8476 HistoryLink.org articles now available.
Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.
4/24/2025
Urban Array
In 1903 the Seattle City Council forever changed the face of the city when it hired the Olmsted Brothers landscape-architecture firm of Brookline, Massachusetts, to develop a comprehensive plan for Seattle parks. John C. Olmsted – stepson of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed New York City's Central Park – arrived in Seattle on April 30, 1903, to begin work and was immediately given a whirlwind tour of the city.
Within five months, he submitted his plan – a 20-mile-long system of parks and playfields strung along scenic boulevards – and it was quickly and enthusiastically adopted. The city raised levies and spent $4 million to make much of Olmsted's plan a reality. Olmsted also prepared a design for the University of Washington campus, which was slated to become the fairgrounds for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909.
Over a 30-year period, the Olmsted Brothers firm designed 37 parks and playfields for Seattle, as well as a park plan for Spokane. During this time, they also designed more than 200 gardens for private-property owners in the Northwest. After John Olmsted's death in 1920, the firm continued to consult on Seattle projects until 1941, including the Washington Park Arboretum.
Commuter Dismay
On the evening of April 25, 1912, more than a dozen people relaxed in the waiting room of Seattle's Colman Dock, biding their time until the next ferry arrived. Some read newspapers, which carried stories about the big fire that had broken out at State Normal School at Cheney the day before, while others scanned the headlines looking for new information about the Titanic, which had sunk in the North Atlantic 10 days earlier.
Suddenly, a police patrolman who had been standing on the edge of the wharf ran inside and sounded an alarm. Everyone looked out the big windows and saw the ocean liner Alameda heading straight for them. The waiting passengers ran for their lives as the ship smashed into the building at such a high speed that it ripped through the wreckage and slammed into a sternwheeler, sinking it.
The dock's clock tower toppled onto the bow of the Alameda, then rolled off into the water, where it was found floating in Elliott Bay the next morning. Although no one was killed in the incident, it led to a greater tragedy three weeks later when a gangplank failed during the dock's reconstruction, injuring 58 and drowning two. After it was rebuilt, Colman Dock barely avoided another disaster two years later when its roof caught fire after a neighboring dock went up in flames.
April 29 marks the birthdays of three Washington communities. Issaquah incorporated as Gilman on April 29, 1892; Toppenish incorporated on April 29, 1907; and Brewster incorporated on April 29, 1910.
On April 30, 1910, electric interurban trains began to shuttle between Everett and Seattle. Some commuters ended up buying homes in communities like Shoreline, Edmonds, and Lynnwood, now that the towns were more accessible. By the time Highway 99 was completed in 1932, automobiles had become the preferred form of travel and the railway was abandoned in 1939.
On April 28, 1919, Seattle mayor Ole Hanson received a bomb in the mail, part of a nationwide plot by anarchists to attack politicians and well-known businessmen. Fortunately, it did not explode. The same can't be said for an aerial bomb that fatally injured Spokane pioneer aviator Major John T. Fancher on April 29, 1928, during a flight demonstration. Fancher had been instrumental in bringing the 1927 National Air Derby and Air Races to Felts Field.
On April 28, 1940, experimental-music pioneer John Cage debuted his "prepared piano" at Seattle's Repertory Playhouse. The instrument was augmented with screws, bolts, nuts, and leather strips that dampened the strings and produced a cacophony of sounds. Exactly 28 years later, thousands gathered in Duvall to witness an even stranger musical performance – the sound a piano would make when dropped from a helicopter.
On April 29, 1965, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck Western Washington, causing seven deaths – three from falling debris and four from heart failure. Many buildings were damaged throughout the region, including the State Capitol Building, the Fisher Flouring Mills, and UW's Meany Hall, which was built as an auditorium for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition but had to be demolished after the quake. Other consequences were minor, including a strange incident involving a goldfish that happened in Kirkland.
On April 26, 1987, the Washington Wine Commission was approved by the Washington State Legislature. Four months later, 12 people were named the commission's first members: five growers, one liquor wholesaler, and six winery operators led by Allen Shoup of Chateau Ste. Michelle, Dave Adair of Columbia Winery, and Mike Hogue of Hogue Cellars.
On April 26, 2016, a restored 83-year-old Boeing 247D airliner made its final flight from Paine Field to Boeing Field and is now on permanent display in the Museum of Flight.
"I think the landscape conditions in Seattle are remarkably fine. You have taken time by the forelock and purchased parks when the city was young."
–John C. Olmsted
