Gasworks Park is located in the Fremont neighborhood at 2101 N Northlake Way, 98103. It is 20.7 acres.
The site of Gasworks Park was identified by the Olmsted Brothers in their 1903 report as a highly desirable location for a park: “If not too costly, the point of land between the northeast and northwest arms of Lake Union and the railroad should be secured as a local park, because of its advantages for commanding views over the lake, and for boating and for a playground.” Referred to as the “Fremont Shore Playground,” he wrote further that this area “should be secured as a playground and waterfront park. The population. . . would be greatly benefitted by this little park or playground.”
It took many years, however, for a park to be realized at this site. By 1906 a coal gasification plant occupied the site, which remained in operation for the next 50 years. The city bought up the property for a park over a 10-year period, beginning in 1963. In 1971, Rich Haag was hired to provide design drawings for the new park, which today features remnants of the coal gasification plant (the only remaining plant in the U.S.), as well as an earth mound, picnic lawn and shelter (utilizing some of the plant’s structure) and play barn. The Burke-Gilman trail runs adjacent to the park, along the railroad bed that John Charles had demarked as a boundary for the park.