The cable car run from Pioneer Square that operated from September 27, 1888, to August 10, 1940, terminated here. As with Madison Park to the north, there was a cross-lake ferry run from Leschi Park to the Eastside before the construction of the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge. Seattle's first zoo was located here, but moved to Woodland Park in 1903. Leschi Park borders Frink Park in its southwest corner.
The Duwamish called the area "Changes-Its-Face" (Lushootseed: s7ayá7oos), referring to an enormous and powerful supernatural horned snake that was said to live there.[1]
"Leschi Park ca. 1911, showing steamboat at dock and relationship between the steamboat dock and other marine structures at the park."