The Miller Street Landfill, called the Miller Street Dump during its working life, served for more than 20 years as one of multiple dumps that were scattered around the city, often in low-lying areas. Three large dumping grounds were arrayed between the south end of today’s Washington Park Arboretum and the northern shore of Union Bay: the Washington Park Dump, the University Dump at the north end of Union Bay, and the Miller Street Dump on the southern shore of Union Bay. The Miller Street Dump opened sometime between 1911 and 1916, closed in 1936, and for a time was part of the Arboretum and owned by the City.

When the original Evergreen Point Bridge was built in the 1960s, the Miller Street property was taken over by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the park-like setting, although still open to the public, is now surrounded by ramps leading to and from the bridge and is home to the locally-known, unused R.H. Thompson ramps, known as the “ramps to nowhere.” As part of the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program, WSDOT intends to remove all of the ramps currently on the property, and the land will in time once again become part of the Arboretum. Visit HistoryLink.org to learn more about the Miller Street Landfill.