Garfield Playground Improvements – Seattle WA

Description

The Garfield Playground was one of a limited number of Seattle park facilities to receive upgrades through the New Deal’s Civil Works Administration (CWA) program. The main CWA project at the playground involved the construction of a retaining wall along the western edge of the property. CWA laborers began work on the $12,000 project in 1933 and completed it the following year.

Several years later, funding from the Works Project Administration (WPA) allowed the Park Department to proceed with additional improvements to the playground. In 1938, WPA workers painted the baseball field’s backstop and bleachers. One year later, they built three new concrete tennis courts in the northwest corner of the playground. Then, in 1940, workers installed lights for the baseball field and tennis courts. The WPA-built tennis courts have since been replaced by newer ones located in the northeast corner of the playground.