Ravenna, Seattle, Washington Article Index for
Ravenna
Limousines in
Ravenna
Website Links For
Ravenna
 

Information About

Ravenna, Seattle, Washington




Ravenna is a Neighborhood in northeastern Seattle, Washington , named after Ravenna , Italy . The neighborhood is mostly Residential , with several businesses located along the busiest streets, in addition to University Village Shopping Center . Many residents are either graduate students or professors at the University Of Washington , which is about a mile or two to the south. One of its main arteries, Ravenna Boulevard, is commonly referred to as "professor's row" since many former and current University of Washington professors reside there. Its main distinction is the restored Cowen Park - '''Ravenna Park''' , which is near the popular walking or biking route between Green Lake and the Burke-Gilman Trail near University Village.


RAVENNA AND RAVENNA-BRYANT

What is now Ravenna has been inhabited since the end of the last Glacial Period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). The Native American Duwamish (before contact, the ''Dkhw’Duw’Absh'', "the People of the Inside") tribe of the Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish nations had the prominent village of ''SWAH-tsoo-gweel'' ("portage") on then-adjacent Union Bay , and what is now Ravenna was their backyard before the arrival of White settlers.Dailey, 26, ref. 2, 8) The Seattle, Lake Shore And Eastern Railway was built c. 1886 along what is now the Burke-Gilman Trail , following what was the shoreline past where the UW power plant and University Village are today.Phelps (1978), p. 25
In 1891, a streetcar line followed what is now 15th Avenue NE, then followed near the southern boundary of what is now Ravenna, where the narrow right-of-way remains clearly visible beside the park. Ravenna Boulevard was built in 1903 as a small part of the Olmsted Brothers grand plan for Seattle streets and parks.
Ravenna incorporated as an independent Town in 1906 toward annexation to Seattle in 1907 .Wilma (2001-08-20, Essay 3502) Ravenna south of the Burke-Gilman Trail is filled land from dump sites at 26th Avenue, filling the drained Union Bay Marsh and much of Union Bay.(1) Marsh drained 1916 with the opening of the Montlake Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal . Fill sites 1911, 1920, 1926; last acreage in the University District closed 1966 or 1967).
(1.1) Phelps (1978), pp. 208, 210; "HISTORY @UBNA", next.
(1.2)
University Village (1956) was built on the southernmost reclaimed land in Ravenna.Dorpat (2001-06-18, Essay 3380)

Ravenna and Bryant are bounded on the west by 15th and 20th Avenues NE, beyond which lies the Roosevelt neighborhood; on the north by NE 75th and 85th Streets, beyond which lie Maple Leaf and Wedgwood ; on the east by 35th and 25th Avenues NE, beyond which lie View Ridge , Windermere and Laurelhurst (or Bryant neighborhood in between Ravenna and neighbborhoods east);(1)

The principal arterial is 25th Avenue NE; minor arterials are 15th and 35th Avenues, and NE 65th Street; 40th Avenue NE and NE 55th Street are collector arterials.

-->(1) Engineering Department, Traffic and Transportation Division, ''Study : 20th Avenue N.E. bridge closure''. Seattle, WA: The Dept. {Link without Title} , 1975.
(2) Higgins (1999-07-30) "Traffic" Ravenna Boulevard is a popular bikeway.

There are small commercial clusters on 25th Avenue between Blakeley and 55th, on 55th east of 25th, on 65th between 20th and 25th, and along Blakeley. An eponymous grocery has been at the same location on the boulevard since the 1920s.Lund (2006-03-15) Most emblematic of the neighborhood are Queen Mary, serving Victorian English Tea ; the Duchess Tavern (1934), along with the Blue Moon , the oldest still-extant around the University of Washington; and that the only Volvo dealership in town is family-owned and in Ravenna-Bryant.Higgins (1997-12-06) "Area"

Between the depot and the mill could now be 25th Avenue NE at the Burke-Gilman Trail. Left of the mill is the Ravenna Depot, center. The straight road left continues past Roper's Grocery on 24th Street, just left of the tree, left of center, to what is now the SE corner of Ravenna Park, behind the house between the foreground trees. Behind the hamlet of Ravenna, middle background, is the new Seattle Female College (c. 1890), "non-sectarian, distinctly Christian", and including the Seattle Conservatory of Music and Ravenna Seminary. The stable for the college is beyond the depot. Left of the college and above the small foreground snag, faintly, is a broad side of the Phillips house, still extant today.
(1) Dorpat (1994), ch. 42
(2) Dorpat (1981), images 104-U, 105-U, 106-U, 107-U


