Madison Park (Seattle)

Madison Park is an 8.3 acre (34,000 m²) park in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, located between the western shore of Lake Washington on the east, 42nd Avenue E. on the west, E. Madison Street on the north, and E. Blaine Street on the south. 43rd Avenue E. divides it into two sections; the east is a swimming beach and public dock, and the west is a playground, playfield, and tennis courts. Next to the beach is Madison Park Co-op, a community playhouse for toddlers and children.

This article is about the park. For the neighborhood, see Madison Park, Seattle.

For the first 19 years of its existence, the Madison Street Cable Railway ran on Madison Street from Elliott Bay to the park.[1] Service was cut back to 21st Avenue in 1910. There was also ferry service on Lake Washington from the early 1880s to August 31, 1950 from Madison Park across the lake to Kirkland. (The construction of the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge in 1940 had greatly reduced demand and the continued existence of the run could no longer be justified after tolls were removed in 1949.)

Steamboat landing

From about 1890 to 1910 Madison Park was also a landing for steamboats which ran on Lake Washington.

  • Madison Park, circa 1892, showing steamboat (possibly Cyrene) departing
  • Madison Park circa 1895
  • Madison Park circa 1907
  • Madison Park in 2004 (with E. Madison Street in the upper-left-hand corner)

References
  1. Hilton, George W. (1997). The Cable Car in America (Revised ed.). Stanford University Press. pp. 390, 399–402. ISBN 0-8047-3051-2.

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