109-617: Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle , Washington , United States. It has a 19.1-acre (77,000 m) public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant , located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford neighborhood. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 2, 2013, over a decade after being nominated. Gas Works Park contains remnants of
218-424: A site analysis and master plan for a new park at the gas plant site. RHA opened an on-site office to research and analyze the plant site. Richard Haag realized that the site contained the last gas works and a unique opportunity for preservation. Haag recommended preservation of portions of the plant for its "historic, esthetic and utilitarian value". (Master Plan, April 1971) After an intense public appeal to convince
327-456: A 20.5 acres (8.3 hectares) promontory between the northwest and northeast arms of Lake Union . Little is known of pre–Euro-American site history, but there were Native American settlements around Lake Union. Native names for Lake Union include Kah-chug , Tenas Chuck , and Xa'ten . In the mid-19th century Thomas Mercer named it "Lake Union" in expectation of future canals linking it to Puget Sound and to Lake Washington . Dense forests came to
436-403: A day on a 7-day run. Production of city gas ended in 1956 when Seattle converted to natural gas. Though gas production ceased in 1956, the buildings and manufacturing structures were still intact in 1962 when the city of Seattle began purchasing the abandoned gas works. The $ 1.34 million purchase price was provided by Forward Thrust bonds, HUD payments were made from 1962 to 1972, and the debt
545-420: A day. In this building air was compressed for the oxygen-extraction process, the oxygen was then pumped to the generators for the first stage of gas manufacturing, and the final product was compressed and pumped to either the storage tank or down the lines of main to customers. Outside the play barn, the sole surviving smoke arrestor hood has been refurbished as a play structure for climbing. Designed and built by
654-653: A fire-safe house for storing fire control materials. Running through the north portion of the site was Burlington Northern Railroad 's 50 ft (15 m)-wide right-of-way. Train trestles from the coal days were still in place in front of the laboratories and offices building. By 1954, the Lake Station plant used 1,071 miles (1,724 km) of gas main to serve Seattle, Renton , Kent and Tukwila . The plant served approximately 43,198 customers in 1940, decreasing to 36,200 in 1954. The company averaged about 130 employees, with four crews of 23 men per shift, rotating 24 hours
763-476: A focus for industrial development. In 1900 the Seattle Gas Light Company began to purchase lots on this promontory (Secrist, Title Search) and its coal gas plant went into operation in 1906. At the time the neighborhood was known as Edgewater (see map, Commons:File:Seattle map 1909.jpg .) Seattle Gas Light Company purchased lots on the north shore promontory from 1900 to 1909. Despite the fact that
872-533: A gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush . The city grew after World War II , partly due to the local company Boeing , which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area developed into a technology center ; Microsoft established its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailer Amazon was founded in Seattle, and Alaska Airlines
981-611: A great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In 1999, the World Trade Organization held its conference in Seattle, which was met with protest activity . The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. In 2001, the city was impacted by the Mardi Gras Riots and then by the Nisqually earthquake the following day. Another boom began as
1090-616: A landscaped parking area or through the Burke-Gilman Trail, a bike and walking path that connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Dividing the parking area from the park is a grassy berm and rows of trees demarcating the old railroad right of way. The park is composed of seven areas: Earth Mound, North Lawn, Towers, Prow, Picnic Lawn and Shelter, Play Barn, and South Lawn. The Earth Mound, Prow, and Lawns are open areas intended for passive and active recreation and offer magnificent views. The Towers, Play Barn, and Picnic Shelter are adapted from
1199-441: A number of technology companies, including Amazon , F5 Networks , RealNetworks , Nintendo of America , and T-Mobile . This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000, and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around
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#17328699413141308-478: A number of theaters in the city exhibiting vaudeville acts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architect B. Marcus Priteca designed several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's surviving Paramount Theatre , on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity during World War II , centered on
1417-493: A park was completed by Daviscourt Construction Company of Seattle. It was originally named Myrtle Edwards Park, after the city councilwoman who had spearheaded the drive to acquire the site, who died in a car crash in 1969. In 1972, the Edwards family requested that her name be removed from that of the park because the design called for the retention of the plant. In 1976, Elliott Bay Park (just north of Seattle's Belltown neighborhood)
