View source for Hiawatha Playfield

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<!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->{{Short description|Park in Seattle, Washington, U.S.}}
{{Infobox park
| name            = Hiawatha Playfield
| image           = Seattle, August 2026 - 125.jpg
| map_caption     = Interactive map of Hiawatha Playfield
| type            = Public 
| mapframe          = yes
| mapframe-zoom     = 15
| location        = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], U.S.
| area            = 10.3 acres
| opened          = {{Start date and age|1911}}
| operator        = [[Seattle Parks and Recreation]]
| designation     = Seattle Landmark (1984)
| coordinates     = {{Coord|47.579|N|122.386|W|type:landmark_region:US-WA|display=inline,title}}
}}

'''Hiawatha Playfield''' (formerly '''West Seattle Playfield''')<ref name="Hendrickson 2026">{{Cite book |last=Hendrickson |first=Peter |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Emerald_City_Trail/k4z8EQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hiawatha+playfield&pg=PT196&printsec=frontcover |title=Emerald City Trail: A Walking Guide Through Seattle & Our Olmsted History |year=2026 |publisher=Mountaineers Books |publication-place=Seattle, WA |isbn=978-1-68051-888-7 |oclc=1609782912}}</ref> is a 10.3-acre public park and recreation center in the [[Admiral District, Seattle|Admiral District]] of [[West Seattle]], [[Seattle]], Washington.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Commissioners |first=Seattle (Wash ) Park |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report/wfU4AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Hiawatha+playfield%22&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover |title=Report |date=1912 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form |url=https://dahp.wa.gov/sites/default/files/WA_KingCounty_SeattleOlmstedParks_MPD_FINAL.pdf |publisher=United States Department of the Interior (National Park Service)}}</ref> The park was designed by the [[Olmsted Brothers]] and dedicated in 1911.<ref name="Hendrickson 2026"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Eals |first=Clay |date=2023-06-01 |title=At West Seattle's groundbreaking Hiawatha Playfield, the trees are key |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/at-west-seattles-groundbreaking-hiawatha-playfield-the-trees-are-key/ |access-date=2026-09-12 |newspaper=The Seattle Times |archive-date=2023-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013023232/https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/at-west-seattles-groundbreaking-hiawatha-playfield-the-trees-are-key/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The community center building located on the east side of the playfield is recognized as the oldest municipal community center building west of the Mississippi River. The site was designated an official Seattle Landmark in 1984.<ref name="olmsted">{{cite web |title=Hiawatha Playfield |url=https://seattleolmsted.org/parks/hiawatha-playfield/ |publisher=Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks |access-date=2026-08-18 |archive-date=2026-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260819031715/https://seattleolmsted.org/parks/hiawatha-playfield/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Hiawatha Playfield is located along California Avenue SW, immediately north of [[West Seattle High School]] and within walking distance of the Admiral District commercial core.<ref name="seattlegov">{{cite web |title=Hiawatha Community Center |url=https://www.seattle.gov/parks/community-centers/hiawatha-community-center |publisher=Seattle Parks and Recreation |access-date=2026-08-18}}</ref>

== History ==
Following the 1907 annexation of West Seattle, landscape architecture firm [[Olmsted Brothers]] recommended acquiring a 10.3-acre tract of second-growth forest in their 1908 park system expansion report.<ref name="olmsted" /> Eleven preliminary landscape and grading plans were completed between 1910 and 1911.<ref name="Lawliss, Loughlin & Meier 2008">{{cite book |editor-last1=Lawliss |editor-first1=Lucy |editor-last2=Loughlin |editor-first2=Caroline |editor-last3=Meier |editor-first3=Lauren |title=The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm, 1857-1979 |publisher=National Association for Olmsted Parks, National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site |publication-place=Washington, D.C |edition=2nd |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-615-15543-2 |oclc=190396376 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89105768915?urlappend=%3Bseq=101%3Bownerid=13510798901247604-109 79] at Job # 02715 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89105768915 |via=[[HathiTrust]]}}</ref> Originally referred to as the West Seattle Playfield,{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}} Park Commissioner Ferdinand Schmitz proposed naming the park after the hero of [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow's]] poem ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''.<ref name="sherwood">{{cite web |title=Hiawatha Playfield History File |url=https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/CityArchive/Sherwood/HiawathaPF.pdf |publisher=Seattle Municipal Archives |access-date=2026-08-18 |archive-date=2026-04-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260415231855/https://seattle.gov/documents/Departments/CityArchive/Sherwood/HiawathaPF.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The then 11.317 park was dedicated in 1911 as the largest public playfield in Seattle.<ref name="10th annual report">{{cite book |title=Tenth Annual Report of the Board of Park Commissioners |year=1913 |publisher=Board of Park Commissioners |publication-place=Seattle, WA |url={{GBurl|id=p_U4AQAAMAA}}|page=[{{GBurl|id=p_U4AQAAMAAJ|pg=PA5}} 54]}}</ref> Hiawatha was praised as a model recreation center in the Pacific Northwest.<ref name="sherwood" /> The unified design incorporated "spaces for team sports, playground equipment, a fieldhouse, gymnastic apparatus, ... groves of trees and planting beds."{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=41}} The park included a ballfield, a double tennis court, an outdoor gymnasium, a wading pool for older children, a playground for smaller children, and benches. Much of the park perimeter had paths and landscaping.{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}}

In the 1930s, a running track was moved.{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}} During [[World War II]], the facility was temporarily repurposed by the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] to quarter military officers and house troops in tents on the lawn.{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}}<ref name="sherwood" /> In 1948, Seattle voters passed a bond issue that funded the remodeling of the field house and the addition of a full-size gymnasium, which reopened in 1949.<ref name="sherwood" />

