FRIENDS OF SEATTLE'S OLMSTED PARKS

CELEBRATING OUR OLMSTED LEGACY

FSOP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Seattle's unique Olmsted landscape heritage
and raising awareness of the Olmsted philosophy of providing open space for all people.
2011 FSOP Tours
Please join us for a series of walking tours of Olmsted-designed parks and boulevards and a bike tour of Lake Washington Boulevard.
All tours begin at 10:00 a.m. (except September 17, see below)
and last approximately two hours.
DATE LOCATION MEET AT:
May 14 Green Lake Park North entrance of the Green Lake Community Center
June 4 Seward Park Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center
July 16 Interlaken Park Northwest entrance of the park, Interlaken Blvd. & Delmar Drive
August 20 Northern State Hospital
Sedro Woolley, WA		 Tour is FULL. See information below.
September 17 Hiawatha Playfield Community Center, second floor.
NOTE: Slide presentation at 11 a.m. followed by walking tour.
October 15 Colman Park Colman Park parking lot at Lake Washington Boulevard

2011
Northern State Hospital Tour

August 20, 2011

Map of Northern State Hospital Site

Program Flyer

Map

Past Events and Activies

2010
Washington State Capitol Events

February 27, 2010

Program Flyer


2009
Centennial Celebration of the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

FROM PAST TO FUTURE: The AYP Legacy on Campus
As the year-long celebration of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition centennial in 2009 drew to an end,
the Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks presented a forum about the future of the
Olmsted and AYP legacy on the UW campus.

Program Details

This program was free and open to the public and was made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Washington
and support from UW College of Built Environments and Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks

“The magnificent views of Mt. Rainier and other mountains and of Lake Union will, however, be by far the greatest features of the exposition and will be vividly remembered by most visitors when the best efforts of architects and landscape gardeners have been forgotten.” John Charles Olmsted,Alaska-Yukon Magazine - November 1906

 


Olmsted Legacy of the A-Y-P at
University of Washington Campus

Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks
Presented Free A-Y-P Walking Tours in 2009

invite

A web-based walking tour,
developed by the University of Washington,
may be viewed by clicking below.



Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks led monthly free walking tours to explore the Olmsted legacy of the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and the evolution of the University of Washington campus as part of the A-Y-P centennial.
The Olmsted Brothers, the renowned landscape architecture firm from Brookline, Mass., prepared
campus plans for the University and designed the layout and landscape for the 1909 A-Y-P Exposition.
The tours started with a slide presentation that gave an overview of the development of this legacy.
The first walking tour started at Cunningham Hall, one of the few remaining structures from the A-Y-P Exposition.
Cunningham Hall closed for moving to an new location on the campus, so tours subsequent tours started at the Burke Museum.

 

The A-Y-P centennial program of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks included walking tours, presentations,
and the Olmsted Legacy brochure which are made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Washington,
a state-wide non-profit organization supported by the National Endowments for the
Humanities, the state of Washington, and contributions from individuals and foundations.
The starting locations for the walking tours were provided courtesy of the UW’s
Cunningham Hall Women’s Center and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Program supported in part by a grant from

 

Additional Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks
Events for the A-Y-P Centennial

 

Step Back in Time
Dunn Gardens June 5 & 6, 2009

As part of the Dunn Gardens program, FSOP spoke on the Olmsted design of the A-Y-P grounds
and the tie to private estates and gardens.
Info: dunngardens.org

 

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Symposium
Historic Seattle/MOHAI/FSOP June 20 & 21, 2009

This symposium, hosted at MOHAI, set the stage for understanding the A-Y-P Exposition in the context of previous
and subsequent fairs and important nationwide civic and parks movements.
Info: historicseattle.org

The Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks produced an interpretive panel focused on the
planning of the A-Y-P grounds and the design of the landscape by the Olmsted firm.

FSOP also published a 12-page A-Y-P Centennial News with reprints of historic newspaper articles on the development
of the Olmsted plans for Seattle’s park system and the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition. The Centennial News will be
available at various venues throughout the centennial year including the University of Washington Visitors Center.
A PDF of the first two pages may be viewed by clicking the thumbnails.

1 2

Current Issues

Friends of Seattle Olmsted Parks is Recruiting New Board Members
The Board of Friends of Seattle Olmsted Parks (FSOP) is currently looking for new board members.
Candidates should have a strong background in landscape architecture, planning, historic and cultural preservation
or horticulture. For those who are interested in stewardship of Seattle's landscape heritage with a particular
focus on Seattle's park system and in building the awareness of our Olmsted legacy both public and private,
please contact Brooks Kolb at 206-324-0858, brooks@brookskolbllc.com

Upcoming Resources
We are currently working on the FSOP web pages. If there is specific information you would like to see on
our website, please let us know. Click here to send an email to the webmaster.

We plan to develop pages including:

 Contact FSOP
We would love to hear from you about any ideas for projects in your local neighborhood Olmsted landscapes!
Click Here to contact us about being added to our mailing list or to request specific printed materials.

Recent Projects and Archives


Olmsted Bike Tour Maps

2003 Olmsted Centennial Celebration

1903-2003
Celebrating 100 years of Seattle's Olmsted Legacy...
and planning for the century to come!

Over 75 partner and sponsor organizations came to gather to host a fantastic year of lectures, tours, conferences, walks and projects.

For information about the cenetennial and to see our list of partners and sponsors, please click below.

For copies of printed materials and press pieces, please contact FSOP

 

2003 NAOP NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Seattle, April 30th - May 4th, 2003
Our Olmsted Legacy:
Learning from the Past, Inspiring the Future

FSOP hosted the National Association for Olmsted Parks national conference here in Seattle. It was a huge success with over 200 local and national participants turning out to discuss and envision the future of parks and open space in the Puget Sound region and across the country.

(For information about the conference,
please click on the link below)

To request conference information, contact FSOP