Site Report 3
The following link is an audiofile which will guide the user through the history of Block 51:
The images and maps below are in chronicological order according to when they are discussed in the audiotour.
Transcirpit of the audiofile:
The history of Block 51 begins most likely around 15,000 years ago according coastal migration theories and research on continental ice sheets when it is believed that the Pacific Northwest was first settled by human populations. By the time white settlers arrived in the area, millennia later, Seattle was primarily populated by the Duwamish with settlements on Lake Union and Portage Bay. Over the course of thousands of years Native Americans built complex societies and civilizations which were quickly destroyed in a period of under 200 years as demonstrated by our very own Block 51 (Burge 2017).
Although the Denny Party landed in what is today known as Alki in 1851, Block 51 was not occupied by white settlers until as early as 1866 when proprietors began purchasing tracts of land north of what is today 45th street. In 1855 the Federal government surveyed the Seattle area, dividing “township 25 North range 4 east” into several sections. Among these sections, an ordinance put forth by the Oregon Territory decreed that sections of each district must be allocated to the foundation of public schools. This decree paved the way for the reinstitution of the University (Lawson, 2014).
By the turn of the 20th century the University had been moved to its current location in the U District. With the movement of the university came a new demand for residential development in the area and connection of the area to the city of Seattle via the Streetcar. One of the earliest examples of this residential expansion on Block 51 was the house located at 4719 on 9th. In 1909 a man named George Rigg, a professor at the university, built the house and moved in with his family a year later. This house is one of the few remaining intact houses from that time period on the block (Seattle Historical Sites). This influx of residential homes put the neighborhood on the grid in terms of a necessity for public water and sewage services. According to Seattle Public Utilities the block was connected to the main water and sewage lines by 1911. At the same time, the philosophy of urban green space and public parks was beginning to take hold in American culture. With growing congestion, pollution, and urban expansion public parks became more and more desirable. Some of the most influential people in spreading this ideology were the Olmstead brothers. They were strong advocates for “the lungs of the city,” building New York City’s Central Park and Seattle’s very own University Playground. In 1903, in partnership with the Seattle Board of Park Commissioners the Olmstead brothers devised a comprehensive plan for Seattle’s public parks, of which Block 51’s University Playground was a part. By 1910 2.5 acres of land were officially set aside on Block 51 for the construction of the park (Seattle Municipal Archives Park History).
With the approach of the 1930’s came the nationwide Depression and subsequent New Deal. “Under relief efforts of the Public Works Administration, many public improvements were made in the University District during the 1930s” (Tobin; Sodt, 17) to build the infrastructure of the area but also to provide jobs. The University Playground was a part of this public improvement scheme. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC), a product of the New Deal, in conjunction with the Federal Housing Administration designed a map ranking the desirability of various Seattle neighborhoods. Block 51 was in a zone considered “still desirable” based on the conditions of the housing in the area and the incomes of the people living there. The HOLC describes the area as “almost 100% American” and “of moderate means”.
With the invention and widespread use of the automobile in the mid twentieth century came the need for the construction of a large thoroughfare. And as a result what is known today as Interstate 5 came to fruition. According to the University District Historic Survey Report by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, “The demolition and grading for the new Interstate 5 freeway began in the area in 1958. By 1963, the freeway was open from Mercer Street to NE 75th Street, and the highway between downtown Seattle and Everett was completed in 1965. Interstate 5 cut off the University District from the Latona and Wallingford neighborhoods to the west” (Tobin; Sodt, 19).
In more recent years moderate developments to the residential areas have been made with a few sites under construction currently. The University Playground also went through some renovations, most notably the 1983 addition of the Sasquatch sculpture designed by Rich Beyer which is still there today!