Center Park Apartments in Seattle’s Rainier Valley was the first apartment complex in the nation built solely for people with physical and mental disabilities and their caregivers. Largely through the tireless efforts of local activist Ida May Daly and others in the community, the Seattle Housing Authority received state and federal funds for the project.

Accessible features in the 150 rental units in the complex included adjustable shelving as well as stoves and kitchen sinks with knee-room for wheelchair users. Here, an unidentified woman sits in her wheelchair in her Center Park kitchen.

Caption information source: “Handicapped Get a Home”, by Forrest Williams, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 31, 1970, page 10.