1526-431: A prominent 19th-century leader of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hosts the fifth-largest LGBT community in the U.S. Logging was Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as
1635-481: A second time at the site of present-day Pioneer Square , naming this new settlement Duwamps . Charles Terry and John Low remained at the original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it "New York", but renamed "New York Alki" in April 1853, from a Chinook word meaning, roughly, "by and by" or "someday". For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki
1744-555: A setting for films such as Singles and 10 Things I Hate About You . It has been featured twice on the travel-based television reality show The Amazing Race : once as the Finish Line for Season 3 and another time as the starting line for Season 10 . The park was the site of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft for the Seattle Kraken . The building is a Seattle city landmark and a Washington State landmark. Gas Works Park occupies
1853-534: A seven-month continuous vigil under the name PeaceWorks Park, in opposition to the Gulf War . The vigil began at a peace concert in August 1990 and continued until after the end of the shooting war. Among the people who participated in the vigil at were former congressman and future governor Mike Lowry , then-city-councilperson Sue Donaldson, 1960s icon Timothy Leary , and beat poet Allen Ginsberg . Gas Works Park has been
1962-399: A single term (to date, he is the last governor of Washington state to serve only one term). His principal policy initiative was a statewide system of health insurance with premiums based on ability to pay. He chose not to run for reelection due to a sexual harassment scandal in which his deputy press secretary, Susanne Albright, accused him of making inappropriate remarks and fondling her. He
2071-595: A total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km ), 84 square miles (220 km ) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km ) is water (41% of the total area). According to the Köppen climate classification system, Seattle has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csb ), while under the Trewartha system, it is labeled an oceanic climate ( Dobk ). It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types. The climate
2180-548: A vast and varied park system to accommodate experimentation and innovation in both design and program." (Master Plan, 1971) Because of the Gas Plant structures and the attractive setting, GWP complements the rich heritage of Seattle's Post-Victorian parks and offers expanded programs in ways that the latter cannot. Throughout every year hundreds of thousands of people use GWP. They gather to celebrate Independence Day and watch fireworks. Concerts, kite-flying, jogging, public meetings, and
2289-464: A visual statement of pioneering technology. As UW Professor of Anthropology Kenneth Read expressed it, "History sits on this little wasteland, not only the parochial history of a given city, but also a fragment of the chronicle of world and culture. It is certainly as valuable a document as anything preserved in the Museum of History and Industry." (Read 1969, pp. 43–45) In addition to its early history,
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#17328699413142398-518: Is based in SeaTac, Washington , serving Seattle–Tacoma International Airport , Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software, biotechnology , and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased the city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by its significant musical history . Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24 jazz nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from
2507-413: Is bordered by North Northlake Way at the north and abuts Lake Union on the east and south. The Wallingford neighborhood sits to the north. Immediately adjacent to the park are remnants of the industrial development of the area. The industrial dominance is rapidly being replaced by retail development. North of North 40th Street the area is predominantly a residential neighborhood. The park is entered through
2616-506: Is hilly in some places. Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills ; the lists vary but typically include Capitol Hill , First Hill , West Seattle , Beacon Hill , Queen Anne , Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill . The Wallingford , Delridge , Mount Baker , Seward Park , Washington Park , Broadmoor , Madrona , Phinney Ridge , Sunset Hill , Blue Ridge , Broadview , Laurelhurst , Hawthorne Hills , Maple Leaf , and Crown Hill neighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of
2725-491: Is sometimes characterized as a "modified Mediterranean" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a "true" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by the adjacent Puget Sound , greater Pacific Ocean , and Lake Washington . Thus extreme heat waves are rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area
2834-547: Is the seat of King County , Washington . With a 2023 population of 755,078 it is the most populous city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America , and the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The Seattle metropolitan area 's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of
2943-557: Is the cloudiest region of the Continental United States , due in part to frequent storms and lows moving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days. With many more "rain days" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain: In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of
3052-515: The 1962 World's Fair , for which the Space Needle was built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by the oil crises , loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with the Boeing 747 . Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading "Will
3161-608: The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today's University of Washington campus. A shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century became massive during World War I , making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to the Seattle General Strike of 1919 , an early general strike in the country. A 1912 city development plan by Virgil Bogue went largely unused. Seattle
3270-558: The Duwamish , who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party , arrived from Illinois via Portland, Oregon , on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay in 1852 and named "Seattle" in honor of Chief Seattle ,
3379-641: The Lake Washington Ship Canal (consisting of two man-made canals, Lake Union , and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay , ending in Shilshole Bay on Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city
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3488-768: The Pacific Ring of Fire , Seattle is in a major earthquake zone . On February 28, 2001, the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake did significant architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on reclaimed land , as are the Industrial District and part of the city center), and caused one fatality. Other strong earthquakes occurred on January 26, 1700 (estimated at 9 magnitude), December 14, 1872 (7.3 or 7.4), April 13, 1949 (7.1), and April 29, 1965 (6.5). The 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure. Although
3597-752: The Rocky Mountains . However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities like New York City , Miami , or Houston . According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey (ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7% White Non-Hispanic , 16.9% Asian , 6.8% Black or African American , 6.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 0.4% Native American , 0.9% Pacific Islander , 0.2% other races, and 5.6% two or more races . Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white. The 2010 census showed that Seattle
3706-513: The Seattle Fault passes just south of the city center, neither it nor the Cascadia subduction zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the city has
3815-487: The United States Senate . In a 1983 special election , he was defeated by Republican former Governor Dan Evans , then an appointed Senator and the incumbent, in a race to replace Democrat Henry "Scoop" Jackson . In 1988, he lost to Slade Gorton , also a Republican, in a close race. Lowry then began working at Seattle University and at an environmental group. Lowry was elected governor in 1992 and served for
3924-512: The University of Washington negatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. While Seattle public schools were influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure, they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresario Alexander Pantages who, starting in 1902, opened
4033-592: The anti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886 . This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred in Tacoma . Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place. Finance company Washington Mutual , for example,
4142-459: The Bogue vision, despite the fact that his plan was defeated by voters. The Lake Station gas manufacturing plant on Lake Union was the largest private utility then existing in Seattle. It operated as "Seattle Lighting Company" until 1930, when the name was changed to "Seattle Gas Company". Its primary product was illuminating gas (so-called because it was used for lighting) manufactured from coal. The gas
4251-715: The Pacific Ocean) to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay , is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula ; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and the Eastside suburbs, are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range . Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through
4360-515: The President's Award of Excellence stated: "A remarkably original and attractive example of how to reclaim a seemingly hopeless and obsolete industrial installation. Instead of being destroyed or disguised, it has been transformed into a lighthearted environment ... A project of historical significance for the community. A symbol of American technology preserved." "The black shapes of the towers on their grassy point leap out with startling clarity against
4469-661: The Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist. The Wah Mee massacre in 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in the Seattle Chinatown-International District . Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning with Microsoft 's 1979 move from Albuquerque, New Mexico , to nearby Bellevue, Washington . Seattle and its suburbs became home to
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4578-479: The Seattle area for at least 4,000 years. By the time the first European settlers arrived, the Duwamish people occupied at least 17 villages in the areas around Elliott Bay . The name for the modern city of Seattle in Lushootseed , dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič , meaning "little crossing-over place", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-day King Street Station . In May 1792, George Vancouver
4687-587: The United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $ 93,481, and the median income for a family was $ 130,656. 11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older. According to a 2024 study by Henley & Partners , the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. Mike Lowry Michael Edward Lowry (March 8, 1939 – May 1, 2017)
4796-617: The bigger West Coast city. Seattle had building contracts that rivaled New York City and Chicago , but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due to Oregon 's and the Midwest 's, forcing people into town. Hooverville arose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to
4905-458: The bright collage of the shoreline, silhouettes that might be the pictogram for the works of industrial man." (Landscape Australia, February 1980) 47°38′46″N 122°20′06″W / 47.6460°N 122.3350°W / 47.6460; -122.3350 Seattle Seattle ( / s i ˈ æ t əl / see- AT -əl ) is a city on the West Coast of the United States . It
5014-486: The city emerged from the Great Recession , commencing when Amazon moved its headquarters from North Beacon Hill to South Lake Union . The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with
5123-616: The city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during the Great Depression , fueled in part by Eleanor Roosevelt 's 1933 book It's Up to the Women ; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journals Working Woman and The Woman Today , women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact
5232-535: The city. In 1990, the Goodwill Games were held in the city. Three years later, in 1993, the APEC leaders was hosted in Seattle. The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity in grunge music, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movie Sleepless in Seattle brought the city further national attention, as did the television sitcom Frasier . The dot-com boom caused
5341-495: The company in 1935, three were installed in order to reduce pollutant emissions. Concrete train trestles now form a part of the GWP entrance. They were part of the original 1906 gas plant and ran along the north side of the office and laboratories building. Nothing remains of this building, but the trestles show where the train tracks ended and coal was delivered. Coal cars would ride up the trestles and release coal into hoppers parked under
5450-712: The country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound , an inlet of the Pacific Ocean , and Lake Washington . It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canadian border . A gateway for trade with East Asia , the Port of Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021 . The Seattle area has been inhabited by Native Americans (such as
5559-654: The current Chinatown/International District to the Central District . The jazz scene nurtured the early careers of Ernestine Anderson , Ray Charles , Quincy Jones , and others. In the late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of several rock bands, including Foo Fighters , Heart , and Jimi Hendrix , and the subgenre of grunge and its pioneering bands, including Alice in Chains , Nirvana , Pearl Jam , Soundgarden , and others. Archaeological excavations suggest that Native Americans have inhabited
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#17328699413145668-579: The early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey borrowed $ 100 from a friend and founded the American Messenger Company (later UPS ). Other Seattle companies founded during this period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer . Seattle brought in the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in
5777-486: The early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known as Yesler Way won the nickname "Skid Road", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill to Henry Yesler 's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon as Skid Row . Like much of the U.S. West , Seattle experienced conflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in
5886-405: The exhauster house) is about 7,340 sq ft (682 m) and the boiler house is about 5,720 sq ft (531 m). The wood frames of both buildings remain intact and in place on concrete slab foundations. The boiler house, now the picnic shelter, originally housed two boilers. One provided steam for the gasification process; the other provided steam for the steam engines that powered
5995-419: The face of the world. GWP is the sole survivor of gas works from that era in the United States, preserved as a public park. It is the only site that could be documented with most of the generating equipment intact. During its production era, this gasification plant was only one of 1400 such plants in the U.S. Though obsolete, these towers, machines, and buildings are a monument to humanity's inventiveness and offer
6104-570: The first half of the twentieth century, the Gas Company was a significant participant in and contributor to the growth of Seattle and adjoining communities. Although its primary product was city gas for energy, the plant also manufactured other basic products necessary for urban growth: tar for roofing; lampblack for pigment in tires and ink; charcoal briquets for odor-free and efficient home heating; sulfur for insecticides, ammonium sulfate , and sulfuric acid ; and toluene for use in explosives. Toluene
