History
The park site was originally planned by the State of Washington for state university use. In 1892, it was the site of a "pesthouse," or isolation hospital. In 1898, the land was sold to the city of Seattle, with plans to build a reservoir and a cemetery. In 1908, the park was named for Thomas Jefferson.
The Olmsted Brothers included the park in their comprehensive plan for Seattle parks, and designed the 18 hole golf course which opened in 1915.
During World War II, Jefferson Park contained anti-aircraft batteries, and was requisitioned by the U.S. Army for a G.I. recreation center, with recreation facilities, a gym, and tent housing for soldiers and visiting family.
In the post war years, the park returned to normal; the Army structures were mostly removed, though a new Veterans' Administration hospital was built on the site of the original 9-hole golf course. (A replacement 9-hole course was built elsewhere in the park.) A lawn bowling green and playgrounds were also constructed at this time.
This is also the home course of golfing great Fred Couples.
Read more about this topic: Jefferson Park (Seattle)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The myth of independence from the mother is abandoned in mid- life as women learn new routes around the mother—both the mother without and the mother within. A mid-life daughter may reengage with a mother or put new controls on care and set limits to love. But whatever she does, her child’s history is never finished.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“The history of medicine is the history of the unusual.”
—Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Prof. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll)