425 SW 144th Street
Park and Facility History
The Annex lies next to the former Crosby Road, now known as SW 146th Street. In the early 1900s, Homer Crosby came to the Highline area and built the road from Ambaum Boulevard to First Avenue South. Crosby, one of the area's early residents, also worked on the construction of Ambaum Boulevard using “donkey engines” to do much of the heavy work of hauling logs, moving earth, and carving out a roadbed.
The Annex property was farm and residential land until Chelsea Park Elementary School was built. The school was constructed in the late 1940s to relieve overcrowding at Lake Burien, Hazel Valley, and Sunnydale Elementary Schools. Chelsea Park School closed in 1976.
With funding from the 1968 Forward Thrust Parks and Recreation bond, the building was converted to the Highline Community Center and was managed by the King County Parks Department. This change was brought about by the countywide Forward Thrust program in the late 1960s. Once the City of Burien incorporated in 1993, ownership of the buildings and grounds transferred to the City and it became the Burien Community Center. For many years it served as the offices of the Burien Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Services Department (PaRCS).
In 2010, the City relocated the PaRCS department to the former Burien Library building, which the City had acquired several years earlier. The former library building became the new Burien Community Center. This left the former building in need of a new name, and it was then renamed the Community Center Annex, or simply “The Annex.”
On May 18, 2020, Council voted to demolish the Burien Community Center Annex. The demolition process occurred during the summer of 2020.
Updated April 23, 2024