6213-503: The first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of trustees managing the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city
6322-409: The gas works forms a powerful industrial still life ... serving both as a visual focus for the park and as a monument to the city's industrial past. The park represents a complete reversal from a period when industrial monuments were regarded, even by preservationists, as ugly intrusions on the landscape, to a time when such structures as the gas works are recognized for their potential ability to enhance
6431-411: The generators are two small tanks (about 20 ft [6.1 m] tall) that were the original secondary scrubbers. All piping that connects these towers is of 3 ⁄ 16 inch (4.8 mm) plate steel. (Blueprints, 1945–46) Between the generators and the play barn stand the oil absorber (80 feet) and cooler (40 feet). The cooling towers lowered the temperature of the light oil-gas mixture from
6540-407: The generators are wash boxes, one per generator. For each pair of wash boxes there is one primary scrubber that rests on a concrete pedestal and stands 48 ft (15 m) tall (11.5 feet [3.5 m] diameter). The output from the two primary scrubbers goes into the single secondary scrubber of welded steel construction (12 feet [3.7 m] diameter, 68 ft [21 m] tall). Farthest from
6649-411: The growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city, and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent. The city has found itself "bursting at the seams", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing and at least 2,800 people homeless , and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Seattle is located between the saltwater Puget Sound (an arm of
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#17328699413146758-401: The hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington. The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center. The topography of the city center
6867-464: The idea of Lake Union as an industrial area: "The fact that (Lake Union) is located in the very heart of the city indicates that if properly developed it will become a most important factor in the commercial and business activities of the city." (Seattle Municipal Plans Commission 1911, p. 78) Completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Ballard Locks in 1917 guaranteed the success of shipping and shipbuilding industries on Lake Union and thus of
6976-432: The impact of Gas Works Park on land reclamation and industrial preservation attitudes and techniques extends beyond Seattle. GWP has gained national and international standing as a prototype for industrial site conversions. It is studied, cited as an exemplary model, and referenced in educational textbooks and scholarly works. Since opening, GWP has won numerous awards for design excellence, vision, and innovation. The jury for
7085-514: The lake for portage across to Puget Sound. In the 1880s came the Denny sawmill at the south end of Lake Union, brick manufacturing, ship building, a tannery, and iron works. Canals with small locks were cut in 1885 from Lake Washington to Lake Union, and from Lake Union to Salmon Bay. These were suitable for transporting logs, but not for shipping. The arrival of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway in 1887 ensured that Lake Union would continue to be
7194-402: The lake) are Semet-Solvay–type generators built in 1937–38. Each has a single outer shell made of welded steel lined inside with refractory brick . Tower 1 is 80 ft (24 m) and Tower 2 is 75 ft (23 m) tall. At their peak they could manufacture 6 million cubic feet (170,000 m) of gas a day. B): Towers 3 and 4 were built in 1947, towers 5 and 6 (northernmost), in 1947. They have
7303-478: The land was being acquired by the gas company, the Olmsted Brothers in 1903 recommended that "...the point of land between the northeast and northwest arms of Lake Union and the railroad should be secured as a local park, because of its advantages for commanding views over the lake and for boating, and for a playground." (Olmsted Brothers 1903, p. 47) In 1911, Virgil Bogue produced a civic master plan for Seattle's Municipal Plans Commission in which he promoted
7412-418: The last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights." Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's Renton narrow-body plant and Everett wide-body plant . The company's credit union for employees, BECU , remains based in
7521-425: The late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely from Guangdong Province . The Seattle area is also home to a large Vietnamese population of more than 55,000 residents, as well as over 30,000 Somali immigrants. The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largest Cambodian communities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans, and one of the largest Samoan communities in
7630-483: The mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry. Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau. According to a 2012 HistoryLink study, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in
7739-606: The miners in Alaska and the Yukon . Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities like Everett , Tacoma , Port Townsend , Bremerton , and Olympia , all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather than mother lodes for extraction, of precious metals. The boom lasted into
7848-459: The open space and views of the park itself are attractions that keep GWP in constant use. However, there is no access to Lake Union. The lake’s sediment contains hazardous substances. Therefore, aquatic activities like swimming, boating, fishing and wading are prohibited. Part of the master plan, known as the "Great Mound", hill was molded out of thousands of cubic yards of rubble from building foundations covered with fresh topsoil. The sundial at
7957-527: The original manufacturing structures. GWP was designed to be an urban, intensively used pleasure ground utilizing unique structures. "The traditional escape from the city into the sylvan settings of remote areas has changed for many people into a seeking of a more active encounter. Introspection and retreat are easily accomplished without physical isolation, but facilities for social interaction with persons other than intimate friends are more scarce with respect to population growth. ...new sites should be offered in
8066-411: The population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of other Indo-European languages made up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses. The Chinese population in the Seattle area has origins in mainland China , Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan . The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in
8175-567: The production of Boeing aircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to the Japanese American internment . After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercial airliner market. Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with the Century 21 Exposition ,
8284-464: The public of the value of the plant, RHA's 1971 master plan for an industrial preservation park was unanimously approved by the Park Board. The proposal centered on recycling the buildings, production structures, machinery, and even the grounds themselves. Through bio-phyto-remediation techniques, the soil and water would be "cleaned and greened". Through preservation and adaptive reuse of key structures,
8393-411: The pump house compressors. The tubes from one boiler remain in place at the eastern end of the building and are an impressive display of seldom-seen industrial technology. The pump house is now the play barn. Most of the pumps, compressors, and piping are still in place. The 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) compressor's 10 short tons (9.1 t) flywheel ran continuously to keep the plant operating 24 hours
8502-510: The rich history of the site and thus of an important aspect of Seattle would be preserved and revealed. The Washington State Department of Ecology announced plans in 2022 to begin the final efforts in soil and shoreline remediation, comprising an estimated area of 50.0-acre (20.2 ha) surrounding the park. The cleanup is scheduled to begin in 2027 and will help to remove such contaminants as arsenic, carbazole, dibenzofuran and nickel. A successful decontamination may allow users official access to
8611-737: The same brick inner shell and welded-steel outer shell construction as Towers 1 and 2, but are smaller. All four towers have an outer diameter of 22 feet (6.7 m) and are 50 feet (15 m) tall. The brick liner has an inside diameter of 20 feet (6.1 m) and is 33 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (10.2 m) high. The outer shells are equipped with nozzles for pipe and instrument connections, access doors, air blast doors, gas outlets, and sight holes. The towers rest on concrete pedestals. (Blueprints, 1945–46). Wash boxes and scrubbers associated with generators 3-6 were also built in 1946–47. The small tanks (10 feet [3.0 m] diameter, 11 ft [3.4 m] tall, each mounted on three supporting legs) next to
8720-461: The scrubbers, then the oils were separated from the gas in the oil absorber tower. The light oils were the secondary products benzene, toluene and solvent naphtha. This concrete platform was built in 1936 as an unloading area for coal. The platform was integrated into the park design and handrails placed at the lakeside edges. The buildings date back to the original coal-gas facility (ca 1910) and were constructed of wood. The pump house (also known as
8829-514: The site was contaminated during its operation as a gasification plant. The 1971 Master Plan called for "cleaning and greening" the park through bio- phytoremediation . Although the presence of organic pollutants had been substantially reduced by the mid-1980s, the US Environmental Protection Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology required additional measures, including removing and capping wastes, and air sparging in
8938-415: The soil and allowed for the growth of field grass which makes possible constant, hard use with low maintenance. There are two groups: 1) six synthetic natural gas generator towers with their attendant processing towers, and 2) oil absorber and oil cooler (between the play barn and the generators). The generators operated in pairs and were built at different times. (A): Towers 1 and 2 (largest and closest to
9047-470: The sole remaining coal gasification plant in the United States. The plant was operating from 1906 to 1956 and was bought by the city of Seattle for use as a park in 1962. The park opened to the public in 1975. It was designed by Seattle landscape architect Richard Haag , who won the American Society of Landscape Architects Presidents Award of Design Excellence for the project. The plant's conversion into
