
South Seattle Playfield,
Workable Program for Community Improvement
This subseries contains files on more than 40 proposed sites for
Department of Parks and Recreation parks and facilities. The proposals are from
the general public, the Board of Park Commissioners, community groups, or other
parties interested in the development of park facilities.
Records in this subseries include correspondence, petitions,
proposals, reports and studies, maps and drawings, and newspaper clippings.
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
55/10
Alki: Marine Drive
Sites
1927-1957
55/11
Ammersfoordt
Beach
1927-1929
55/12
Armour School
1955-1956
55/13
Aurora Avenue, Report on
Preservation of Scenic Outlook
1945
55/14
Beacon Avenue and 56th
Avenue South, Proposed School Site
1952-1953
55/15
Boyer and Roanoke
Viewpoint
1967
55/16
Brookwood Park
1958
55/17
Cambridge Arms
Playfield
1938-1959
55/18
Central School
Property
1950-1954
55/19
Civic Arts
Center
1946
55/20
Community Beach
1952
55/21
Dravus West and
Arapahoe
1947
55/22
Dunlap School
1961-1976
55/23
East Park
1913-1916
55/24
Glendale Golf
Course
1956
55/25
Gatewood
Playfield
1951-1952
55/26
Golf Course, Snohomish
County
1962
55/27
Harvard - Miller Frontage
Road Viewpoint
1969-1970
55/28
Hawthorne Hills
1946-1953
55/29
Lake City Treatment
Plant
1968-1970
55/30
Lake Union Sites
1962-1970
55/31
Lake Youngs
Watershed
1970
55/32
Lakeridge Park
1954-1955
55/33
Miscellaneous Proposed
Sites
1927-1957
56/1
Miscellaneous Proposed
Sites
1962-1970
56/2
Miscellaneous Proposed
Sites, Newspaper Clippings
1927-1975
56/3
Montlake, East Lynn and 19th
Avenue
1947
56/4
Newport Park
1956-1957
56/5
Oak Lake School
1956-1957
56/6
Pier 91 Pool
1970-1971
56/7
Queen Anne Hill
Sites
1963-1966
56/8
Rainier Beach
Sites
1928-1944
56/9
Seneca Street Dead
End
1969-1970
56/10
Sound View
Terrace
1970
56/11
Spring Hill Park
1905-1932
56/12
Star Lake
1928-1930
56/13
Stevens Street Southwest
Greenbelt
1969
56/14
Summit
Playground
1934-1938
56/15
Twenty-eighth Avenue
Northeast at Northeast 68th Street
1946-1947
56/16
Viewpoints, Miscellaneous:
City Officials View Trips
1962
56/17
Water Tower Site, Shearwater
Housing Project
1964-1965
56/18
West Woodland Recreation
Center
1937-1948
56/19
Westlake Park
1958-1969
56/20
Westlake Park, Draft
Environmental Impact Statement
The Subject Files include information about Parks Department
programs and projects and City-wide activities that impact the department. The
most extensive files relate to beautification and open space programs, Forward
Thrust, the Seafair Gold Cup Races, and Depression Era activities. Other
subjects include airport planning, bicycle trails, bond issues, comprehensive
planning, cultural events, sports and recreation, schools and youth programs,
and zoning.
Records in the Subject Files include correspondence, maps and
drawings, inventories, copies of legislation, reports and studies, newspaper
clippings, and speeches.
