Gas Works ParkUrban Park

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http://www.theseattletraveler.com/files/2007/09/gas-works-park-on-lake-union.jpg

Terence, Megan, Brian, Stephen

Gas Works’ Past

• Lake Union’s industrial history– Sawmills– Coal– Ship building– Iron– Railroad

• Seattle Gas Light Company (1900)– 1906: Coal gas plant

opens

Bogue and Industrial Lake Union • Virgil Bogue

– Civil engineer• Proposed “Bogue Plan”: Would have been Seattle’s first

comprehensive plan • Argued that Lake Union should be an industrial area

– Located in the heart of the city

• The Olmstead Brothers– Landscape design firm

• Recommended that the area should be used for a park• Nice views, boating, playground, etc.

• Bogue Plan is rejected by voters– 1917: After canal and Ballard locks are open, Lake Union does

indeed become very industrial and Bogue’s dream was still achieved.

http://www.archive.org/stream/cyclopaediaofame08wilsuoft#page/146/mode/2up

Virgil Bogue

Seattle Gas Company

• Originally called the “Seattle Lighting Company”– Main product: illuminated gas used for lighting

• Made from coal• Used for cooking, refrigeration, heating homes and

water, etc.

– Name changed to Seattle Gas Company in 1930

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Switch From Coal to Oil

• 1937: Seattle Gas Company decides to manufacture their city gas from oil instead of coal– Too expensive to operate coal-to-gas generators

• Took them apart, replaced with oil-to-gas generators

http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20070914/450gasworks.jpg

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Facilities

• Storage tanks• Boiler house• Pump and compressors• Offices• Laboratories• Additional support

Gas Company’s Decline

• The plant’s number of customers decreased significantly from 1940-1954– Lost nearly 7,000 customers

• Seattle started importing natural gas in the 1950’s– Seattle Gas Company’s plant begins to fail

• Production of city gas is stopped in 1956

Transition of Seattle Gas Company to Gas Works Park

1960

Important Dates• 1956 Last year for production at Seattle Gas

Company• 1962 City of Seattle purchased the abandoned land

and structures for $1,340,000• 1970 Park development begins• 1971 Park Board approved Richard Haag Associates’

Master plan to preserve the grounds and structures on them in the form of a park

• 1972 Debt from purchasing the land is paid off• 1976 Gas Works Park (GWP) opens to the public

1966

Acquisition and Designer of the Sight

• The land and its structures were acquired with the help of Seattle Forward Thrust Bonds and help from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.).

• Richard Haag designed the master plan for the park, and presented his ideas and plans to the Seattle Park Board for approval.

• Richard Haag can is considered the most important individual in the transition of Seattle Gas company into a such a well know park that it is today. He noticed the value of the structures and the fact that they should and could be saved for future generations.

Richard Haag

• Wanted to keep the structures on the sight of the future park for their aesthetic value.

• His mindset was opposite from most during this time

• He was awarded the President’s award for Design Excellence given by American Society of Landscape Architects (ALSA) in 1981 for his work on GWP

Unique Design of GWP

• Much of the Rubble from the original building foundations at GWP was used to make the huge “Earth Mound”

• The pump house was converted to a “Play Barn”• The boiler house was converted to a picnic area• The sight had been contaminated through the years of

use, and as a result bioremediation was used throughout to varying degrees. (Various trees, plants, and a 18” of biomediated soil was used beneath the grass fields.)

• Stretch of railroad at the north end is now part of the Burke-Gilman trail that runs through the park.

Before...

1965

…After

• 1976 park opens• 1984 park was found to be contaminated,

temporarily closed• 1985 pollution covered with 1-foot cap of

clean soil• 2001 $4million cleanup• 2004 cleanup of NW corner• 2005 investigate sediment contamination

Pollution in the Park

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• 3,000 pounds of tar found in underground vein in NW corner

• Benzene burned off

Pollution

Oozing Tar• Tar works its way out of the ground

periodically – Golf ball to Softball size clumps– Weekly Park checks for oozing tar (summer

months)

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Benzene• Long term exposure:

– Decrease in red blood cells– Harmful effects to bone marrow – Can cause Leukemia

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• High levels of exposure:– Drowsiness – Rapid heart rate– Confusion– death

Naphthalene• Evaporates in air• Dissolves in water• Pass through soil• High Levels of exposure:

– Fatigue – Pale skin– Lack of appetite

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• Long term exposure:– Cancer in animals

Easily passed through soil/water, spreads throughout the Park and lake

Chemicals •Most underground plums of dangerous chemicals were removed burned off in 2001

•5.8 acres of clean soil top

•Chemicals still exists and pose threats to park goers, ecosystems, and Lake Union

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Pollution Today

• Current levels of Benzene and Naphthalene are bellow dangerous levels for humans

• Remain above the level harmful to the environment and groundwater

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Social Benefits of Gas Works Park

Remnants of the Old Gas Works

city-data.comtahinitoo.wordpress.com

Social Benefits of Gas Works ParkA large man-made hill

•Kite Flying

•Sundial

gasworksparkkiteshop.com zombiezodiac.com

Social Benefits of Gas Works Park

•Picnics

•Protests

•Concerts •Weddings

•Festivals

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Social Benefits of Gas Works Park

• View of downtown Seattle• Fourth of July fireworks

display

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Sources

• http://www.seattlepi.com/local/331605_gasworks14.html

• http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=293• http://www.washington.edu/research/showcase/1958a.

html• http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003

884047_gasworks14m.html

• http://www.seattlepi.com/local/331605_gasworks14.html