Hiawatha Playfield
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Template:Short description Template:Infobox park
Hiawatha Playfield (formerly West Seattle Playfield)[1] is a 10.3-acre public park and recreation center in the Admiral District of West Seattle, Seattle, Washington.[2][3] The park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers and dedicated in 1911.[1][4] 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.[5]
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.[6]
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.[5] Eleven preliminary landscape and grading plans were completed between 1910 and 1911.[7] Originally referred to as the West Seattle Playfield,Template:Sfn Park Commissioner Ferdinand Schmitz proposed naming the park after the hero of Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha.[8]
The then 11.317 park was dedicated in 1911 as the largest public playfield in Seattle.[9] Hiawatha was praised as a model recreation center in the Pacific Northwest.[8] The unified design incorporated "spaces for team sports, playground equipment, a fieldhouse, gymnastic apparatus, ... groves of trees and planting beds."Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn
In the 1930s, a running track was moved.Template:Sfn During World War II, the facility was temporarily repurposed by the War Department to quarter military officers and house troops in tents on the lawn.Template:Sfn[8] 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.[8]
In 1984, the playfield and community center complex were designated a City of Seattle Landmark.[5]Template:Sfn 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."Template:Sfn
The park underwent a renovation in 2009 that added artificial turf to a now larger ballfield and a new running track.Template:Sfn[10][11] It served as a gathering site for the 'We’re Still Standing' demonstration organized by West Seattle Indivisible in 2026.[12][13]
Facilities and features
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.[6]
- Main floor: Contains multi-purpose rooms for child care, youth programming, and classes.[6]
- 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.[6]
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).[6]
- Outdoor tennis courts.[14]
- Children's playground and seasonal wading pool.[15]
- Landscaped walking paths, picnic tables, and open lawn areas incorporating historic plantings.
See also
- Community centers in Seattle
- List of Olmsted works
- List of parks in Seattle
- List of Seattle landmarks
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hendrickson, Peter (2026). Emerald City Trail: A Walking Guide Through Seattle & Our Olmsted History. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 978-1-68051-888-7. OCLC 1609782912. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Emerald_City_Trail/k4z8EQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hiawatha+playfield&pg=PT196&printsec=frontcover.
- ↑ Commissioners, Seattle (Wash ) Park (1912) (in en). Report. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report/wfU4AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Hiawatha+playfield%22&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover.
- ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form". United States Department of the Interior (National Park Service). https://dahp.wa.gov/sites/default/files/WA_KingCounty_SeattleOlmstedParks_MPD_FINAL.pdf.
- ↑ Eals, Clay (2023-06-01). "At West Seattle's groundbreaking Hiawatha Playfield, the trees are key". The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/at-west-seattles-groundbreaking-hiawatha-playfield-the-trees-are-key/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Hiawatha Playfield". Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks. https://seattleolmsted.org/parks/hiawatha-playfield/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Hiawatha Community Center". Seattle Parks and Recreation. https://www.seattle.gov/parks/community-centers/hiawatha-community-center.
- ↑ The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm, 1857-1979 (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C: National Association for Olmsted Parks, National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. 2008. p. 79 at Job # 02715. ISBN 978-0-615-15543-2. OCLC 190396376. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89105768915.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Hiawatha Playfield History File". Seattle Municipal Archives. https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/CityArchive/Sherwood/HiawathaPF.pdf.
- ↑ [[[:Template:GBurl]] Tenth Annual Report of the Board of Park Commissioners]. Seattle, WA: Board of Park Commissioners. 1913. p. [[[:Template:GBurl]] 54]. Template:GBurl.
- ↑ "Hiawatha Turf Playfield is open" (in en). https://www.westsideseattle.com/robinson-papers/2009/12/19/hiawatha-turf-playfield-open.
- ↑ "FOLLOWUP: Hiawatha Playfield reopening after turf replacement" (in en-US). https://westseattleblog.com/2023/09/followup-hiawatha-playfield-reopening-after-turf-replacement/.
- ↑ "WEEKEND PREVIEW: 'We're Still Standing' march and rally in West Seattle on Saturday" (in en-US). https://westseattleblog.com/2026/01/weekend-preview-were-still-standing-march-and-rally-in-west-seattle-on-saturday/.
- ↑ "Minneapolis shooting fuels anti-ICE protests across Seattle area". January 24, 2026. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/minneapolis-shooting-anti-ice-protests-seattle/281-3f8af449-c9fe-4b60-b5bb-edcc8f7f7a13.
- ↑ "Hiawatha Playfield". https://parkmagnet.com/united-states/washington/seattle/hiawatha-playfield.
- ↑ Volk, David (2013-11-05) (in en). Cheap Bastard's® Guide to Seattle: Secrets of Living the Good Life—for Less!. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4930-0658-8. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Cheap_Bastard_s_Guide_to_Seattle/KLKsAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Hiawatha+playfield&pg=PA257&printsec=frontcover.
Sources
- Ott, Jennifer (2019). Olmsted in Seattle: Creating a Park System for a Modern City. Seattle: HistoryLink/Documentary Media LLC. ISBN 978-1-933245-56-0. OCLC 1158395222.