#RevisitSeattle: Oxbow Park
Perhaps the “Hat n’ Boots” is one of those things everyone knows about. But let me tell you, in my 45+ years living in Seattle and it’s surrounding areas, I didn’t know about Oxbow Park. For four years I worked less than 6 blocks away!!
Oxbow Park is about 10 minutes south of Seattle in historic Georgetown. In 1953, Seattle artist Lewis Nasmyth was hired to create a design for a ‘western-style’ gas station featuring a 44-ft wide cowboy hat and 22-ft tall cowboy boots. When the gas station opened the hat and boots were a big draw, but much like the plot of the animated movie ‘Cars’, the interstate came along pulled people away from the station and by the late 80’s the “Hat n’ Boots” fell into disrepair and their fate seemed destined to fall into the annals of history by boot-scootin’ in to the great gas station in the sky.
But my friends, the story does not end there. What kind of an ending would that be? There must always be hope. A noble group of people in Georgetown banded together to save this local piece of history, lovingly restored them both to their former cowboy glory and moved them to Oxbow Park, a quaint neighborhood playground and community garden where they continue their claim to fame as the “World’s Largest Hat and Boots”.
