Ercolini family garden becomes new city park

A new city park is taking shape at the corner of Southwest Alaska Street and 48th Avenue Southwest.

There's going to be a play area for little kids in the northern part of the park with swings for toddlers. Next to that will be a paved plaza with game tables, benches and trash cans. An open lawn will be south of the plaza with a sand box tucked next to the plaza.

The Pro Parks levy approved by voters in 2000 provided money to buy the property. King County and the state of Washington also contributed. People living near the new park have contributed time and money for some extras.

The new playground is to be called Ercolini Park, but why?

People living in the Genesee Hill neighborhood used to buy their vegetables from Joe and Julia Ercolini's garden on Alaska Street and 48th.

From the 1930s through the '60s, the Ercolinis grew corn, peas, Oregon giant stringbeans, cabbage, lettuce and asparagus in the large yard around their home. They grew peaches and apples, with different varieties produced by grafting branches to a single tree trunk. They also kept about 20 chickens to sell the eggs, and rabbits for dinner, recalls their son Jim. He and his older brother, Henry or "Hank," grew up there.

"We sold produce all the time," Jim remembered. "We could hardly have a meal without someone wanting corn or beans."

The Ercolinis did not array their produce on shelves in a stand. For the sake of freshness, they picked what each customer wanted as ordered.

"Nobody wanted corn laying around from yesterday," Jim said. "They were picked right when they wanted them."

Joe and Julia grew up on neighboring farms in the Tuscany region of Italy. The nearest town was Burgo a Buggiano. They did not want to spend their lives as sharecroppers, which is what would've happened had they stayed in Italy, Jim said. Instead they emigrated to America where they could some day own property.

In 1920, the Ercolinis moved into a house in Youngstown, south of the former Youngstown School (now the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center). Twelve years later, they bought their house and yard on Alaska Street and 48th Avenue.

Since Hank was more than a decade older than Jim, Hank helped their father hand-spade their large lot before a garden could grow there.

The Ercolinis, who spoke Italian at home, were uneducated. Joe left school to go to work after third grade. Julia learned to read and write from a wealthier neighbor girl who attended finishing school. But they understood the value of learning for their sons' sakes. Jim went on to become an engineer and Hank is a retired middle school principal.

While the Ercolini's neighborhood farm kept going for decades, Joe spent a few years working as a garbage man. Then he became the maintenance man at the West Seattle Golf Course from approximately 1943 to 1956.

"Our parents would be so proud," said Jim. "Just have the place become a park is special but to have it named for them. That makes my eyes swell."

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at timstc@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.