Discovery Park (Seattle)

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Daybreak Star Cultural Center

Fort Lawton Gymnasium

Discovery Park is a 534 acre (2.2 km²) park in the peninsular Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is the city's largest public park and contains 11.81 miles of walking trails. United Indians of All Tribes' Daybreak Star Cultural Center is within the park's boundaries. Most of the park's shoreline is to the southwest, on Elliott Bay; much of what would be its northwest shoreline on Shilshole Bay is occupied by a sewage treatment plant.

[edit] History

Discovery Park is a relatively recent creation, having been created in the early 1970s from land surplus to the U.S. Army's Fort Lawton. The site for the 1,100 acre (4.5 km²) fort had been given to the Army by the city in 1898, and the fort opened in 1900. The Army offered to sell it back to the city for one dollar in 1938 but the city refused, citing maintenance concerns. Much of the land was surplused in 1971, given to the city in 1972, and dedicated as Discovery Park in 1973. Fort Lawton still exists within the park as headquarters of the U.S. Army Reserve's 70th Regional Readiness Command and a military housing site.

[edit] Issues

The beach has a history of sporadic clothing-optional use in the more remote areas of its shoreline, however, such use is currently not officially sanctioned by the City. A beach rally organized by The Body Freedom Collaborative's Seattle Free Beach Campaign on September 4, 2004 to shore support for clothing-optional use included the arrest of a man sunbathing, after a complaint was made to the Seattle Police.[1]