page_title: Cascade, Seattle
section_title: Cascade Playground
hierarchical_section_title: Cascade, Seattle / Cascade Playground
caption_attribution_description: Restrooms at the northeast corner of the Cascade Playground in the Cascade neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, USA. These are the most prominent remaining WPA-built structures in the park. For more about these structures, see Summary for Harrison-Thomas St, Minor-Pontius AVE / Parcel ID 2467400335, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
context_page_description: Cascade is an urban neighborhood abutting Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States, located adjacent to South Lake Union. It is bounded by: Fairview Avenue North on the west, beyond which is the rest of the Cascade Neighborhood; the Interstate 5 interchange for Mercer St to the north, beyond which is Eastlake; Interstate 5 on the east, beyond which is Capitol Hill; and Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny Triangle. It is surrounded by thoroughfares Mercer Street, Fairview Avenue N. and Eastlake Avenue E., and Denny Way. The neighborhood, one of Seattle's oldest, originally extended much further: west to Terry Avenue, south to Denny Hill on the South, and east to Melrose Avenue E through the area now obliterated by Interstate 5. Some recent writers consider Cascade to omit the northern "arm", while others extend it westward to cover most of South Lake Union.
  Historic structures in Cascade Neighborhood include St Spiridon's Orthodox Cathedral, Immanuel Lutheran Church, and several defunct laundry blocks.
context_section_description: The Cascade Playground (now also known as Cascade Park), originally the playground of the now-demolished Cascade School, has two play areas, a wide field, a picnic table, and restrooms. The park is adjacent to an active community P-Patch (allotment garden). Improvements to the Cascade Playground play areas, field, and entrance were unveiled in spring 2005, financed by the Pro Parks Levy. Sharing a city block with the playground and P-Patch is the Cascade People's Center, a volunteer organization that partners with over 100 businesses, churches, organizations, and community groups to address advocacy for social and economic justice.
  By 1931, although most of this block had come to be owned by the City of Seattle or the School Board, a number of houses remained owned by individuals. By the end of 1931, however, the owners of these houses had sold out and the buildings were removed (although some basements may still be intact under the park surface). There was debate in the neighborhood over building the playground; in 1934, the pro-playground group eventually prevailed. Still, as late as 1937, the Fairview-Stewart Improvement Club was protested that the Cascade School was old and out of date, itself not worth preserving, and that the increasingly industrial and commercial neighborhood did not need a playfield.
  Between 1934 and 1939, WPA workers built a retaining wall (only part of which survive), the rest rooms at the northeast corner of the park, and a wading pool (which originally was part of a Japanese stone garden).
  By the 1970s, according to the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, "the playground site was somewhat bleak and known by locals as the 'Sahara Desert'". A 1971 renovation included a mural on the retaining wall, funded by the Seattle Arts Commission and designed by Mike Love and George Shayler. This was followed by another round of improvements in 2005.
caption: WPA-built restrooms, Cascade Playground; Supply Laundry in background.
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