When Seattle Gas Co. shut down its coal gasification plant in 1956 after 50 years of operation, the City of Seattle was left with a white elephant on its hands. For a decade the 20-acre site on Lake Union's north shore languished as a rusting relic of old-fashioned energy production-until city officials and residents decided to turn it into a park.

Within a dozen years' time, the giant equipment used to manufacture synthetic natural gas had been transformed into a children's "Play Barn," tons of steel, iron, and debris were heaped and covered with fill dirt to make "Kite Hill," and the boiler house became a picnic shelter with tables and grills. In 1975, Seattle Parks and Recreation Dept. opened the doors to Gas Works Park--a big hit with the city's residents.

The problem of what to do with such a mammoth eyesore was solved.