Madison Park (Seattle)
Encyclopedia
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
in the Madison Park
Madison Park, Seattle, Washington
Madison Park is a neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington, USA, named after the city park at the foot of E. Madison Street on the Lake Washington shore. It is bounded on the east by Lake Washington; on the south by the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard E...
neighborhood of Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, located between the western shore of Lake Washington
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It is bordered by the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and...
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.
For the first 19 years of its existence, the Madison Street Cable Railway
Cable car (railway)
A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are hauled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. Individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping this cable as required...
ran on Madison Street from Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay
Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound...
to the park. Service was cut back to 21st Avenue in 1910. In addition, from the early 1880s to August 31, 1950, there was ferry
Lake Washington ferries
The Lake Washington ferries in King County, Washington provided the only efficient means for transporting goods and passengers across the lake prior to the opening of the first floating bridge in 1940. The ferries ran between Kirkland, Bellevue, and Houghton across Lake Washington to East Madison...
service from Madison Park across the lake to Kirkland
Kirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
. (The construction of the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge
Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge
The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge is a floating bridge that carries the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 across Lake Washington from Seattle to Mercer Island, Washington. It is the second longest floating bridge on Earth at , whereas the longest is the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge just a few...
in 1940 had greatly reduced demand and the continued existence of the run could no longer be justified after tolls
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
were removed in 1949.)
Steamboat landing
Steamboats of Lake Washington
Lake Washington steamboats and ferries operated from about 1875 to 1951, transporting passengers and vehicles, and moving freight and towing barges and log rafts across Lake Washington, is a large lake immediately to the east of Seattle, Washington...
.