Location: Central Seattle/Eastlake
Address: Eastlake Ave. E. and E. Roanoke St.
Acreage: 1.9
Named after Governor John R. Rogers who served Washington from 1897-1901, Rogers Playground has a long history as an anchor of the Eastlake neighborhood.
Today the park includes a modern playground, soccer/baseball/softball fields and plenty of accessible spaces for wheelchairs and strollers. But Historylink says back in the day the park had some of the city’s very first park playground equipment and, interestingly, it even had fitness instructors. I’m not sure how they instructed, but it would have been intriguing to see.
The one thing the past and present have in common is lots of use by area kids. On the rainy day we visited the park filled up with kids on recess from the school that sits just to the east of it.
Although, after watching them for several minutes, I’m convinced that kids don’t need fitness instructors to tell them how to make use of a playground.
#57 (Visited 11/13/09)