- Creating Cal Anderson Park by Kay Rood (historylink.org)
Cal Anderson Park, a beautifully renovated and expanded park on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, re-opened on September 24, 2005. Originally one of Seattle’s Olmsted-designed parks (named “Lincoln Park,”), it had by 1993 deteriorated into weeds, trash, and a graffiti-covered rest room, and was avoided by community members as a druggy and dangerous place. Kay Rood and the community organization Groundswell Off Broadway was a prime mover in the process of organizing to rebuild the park into a beautiful community asset with an undergrounded reservoir, a playground, community buildings, a water feature, paths, gardens, and benches. This is Kay Rood’s story of the long process of rebuilding the park, which is named for Cal Anderson, Washington’s first openly gay legislator.
- HistoryLink.org
HistoryLink.org is the continually evolving online encyclopedia of Washington state history. We provide a free, authoritative, and easily accessible reference for the benefit of all. With a few noted exceptions, all articles on this site are original works prepared exclusively for HistoryLink.org by staff historians, contract writers, volunteers, and consulting experts.