Seattle's New Athletic Powerhouse
The Olympic Athletic Club and the Seattle Cycling Club merge to dominate the local sports scene, promising new facilities at Woodland Park.
The Olympic Athletic Club and what has been known as the Seattle Cycling Club have joined forces. The cycling club has control of the Woodland Park grounds, which are to be fitted up for baseball, track athletics and field sports. The Olympic Club under its new manager, Prof. Bunce, is to be enlarged and refitted. Already electric lights have been put in. There will be ladies' classes twice a week. The monthly dues will be $1, with no initiation fee. In the clubhouse there will continue to be smokers every two weeks, but as a rule they will be for members only. The club can furnish good material for wrestling and sparring contests. At the park it is expected that there will be six big meets this season, besides a number of smaller meets on Sundays, limited to the members of the organization.
“The cycling club has control of the Woodland park grounds, which are to be fitted up for baseball, track athletics and field sports.”
The merger of these clubs reflects the late 19th-century obsession with physical culture and the rise of organized sports in Seattle. Woodland Park, once a private athletic ground, is now one of the city's most beloved public spaces, showing how the city's recreational landscape has evolved.
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