Lining Lake Union in a gently curving crescent, Gasworks Park is a sight familiar to many Seattlites who grew up admiring its breath-taking view of the lake and the opposing shore. This park was first conceived in 1903 when the Olmsted Brothers, advocates of a citywide park system, thought the site would be ideal for a public park, given its great views and location. However, contrary to the brothers’ expectation, this 20 acre point was cleared in 1906 to construct a plant to manufacture gas, thus giving birth to that rust-stained figure standing stolidly amidst the rolling hills.

		In 1911, the plan for Gasworks Park was revived as activists such as Virgil Bogue threw their support behind an industrial rather than recreational use of the lake. However, this noble attempt was similarly ill fated as the city’s need for gas overrode the plea for aesthetic beauty. Owned by the Seattle Gas Light Company, the gas works at Lake Union became the largest private utility inSeattle during the first half of the twentieth century.
	By 1954, the plant used 1,071 miles of gas main to serve Seattle, Renton, Kent and Tukwila. However, as Seattle converted to natural rather than coal-generated gas in 1956, business rapidly declined and production ended in 1956
	The city of Seattle acquired the site in 1962 and proceed to turn it into a the present day Gas Works Park. A challenging feat in itself, for the area around the park had been exposed to long term waste containmination. The most serious known risk is from the residual benzene that still haunt the premise of gas works. The decontamination, therefore, is an ongoing issue that has hovered for decades over the minds of Seattle’s leaders. Although there have been many attempts at decontamination, including a $3 million city-state cleanup that took seven months, the park remains a top ranking hazardous chemical site on the state Department of Ecology's (DOE) list. Although this fact seem to indicate a seemingly terrifying amount of contaminants, city authorities assure the citizens that only constant exposure could be inflict detrimental effects upon one’s health. (--LZ)

Gasworks Photo Gallery