Location: South Seattle/Beacon Hill
Address: 5234 37th Ave. S.
Acreage: 3.15
Who is Hitt and how did he get a park on a hill?
This wooded park tucked among homes between Columbia City and Beacon Hill was named after Thomas Hitt. Born in 1874 in England, Hitt loved fireworks and explosives and anything that made a huge boom (and sometimes inadvertently started fires). He settled in Columbia City and founded a fireworks company that shipped all kinds of firecrackers all over the world. He even did some of the special effects for Gone With the Wind and All Quiet on the Western Front.
From 1918-1974 he supplied the fireworks for Seattle’s Fourth of July celebrations, so we have Hitt to thank for this popular annual tradition. Historylink has more details about this fascinating guy.
This hilltop park, which has a single hiking trail cutting east-west through the forest, encompasses part of the land where Hitt had his factory.
#351 (Visited 8/10/12)
This sounds kind of interesting and quirky – we’ll have to check it out!
The park is to the east of MLK – so it is definitely not Beacon Hill. It’s actually Hillman City.
Thanks for the clarification, Rob!