April 25th, 2008 @ 12:05 am by Cliffe | Sorted Photo Exposure
I was reading
this UrbanAsh blog entry about 30 townhomes being proposed for the site of Queen Anne High School’s gym, and was reminded of a photo from my archives. After some digging, I found this 1914 photo showing the high school’s original playfield. If you
locate QAHS on the map I had originally thought that this field might have stood to the south along 2nd/3rd and Highland. However, some VS readers in the comments think this area was too steep. The current theories are that the field was across Galer where Hay School now sits or to the east of the arrow toward 3rd/4th. Let us know in the comments if you have any more information.
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Boys playing baseball on Queen Anne High School playfield, Seattle, ca. 1914. Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection 1983.10.8918.2
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April 25th, 2008 @ 7:52 am
I grew up around that part of Queen Anne (in the 70s-90s), and I think the playfield for Queen Anne High School was on the lot where John Hay Elementary now sits (across the street from the high school). When I was a kid, before John Hay was moved to that lot, it was a playfield and track.
The land between 2nd and 3rd near Highland isn’t at all flat enough for a field of this size. Also, the view in this photo should either show the taller Capitol Hill (if it’s east-facing), part of Elliott Bay (if it’s south-facing), or too much more of Queen Anne if it faces west. It could possibly be east-facing, but I don’t think QA drops off that quickly. The playfield could have been on the current lot of the KING TV/radio tower between Lee and Galer on 2nd, maybe.
Could this be Queen Anne Bowl instead?
April 25th, 2008 @ 9:20 am
I live near Queen Anne High Condos and I confirm that the area you’ve indicated on the map is far too steep and sloping to have ever been a field.
Much more likely is the Hay School area across from Queen Anne High. In the photo the distance between streets visible seems to be just about right.
April 25th, 2008 @ 9:39 am
The picture definitely appears to be looking east because you can see the round water tower in Volunteer Park with it’s conical roof on Capitol Hill in the background (to the upper right from the house on the left of the picture). I however don’t know QA well enough to say where the field is.
April 25th, 2008 @ 9:46 am
You can also see the southern end of Lake Union in the gap between the two houses, or more specifically between the power poles in the picture. Plus from the shadows being cast it looks clear that the sun is to the southwest in the picture, which would be consistent with people playing on the field in the afternoon during most months of the year when the sun is to the southwest for Seattle in the afternoon. I would hazard that the field is to the east of the arrow on your map between 3rd and 4th Ave.