Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks Walking Tour: University of Washington Campus

Join the Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks on the final walking tour of Seattle’s Olmsted Brothers historic design legacy this summer!

Relocated from downtown northward to larger, less-developed acreage in 1895, the University of Washington consisted of just six buildings when the Olmsted Brothers firm prepared a general campus plan in 1903. John Charles Olmsted returned in 1906 to design the grounds for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), which attracted over three million people to Seattle (population 240,000) that year. Olmsted incorporated the campus into the overall city park system and encouraged the university’s regents to reserve part of the campus for public park uses. Today it is an important element of the city’s open space infrastructure.

Creating an elaborate park system was probably the furthest thought from their minds when the Denny party arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. All they could see through the rain were trees, more trees, and water. Building a home was far more important than building a place to play. And yet, just 33 years later Seattle had its first park and, 20 years after that, the city had a comprehensive plan for major parks and parkways that would rival any found in the United States.