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 |  | | @ 1955, summer: New dressing rooms, admission stand, boat rental, and concessions had all been built around 1940. | @ 1955, winter: Brother and sister Jarvis and Pat Erickson (who were children of the Butzke pioneers) learned to ice skate on Echo Lake. |
In King County, the new highway 99 became Aurora Avenue North. Traffic on Aurora climbed, new businesses came into existence and older business evolved. What had been fuel and feed stores were now nurseries and drug stores. Restaurants catered to the ever-increasing number of residents and visitors. And as a result, Echo Lake Bathing Beach was thriving.  | Echo Lake Bathing Beach View circa 1955. What a wonderful, popular getaway! |
1964: Swimming Lessons. The Red Cross provides swim lesson classes at the Beach. Students line up for admission, to change their clothes, and to dive into the lake. The buidings in the distance probably once graced the Seattle World's Fair of 1962. When the fair closed, many of the structures were sold. |  |  | Meanwhile, operating in the 1950's, the Holiday Resort opened on property just south of Echo Lake Bathing Beach. It sprang from the post-WWII vacation growth and movement of the population, and primarily provided a swimming area and trailer accommodations. Eventually it ceased to be a resort, and instead became a static trailer park. In 2005 the land was sold to developers, who were legally bound to maintain the wetland at the south end of the lake to support the natural resources of birds, fish, and small animals. |
Around 1966, the Echo Lake Bathing Beach closed. Where it had stood, new homes, condos and apartments began to spring up near the lake. Today, the lake area is still changing, with new ideas and dreams becoming reality, making new challenges for the people and the environment. | In 1990, a King County park at the north end of Echo Lake was dedicated. Left to Right: Kim Scott and her grandmother Florence Butzke Erickson help Tracy Owen and Barbara Monks cut the ribbon. (The man and little girl on the right are unidentified.) |  |
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