L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY T here's a new public park in south King County that owes its existence to Italian im- migrants and a truck- farming enterprise once called Duwamish Gardens. In 2008, city officials in Tuk- wila, Wash., purchased an historic homestead inhabited for nearly 100 years by the Carosino family. Public and private partners came together to transform the site into a two-acre urban park, complete with walking paths and salmon habitat. Inaugurated last May, the park lies along the Duwamish River, a waterway of great historic and cul- tural importance to the native tribe of the same name. The new park is currently called Duwamish Gar- dens, although the city is soliciting new names from the public. The original tract was settled by Thomas Ray, born in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1876, 24-year old Ray, along with his parents and siblings, journeyed west by wagon train to Washington Territory. The family cleared about 10 acres of land on the banks of the Duwamish River and planted veg- etables and fruit trees. Over time, Ray cultivated a commercial gar- den and orchard, making a good living. For centuries before the settlers arrived, the Duwamish River served as a critical transportation highway. During Ray's time, Na- tive Americans would travel from Canada to Washington Territory via the Duwamish, camping fre- quently in the hop fields directly across the river from his house. At one point, Ray's family oper- ated a ferry service across the river until a bridge was built. As the 19th century came to a close, Italian immigrants started making their way in greater num- bers to the Pacific Northwest. Among them were Joseph Carosino and his wife Teresa, na- tives of Genoa. The Carosino's bought the Ray farmstead with seven other Italian families, turning it into a thriving truck farm. The partners grew squash, zucchini, cauliflower, let- tuce, radishes, peas and corn, sell- ing their produce to the military and trucking it into Seattle to sell at Pike Place Market. The Italians ran Duwamish Gardens as a co-op. The original partners hired other Italians to help them plant and pick the crops. A bunkhouse built on the property housed the unmarried workers who had left their wives and fam- ilies back in Italy. Before long, the Carosino farm became the heart and soul of south King County's Italian community. On Sundays, families would gather to spend the day together, socializing, playing bocce or cards, and enjoying a traditional RITA CIPALLA Scattered along the park's gravel footpaths are granite-slab benches that incorporate decora- tive panels telling the history of the site—the Coast Salish people, the area's fish and native plants. One of the panels illustrates the Carosino farmhouse, shown sur- rounded by grape clusters, veg- etables in a bushel basket and a bocce set. The bench includes several key phrases that memorialize the Ital- ian community that once inhabited this tract. One panel proclaims: "Benvenuto! Welcome!" Another section asserts: "Duwamish Gar- dens: Soul of the Italian immi- grant community." Thanks to the park planners' thoughtfulness, the interpretive signage will help ensure that the Carosino family and the other Ital- ian immigrants who farmed these hillsides and lived along the shores of the Duwamish River nearly a century ago will not be forgotten. A gravel footpath at Duwamish Gardens Park is dotted with granite benches that pay tri- bute to the history of the area, including the Italian immigrant farmers who once lived there This historic 1882 homestead, shown here more than a century later, was bought by the Carosino family in the early 1900s and sold to the city of Tukwila to create a new urban park Granite-slab benches are scattered around the new park, telling the story of the history of the site Sunday dinner with homemade wine. As the Duwamish farmstead grew, more structures were added, including a massive barn, several outbuildings and greenhouses that were heated by a boiler in a sepa- rate shed. A second house was added to the original farmhouse to accommodate the growing Carosino family. Joseph Carosino died in 1956 at the age of 62, but his wife Teresa and the remaining partners continued to run the farm. They added a fuel station and truck maintenance shop in 1975 and a boat-building shed in 1980. One by one, the original part- ners died, leaving Teresa the sole remaining owner. She ran the farm by herself, becoming some- thing of a local legend. But soon, developers began buying up the neighboring farms, replacing them with industrial parks and tract housing. When Teresa died in 1985 at the age of 89, Duwamish Gardens had been reduced from 29 acres to five. The property was impacted even more in 2002, when Sound Transit announced plans to build a light rail line from Sea-Tac Air- port to downtown Seattle. The el- evated line would run through Tukwila and right past the two Carosino houses, which were still occupied by family members. The family sold the property to the City of Tukwila in 2008. City officials, aware of the historic significance of the farmhouse, one of the last remaining 19th century structures in the Green-Duwamish Valley, offered to pay a developer to move it but they could find no takers. On July 13, 2015, the orig- inal farmhouse was demolished. To build the parkland, about 30,000 cubic yards of soil was ex- cavated, creating a mudflat and marsh to provide aquatic shelter for Chinook salmon as well as other fish and wildlife species. The shallow habitat area lies within a transition zone, where marine water mixes with fresh wa- ter. An aquatic mixture plays an important role in the life of young Chinook. By spending time in brackish water, the salmon can make the physiological changes necessary to live and thrive in salt water as they migrate into Puget Sound. "Duwamish Gardens provides nearly an acre of shallow water habitat for salmon where they can feed on insects and invertebrates that live among the vegetation and in the mud and beneath stones," said Mike Perfetti, City of Tuk- wila habitat project manager. "The park gives Tukwila residents and visitors a place to access and appreciate the hidden beauty and potential of this important urban river. People can launch a kayak, raft or canoe, or walk the shoreline trail with outstanding views of the river and beautiful surrounding hills."  Historic Italian farmstead gets new life as urban park

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