The Department of Parks and Recreation 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. Forward Thrust and the Seattle Model City Program together supported the largest expansion of the Park system in Seattle history. These programs funded more than 70 new parks and park facilities.
The "original" Carkeek Park was located on Lake Washington, around Sand Point. In 1926, the Carkeek family donated the area to the US Navy for use as a naval air station, and the current location within Piper's Canyon was purchased for the park. The park formally opened on August 29, 1929 and initially held vegetable gardens, zoo animals, and rental pasture. Original development and activity was halted once WPA projects took precedence. In 1931, the Civilian Conservation Corps, with the assistance of the National Parks Service, developed trails, a shelter, camp buildings, and a park entrance for work and training purposes. The buildings, except for one, were later removed in 1938. The army briefly reactivated the area in 1942 for use as an encampment during World War II. In 1949, the Greenwood Sewer District established a sewage treatment plant in the park, which was subsequently taken over by Metro in 1954. Later, municipal bonds enabled road and building improvements, and further park development. The Parks Department formally dedicated the park in 1955. In 1972 Forward Thrust funds enabled the purchase of the ravine, significantly expanding the park area.
The Piper's Creek Watershed, an area of roughly 3 square miles, is located partially within Carkeek Park, and throughout the mixed residential and commercial areas of Greenwood, Broadview, Crown Hill and Blue Ridge neighborhoods. Restoration, preservation, and expansion of the watershed were initiated in 1979 when Nancy Malmgren founded a citizen's organization, the Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project (CWCAP). As an environmental working group, CWCAP sought to turn the area into a model watershed and restore a healthy salmon habitat in Piper's Creek. The Washington State Department of Fisheries granted the organization permission to begin watershed enhancement in 1980.
Since the mid-1980s, local community groups, state agencies, and various city departments have collaborated to protect the watershed and salmon habitat; provide environmental education to the public; maintain, monitor, and regulate water quality; establish drainage and erosion control; and ensure the continuation of the CWCAP agenda. From the Action Project also arose the Carkeek Park Advisory Council (CPAC), to track and implement the work of the Watershed Project. The Carkeek Environmental Learning Center, a Salmon Committee, and Piper's Creek Rehabilitation projects were also by-products of the Action Project. These were sustained by the support of Seattle Public Utilities, the Department of Neighborhoods, the Parks and Recreation Department, state agencies, and the help of numerous community organizations and volunteers.
CPAC was established in 1990 within the Natural Resources Unit of the Parks Department. Files primarily document the activities of CPAC, and CPAC sub-committees. Members oversaw much of the projects and programs initiated by the Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project and implemented Parks and SPU department policies. Programs and projects included environmental education programs, park and watershed maintenance, and habitat restoration. Major issues documented include the Broadview Sewer Repair Project, property negotiations with Burlington Northern Railroad, renovating the park Annex building, grants and funding. Records consist of correspondence; training materials; meeting minutes and agendas; program and project plans and reports; as well as photographs.
Records are open to the public.
[Item and Date] Carkeek Park Advisory Council Records, Record Series 5809_03. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Publications were pulled from the collection and are cataloged separately in the Published Documents Index.