Magnuson Park, Public park in northeast Seattle, United States
Magnuson Park is a 350-acre park stretching along Lake Washington's shoreline in northeast Seattle. The space features walking trails throughout, with sports fields and open grass areas available for outdoor recreation.
The first park here was Carkeek Park, created in 1900. The Navy began building Naval Air Station Seattle in 1922 on land leased from King County and was deeded the 413-acre field outright in 1926. The airfield was the origin of the first successful aerial circumnavigation of the world, completed in 1924. The station was deactivated in 1970, and in 1975 much of the land passed to the City of Seattle and NOAA; the park was renamed Magnuson Park in 1977 for Senator Warren Magnuson.
The park's name honors Senator Warren Magnuson, a former naval officer from Seattle, after whom it was renamed in 1977; locals still call it Sand Point Park. Since the mid-1970s the park has had unofficial clothing-optional use. In 1992 Pearl Jam played a free Rock the Vote concert here, giving away 30,000 tickets in hours.
Vehicle access comes via boat launch ramps and large lots for cars, trucks and boat trailers. The Sports Meadow, raised nearly eight feet in 2004-05 for drainage, holds four unlit soccer fields. Fields 5-7 opened in April 2009 with synthetic turf and lights, but lighting rules bar late nights and Sundays. An off-leash dog area and paved paths cross the former base.
The three dark grey wedge-shaped structures in the dry grass are remnants of the naval air station era, standing where the runways were demolished in the late 1970s. Kite Hill, a large grassy mound near the centre, was built in the 1980s from earth and broken pieces of the old airfield tarmac.
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