[3] As of 2007, the department managed 450 parks, 485 buildings, and 22 miles (35 km) of boulevards, with facilities including 185 athletic fields, 122 children's playgrounds, four golf courses, 151 outdoor tennis courts and an indoor tennis center, 26 community centers and two outdoor and eight indoor swimming pools.

Leschi had a hotel, cottages, and footpaths leading through virgin forest, and John Cort built a six-story casino there in 1892, which was also a prominent early vaudeville venue.

Beede's and Cort's facilities both began by offering family entertainment, but eventually became beer halls.

Madrona Park on Lake Washington and Alki Beach, originally reachable from downtown Seattle only by water, share a similar history.

On the other hand, their boulevards connected wealthy residential neighborhoods and bypassed the tawdrier popular amusement areas.

From 1903, Woodland Park on Phinney Ridge was home to a zoo that had previously been privately operated at Leschi.

The resulting construction and landscaping projects made the Park Board a significant employer, especially during times when the economy slackened.

[15] In February 1968, as part of the Forward Thrust program, Seattle passed a $118 million bond issue in support of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

At the time, it was the largest parks and recreation bond issue ever passed in the United States.