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.