Tag: history

June 10, 2022

Thorness: Celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Lake Washington Bike Path

The Lake Washington Bike Path turns 125 this year! Or it would if it weren’t torn up in 1905 to build Interlaken Boulevard. Bill Thorness, author of “Cycling the Pacific Coast” and “Biking Puget Sound,” wrote a story for the Seattle Times about the history of the old path. Thorness also spoke with yours truly…
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tagged: bill thorness, history, interlaken, lake washington bike path, seattle times
April 13, 2022

On this day in 1949: The Green Lake path split open during a major earthquake

In researching my book, I came across this photo from April 13, 1949 showing large cracks in the Green Lake path. The 7.1 magnitude quake was centered between Tacoma and Olympia, but it caused significant damage at far at Oregon and British Columbia. Eight people were killed and many more injured as older buildings or…
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tagged: green lake, history, history link
March 28, 2022

Without waiting for outer loop path due this summer, Parks Department issues ‘long-term temporary’ ban on bikes at Green Lake

Without waiting for SDOT to complete its “outer loop” bike connection around Green Lake, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation banned biking from the popular lakeside trail. “This long-term temporary use restriction, which restricts all bicycles and other wheeled uses from the Green Lake Park inner loop (strollers and mobility devices are allowed), is…
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tagged: green lake, green lake outer loop, history, parks and recreation
October 11, 2021

Seattle’s first downtown bike path (1898)

I am briefly emerging from my work on my Seattle bike history book to post this map I found buried deep in the archives of The Argus, a weekly Seattle newspaper co-owned by an early Seattle bicycle booster. It’s a map of the bicycle path the city constructed in 1898 to help people connect to…
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tagged: argus, history
August 5, 2021

Watch: Searching for the 125-year-old Interlaken bike path

In 1896, Seattle city crews and a group of volunteers worked together to build a bike path from downtown to Lake Washington. They made it quickly, following the terrain around the north end of Capitol Hill to find the easiest route. They cleared the skinny path and dug as needed to make it mostly flat,…
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tagged: history, interlaken, videos
January 5, 2021

From the beginning, Seattle ‘jaywalker’ stings were used to arrest poor people

In the decade between 1924 and 1934, the number of people dying in traffic collisions in Seattle each year increased 250% from 48 to 121. About 70% of those killed were people walking. By the end of the 1930s, Seattle decided that something needed to change. So the city’s Traffic and Safety Council partnered with…
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tagged: history, jaywalking