The longest and most significant boulevard in John Charles Olmsted’s Seattle Park System, Lake Washington Boulevard extends six miles, linking nine Olmsted Parks together. First proposed in Olmsted Brothers’ 1903 report, they recommended the Boulevard stretch beyond Seattle’s limits towards water.
John Charles observed that a nearby street “is laid out on a succession of straight lines,... resulting in an extremely ugly route for a pleasure drive, and this street is apparently pushed out so close to the water line, and in some cases even beyond it, that scarcely a single one of all the beautiful trees which now fringe the lake, not to mention the important undergrowth, could be preserved. It would scarcely be possible to solve the problem in a more hideous manner than has been done in this case."
During the planning stages of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Lake Washington Boulevard was intended to serve as the vehicular entry to the Exposition grounds, showcasing the beauty of Seattle’s scenery along Lake Washington.
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service