McGraw Square is a small

plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

and

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

stop in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The park, one of the smallest in the city park system, is named for and features a statue of former

King County Sheriff The King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) is a local law enforcement agency in King County, Washington, United States. It is the primary law enforcement agency for all unincorporated areas of King County, as well as 13 cities and two transit agenci ...

and

Governor of Washington The governor of Washington is the head of government of Washington and commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.WA Const. art. III, § 2. The officeholder has a duty to enforce state laws,WA Const. art. III, § 5. the power to either ...

John Harte McGraw. McGraw Square is bounded to the north by Stewart Street, to the west by 5th Avenue and the

Times Square Building The Times Square Building, formerly the Times Building, is a registered landmark building in Seattle, Washington. It was completed in 1916 and housed editorial operations of the ''Seattle Times'' newspaper, which was housed there until 1930. Loca ...

, and to the east by Olive Way and the Medical Dental Building. The square was originally a parcel acquired by the City of Seattle in 1911 to build a

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

to be designed by the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

. Richard E. Brooks was commissioned to sculpt a bronze statue of Governor McGraw, who had died in 1910, and unveiled the finished sculpture on July 22, 1913. It was later designated as a

Seattle Landmark The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, part of the Department of Neighborhoods of the city of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States, designates city landmarks. According to the department's official website, the following are ...

on May 6, 1985. The statue measures approximately x x and rests on a granite base that measures approximately x x . In late 2010, the

Seattle Department of Transportation The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is a municipal government agency in Seattle, Washington that is responsible for the maintenance of the city's transportation systems, including roads, bridges, and public transportation. The agenc ...

expanded the plaza over a section of Westlake Avenue and incorporating the nearby

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 ...

terminus at a cost of $900,000, paid by a mobility grant from the

Washington State Department of Transportation The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Establi ...

. The new plaza, which is intended to host tables and

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...

s, was opened to the public on February 9, 2011.

References

External links

Seattle Parks and Recreation profile
1913 sculptures Denny Triangle, Seattle Parks in Seattle Squares in Seattle {{KingCountyWA-geo-stub

See also

References

External links