Twelfth Avenue South Viewpoint

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HOURS

6 a.m. - 10 p.m.

ABOUT THE PARK

12th Ave. S Viewpoint provides a stunning view from north Beacon Hill of downtown Seattle, the industrial Duwamish River shipping activity, Elliott Bay, and the Olympic Mountains to the west.

The park features a lawn area as well as two benches.

HISTORY

In 1894 the flat Industrial Valley lying at the foot of this viewpoint was a tidal flat at the delta of the Duwamish River. By 1918 the river had been re-channeled and the flats and delta filled with earth dredged and sluiced from Beacon Hill in Eugene Semple’s attempt to dig a ship canal from Elliot Bay to Lake Washington. James Henry had built a slaughterhouse, Henry House Packing, and “Stockyards Viewpoint” was the original name of the park area.

(Edited from the files of Don Sherwood, 1916-1981, Park Historian.)