Seattle: 1900-1920 -From Boomtown, Through Urban Turbulence ...

48 Part OneThe opening of the Meadows Racetrack in1902 spurred the Seattle Electric Company tocarry betting men to the track like livestockto rendering. Here a string of freight carsoutfitted with seats and improvised coversprepares to head for the track from FirstAvenue South at King Street.Courtesy, Dan KerleeIn the summer of 1901, an estimated two thousand people ferried and a comparablenumber traveled by private boat every day to Alki Beach and its adjoining amusementpark—Luna Park, which had a natatorium. By 1909 Chadwick had seen “everything . . .from log camps costing many thousands of dollars, to the cheapest kind of loneliest tents.Farms have been invaded.” Another observer described the scene: “For three solid milesshacks and camps and cottages are so near together that it practically amounts to one solidblock.”The park board had acquired a number of smaller parcels of land, either bydonation or purchase. Nothing linked them together, however, until the commissionersdecided in 1903 to contract with Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Massachusetts—theforemost landscape architectural firm in the country—to develop a comprehensive plan.The Olmsteds urged the commissioners to acquire as much land as possible that had viewsof the water, mountains, and woodlands, but cautioned them that the plan might have to beimplemented piecemeal.Like the pavilion at Madison Park this grand structure at Leschi Park served many tastes but most often it wasvariety, theatre, and concerts—sometimes with dancing. When overlooked by policy, liquor was also servedwithin these protected walls away from the canoes, gardens, and waterside promenades outside.