Thursday, January 26, 2012

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 23




Volunteer Park Water Tower, ca 1911

I’m almost always on the lookout for vintage postcards and happened upon this one after the previous postcard Thursday about Volunteer Park in Seattle was posted. This card shows the Water Tower and what I think is one of the Koi ponds with plants all around it (bottom right of card). It is astounding to see places as they were a hundred years ago in comparison to what it looks like today. Today there are so many huge trees on the grounds by the Koi ponds and the large open grassy area in front of the Tower is no longer as expansive. The date on the reverse of the card is written as 1911 or about a year before the Conservatory was completed. The Tower was built of red brick in 1906 and has had a few repairs and improvements over the years, as one would expect. There are 106 steps to the observation level but once up there the views are splendid from all the windows. There are also interpretive displays concerning the Tower and the parks and boulevards together with information about the future plans for the greening (tree planting) of the city.

The windows have protective screens and bars on them but no glass. In order to take photos of the views I poked the camera lens through the bars. Mrs. Gimlet’s camera is fancier than my phone so she could “erase” the bar lines. There are benches to sit on if a person is so inclined. The day we visited it was cold and not conducive to sitting and resting on a bench but on a warm summer day it would be very nice indeed. Here are a few pictures from the Tower.

A little more information about the Tower can be found at http://seattleparksfoundation.org/project_VolunteerWT.html



Observation level, Water Tower at Volunteer Park



Looking westward toward Puget Sound from the Water Tower



Seattle skyline from Water Tower



One of several displays as part of the interpretive exhibit



Looking down through the iron work grating on the windows of the Water Tower



Exterior view of the Water Tower as it looks today

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