On Tuesday, March 17, Seattle Mayor Nichols put in a presence at the Groundswell NW annual meeting to announce that Ballard was going to get a new public park. Purchase of the property owned by the Seventh Church of Israel at Northwest 70th and 73rd on 9th Avenues Northwest has contracted by the City Parks Department. The property will become a public park.

The purchase will cost around $3 million and is a little short of one acre. This is the second new park for Ballard in recent time. In 2005 Ballard Commons Park was created, mainly through the efforts of the citizens working through Groundswell NW.

These new, compact parks are a token correction of the historic dearth of public parks in Ballard.

From the beginning of subdividing in the 1880s and 90s Ballard consistently lost out when it came to public parks. The West Coast Improvement Co. that was the major land development company in the last two decades of the 19th century was interested only in making money and did not set aside any land for public parks.

The company was willing to essentially give land to C.D. Stimson, an incentive for the Michigan lumber mill baron to build a major milling operation along Salmon Bay in the late 1880s. However, jobs at the mill would bring people to the community, who would be interested in buying lots for building modest homes. Other land development companies did the same - no land set aside for public parks, only subdivisions with the tiny 100 x 25 foot lots, the standard of the day. Most people bought two lots in order to have a garden and a tree or two.

In 1900 Ballard had a single officially designated public - Salmon Bay Park.

In the first decade of the new century a number of other parks were created. Golden Gardens was the second Ballard Park. This park got its start as a street car terminus by H. W. Treat, who hoped to see home sites overlooking Shilshole Bay. Prospective buyers were invited to spend a day at the Ballard beach (now Golden Gardens Beach Park) and the adjoining amusement park. While they had the folks there, enjoying the beach on a sunny summer day, Treat and fellow developer E. B. Cox, who both had house lots for sale on the bluff overlooking the beach, held forth with their sales pitch.

Treat was the major landowner on the bluff and the family's historic presence remains in the name "Golden" for the beach park and "Loyal" for the Loyal Heights neighborhood. Two of Olive and Harry Treats daughters were named Golden and Loyal.

After annexation to Seattle in 1907 the City of Seattle included Ballard in the Olmstead brothers' parks plan for the city. At the time the brothers, having received international acclaim for their design of New York City's Central Park, were the most sought after public park designers in the country. The Olmsted Parks Plan for the City of Seattle included for Ballard beautiful, tree-lined parkways (e.g. Ravenna Avenue Parkway), playfields and a nature park. Railway St. (now 14th Avenue), the 1908 approach to the old Ballard Bridge, was designed as a parkway with a tree-lined median. This parkway was created and enjoyed for many years. However, when the new Ballard Bridge was built, 14th Ave. was abandoned in favor of 15th Avenue Northwest and the median feature, which still exists on 14th, was not a part of the new roadway.

A second parkway named the North Ballard Parkway in the Olmsted plan was never realized. This parkway was planned as a handsome street, up to 300 feet wide, that was to wind down from Phinney Ridge from Woodland Park along Northwest 80th Street. A second important park in the original plan was named Ballad Bluff Park that was planned for the top of the bluff overlooking Golden Gardens. Forty-five acres of natural forest were to be preserved. A winding road was to lead from the bluff down to the seashore just south of Golden Gardens. Down at sea level, the land was to be left wild and wooded with a relatively even area near the shore that was to be cleared for a playfield. The small Sunset Hill Park is mere suggestion of the planned bluff park.

Finally, the Olmsted Parks plan included three playfields, the northernmost of which was Sound View Playfield. This park was to be 15.25 acres located at 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 90th Street. This playfield was never developed as the land was sold for development. Another playfield was planned for the area at Northwest 60th and 28th Northwest. Small, only 6.8 acres, this playfield was to be named Issac Parker Playfield. This playfield was eventually created but was never named for Parker. Eventually it was developed and by the 1920s it was known as the Field House Playfield. In the 1980s it was known as the Ballard Community Center Playfield.

The last playfield planned was the Market Street Playfield, 4.6 acres. This park was to be located at 11th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 53rd St. This park was to be named Gilman Park, in memory of the original plat of the Ballard town site. Market St. was to be the northern border of this park, according to the Olmsted plan.

If you have memories of time spent playing, picnicking or generally enjoying any of Ballard's community parks I would enjoy hearing your story. Please contact me through the Ballad News-Tribune, bnteditor@robinsonnews.com.