In 1984, the playfield and community center complex were designated a City of Seattle Landmark.<ref name="olmsted" />{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}} On May 31 of that same year, the Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks and the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation cosponsored the first event celebrating of the Olmsted legacy in Seattle at Hiawatha Playfield, followed by a national conference highlighting "Olmsted Parks of the West."{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=146}}

The park underwent a renovation in 2009 that added artificial turf to a now larger ballfield and a new running track.{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=122}}<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |last3= |last4= |first4= |last5= |first5= |last6= |first6= |last7= |last8= |first8= |last9= |first9= |title=Hiawatha Turf Playfield is open |url=https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson-papers/2009/12/19/hiawatha-turf-playfield-open |access-date=2026-09-12 |website=Westside Seattle |language=en |archive-date=2026-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260517025602/https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson-papers/2009/12/19/hiawatha-turf-playfield-open |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FOLLOWUP: Hiawatha Playfield reopening after turf replacement |url=https://westseattleblog.com/2023/09/followup-hiawatha-playfield-reopening-after-turf-replacement/ |access-date=2026-09-12 |website=West Seattle Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> It served as a gathering site for the 'We’re Still Standing' demonstration organized by West Seattle Indivisible in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WEEKEND PREVIEW: 'We're Still Standing' march and rally in West Seattle on Saturday |url=https://westseattleblog.com/2026/01/weekend-preview-were-still-standing-march-and-rally-in-west-seattle-on-saturday/ |access-date=2026-09-12 |website=[[West Seattle Blog]] |language=en-US |archive-date=2026-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260216090215/https://westseattleblog.com/2026/01/weekend-preview-were-still-standing-march-and-rally-in-west-seattle-on-saturday/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="King5 2026">{{cite web |title=Minneapolis shooting fuels anti-ICE protests across Seattle area |website=king5.com |url=https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/minneapolis-shooting-anti-ice-protests-seattle/281-3f8af449-c9fe-4b60-b5bb-edcc8f7f7a13 |date=January 24, 2026 |access-date=2026-09-19}}</ref>

{{Gallery
|title=Early 20th century
|File:Planting Plan for Hiawatha Park (cropped).tif|Planting Plan for Hiawatha Park
|File:Hiawatha Playfield wading pool, Seattle, 1912.jpg|Hiawatha Playfield wading pool, 1912
|File:Hiawatha Playfield in 1913.png|Hiawatha Playfield in 1913<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cotterill |first=Roland |title=Practical Types of Recreation Building |journal=Park and Cemetery and Landscape Gardening |volume=23 |issue=3 |date=May 1913 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924066365101?urlappend=%3Bseq=140%3Bownerid=120249281-150 76]}}</ref>
}}

== Facilities and features ==
[[File:Seattle - Hiawatha Community Center.jpg|thumb|Hiawatha Community Center, 2008]]The park and community center offer a wide range of recreational amenities:

Community Center
* Top floor''':''' Features an auditorium and stage, along with a galley kitchenette.<ref name="seattlegov" />
* Main floor''':''' Contains multi-purpose rooms for child care, youth programming, and classes.<ref name="seattlegov" />
* Lower level''':''' Houses a full-size gymnasium utilized for adult and youth sports (such as table tennis, basketball, and volleyball), toddler playtimes, and community athletic leagues, alongside fitness facilities.<ref name="seattlegov" />
Playfield
* Full-sized synthetic athletic fields for soccer, football, and baseball, complete with an all-weather running track (jointly used with adjacent [[West Seattle High School]]).<ref name="seattlegov" />
* Outdoor tennis courts.<ref name="ParkMagnet">{{cite web |title=Hiawatha Playfield |website=ParkMagnet |url=https://parkmagnet.com/united-states/washington/seattle/hiawatha-playfield |access-date=2026-09-21}}</ref>
* Children's playground and seasonal wading pool.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Volk |first=David |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cheap_Bastard_s_Guide_to_Seattle/KLKsAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hiawatha+playfield&pg=PA257&printsec=frontcover |title=Cheap Bastard's® Guide to Seattle: Secrets of Living the Good Life—for Less! |date=2013-11-05 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4930-0658-8 |language=en}}</ref>
* Landscaped walking paths, picnic tables, and open lawn areas incorporating historic plantings.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Washington (state)}}

* [[Community centers in Seattle]]
* [[List of Olmsted works]]
* [[List of parks in Seattle]]
* [[List of Seattle landmarks]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
<!--{{sfn|Ott|2019|p=}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Ott |first=Jennifer |title=Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City |publisher=HistoryLink/Documentary Media LLC |publication-place=Seattle |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-933245-56-0 |oclc=1158395222}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category| Hiawatha Playfield}}
* [https://www.seattle.gov/parks/community-centers/hiawatha-community-center Seattle Parks and Recreation: Hiawatha Community Center]
* [https://www.seattle.gov/parks/parks/hiawatha-playfield Seattle Parks and Recreation: Hiawatha Playfield]
* [https://seattleolmsted.org/parks/hiawatha-playfield/ Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks: Hiawatha Playfield]
* {{cite archive |item =Hand drawn map of the Hiawatha P.F. |item-url=https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/CityArchive/Sherwood/HiawathaPF.pdf |type= |item-id= |date= |page= |pages= |fonds= |series= |file= |box= |collection=Don Sherwood Park History Sheets |collection-url=https://www.seattle.gov/city-archives/search-collections/don-sherwood-park-history-sheets |repository= |institution=Seattle Municipal Archives |location = |oclc= |accession= |via= |ref= }}
{{West Seattle, Seattle}}

[[Category:1911 establishments in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Community centers in the United States]]
[[Category:Frederick Law Olmsted works]]
[[Category:Parks established in the 1910s]]
[[Category:Parks in West Seattle, Seattle]]