Wright Park in the Seattle PI
The Seattle PI, in writing about the upcoming Wright Park Lecture Series, paints a beautiful picture of our large urban park. There’s enough interesting tidbits in the article that it should inspire you to go to the lecture. Did you know Wright Park has the largest sugar maple in the state? Or that Charles Wright hired Frederick Law Olmstead to design the park (although his design was never implemented). Now that the park is getting close to finishing its renovation, here’s a good chance to catch up on its history.
Link to the Seattle PI
Wright Park Lecture Series
“Wright Park Then and Now”
Robert Van Pelt of the University of Washington
Karpeles Manuscript Museum
March 20 – 6 pm
“An Oasis in the Great Desert of the City’s Paved Thoroughfares: Wright Park and the Two Natures of Tacoma 100 Years Ago”
Doug Sackman of the University of Puget Sound
Karpeles Manuscript Museum
April 17 – 6 pm
“Taking the Fear Out of Growing Orchids”
Ron Bollick of the Tacoma Orchid Society
May 1 – 6 pm
Filed under: General
10 comments
M morgan March 13, 2008
This series sounds interesting. I wish they wouldn’t have it at a non-family friendly times! 6pm is eat/bath/bed time for us.
A Andrew Campbell March 13, 2008
Funnily enough, Olmstead was hired to design the WHOLE CITY at one point. He set about doing it and had a desing completed before it was nixed by the brass at Northern Pacific in favor of a more cross-street friendly downtown core. The design got a lot of press and mixed reactions from citizens… Portland was scathing :)
A Andrew Campbell March 13, 2008
“Or that Charles Wright hired Frederick Law Olmstead to design the park”
I should clarify… that was the comment I was addressing. While Wright was ONE of the panel that hiredl Olmstead on the East coast, it wasn’t just him. The entire board of the Northern Pacific set about hiring someone to design the terminus city. Olmstead was never hired to design a park, rather the entire city. He actually had no hand in specific park design, but took more of an Urban Planning (we planners are proud to report)…
M michael buchanan March 13, 2008
If I remember Olmstead’s plan there are two streets that survived the plan, perhaps by accident rather than plan-Stadium Way and Jefferson Ave. Both of these follow the contours of the City as his plan did. Copies of his plan did survive. I am sure the Public Library has it available.
Michael
M morgan March 13, 2008
There’s a copy hanging on the wall at King’s Books. Very very interesting. I often wonder what the character of Tacoma would be like today if they would have used the plan. I have the feeling it would be quite different.
I ixora March 14, 2008
Also, once this .kmz file is loaded in GE you can increase/decrease the opacity of the overlay image (to more clearly see the text and design) by right clicking on the title “Olmsted’s Tacoma, 1873” in the “Temporary Places” folder in the “Places” section of the sidebar and selecting “Properties”. This will bring up a window with an opacity slider.
B broadweezy March 14, 2008
4 – I’ve heard the same comment about Jefferson and Stadium in an architecture class. After looking at a map it seems like St. Helens and Broadway might be survivor streets as well since they don’t really seem to fit in the with the grid pattern and they run along the slope sideways, following the street pattern in Olmstead’s plan.
T TheGulag March 14, 2008
Another interesting tidbit of history.
Charles Wright, the Northern Pacific president that rescued the railroad out of its first financial crisis, who had a great deal to do with the establishment of Tacoma as the N.P.‘s western terminus, who personally invested much into development of the city through the N.P. and its Tacoma Land Company, who donated the land for Wright Park, who established both a boys and girls seminary/academy in Tacoma, etc., etc., that great Philadelphia businessman, never visited Tacoma!
C Crenshaw Sepulveda March 14, 2008
The more things change….
“Charles B. Wright carried out a vendetta against the city of Seattle. The train schedule was manipulated for the explicit purpose of making any Seattle resident who wanted to take the train stay overnight in Tacoma. Wright went even so far as to forbid any mention of Seattle in the Northern Pacific literature encouraging migration to the Pacific Northwest.”
M Mofo from the Hood March 14, 2008
Me and my crew are still thankin’ that cat for puttin’ in a basketball court.