At Home in King County: Images from the Collections

Health, safety, recreation and transportation are some of the topics that appear in these photographs. Please click on the thumbnails at the right for larger images and descriptive text. Links in the captions lead to other pages that are part of the King County Archives Web site. There, you'll find more photographs, maps, drawings and additional text information.

This online exhibit, prepared in honor of Washington State Archives Month 2008, is based on a display ("A Baker's Dozen: Images of King County from the Collections") originally created in 2003 by Assistant Archivist Helice Koffler.

Celebrity lifeguards!

The years following the Second World War saw an increased demand for recreation services in suburban King County. The first swimming programs under the auspices of the newly created (1948) Parks and Recreation Department started with the establishment of beach lifeguard rules and the development of standards and programs for swim safety personnel. Prior to 1955, local branches of the American Red Cross provided training for lifeguards in Seattle and King County at their Aquatic Schools. The Aquatic Schools were held at various sites each year, including the Beaver Lake resort (later acquired as a park site) in King County. This photograph was most likely taken at Beaver Lake during one of the training classes. Clint Eastwood has been identified as one of the students shown in this photograph. (In the 1960s, long-time local television newscaster Jean Enersen would participate in the same program.)

Parks System photograph files, (Series 467), Box 11, Folder 11.