New Self-Guided Tour of Luther Burbank Park!
Community members can now take a self-guided tour of some Luther Burbank Park’s rich cultural and natural history via the STQRY app!
What is STQRY?
Pronounced “story,” this is the City’s digital platform for engaging the community with arts, culture, and heritage/history. The Mercer Island Arts Council launched STQRY in 2014, and the app currently features more than 30 entries about works in the public art collection as well as sculptures on view/for sale in the Greta Hackett Outdoor Sculpture Gallery. In 2023, the City started adding entries about Mercer Island history and heritage, including information about Riley Cove at Lincoln Landing.
Take a Tour of Luther Burbank Park
The Phase 1 Renovations completed at the Boiler Building in 2024 were partially funded by through the Washington State Historical Society’s Heritage Capital Projects program. As a condition of the grant, the City developed a new interpretive program that highlights the rich history of Luther Burbank Park.
Using the STQRY platform and bronze plaques designed by local artist Marsha Rollinger, visitors can explore stories spanning from the early days of Mercer Island entrepreneur C.C. Calkins to the site’s later use as the Luther Burbank School. Together, these interpretive elements help bring the park’s unique history to life for visitors of all ages.
The tour includes stops at the following locations:
- Boiler Building
- Luther Burbank Park Administrative Building
- Former School Parade Grounds (located near the park flagpole)
- Dairy Barn Ruins
- Calkins Point
Four locations are marked with a bronze plaque designed by Rollinger and fabricated by Two Ravens Studio in Tacoma, WA. (An interpretive sign installed in 2025 denotes the Dairy Barn Ruins stop.)
How do I access the tour?
Community members can access the tour via STQRY in a few ways:
- Search “Explore Mercer Island” to download the free STQRY app in the App Store or Google Play. The tour can be accessed by clicking on the “Luther Burbank Park History Tour” button in the navigation bar on the bottom of the app.
- Visit mercerisland.stqry.app via a desktop or mobile web browser device and click on the “Luther Burbank Park History Tour” button.
- Scan the QR code located on each plaque to go straight to that feature’s STQRY entry.
Many thanks to the Mercer Island Historical Society and Friends of Luther Burbank Park for the collaboration over the last few years to bring this tour to fruition!
