We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day’s work is done, and where they may stroll for an hour seeing, hearing and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets…
- Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr., 1870, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns”
On Tuesday (April 26, 2011), the Friends of Green Lake hosted a presentation by Sue Nicol, Vice President of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks. Sue spoke on the Olmsted plans for Green Lake Park, Ravenna Park, and Ravenna Blvd.
The presentation was well-attended, with an estimated 50 people in attendance, including Mitch Spute, who provided us with the following report:
Sue Nicol of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks gave a wonderful presentation on Tuesday night, which put into perspective how the Olmsted Legacy impacted the Green Lake Park that we know and use today. It quickly became apparent to the people in attendance that we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a pair of visionary men.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Fredrick Law Olmsted Sr gained notoriety by designing Central Park in New York City, and his two sons John Charles Olmsted and Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr took their father’s expertise with them to the northwest. The Olmsted brothers designs stretched from Portland to Seattle and over to Spokane, including parks, boulevards, college grounds and private residences. The Olmsted brothers created twenty parks and boulevards in the Seattle area including Volunteer, Seward, Cowen and Green Lake Parks. They also designed the grounds for the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition, also known as Seattle’s first World’s Fair with 3 million attendance.
108 years ago, on April 30, 1903, John Charles arrived in Seattle. By 1907, he and his brother were asked to design Green Lake Park. They are responsible for designing the original walking trail, boating centers, bathhouse and beaches, which no doubt were similarly located to the ones we use today. The brothers even chose which plants and trees should be planted at the park and where to place them.
On a larger scale they designed our Ravenna Blvd, which largely follows the old course of Ravenna Creek. The creek, which flows from the northwest to the southeast, at one time drained water from Green Lake. A remnant of the creek still exists within Cowen and Ravenna Park. (Note: this paragraph has been updated with the help of a comment from Benjamin Lukoff.)
Ravenna Park, 1911. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
Following the design of Ravenna Blvd, the Olmsted brothers were dismayed by the lack of remaining park land at Green Lake. They recommended lowering the lake by four feet, a controversial idea that ended with the city actually lowering the lake by seven feet. The lowering provided an additional 100 acres of park land, most significant on the east side of the lake, which gained 40 acres. Had the lowering not taken place, we would not have the play fields and open green space that we enjoy today.
Green Lake, 1913. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
I found it quite interesting that Guy Phinney, a wealthy entrepreneur, owned most of Woodland Park and S. Green Lake from about 1891 to 1905 or so. The entrance to his estate is now the south entrance to the Woodland Park Zoo and his home sat where the parking lot to the zoo’s south gate is. His personal rose garden remains today as the zoo’s famous rose garden.
Woodland Park entrance, 1909. Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
This was only my second Friends of Green Lake, the other I attended also had a speaker. However, FOGL meets monthly on the fourth Tuesday of the month at the Hearthstone, at 7 p.m.
Friends of Green Lake was created in 2003 following the third closure of the lake in a five year span. The lake had been closed due to toxic algae blooms and the water was off limits to boaters and swimmers. The group continues to monitor water quality, which will be the topic of discussion at next month’s meeting. Apparently, one water sample taken in January returned results of being ten times more toxic than deemed safe by the State of Washington.
The Friends of Green Lake also does work restoring the shoreline habitats of native wildlife and many work parties have recently taken place. They are looking for a few volunteers to occasionally do upkeep maintenance on the recently worked on areas, such as weeding.
The Friends of Green Lake annual picnic will be on July 26, 2011. Attending the next two meetings would be a great idea, so as not to seem like a picnic crasher come July!
Thank you for the report, Mitch!
Note: The Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks is offering a walking presentation about the Olmsted Legacy in Green Lake on Saturday, May 14, 2011, 10 a.m. – noon. The walk will begin at the main entrance to the Green Lake Community Center (7201 E Green Lake Dr N).
