Hiawatha Playfield
| Hiawatha Playfield | |
|---|---|
| File:Seattle, August 2026 - 125.jpg | |
| Lua error in Module:Infobox_mapframe at line 118: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Interactive map of Hiawatha Playfield | |
| Type | Public |
| Location | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 47°34′44″N 122°23′10″W / 47.579°N 122.386°WCoordinates: 47°34′44″N 122°23′10″W / 47.579°N 122.386°W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. |
| Area | 10.3 acres |
| Opened | 1911 |
| Operated by | Seattle Parks and Recreation |
| Designation | Seattle Landmark (1984) |
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,[8] Park Commissioner Ferdinand Schmitz proposed naming the park after the hero of Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha.[9]
The then 11.317 park was dedicated in 1911 as the largest public playfield in Seattle.[10] Hiawatha was praised as a model recreation center in the Pacific Northwest.[9] The unified design incorporated "spaces for team sports, playground equipment, a fieldhouse, gymnastic apparatus, ... groves of trees and planting beds."[11] 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.[8]
In the 1930s, a running track was moved.[8] 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.[8][9] 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.[9]
In 1984, the playfield and community center complex were designated a City of Seattle Landmark.[5][8] 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."[12]
The park underwent a renovation in 2009 that added artificial turf to a now larger ballfield and a new running track.[8][13][14] It served as a gathering site for the 'We’re Still Standing' demonstration organized by West Seattle Indivisible in 2026.[15][16]
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Planting Plan for Hiawatha Park
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Hiawatha Playfield wading pool, 1912
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Hiawatha Playfield in 1913[17]
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.[18]
- Children's playground and seasonal wading pool.[19]
- 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. Search this book on
- ↑ Commissioners, Seattle (Wash ) Park (1912). Report. Search this book on
- ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior (National Park Service).
- ↑ Eals, Clay (2023-06-01). "At West Seattle's groundbreaking Hiawatha Playfield, the trees are key". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2026-09-12. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Hiawatha Playfield". Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks. Archived from the original on 2026-08-19. Retrieved 2026-08-18. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Hiawatha Community Center". Seattle Parks and Recreation. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
- ↑ Lawliss, Lucy; Loughlin, Caroline; Meier, Lauren, eds. (2008). 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. p. 79 at Job # 02715. ISBN 978-0-615-15543-2. OCLC 190396376 – via HathiTrust. Search this book on
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Ott 2019, p. 122.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Hiawatha Playfield History File" (PDF). Seattle Municipal Archives. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-04-15. Retrieved 2026-08-18. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Tenth Annual Report of the Board of Park Commissioners. Seattle, WA: Board of Park Commissioners. 1913. p. 54. Search this book on
- ↑ Ott 2019, p. 41.
- ↑ Ott 2019, p. 146.
- ↑ "Hiawatha Turf Playfield is open". Westside Seattle. Archived from the original on 2026-05-17. Retrieved 2026-09-12. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "FOLLOWUP: Hiawatha Playfield reopening after turf replacement". West Seattle Blog. Retrieved 2026-09-12.
- ↑ "WEEKEND PREVIEW: 'We're Still Standing' march and rally in West Seattle on Saturday". West Seattle Blog. Archived from the original on 2026-02-16. Retrieved 2026-09-12. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Minneapolis shooting fuels anti-ICE protests across Seattle area". king5.com. January 24, 2026. Retrieved 2026-09-19.
- ↑ Cotterill, Roland (May 1913). "Practical Types of Recreation Building". Park and Cemetery and Landscape Gardening. 23 (3): 76.
- ↑ "Hiawatha Playfield". ParkMagnet. Retrieved 2026-09-21.
- ↑ Volk, David (2013-11-05). Cheap Bastard's® Guide to Seattle: Secrets of Living the Good Life—for Less!. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4930-0658-8. Search this book on
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. Search this book on
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hiawatha Playfield. |
- Seattle Parks and Recreation: Hiawatha Community Center
- Seattle Parks and Recreation: Hiawatha Playfield
- Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks: Hiawatha Playfield
- "Hand drawn map of the Hiawatha P.F.". Don Sherwood Park History Sheets. Seattle Municipal Archives.
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![Hiawatha Playfield in 1913[17]](/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Hiawatha_Playfield_in_1913.png){kind=link}