Container(s)
Description
Dates
Box/Folder
56/22
Airports, Report on Airport
Sites in the City of Seattle
1946
56/23
Beautification
1969-1970
56/24
Beautification, Emergency
Work Orders
1969-1970
57/1
Beautification, Urban
Beautification Program Application
1970
57/2
Capital Improvement
Plan
1962-1967
57/3
Capital Improvement Program,
Park Bond Issue Preliminary Studies
1967
57/4
Central Business
District
1963-1967
57/5
City Council
1963-1967
57/6
City Engineer, Work Done
for
1931-1959
57/7
City Light,
Skagit
1958-1962
57/8
City Planning
1961-1966
57/9
Civil Defense
1963-1964
57/10
Civil Works
Administration
1933-1934
57/11
Comprehensive Planning,
Background
1884-1965
57/12
Comprehensive Planning,
Background
1965-1974
57/13
Facilities and Recreation
Planning
1953-1955
57/14
Fort Lawton Park Study,
Conclusions to Need Analysis
1964
57/15
Forward Thrust: Annual
Report of the Parks Department re Forward Thrust Development
Project
1968-1969
58/1
Forward Thrust: Bond
Issue
1968
58/2
Forward Thrust: Developing a
Capital Improvement Plan for King County, Part One Background
1967
58/3
Forward Thrust: Developing a
Capital Improvement Plan for King County, Part Two Analysis
1967
58/4
Forward Thrust: Developing a
Capital Improvement Plan for King County, Part Three
Recommendations
1967
58/5
Forward Thrust: Developing a
Capital Improvement Plan for King County, Part Four Analysis and
Recommendations
1970
58/6
Forward Thrust: Forward
Thrust at the Halfway Mark
1974
58/7
Forward Thrust: Forward
Thrust Work 1968-1970 - A Report to the Residents of King County
1970
58/8
Forward Thrust: Forward
Thrust Work 1968-1970 - A Report to the Residents of King County
1972
58/9
Forward Thrust,
Miscellaneous Materials
1966-1969
58/10
Forward Thrust,
Miscellaneous Materials
1968-1969
59/1
Forward Thrust, Resolutions
and Ordinances, Forward Thrust Bonds
1967
59/2
Forward Thrust, Selected
Speeches on Forward Thrust and Election Results
1968
59/3
Gold Cup Races
1954-1958
59/4
Gold Cup Races
1959-1963
59/5
Gold Cup Races
1962-1967
59/6
Gold Cup Races
1954-1970
59/7
Gold Cup Races, Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for the 1975 Seafair Unlimited Hydroplane
Races
1975
59/8
Gold Cup Races, Newspaper
Clippings
1957-1975
59/9
Golf
1960-1967
59/10
Greater Seattle Athletic
Association
1959-1965
59/11
Greater Seattle,
Incorporated
1962-1965
59/12
Health
Department
1961-1965
59/13
Human Rights
Commission
1964-1965
60/1
Lanham Act
1944-1946
60/2
Local Improvement
Districts
1876-1959
60/3
Mayor's Office
1957-1967
60/4
Music in the
Park
1915-1965
60/5
Music in the Park, Newspaper
Clippings
1961-1965
60/6
National Parks and
Recreation Conferences in Seattle
1909-1968
60/7
National Recreation
Association, Pacific Northwest District
1962-1965
60/8
Newspaper
Clippings
1978
60/9
Newspaper
Clippings
1978
60/10
Newspaper
Clippings
1978
60/11
Newspaper
Clippings
1979
60/12
Northwest Parks
Association
1960-1968
60/13
Open Space and Urban
Beautification in 1969: A Progress Report
1969
60/14
Outdoor Recreation and Open
Space Plan
1965
61/1
Parks - Schools Joint
Use
1919-1970
61/2
Police
1961-1964
61/3
Property: Legal Opinions and
Legislation
1916-1968
61/4
Property: Legal Opinions and
Legislation
1916-1970
61/5
Public Work Reserve
Projects
1942
61/6
Puget Sound Governmental
Conference
1962-1964
61/7
Quarterly Budget Adjustment
Requests
1964-1967
61/8
Recreation
1965
61/9
Recreation, Classification
Studies
1962
61/10
Recreation Director, Search
for a New Director
1964-1965
61/11
Recreation Director, Willard
H. Shumard
1962-1963
61/12
Recreation Director, Willard
H. Shumard
1963-1966
62/1
Recreation
Survey
1961-1962
62/2
Safety Committee
Reports
1961-1962
62/3
Seattle Handicapped
Center
1962-1967
62/4
Seattle Shoreline
Inventory
1973
62/5
Seattle 2000 Commission:
Goals Statement from Task Forces
1973
62/6
State Development
Funds
1946-1953
62/7
Street Trees Ordinance
Drafts
1912
62/8
Summer Youth Corps
Program
1964
62/9
University
Grounds
1911
62/10
Urban Renewal
1959-1968
62/11
WERA / CWA / WPA
Projects
1933-1936
62/12
Welch, Douglass,
Miscellaneous Materials
1959-1968
63/1
Welch, Douglass, Newspaper
Articles About Park Board
1954-1960
63/2
Welch, Douglass, Newspaper
Articles About Park Board
1961-1965
63/3
WPA Projects
1935-1941
63/4
WPA, Training of WPA Workers
in the Field of Recreation
The Parks Naming Files consist primarily of correspondence to
and from the Board of Park Commissioners, City Council, City Comptroller, Park
Naming Committee, and Parks Superintendent suggesting names for parks and parks
facilities. Also included are petitions, drawings, newspaper clippings, and
press releases.
The photographs have been physically removed from the Sherwood
files and integrated with the Archives Photograph Collection. Although
separated, the photographs are included in the Sherwood Guide. They have been
scanned, cataloged, and indexed and are included in the
online photograph
index on the Seattle Municipal Archives web site.
The photographs collected by Sherwood include approximately
2,400 images documenting roughly 140 properties, facilities, and events that
have been administered by the Department of Parks and Recreation. The images
document sports and recreation on Seattle’s playgrounds, parks landscaping, the
construction of parks facilities, and the City’s boulevards.
Secondarily, the images document leisure time activities, the
City’s social history, and Works Projects Administration endeavors. They depict
the physical development of parks, such as the dredging of Green Lake and the
draining of Dahl Field, as well as elements or activities that no longer exist,
such as the Licton Springs health spa and the Potlatch Parade.
Among the largest files of images are Green Lake, Lake
Washington Boulevard, Leschi Park, Lincoln Park, Ravenna Park, Sayres Park,
Seward Park, Volunteer Park, Woodland Park, and Woodland Park Zoo. The images
are arranged alphabetically by name of park or facility.
A substantial number of the photographs collected by Sherwood
were created by one of three well known local studios: those of Asahel Curtis,
Frank H. Nowell, and Webster and Stevens.
Asahel Curtis (1874-1941) came to Seattle with his family in
1888, and six years later he established a photographic studio. Unlike his more
famous brother, Edward, he did not consider himself an artist. Curtis was a
commercial photographer, and his clients were businessmen, promoters, and
government agencies. He was also commissioned by a newspaper to photograph the
Klondike Gold Rush. Curtis' life work was a monumental survey of the Pacific
Northwest, comprising over 60,000 photographic plates and negatives.
Frank H. Nowell (1864-1950) went to Nome, Alaska in 1900, where
he opened his first studio. Between 1901 and 1908, Nowell created a
photographic chronicle of the Territory. In 1908 he was appointed the Official
Photographer of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle. Following the
Exposition, Nowell remained in Seattle and opened a new studio.
Ira (Ike) Webster (c.1870-1942) and Nelson Stevens (c.1875-1938)
were the founders of the studio that carried their names until 1981. They came
to Seattle in 1899 from their hometown of Portland, Michigan, and initially
worked in the studios of other photographers. In 1903 they opened their own
studio and from 1906 to 1928 were the exclusive photographers to The Seattle
Times (one of the region's principal daily
newspapers). Seattle's Museum of History and Industry holds 55,000 negatives
produced during the early years of the firm.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings.
Personal Names :
Sherwood, Donald N., 1916-1981
(
collector)
Corporate Names :
Forward
Thrust and Capital Improvement Program (Seattle, Wash.)
