Causland Memorial Park
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
The ceiling of the bandstand features a decorative stone mosaic.
Commemorative plague honoring Harry Leon Causland.
LePage and his workers transported stone from around the area.
The bandstand. LePage's work has been likened to the style of Spanish artist Antonio Gaudi.
Causland Park is historically significant for its unique architecture featuring decorative stonework.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
John Baptiste LePage was born in Canada in 1857. He was an intelligent man, skilled in math, Greek, Latin, and French. He was also a talented artist (drawing). As became a map maker in Ottawa before buying a ranch in Saskatchewan in 1910. Five years later, he moved to Montana where he spent two years helping build a retaining wall in a park in the town of Butte called Columbia Gardens.
After it was completed, LePage moved to Anacortes and submitted a bid to design Causland Park. City officials were impressed and selected him. The name for the park was originally Great Northern Park, named after the Great Northern Railroad, whose subsidiary—the Seattle and Northern Railroad—sold the property where the park is to the city. LePage and his workers gathered rocks from the area, transporting them using barge and wagons. After they finished the park, LePage moved to San Francisco. The city has maintained the park and it remains in good condition. It is a popular place to visit for tourists and locals alike.
Sources
"Causland Memorial Park." City of Anacortes. Accessed February 13, 2020. https://www.anacorteswa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Causland-Memorial-Park-10.
Vandermeer, J.H. "Causland Park." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. May 7, 1981. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/35a147ec-b999-49b6-bf96-86af2032696a.
All photographs by Joe Mable, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Causland_Park,_Anacortes,_Washington