Seattle's Recreation System 



By J. W. Thompson, Washington. 



It is usually a source of great svirprise tu visitors to 

 the Pacific Coast to find the cities so well provided 

 with modern recreation facilities, and while it is quite 

 generally known that Seattle has become the commer- 

 cial metropolis of the Pacific Northwest, it is not as 

 well known that it is further advanced in the matter 

 of the acquisition and development of recreation 

 grounds and facilities than any cit_\- west of Chicago, 

 and this includes a numlier of cities much larger in 

 population than Seattle. 



Contrary to the usual experience of Western cities 

 which have s])rung up and grown rapidly, the city 

 beautiful idea has not been lost sight of and from the 

 very beginning of the real growth of the citv plans 

 were made to provide recreation spots. 



MT. BAKER I'AKK LAKE AND W \.- 1 1 1 .\ i , HjX B0ULE\'.\KD. 



Nature has blessed Seattle with a magnificent set- 

 ting for a beautiful city, nestling between two snow- 

 capped mountain ranges, with lakes and hills in and 

 about the city. 



With the placid waters of Puget Sound, an arm of 

 the Pacific Ocean, forming the western boundary of 

 the city, Lake Washingtnn, thirty miles in length, 

 forming the eastern boun<larv, the city rising on its 

 seven hills between the Sound and the lake, with two 

 large lakes (Lake L'nion and Green Lake) within and 

 surrounded by the city, with the snow-capped Olym- 

 pics across the Sound to the west, the lofty Cascades 

 across the lake on the eastern horizon, Mt. Rainier, 

 the highest moimtain in the United States in full view 

 to the south and a distant view of Mt. Baker, near the 

 international boundary to the north, what more could 

 one conceive in the way of scenic environment. In ad- 

 dition to this wonderful topogra])hy was the added 

 blessing of beautiful forests covering the hills and na- 

 tive vegetation in great variety, so that the beauties of 

 nature were in evidence on all sides. 



The citizens of Seattle were quick to realize that, 

 with nature's endowment, the city had before it an 

 opportunity to provide a park and parkway system 

 which would attract the eyes of the nation and in 1904, 

 when the charter of the city was being revised in order 

 to lay the foundation for a large cit}', provision was 

 made whereby the jurisdiction and control of all rec- 

 reation ])roperties and facilities were placed in the 



*The first of a series of articles which will appear monthly between 

 now and the .San Francisco convention, describing park development in 

 the cities of the Pacific Coast. 



hands of an honorary park commission, absolutely in- 

 dependent of the legislative branch of the city govern- 

 ment and with certain fixed revenues. 



The first step was the adoption of a comprehensive 

 plan, providing for a series of parks and playgrounds 

 m all sections of the city with a chain of boulevards 

 connecting many of them, the idea being to preserve 

 as many beauty spots and scenic points as possible. 



The citizens of the city approved the plan and have 

 consistently and regularly provided the funds for 

 carrying them out, four million dollars in special funds 

 having been voted by the people for land ac(|uisition 

 and imjirovement as well as aljout two million dollars 

 in regular revenues since 1904, so that the Seattle 

 Park System as it stands today represents an invest- 

 ment of six million dollars. 



Eighteen hundred acres of property have been ac- 

 quired for park purposes, most of it wooded area em- 

 liracing natural features which ^\•ere sought to be pre- 

 served. 



There are thirty-three parks ranging in size from a 

 city block to two hundred acres in area. The system 

 of providing a park in every district in the city has 

 been followed, resulting in many small neighborhood 

 parks in preference to one or more large parks and 

 few small ones, as is the custom in many cities. The 

 Seattle plan is to provide a park or a playgrovuid 

 within a half mile of every home in the city, and this 

 will be the condition when the plan is carried out. 

 Twenty-five of these parks are improved and open for 

 public use at this time and improvement work is being 

 carried forward systematically. Of the parks in use 

 about two-thirds are of a standard type of community 

 jiark, containing lawn areas, flowers, trees, slirubljery, 

 walk and resting spots. Volunteer Park, the close-in 

 park, is the most formal and metropolitan park of the 



FKIXK ROUI-EN-ARD IX C0T.M.\X P.\RK. 



system, although Iiut forty-eight acres in area. Broad 

 lawn areas interspersed with native trees, walks, 

 drives, music pavilion, pergolas, conservatory, obser- 

 vation tower, children's playgrounds, statuary, formal 

 gardens, etc., go to make up a rare combination of 

 landscape treatment and recreation features, while the 

 scenic outlook from the park excels that of any other 

 point in the city, it being the highest in elevation and 

 commanding a sweeping panoramic view of hills, 

 lakes, ocean and mountains. 



