Lake Union Park is a park located at the south end of Lake Union in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

in the

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Den ...

neighborhood. The park is owned by the City of Seattle and operated by

Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle Parks and Recreation (officially the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)) is the government department responsible for maintaining the parks, open spaces, and community centers of the city of Seattle, Washington. The department mainta ...

. The park property was gradually acquired by the City, and the final were transferred from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to the City of Seattle on July 1, 2000. After renovation, the current park space officially opened on September 25, 2010.

History

While the property was acquired by the City for the purpose of providing public park space, it was underutilized for a prolonged period due to a lack of attractive park features. Seattle Parks Foundation attempted to address that issue by conducting a campaign to raise the funds needed to substantially improve the park's facilities. The capital campaign goal was $20 million. In addition, the Seattle City Council appropriated $4.228 million in funds to repair the property's bulkhead and $5 million went to the project from the voter-approved 2000 Pro Parks Levy.

Facilities

The park design is optimized to provide access to water and green space, connect the surrounding neighborhoods, and celebrate the cultural, industrial, and maritime heritage of the city and region. Lake Union Park includes restored shoreline, a pedestrian bridge, a model boat pond, a history trail, a fountain of water jets, a beach for launching boats, a footprint for The

Center for Wooden Boats The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) is a museum dedicated to preserving and documenting the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest area of the United States. CWB was founded by Dick Wagner in Seattle in the 1970s and has grown to include three si ...

' new Education Center (future facility), a grove of trees, a Great Lawn, footpaths, park benches, and infrastructure that can support large events. Lake Union Park also has a station for the

South Lake Union Streetcar The South Lake Union Streetcar, officially the South Lake Union Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the Seattle Streetcar system. It travels and connects Downtown Seattle to the South Lake Union n ...

, which began operating in late 2007. The park includes a Historic Ships Wharf housing several historic vessels, including the tug ''

Arthur Foss ''Arthur Foss'', built in 1889 as ''Wallowa'' at Portland, Oregon, is likely the oldest wooden tugboat afloat in the world. Its 79-year commercial service life began with towing sailing ships over the Columbia Bar, Columbia River bar, and ended ...

'', the fireboat ''

Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: * Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state * Duwamish River, in Washington state * ''Duwamish'' (fireboat) See also * Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is ...

'', the lightship '' Swiftsure'', and the steamer ''

Virginia V Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

''. Several other large historic vessels visit the wharf, including the '' Hawaiian Chieftain'' and the '' Lady Washington'', which was featured in movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean. The property has several buildings, the largest of which is the former Naval Reserve building, colloquially called the Armory. In 2012, the Armory was fully restored and reopened as the new home of MOHAI, Seattle's Museum of History & Industry. Office space in the Armory was occupied by Seattle Parks and Recreation and several nonprofit groups, including the

, the Virginia V, Seattle Parks Foundation, and Associated Recreation Council until early 2011, at which point renovations began to make it the new site of the

Museum of History and Industry The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) is a history museum in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest private heritage organization in Washington state, maintaining a collection of nearly four m ...

(MOHAI). The new MOHAI was scheduled to open on December 29, 2012.

Expansion

Seattle voters rejected a 1995 levy that would have funded development and construction of the Seattle Commons, a greenspace from Lake Union to downtown Seattle. Supporters included Mayor Norm Rice and Paul Allen who later developed real estate in the area instead.Higgins, Mark (1995-09-20). Commons Levy Defeated. Seattle Post Intelligencer, 20 September 1995. Retrieved on 2013-09-30 from http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=8252.

References

External links

Lake Union Park
Seattle Parks and Recreation

a nonprofit organization supporting Seattle parks.
Maritime Heritage Network
a not-for-profit directory of maritime history resources in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

. {{South Lake Union, Seattle Parks in Seattle Protected areas established in 2010 2010 establishments in Washington (state) South Lake Union, Seattle