As part of the planning process we are developing Themes and Goals and Topics around which the interpretation and exhibiting of maritime heritage can be created.  This structure o f this chain of ideas  outlined below goes from broad, big ideas to the specific and implementable.  

Themes: Big ideas, Overall goals to be communicated.
Goals: What we want the communication with the community to accomplish.
Topics: Programs and physical manifestations. (To be determined)

Below you will find the first draft of these themes and goals.  We hope that you will consider these ideas and submit you comments and ideas by using the comment button at the bottom of this posting.  

Draft Themes:

Big Idea: Union of communities around the lake.
Draft Theme:  A diverse community tied together by lake.

Big Idea: Union of experiences across time.
Draft Theme:  A vital part of the history of the city and its development can be traced to the changes over    time at Lake Union
 
Big Idea: Union of land and water (Maritime)
Draft Theme:  In a city made up of water and land, Lake Union was/is a critical part of moving people and  things around.

Big Idea: Union of human and natural world
Draft Theme:  We have a choice of how to care for our lake and its surroundings.

Draft Goals:

• Relax have fun and be enriched by the information they learn. (feel welcomed)
• Do activities that spark their interest in the messages we want to convey
• Take advantage of physical site lines and gain insight to present and historic places an events
  
• Make personal connection to the community, to the past, and to shaping the future.
• Be invited to learn maritime skills
• Have their experience at Lake Union Park extended by the interpretive stations(make the park bigger than it is physically)
  

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

Houseboats 

It’s ridiculous to think that a small lake in the center of a vibrant city could serve as an international airport. Its just as impossible to believe that a colony of 450 floating homes could exist on a lake that is not only a runway for seaplanes but is densely ringed with tall commercial and laboratory research buildings.  Except in Seattle, residential neighborhoods are tucked into quiet corners and include playground, schools, and retail stores.  Lake Union has probably the greatest diversity of waterfront and on water uses in America. 

Continue reading "Houseboats - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

The Boat Shops

Continue reading "The Boat Shops - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

Lake Union, the Airport

William Boeing was a timber-wealthy young man with a lot of curiosity about the many new industrial age technologies.  He took a joy ride with a local airplane barn-stormer in 1915.  He was so intrigued about flying machines he went to Los Angeles, took flying lessons there and bought a Martin biplane with pontoons, which he shipped back to Seattle.  The joy of his new toy prompted Boeing to build a wooden post and truss, cedar siding airplane hanger at the foot of Roanoke St. on the east side of Lake Union.  It was painted red with white trim.  The hanger or “seaplane station” as Boeing called it was built on pilings.  There were high doors on the lake side and a ramp the full water side length of the building that sloped gently from the floor to a few feet below lake level.  A trolley rolled up and down the ramp to launch and retrieve the seaplanes.  There was room for three planes.  This building with names of the pilots on the landside lockers was still on its site until the late 1960’s when it was torn down to build a restaurant and marina.   

Continue reading "Lake Union, the Airport - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

The Wedding Plan

Some cities reach a level of development and never change.  Venice looks the same today as it did 500 years ago.  The newest building in Venice’s Piazza de Marco was completed in 1492.  Seattle, however, has never stopped changing since the first huddle of log cabins in 1851.  In the 1890’s R.H. Thompson, Seattle’s first city engineer put together the foundation of growth from a pioneer settlement to a cosmopolitan city.  Thompson flattened some of Seattle’s precipitous hills, installed a water and sewer system for a population of 400,000, a road system and purchased thousand of acres for parks and playgrounds. 

Continue reading "The Wedding Plan - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

Birth of a Metropolis

Seattle is a very young city, only a bit over 150 years old. Even so, it has attained a long history of colorful individuals and impossible dreams. However, the underlying character of Seattle, in spite of its many utopians and schemers has been capitalism. 

Continue reading "Birth of a Metropolis - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

Birth of Industry

In March of 1852, Chief Seattle’s imposing canoe glided onto the Piner Point beach, City of Seattle. The arrival drew in the whole community as the paddlers were singing a canoe song and thumping their paddles on the cedar canoe. In the stern seat of honor were the noble chief and a dapper white man, David Maynard, M.D.

Maynard’s arrival as a guest of Seattle, the Chief, was exciting to the settlers because the doctor wanted to establish a practice, a drug store, and an operation to salt and pack salmon for the San Francisco market. This would double the City of Seattle’s commercial portfolio.

Continue reading "Birth of Industry - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

Founding Seattle

At 8:00am on the dark, drippy day of November 13, 1851, the 65’ schooner Exact, out of Portland, Oregon Territory, dropped anchor off Alki Point, Washington Territory. The longboat carried 10 adults, 12 children and their supplies to a wide gravel beach. They saw a roofless log cabin and encampment of about 100 Indians, mostly naked and mostly anointed with shark oil.

Continue reading "Founding Seattle - By Dick Wagner" »

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The first step in the Transportation grant project is to document and identify the unique history and stories of Lake Union that could be shared through exhibits and interpretative activities.

The founder of The Center from Wooden Boats, Dick Wagner, is documenting many of the compiling stories and the history of Lake Union, from his unique perspective of living and working on Lake Union for over three decades.  These narratives are in draft form, and should be considered a work in progress.  We welcome any thoughts, comments or stories you may have.

The Lake 

Lake Union is an urban planner’s dream.  Hidden by the hills of our city is a deep, clean and weather protected lake in the middle of Seattle, connected to the inner sea of Puget Sound on one side and on the other side, two lakes, nestled between ridges of greenery.  Both the salt and fresh water neighbors have sensitively developed shorelines.  There is probably no other city core area that can compare with Lake Union.

Continue reading "Lake Union - By Dick Wagner" »

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Early in 2006 a an ad Hoc committee was formed to develop a project to identify key archival collections of Maritime history in the Northwest.  This effort has been led by Jodee Fenton of the Seattle Public Libray and Betsy Davis of The Center for Wooden Boats

 You can read about the project in this meeting announcement from January of this year:

About the Collections Survey

 To date 29 organizations have responded to this survey, their contact details and information from the responses will be posted shortly.

 If your organization would like to be included in this survey please take some time to complete the survey at the link below.

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As part of the brainstorming process Dick Wagner and Lorraine McConaghy have asked questions to help direct their research. 

To see the questions, select the "Extended Entry".  If you have any other questions that you believe should be researched, or ideas of source material that would be helpful for answering these questions, please contact us via email or using the comment field below.

Continue reading "Guiding Questions for Historical Research" »

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"When I was a little girl, I first saw Lake Union, surrounded by giant trees.  There were deer runs and bear trails, and my parents warned me of cougars that lay on the branches of firs and cedars.  I heard the cry of a cougar one night, and it sent chills racing over me."

Sophie Frye Bass, When Seattle Was a Village, 1947

Do you have a great quote about Lake Union or its Maritime History, from your readings? Please submit any to history@cwbplan.org  or tell us about it in the "comments" link below.

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"I remember when Lake Washington fell, when they opened the Ship Canal.  That was quite a day for the white people at least.  The waters just went down, down, until our landing and canoes stood dry, and there was no Black River at all.  There were pools, of course, and the struggling fish were trapped in them.  People came from miles around, laughing and hollering and stuffing fish into gunny sacks."

-Joseph Moses, from Sato

Do you have a great quote about Lake Union or its Maritime History, from your readings? Please submit any to history@cwbplan.org  or tell us about it in the "comments" link below. 

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As part of the process of determining how to provide interpretation of the Maritime History of Lake Union, Seattle and The Pacific Northwest, Dick Wagner, CWB's founding Director and Lorraine McConaghy, MOHAI Historian, have been working to identify key historic themes for continued research. 

Please see the extended content below, and should you have any ideas for further themes or sub-themes please feel free to email us or submit your comments by selecting the comment link below.  

Continue reading "Historic Themes - Draft Ideas" »

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