Gas Works Park History

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, Gas Works Park has become the city's landmark and a monument where people can be back to the memory land in the past when the industrial era started to become a citizen's part of life. The towers, pipes, and tanks are mingling around in the park as evidence that a great structure was ever made by mankind.

Early in the 20th century, the Seattle Gas Light Company start to purchase land on the shore of Lake Union which is used as an important trade hub some years before. And in 1906 the coal gas plant begins its operation and keep purchasing more land at the north shore.

On the other hand, Olmsted Brothers (a company which works on influential landscape architectural firm in United State) in 1903, recommended that the land between the northeast and northwest arms of the Lake Union should be used as a local park where the citizen can doing something fun while enjoying the view of the lake, boating, or playing at the playground.

After some decades supplied the gas for the households, the gas production was stopped to operate in 1956 but the remaining production structure is still kept in its place until, in 1962, the city of Seattle began to purchase the land.

Going through so many considerations and public discussions, the land was planned to be rebuilt as a public park which still using the original structure as the landmark. The man behind the master plan of Gas Works Park is Richard Haag.