Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City

In the midst of galloping growth at the turn of the twentieth century, Seattle's city leaders seized on the confluence of a roaring economy with the City Beautiful movement to hire the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to design a park and parkway system. Their 1903 plan led to a supplemental plan, a playground plan, numerous park and boulevard designs, changes to park system management, and a ripple effect, as the Olmsted Brothers were hired to design public and private landscapes throughout the region. The park system shaped Seattle's character and continues to play a key role in the city's livability today.

Jennifer Ott is an environmental historian and assistant director of HistoryLink. She has served on the board of the Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks and the Volunteer Park Trust steering committee and is the coauthor of Waterway: The Story of Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal.