CHS saw this tweet yesterday:

And wondered: Is Capitol Hill's Google Maps irritating mislabel also fixed? To refresh your memory, here's how Google Maps used to display the info for Cal Anderson Park :

As CHS neighbor kayzel wrote at the time, "The map incorrectly calls the park Bobby Morris Reservoir (there has never been such a thing) and indicates a large blue open reservoir which also doesn't exist (the reservoir was buried in 2003-05)."

She'll be happy to know that Google -- or really, Google's map info provider -- got it half right. The park is now labeled Cal Anderson Park.

But it still shows the open reservoir. At least they got the reservoir's name right.

With the discussion continuing about possible alignments for the First Hill/Cap Hill streetcar route, Central District News did some interesting research to illustrate Seattle's streetcar network of the past.

View Historic Streetcar Routes in a larger map

Using a 1912 map of the city, CDN documented the streetcar routes and facilities found in the city at the turn of the 20th century. Consider it a template of what was once possible and could be again. Josh will, of course, use it to further his argument for a 12th Ave route. If you agree -- or disagree -- with him, now is the time to shoot of an e-mail or three to the mayor and the city council. Send them a link to this so they know what they're aiming for.

We interrupt our normal flu pandemic reporting for this coverage of a less serious but still quality-of-life affecting topic: the new LED streetlights being tested by the city at 10 different locations across Capitol Hill.

Neighbor John writes:

Maybe you've posted about it, but the city recently installed l.e.d. streetlights along the 1100 block of 16th ave. e. (and some other spots, I've heard) to test them vs. the older sodium lights. On our block, neighbors are flipping out about how strange the newer lights are. The funny thing is that the city didn't let people know about the lights ahead of time. I learned about it from the guy in the truck installing them. Maybe you've heard more about what they're up to and what the benefits of the new lights might be.

I talked again to Mike Eagan, spokesperson for Seattle City & Light. He provided information when we came calling looking for details on another area where the city is testing these new streetlights on Capitol Hill at Aloha and 10th.

Here's what he...

by Dotty DeCoster
Special to CHS Capitol Hill Seattle

I wonder if the folks who began the church that is now Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ knew that the property they bought for the Prospect Chapel was part of the site of the proposed state capitol. The Chapel originally faced E. Prospect Street on a lot that is now on the south east corner of E. Prospect and 20th Avenue E. The current church building, built in 1924, faces 20th Avenue E., although the address remains 1919 E. Prospect.

The site of the proposed capitol was a single large block, bounded to the north by E. Prospect Street, to the south by E. Helen Street, to the east by 21st Avenue E. and to the west by 19th Avenue E. Twentieth Avenue did not exist. It seems an odd choice, but it is documented by a map reproduced in Jacqueline B. Williams’ The Hill with a Future, and the block is also shown on the 1905 Sanborn Insurance map of Seattle. The maps show E. Helen Street going through to 19th Avenue between Prospect and Aloha Streets and a jog in E. Prospect that is not there today. House lots are mapped for the entire first Capitol Hill Addition along east-west streets with alleys going that direction as well. That didn’t happen. When houses were actually built, they were oriented along the north-south streets, just as the other blocks were surrounding the Capitol Hill Addition.

Proposed Capitol site

It is hard to know if James A. Moore, the intrepid developer who bought the property that was to become what he named “Capitol Hill”, seriously thought he could entice the State Capitol to Seattle. According to Williams, “Moore persuaded state Representative William H. Lewis, from King County, to introduce a bill in Olympia ‘providing for the appointment of a committee to consider the offer of a site and capitol building in Seattle’ .” A newspaper article of March 4, 1901, also quoted in Ms. Williams’ book, notes that Mr. Moore was offering to donate not only the site in the Capitol Hill addition but also a $250,000 building.

This may not have been an entirely far-fetched idea at the time, since the building of the Capitol in Olympia ran into snags and the actual building didn’t open until 1905. On the other hand, even suggesting the possibility of having the Capitol on Seattle’s “Capitol Hill” might have been a kind of promotion Moore wanted for the new development.

Curious, though, that the site wasn’t actually a high point. The high ridge is roughly along 18th Avenue E. One goes down, eastward, to 19th Avenue and then it is rather flat until one reaches the church corner at 20th Avenue, and up again, but not so high, between 20th and 21st Avenues. Both St. Joseph Church and Holy Names Academy, just south of E. Aloha Street, take advantage of the heights at 18th and 21st respectively, and the tower at St. Joseph and the dome at Holy Names are landmarks to all of us in the area. Since the sites for both these landmark buildings were also in the first Capitol hill addition, it seems odd to me that the proposed capitol would have been on a lower site with a less commanding view.

A name, not a Capitol
The capitol in Capitol Hill never happened, but the name certainly stuck. Sometimes it is hard to remember how to spell Capitol Hill, and an easy way is to think of the State Capitol that never came to Seattle after all. If you happen to live in the northern half of the 900 blocks on the east side of 19th Avenue E., 20th Avenue E. , or the west side of 21st Avenue E., you are living on the site of the proposed capitol in Capitol Hill.
View Larger Map

Referring to a map today, the configuration of the streets and blocks allowing for the proposed Capitol site is long since gone, but looking at a 1905 Sandborn Fire Insurance map shows how the street grid was manipulated to include the site. (E. Helen Street went through, E. Prospect Street was disconnected and offset, and 20th Avenue did not go through. Proposed orientations for houses were shifted as well.) So if you happen to live in the area south of E. Highland Drive and north of E. Prospect between 19th and 21st Avenues E., you are pretty much on the proposed site of the Capitol on Capitol Hill.

If you do happen to live in the area bounded by E. Roy and E. Garfield between 11th and 23rd Avenues E. you are in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of 1907. In that year the great dome of Holy Names Academy at 728 Twenty-first Avenue East was built. And just south and west of the proposed Capitol site at 732 18th Avenue East, the spire of the first St. Joseph’s Church rose to the sky. (It wasn’t until the 1930s that the current St. Joseph’s Church, with it’s 200-foot Art Deco bell tower, was built.)

We believe place is an important part of every story so maps are a big part of the CHS experience. You'll find one on almost every post. And we map all those stories on the CHS Post Map.

We've made a big improvement to the Post Map that you should check out -- you can now zoom in and out and move the map around to see what posts we've written about all areas of the Hill. It's the way the map should work and so much better than the old way that didn't filter on the location you selected. It's kind of geeky but it's cool and you should check it out. Here's the most recent stuff around 15th Ave E:

15th Ave's recent posts

We're not done yet. The map still needs a way for you to enter a specific address so you don't have to click around in the map a bunch of times to zoom in. That is coming very soon. We'll also add the ability to bookmark and, an especially geeky, cool upgrade -- RSS feeds based on the selection of the map you choose. Coming soon.

Posts from where Pike/Pine meets...

Since the weather is starting to improve and its time we all woke up from our long winter's naps and start getting active again I thought I would share a few of my favorite bike rides from the hill.

First the Chesiahud Loop. Its about 10 miles from Cal Anderson and the hill isn't too bad if you go Lakeview Blvd to Eastlake:

View Larger Map

And the Lake Washington Blvd. Trail. This one is about 13 miles and I like to go through Interlaken because its really beautiful and has lots of fun curves:

View Larger Map

Anyone else got some favorite routes for biking around the hill?

Hey, multi-billion dollar Internet giant, please fix the name of our neighborhood park on your damn maps. Neighbor kayzel asks for your help setting Google straight:

The Historic Lincoln Park/Lincoln Reservoir and Bobby Morris Playfield site was designated a Seattle Historic Landmark in March 1999. In April 2003 the entire site was renamed Cal Anderson Park. (The playfield has retained its name and is known as the Bobby Morris Playfield at Cal Anderson Park.)

Google Maps has allowed a "community editor" to alter the name of the park and the error persists despite several notifications. The map incorrectly calls the park Bobby Morris Reservoir (there has never been such a thing) and indicates a large blue open reservoir which also doesn't exist (the reservoir was buried in 2003-05). Google indicates Bobby Morris Playfield in the wrong area of the site (middle rather than south), and the official name of Cal Anderson Park is not there at all.

This has caused much confusion in the public when searching for the park and its activities and sports events.

Additional support to get Google to correct the map would be greatly appreciated.
See: http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=3102
and: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&;

Radio Point, you've been nothing good to me. Surrounded by controversy and border disputes with our neighbors in the Central District, Radio Point is becoming more trouble than it's worth.

Radio Point, the tan triangle of confusion

From neighbor Dotty who knows a thing or three about these things:

as anyone who has lived near them knows, the towers are TV, and if you live near them you can't get KCTS both sound and picture (maybe this will change with digital?) and you get KUOW (radio) in your braces.  So no to Radio Towers.  TV Point or TV Towers or TV Towers Point would work fine.

They're not even radio towers. Very disappointed. Still, you're part of the family. We're housing a jar of crow buttons within your confines at CHS sponsor Central Cinema. Now we just need to come up with your new name.

The first thing you need to remember when looking at the new 2009 Capitol Hill walking map put together by the hill's chamber of commerce and community newspaper Capitol Hill times is that it's not designed for you -- it's designed for people from far away places like Madrona.

The second thing you need to remember is that somebody decided that the map should be oriented with west at the top of the map. That's the place you normally put north.

The third thing to remember? I sold out and became part of the establishment 13 days ago and joined the chamber. So if you're gonna make fun, you gotta be nice or I'll be shunned at the next meeting. OK, more shunned.

As for the Nary a Dull Moment line, I can offer no excuses.

Nary

We've had this feature from when we first made the move to the new site but it's been buried. No more. You'll note a new tab at the top of CHS -- introducing Maps:

Oh boy. New thing to click.

Here's what you get when you click it:

Map marks the spot(s)

It's an alternative way to check out what is going on recently on the site and across the Hill. Still some cool stuff to add -- coming soon: You'll be able to filter the post marks when you zoom in and out. Enjoy exploring.

Want to defend Capitol Hill? The Pike/Pine battle, it turns out, begins with PDF files.

This proposal for changes to zoning and the rules that govern development in the Pike/Pine corridor will be presented tonight at a public meeting hosted by the city council.

WHAT: Pike/Pine Conservation Study Open House
WHEN: 5:30-7:30p Tuesday, Oct. 14th
WHERE: Seattle Central Community College in Room BE 1110

The proposal document and the two studies that accompany it are full of interesting takeaways and datapoints about the Pike/Pine environment. Kind of cool to read such an in-depth study of an area you walk through every day and for the wonk inside us all, some things to think about when it comes to efforts to preserve things like gay or bohemian culture via the process of city government bureaucracy. I've done what I can to cull the best stuff and some important points but -- if you take the time to look at the documents yourself -- you'll see that it's too big a job for any one person. Hopefully a few neighbors can pitch...

Neighbor Uncle Vinny wants to help you figure out Capitol Hill's bus routes. So, he shared this localized Capitol Hill bus map last week.

Uncle Vinny's Capitol Hill Bus Map

Now, graphic design blog oddmart has created another way to visualize the Hill's public transit routes with what they call the Capitol Hill Octopus map.

oddmart's Capitol Hill Octopus Map

We'll find a place to add a link to this post in the site navigation so they'll be just a click away whenever you need.

Hey, Radio Point -- you asked to be in the club but you haven't started dancing. No posts. Earn it. Or we're drawing the line at Madison.

After some healthy discussion and help from neighborhood mapmaster jonglix, we've reorganized CHS. Check out our new CHS neighborhood map. The goal is to give CHS contributors a useful (and entertaining) way to organize their posts. How'd we do?

St. Mark's | The Fancy Pants | I-5 Shores| Broadway | Hilltop | Miller Park | Pike/Pine| Radio Point

Look for the giant towers. Radio Point is the pea-soup green wedge in the southeast corner of the CHS map.

The Pike/Pine corridor is marked in pink on the CHS map.

The mint green wedge in the southeast corner of the CHS map is Miller Park.

Hilltop is the mauve rectangle just east of Broadway on the CHS map.

That big green block in the middle of things on the CHS map? Broadway.

The azure strip in the west marks the I-5 Shores on the CHS map.

The big orange square on the CHS map is the Fancy Pants neighborhood.

St. Mark's is the yellow swath in the northwest corner of our CHS map.

• Institution Belt is kinda mean
• St. Marks is a better name for An Historic District
• I-5 Shores is brilliant and has to stay
• We need sub-names like Radio Point