Alki Liberty

Alki Beach is the site of the landing of the first white settlers in Seattle on a cold, stormy day in November of 1851. Chief Seattle and his tribe greeted them and helped them build their cabin to stave off the cold, wet winter. By 1902 the beach was so popular that it became the destination of the new electric street railway line, "all the way from Seattle."  To add attraction to the beach, Chas. Looff built an elaborate amusement park on pilings at Duwamish Head (you can still see the pilings at low tide!), and called it Luna Park after its Coney Island, NY namesake. The park, completed in 1907, included the "Powers Natatorium and Bathhouse" with several heated saltwater pools, a huge German carousel, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, a restaurant, and a boat chute into a "tub" of water.  The Statue of Liberty, a small replica of the original "Liberty Enlightening the World" in New York City, was a gift from Reginald H. Parsons and the Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1952. The statue has become such a symbol of liberty and courage that it became a place to mourn, to reflect, and to leave mementos after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since 1973, a marker has commemorated the 45 lives lost when in 1906 the steamer Dix collided with the steamer Jeanie off Duwamish Head, a somber reminder of the power of the sea.