Saint Edward State Park

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St. Edward Seminary

Saint Edward State Park is a 316 acre (1.28 km²) park in Kenmore, Washington and is part of the Washington State Park System. Most of the park area is an old growth forest, through which run several trails for bicyclists and hikers. The forest canopy is primarily made up of the Coast Douglas-fir, Western Redcedar, Bigleaf Maple, Pacific Madrone and Western Hemlock. Its dense carpet includes many varieties of fern (mainly Western Sword Fern), shrub and moss. It is flanked on the west by an undeveloped beach on Lake Washington, and it surrounds the Saint Thomas Center, which is currently home to Bastyr University.

The park's most singular feature is the St. Edward Seminary. This large, historic building has fallen into disrepair in recent years, and is not currently accessible to the public except by special arrangement, e.g. renting the refectory for special events. Other facilities include an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, an outdoor stone sanctuary ("The Grotto"), a baseball field and a soccer field. It also boasts the largest children's playground in the state, built primarily by local volunteers in 2003. The park is day-use only, and no camping is permitted.

A local citizens group, Friends of St. Edward State Park , assists the Park Department in scheduling park usage, but is barred by contract from advocacy.

[edit] Renovation

In 2005, Washington State Parks began a land-use planning project for the park. Also known as Classification and Management Planning (CAMP), the project addresses overall visitor experiences, natural and cultural resources, use of the park’s buildings, recreation fields and trails, and other topics of interest to the community and customers. Significant documentation on the project resides on its official webpage at http://www.parks.wa.gov/plans/sted/.

Because the "Friends" group is barred from advocacy, another citizens group, Citizens for Saint Edward State Park, has developed to contribute public comment and ideas. One proposal is to develop the main building into Saint Edward Environmental Learning Center. Another is the development of the seminary by McMenamins into a hotel, restaurant, and conference center.[1]

[edit] History

From the 1920s until 1977, the land on which Saint Edward State Park sits was owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, and used as a seminary by the Sulpician Order. The St. Edward Seminary was constructed in 1931, followed in 1958 by the Saint Thomas Seminary. Due to declining enrollments, the seminaries closed in 1977. Most of the land was sold to the State of Washington, with the support of then-governor Dixy Lee Ray. The remainder of the land, which includes the Saint Thomas Seminary (now Saint Thomas Center) continued under the ownership of the archdiocese until November of 2005, when its tenant, Bastyr University, finalized the purchase of the property.