Washington Park is a public park in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, most of which is taken up by the Washington Park Arboretum, a joint project of the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and the nonprofit Arboretum Foundation. Washington Park also includes a playfield and the Seattle Japanese Garden

Seattle Japanese Garden

The Seattle Japanese Garden is a 3.5 acre Japanese garden in Seattle, Washington, located in the southwest corner of the Washington Park Arboretum along Lake Washington Boulevard E....

 in its southwest corner. The entire length of Arboretum Creek

Arboretum Creek

Arboretum Creek is a stream in Seattle, Washington, USA, whose entire length of approximately lies within the boundaries of the Washington Park Arboretum. Its average channel width is and its average channel depth is ....

 is within the park.

To the north is Union Bay; to the west are Montlake

Montlake, Seattle, Washington

Montlake is an affluent residential neighborhood in central Seattle. It is bounded to the north by Portage Bay and the Montlake Cut section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, to the east by the Washington Park Arboretum, and to the south and west by Interlaken Park. Capitol Hill is on its south and...

 and Madison Valley

Madison Valley, Seattle, Washington

Madison Valley is a neighborhood in Seattle located east of Capitol Hill; west of Washington Park; south of Montlake; and north of the Central District.The valley is centered on the corner of E. Madison Street and Martin Luther King Jr...

; to the south is the Washington Park

Washington Park, Seattle, Washington

Washington Park is a neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington, named after the city park to its northwest. It is bounded on the east by 38th and 37th Avenues E...

 neighborhood; and to the east is the Broadmoor Golf Club

Broadmoor, Seattle, Washington

Broadmoor is a gated residential community of 85 acres and golf course of 115 acres in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is bounded on the west by the Washington Park Arboretum, on the south by E...

.

Lake Washington Boulevard E. runs north and south through the park, parallel to the creek. A secondary road, for most of its length named Arboretum Drive E. and for a short northern stretch named E. Foster Island Road, runs along the Arboretum's eastern edge. E. Interlaken Boulevard and Boyer Avenue E. run northwest out of the park to Montlake and beyond. State Route 520 cuts through Foster Island and the Union Bay wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s at the park's northern end, interchanging with Lake Washington Boulevard just outside the arboretum entrance. A foot path winds underneath the freeway overpasses and over boardwalks, along the Lake Washington ship canal, past the Museum of History and Industry, and into the gardens of the Arboretum.

The land upon Washington Park Arboretum has been developed is owned by the city, but the Arboretum is operated primarily by the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

.

History

Washington Park was developed on land that had been logged by the Puget Mill Company for sixty years. In 1920, the parcel was split in two. The eastern 200 acres (0.8 km²) were developed as the Broadmoor Golf Club

Broadmoor Golf Club

The Broadmoor Golf Club is a golf resort located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, consisting of three 18-hole courses; East, West, and Mountain. The East Course, a Donald Ross design opened in 1918, has hosted several USGA championships since 1959, most recently the 2011 U.S. Women's Open, won by So...

 by a group of businessmen that included E. G. Ames, general manager of Puget Mill. The western 230 were given to the city, who developed a park and arboretum on the site.

Highway construction impact

The potential impact of the recent plans to reconstruct and expand State Route 520 and replace the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge—Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge on Earth at and carries State Route 520 across Lake Washington from Seattle to Medina.The Evergreen Point of the bridge's original name is the westernmost of the three small Eastside...

 have raised concerns among Arboretum staff and park users. As the members of the Arboretum community noted in their collective letter to the Washington State Department of Transportation

Washington State Department of Transportation

The Washington State Department of Transportation , was established in 1905. The agency, led by a Secretary and overseen by the Governor, is a Washington governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of the state's transportation infrastructure...

, "Native plants, wetlands, and wildlife ... would be affected not only by the taking of land but by the looming shadows created by roadways in various proposals". Among the alternative proposals is the "Arboretum Bypass Plan," building the new elevated highway over Union Bay on a more northerly route than the current one.

See also

• List of botanical gardens in the United States
• North American Plant Collections Consortium
  North American Plant Collections Consortium
  The North American Plant Collections Consortium is a group of North American botanical gardens and arboreta that aims to improve the continent's living plant collections, and enhance the availability of plant germplasm...
  
  

External links

• Washington Park Arboretum: Center for Urban Horticulture, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington
• Japanese Garden
• Parks department: Washington Park Playfield
• Some photos in and around the arboretum
• History of Washington Park (and Arboretum), including several hand-drawn maps, on the site of the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.