The old-growth gift of Schmitz Park is the gift that keeps on giving.
TRUE TO THE Seattle Public Works Department’s archival practices, the negative for this Alki Point subject is both numbered and dated. It is not of the revered point itself, to the west and behind the photographer, but rather of the forested ridge beyond, to the east. The photographer looks toward a horizon of view lots, but the landscape has not been developed beyond the row of sizable homes. Such is the gift and “natural monument” of Schmitz Preserve Park.
The park is named for Emma and Ferdinand Schmitz, who gave this old-growth slope with its own stream to the city. The Schmitzes rejected the proposal that the city purchase the land for fear their “green cathedral” might be parceled and sold.
With a little study we can easily name many of the surviving features in this “then” photo, but I am stumped on naming the elevated prospect from where it was recorded. The likeliest choices are a public-works bucket truck or truck-mounted ladder, or the Alki Bathhouse, which was directly across Alki Avenue. This photo is dated May 24, 1932, labeled simply “Schmitz Park.”
On the left stands the rustic post and gate spanning 59th Avenue Southwest. The Alki Park tennis court is seen behind it. The monumental gate was raised by the Schmitzes to mark the near-beach beginning of Schmitz Park Boulevard, which led to the park proper until it was closed to traffic in 1949. Four years later the worn arch was condemned.
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The photo’s date suggests another admittedly speculative “why” for the open-sky view in this photo. On that Tuesday, the Navy’s grandest dirigible, the USS Akron, at the time the largest airship in the world, made a nonstop, round-trip tour from California to Puget Sound. It entered Seattle over this ridge in the late morning. While we don’t see the cigar-shaped airship, we do note the morning shadows in our photo. Flying over the city’s business district, the Akron was greeted by a mighty noise of sirens and a great honking of horns. That afternoon it was top-of-the-front-page news in this newspaper: “AKRON SOARS OVER CITY.” A photograph followed on Wednesday, Page 8.