Airfoils (public art at the park) Magnuson Park is a 350-acre (1.4 km²) park on Lake Washington's Pontiac Bay in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is Seattle's second largest park, behind 534-acre (2.2 km²) Discovery Park in Magnolia.
The first park in the area was established in 1900 as Carkeek Park, a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Morgan J. Carkeek. After World War I, a movement was begun to build an airfield on Sand Point, and King County began acquiring surrounding parcels. In 1922 the United States Navy began construction on the site, which it was leasing from the county, and in 1926 it was deeded the 413-acre field outright. This amounted to a gift of $500,000 from the county to the Navy. (The Seattle Chamber of Commerce had done the same thing for the Army 28 years before with Fort Lawton, much of which is now the above-mentioned Discovery Park.)
In 1970 the airfield shut down, and negotiations began as to who would receive the surplus property. In 1975 a large portion of the Navy's land was given to the city of Seattle and to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The city's land was developed as a park and named Sand Point Park. In 1977, it was renamed Magnuson Park in honor of Washington senator Warren G. Magnuson. Fourteen years later, in 1991, the naval installation closed completely, and the remaining land was divided among numerous entities including the city.
Magnuson Park today features boat launch ramps, large parking lots for cars, trucks, and boat trailers, a picnic area, a swimming beach, many paths for walking and bicycling, and a dog run.
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