Magnuson Park (Seattle)

Magnuson Park is a 350 acre (140 ha) park on Sand Point at Pontiac Bay, Lake Washington, in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The park is the second largest in Seattle after 534 acre (220 ha) Discovery Park in Magnolia. Sand Point is the peninsula with Pontiac and Wolf bays that juts into Lake Washington, map [http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/public/nmaps/html/NN-0004S.htm] .cite web
last =
first =
date =n.d., map .jpgdated 2002-06-14
year =
month =
url =http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/public/nmaps/html/NN-0004S.htm
title ="Area 4"
work =Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas
publisher =Office of the Seattle City Clerk
accessdate =2006-04-21
Area 4 is the un-named greater Sand Point area of northeast Seattle.] .

Sand Point-Magnuson Park

The first park at Sand Point was established in 1900 as Carkeek Park, a gift from developers Mr. and Mrs. Morgan J. Carkeek. After World War I, a movement was begun to build an air station at Sand Point, and King County began acquiring surrounding parcels. In 1922 the Navy began construction on the site, which it was leasing from the county, and in 1926 the Navy was deeded the convert|413|acre|km2|sing=on field outright. This amounted to a public gift of $500,000 from the county to the Navy, in 1926 dollars; this would be $5,283,000 in 2005 dollars, not including significant real estate appreciation. [cite web
last =Sahr
first =Robert
coauthors =
date =25 May 2006, minor corrections to revision 12 April 2006
year =
month =
url=http://oregonstate.edu/dept/pol_sci/fac/sahr/sahr.htm
title ="Inflation Conversion Factors for Dollars 1665 to Estimated 2016"
work =
publisher =Oregon State University
accessdate =2006-07-21
See Wedgwood, Seattle, Washington#Bibliography for complete citation.] The Seattle Chamber of Commerce—a commercial entity—had done the same thing for the Army 28 years before with Fort Lawton, much of which is now Discovery Park. Fifty to eighty years later, the city has these two spectacular parks rather than urban development in their stead.

In 1970 the airfield shut down, and negotiations began as to who would receive the surplus property. In 1975 a large portion of the Navy's land was given to the City of Seattle and to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The city's land was largely developed as a park and named Sand Point Park. In 1977, it was renamed Magnuson Park in honor of Washington Senator Warren G. Magnuson. Both names are in use. Fourteen years later, in 1991, the naval installation closed completely, and the remaining land was divided among several entities including the city.

Sand Point provides habitat for the second richest bird habitat of any park in Seattle, with 170 species reported. In addition, Magnuson Park today features several sports fields, a picnic area, a swimming beach, public sailboating, [cite news
first =Greg
last =Johnston
author =
coauthors =
url =http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/83648_sail22.shtml
title =Sand Point program makes boating accessible to youngsters of all backgrounds
work =Outside
publisher =Seattle Post-Intelligencer
pages =
page =
date =2002-08-22
accessdate =2006-04-21] many paths for walking and bicycling, a dog park or off-leash dog area and "Kite Hill", a large grassy man-made hill that was made from pieces of the old aircraft runway. Vehicle access includes boat launch ramps and large parking lots for cars, trucks, and boat trailers. As of Fall, 2005, the City of Seattle has a development plan that features a large sports field complex of approximately ten fields, with seven to be well lit, and this plan has encountered opposition from neighborhood groups, environmental and park advocates.

The park also has a history of unofficial clothing-optional use since the mid 1970s. Sporadic and quiet use is in the northeast part of the Park, east of NOAA. Long-term volunteer efforts continue toward enhancing safe and legal use. Magnuson Beach Bares as MagnusonBeach.org has recently begun posting organized events for these purposes (August 2006). Magnuson Park is one of about two dozen locations in Seattle. [ (1) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =2006-09-03
year =
month =
url =http://MagnusonBeach.org
title ="Magnuson Beach Bares"
publisher =naked.wikia.com as MagnusonBeach.org
accessdate =2006-09-03
Redirects to [http://naked.wikia.com/wiki/Magnuson_Beach_Bares naked.wikia.com Magnuson Beach Bares]
(2) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =2006-08-19 | year =
month =
url =http://naked.wikia.com/wiki/Magnuson_Beach_Bares
title ="Magnuson Beach Bares"
work =Home > Regional info > Pacific Northwest > Puget Sound places > Seattle > Seattle beaches > Magnuson Beach Bares
publisher =
accessdate =2006-08-21
(2.1) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =2006-08-07
year =
month =
url =http://naked.wikia.com/wiki/Puget_Sound_places#Magnuson_Park
title ="Puget Sound places: Magnuson Park"
work =Home > Regional info > Pacific Northwest > Puget Sound > places
publisher =
accessdate =2006-08-21
Initially retrieved on 2006-07-15; end URL changed.
(2.2) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =2006-07-24
year =
month =
url =http://naked.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
title ="Main Page"
work =Home
publisher =Work Less Party of British Columbia
accessdate =2006-08-21
"Welcome to the Naked wiki, a clothing-optional living encyclopedia that anyone can edit. In this wiki, started on Feb 21, 2006, we are currently working on 21 articles."
Note caveats regarding purpose.
NB: These are not formal .]

Sand Point

Sand Point is a peninsula that juts into Lake Washington between Wolf Bay and Pontiac Bay. It is occupied by Magnuson Park, parts of View Ridge, Windermere and gives its name to the Sand Point neighborhood to the west. Formerly the easternmost point was Naval Air Station-Sand Point; the former military base is now mostly public park with a portion occupied by NOAA and by city housing. [cite news
first =
last =
author =
coauthors =
url =http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2000/05/15/newscolumn4.html
title =Low-income housing readied at Sand Point
work =Real Estate Notebook
publisher =Puget Sound Business Journal
pages =
page =
date =2000-05-12
accessdate =2006-08-21]

The area has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). Prairie or tall grassland areas (anthropogenic grasslands) were maintained along what is now Sand Point Way NE (map [http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/public/nmaps/html/NN-0004S.htm] ), among numerous locations in what is now Seattle. [cite web
last =Talbert
first =Paul
coauthors =
date =2006-05-01
year =
month =
url=http://www.sewardpark.org/sewardpark/history.html
title ="SkEba'kst: The Lake People and Seward Park"
work =The History of Seward Park
publisher =SewardPark.org
accessdate =2006-06-06] The "Xacuabš" ("Xachua'bsh" or "hah-choo-AHBSH", "the People of the Large Lake", now of the Duwamish tribe) had the village of "TLEHLS" ("minnows" or "shiners") on the shores of what is now called Wolf Bay in Windermere, on Lake Washington south of "SqWsEb", now called Sand Point-Magnuson Park. "BEbqwa'bEks" ("small prairie"—anthropogenic grassland) was near what is now Windermere. One or three sizable longhouses have been documented. Villages were diffuse. [Village size appears indeterminate. Since native populations in the region crashed 1774-1874 [Burrows] , the discrepancy may simply be when in as little as a few decades. Forerunners of cohousing, each longhouse was home for tens of people.
(1) Dailey (2006-06-14) reports one longhouse, citing
(1.1) Buerge, David (1-7 August 1984). "Indian Lake Washington". "Seattle Weekly". and
(1.2) Waterman, T. T. (n.d.). "Puget Sound Geography". Washington, DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss.
(2) cite web
last =Dailey
first =Tom
date =2006-06-14
year =
month =
url=http://coastsalishmap.org/new_page_6.htm
title ="Duwamish-Seattle"
work= [http://coastsalishmap.org/start_page.htm "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound"]
publisher =
accessdate =2006-04-21
See Duwamish (tribe)#Bibliography for complete citation.
(3) cite web
last =
first =
coauthors =
date =2005-11-25 updated
year =
month =
url =http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/Magnuson/timeline/pre-euro.htm
title ="History - Pre-Euro American Settlement"
work =Magnuson Park
publisher =Seattle Parks and Recreation
accessdate =2006-04-21
Page reports place names and three longhouses, but cites no sources. ] These people may have been associated with the "hloo-weelh-AHBSH" of Union Bay. Just on the other side of Sand Point, the village of "too-HOO-beed" was of the "too-oh-beh-DAHBSH" extended family, near what is now called Thornton Creek at what is now Matthews Beach, so Sand Point was their shared "side yard". [Dailey (2006-06-14)]

See also

*The Sound Garden

References

Further reading

* Dolan, Maria and True, Kathryn (2003). "Wide Open Spaces: Sand Point Magunson Park" in "Nature in the city: Seattle", pp. 224–231. Seattle: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-879-3 (paperback)
* Walter, Sunny and local Audubon chapters (updated 10 February 2006). [http://www.nwlink.com/~sunnywww/WhereView-WNW-Birds-PugetSound.html "Sunny Walter's Washington Nature Weekends: Wildlife Viewing Locations - Greater Seattle Area"] . Retrieved 21 April 2006. Walter excerpted from Dolan, Maria & True, Kathryn (2003). "Nature in the city: Seattle". Seattle: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-879-3 (paperback).
[with additions by Sunny Walter and local Audubon chapters.]

External links

* [http://saveourpark.org/ Friends of Magnuson Park]
* [http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/magnuson/default.htm Magnuson Park] , Seattle Parks and Recreation
* [http://faculty.washington.edu/jtyoung/fins.html "The Fin Project"]