9156-450: The southeast portion of the site to try to remove benzene that was a theoretical source of pollutants reaching Lake Union via ground water. There are no known areas of surface soil contamination remaining on the site today, although tar occasionally still oozes from some locations within the site and is isolated and removed. Despite its somewhat isolated location, the park has been the site of numerous political rallies. These included
9265-408: The strangest in the world." Gas Works Park also features an artificial kite -flying hill with a sculptured sundial built into its summit. The park was for many years the exclusive site of a summer series of "Peace Concerts". These concerts are now rotated among several Seattle parks. The park also has for many years hosted one of Seattle's two major Independence Day fireworks events; in 2009, it
9374-435: The structures were saved, the character defining and prominent group of towers remains. The reuse of the pump house and boiler house has maintained building structure and much of the machinery. The site retains its original boundaries and lake frontage. The Seattle Gas Company's production plant located on Lake Union, now known as Gas Works Park, was co-founded by one of Seattle's foremost pioneers, Arthur A. Denny . Throughout
9483-457: The top of the mound was created by two local artists, Chuck Greening and Kim Lazare . Formed out of concrete and delineated with rocks, shells, glass, bronze and many other materials, the sundial tells time by using the body of the visitor as the gnomon . The viewer's shadow tells the time of day and the season. The park contains several lawn areas. Soil has been bioremediated with 18" of sewage sludge and sawdust. This process has decontaminated
9592-459: The trestles. The original structures qualify as industrial archaeology and are the last remaining examples of a type of technology. The structures have been preserved and are integrated into a park design. Paul Goldberger wrote in the New York Times that "Seattle is about to have one of the nation's most advanced pieces of urban landscape design. The complex array of towers, tanks and pipes of
9701-588: The urban experience." (NY Times, 8/30/75) The possibility for National Historic Landmark status was recognized in 1971 when Victor Steinbrueck inventoried the Gas Works and Eric DeLony of the National Park Service wrote: "Gas Works Park will not only be a unique first in the United States, if not the world, but will set an important precedent for the future preservation of industrial structure through an imaginative plan for adaptive use." Although not all of
9810-486: The water's edge and the lake drained into Salmon Bay through a stream "full of windfalls and brush, impassable even for a canoe". (Bass 1947, p. 33) Lake Union in the 1860–70s was a popular vacation spot with Seattleites for summer house-boating and picnicking. Several sawmills were operating on Lake Union's shore by the 1850s, taking advantage of the dense forests. Beginning in 1872, Seattle Coal and Transportation Company ferried coal from its Renton Hill mines across
9919-507: The waters of Lake Union from the park. The cleanup project is estimated to cost $ 73 million and would be funded by the city government with some costs reimbursed from the Department of Ecology. Gas Works Park is the work of its designer, Richard Haag, a Seattle landscape architect. The park site consists of 20.5 acres (83,000 m) of land projecting 400 feet (120 m) into Lake Union with 1,900 feet (580 m) of shoreline. The site
10028-520: The way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party. Members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28, 1851. The rest of the Denny Party set sail on the schooner Exact from Portland , Oregon, stopping in Astoria , and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851. After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land
10137-479: Was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson "Doc" Maynard , one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle after Chief Seattle ( Lushootseed : siʔaɫ , anglicized as "Seattle"), chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. The name "Seattle" appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23, 1853, when
10246-731: Was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway , the terminus of the Green River . The highest point within city limits is at High Point in West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union , Salmon Bay , Portage Bay , and Union Bay . Due to its location in
10355-508: Was an American politician who served as the 20th governor of Washington from 1993 to 1997. His political career ended when his deputy press secretary, Susanne Albright, made accusations of sexual misconduct against him. A member of the Democratic Party , Lowry served as a United States Representative from Washington's 7th congressional district from 1979 to 1989, and unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate twice, in 1983 and 1988 . Lowry
10464-409: Was an unsuccessful candidate for Commissioner of Public Lands in 2000, and was later active in building affordable housing for Washington's migrant farm workers. Lowry married Mary Carlson in 1968, and they had a daughter. He died from complications of a stroke on May 1, 2017, at the age of 78. During Lowry's career, he was often compared to Yasser Arafat by both media and political opponents in
10573-745: Was born and raised in St. John, Washington , son of Helen (nee White) and Robert Lowry. He graduated from Washington State University in 1962. Lowry had a brief career working for the Washington State Senate and as a lobbyist for Group Health Cooperative , before being elected to the King County Council in 1975. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Washington's Seventh Congressional District in 1978, where he served until 1989. Lowry twice ran unsuccessfully for
10682-474: Was founded in the immediate wake of the fire. The Panic of 1893 hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from the Klondike Gold Rush , which ended the depression that had begun with the Panic of 1893 . In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, the S.S. Portland docked with its famed "ton of gold", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for
10791-497: Was in high demand during World War II, and production of it was essential to the war effort (e.g., for making TNT and various types of gunpowder ). Through these products the gas works contributed in an integral way not only to daily commercial and domestic life in Seattle but also to interests at a national level. The structures and machinery standing in GWP today are remnants of the Industrial Revolution that transformed
10900-429: Was installed at the same time to produce "Gasco charcoal briquets", toluene , solvent naphtha , sulfur , xylene , and resin tar. Primary manufacturing and support facilities consisted of storage tanks, boiler house, pump and compressors house, offices, and laboratories. Onsite support included electrical, carpentry, machine, blacksmith, and welding shops. Additional facilities included a stable, first aid stations, and
11009-577: Was later also used for cooking, refrigeration, and heating homes and water. It was also called city gas to distinguish it from natural gas . The gas was made from coal up to 1937 when the high cost of operating the old coke oven and coal-gas generating sets forced a change-over to oil . A pair of oil-to-gas generators was built in 1937 and the old coal-gas facilities were disassembled. In 1946–47, two more oil gas generator pairs were constructed to keep up with demand for gas. Since by-products from gas manufacturing had strong markets of their own, new equipment
11118-705: Was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during the Maritime Strike of 1934 cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to the Port of Los Angeles . The Great Depression in Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle
11227-485: Was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as the Works Progress Administration , CCC , Public Works Administration , and others. The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries as Los Angeles prevailed as
11336-448: Was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining. In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population, while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%. According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey , approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spoke Asian languages other than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of
11445-683: Was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with a mayor–council government . The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries the date "1869" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile. That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the "Queen City", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the "Emerald City". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering
11554-495: Was renamed Myrtle Edwards Park . Gas Works Park incorporates numerous pieces of the old plant. Some stand as ruins, while others have been reconditioned, painted, and incorporated into a children's "play barn" structure, constructed in part from what was the plant's exhauster-compressor building. A web site affiliated with the Seattle Times newspaper said, "Gas Works Park is easily the strangest park in Seattle and may rank among
11663-493: Was retired. The abandoned gas-production plant and its land were deeded to the city of Seattle in 1975 and Gas Works Park was opened to the public that same year. During this period, there was a considerable public discussion about whether the site should be developed or made into a park. Park advocates led by Myrtle Edwards prevailed. In 1970, Richard Haag Associates (RHA) were retained by the Seattle Park Board to perform
11772-616: Was the first European to visit the Seattle area during his 1791–1795 expedition for the Royal Navy , which sought to chart the Pacific Northwest for the British. In 1851, a large party of American pioneers led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River ; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851. Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on
11881-633: Was the sole such event. The park is the traditional end point of the Solstice Cyclists and the starting point for Seattle's World Naked Bike Ride . The park originally constituted one end of the Burke–Gilman Trail , laid out along the abandoned right-of-way of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway . However, the trail has now been extended several kilometers northwest, past the Fremont neighborhood toward Ballard . The soil and groundwater of
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