COWEN PARK–RAVENNA PARK AND RAVENNA CREEK

See Also: Ravenna Park (Seattle)


The parks comprise the centerpiece of these neighborhoods (including the obscure little neighborhood of Cowen Park, southeast Roosevelt, and adjacent University Heights neighborhood). Conjoined Cowen Park - Ravenna Park is located at a southwest corner of Ravenna-Bryant, reaching from beyond the source of Ravenna Creek beside nearby Brooklyn Avenue and Ravenna Boulevard, under the 15th Avenue bridge to 25th Avenue NE.

For many decades of Seattle city history, the park ravine had been ignored by loggers and farmers and still possessed full Old-growth timber rising nearly 400 feet.(1) Wilma (2001-08-20), Essay 3502
(1.1) See also list of newspaper articles referenced by Wilma
(2) Dolan & True (2003), pp. 142–143.
(3) Van Pelt (2001), pp. xxii, 181–185, 187–191. The trees remained through the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1908, at which they were featured exhibitions. Public controversy about them declined after their gradual disappearance in suspicious circumstances by 1926. Today, none of that size remain anywhere in the world.(1) Wilma (2001-08-20), Essay 3502
(1.1) See also list of newspaper articles referenced by Wilma
(2) Higgins (1999-07-30), "Traffic"
(3) Van Pelt (2001) The legacy helped save Seward and Carkeek parks, and helped galvanize conservation efforts ever since.Dolan & True (2003), p. 142 Today, a single Sierra Redwood stands over the Medicinal Herb Garden at a south edge of the UW campus, at 106 feet somewhat over a quarter of the height of those of Cowen Park-Ravenna Park.(1) Located at an edge of the central main campus, SSW of Drumheller Fountain near Stevens Way. (2) Dolan & True (2003), p. 144.

The creek original source was Green Lake , from Haller and Bitter lakes, then the Cowen Park ravine west wall when the watershed was diverted to sewers (1908-1948).(0) (See also "Seattle History: Maps" {Link without Title} , referenced below.)
(1) The water table is relatively shallow, held by the extensive layer of clays that underlay the metro region. The creek source is actually seeping from the original west wall of the ravine, even though the gulch has been partially filled at the southwest corner of Cowen Park.
(1.1) Dolan & True (2003), p. 143; Phelps (1978), p. 22.
(2) Sewers (1908-1911, 1931, 1948, major break 1957-58), Phelps p. 284, 199; 191; 201; 194-5. In the mid-1960s, the Cowen Park ravine was largely filled using freeway construction spoils. The City of Seattle planned to use the ravine for staging a comprehensive stormwater drainage piping project in 1986, galvanizing the neighborhoods of the watershed to protect and restore the park.Hadley (1986-06-12) Since 1991, the park has seen major restoration by residents of neighborhoods in collaboration with the City.(1) Dolan & True (2003), pp. 142–3.
(2)
Completion of downstream daylighting to the mouth of the creek beside Union Bay Natural Area and restoration of migrating fish has come into conflict with property owners, specifically the owners of University Village, even though a revised daylighting project would not include their land.(1) Higgins (1997-12-06) "Residents"
(2) O'Neil (1998)
(3)


Neighborhoods of Ravenna Creek

See Also: Ravenna Creek


The Ravenna Creek watershed mostly corresponds to:
  • Bitter Lake - Haller Lake (until c. 1931, while North Seattle was early suburban. Each lake no longer has an outlet; infrequent overflow is diverted to a sewer.)

  • Green Lake (until c. 1948, early urban North Seattle. Green Lake no longer has an outlet, infrequent overflow is diverted to a sewer. The nutrient content of these lakes is high.)

  • South Roosevelt (Cowen Park neighborhood of Roosevelt, and surroundings)

  • North and east University District (University Heights, University Park; and UW main and east main campus, respectively. East main campus includes the Union Bay Natural Area (UBNA) .

  • Ravenna and Ravenna-Bryant (including University Village Shopping Center).



  • BIBLIOGRAPHY

    • 14

    • 15
      See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".

    • 16

    • 17
      Note caveat in footer.
      Maps "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated 17 June, 2002.

    • 18

    • 19
      The landscape carved by the Vashon Glacier some 14,000 years ago.

    • 20
      Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section .
      Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [ref. 2 ;
      ''Duwamish et al vs. United States of America, F-275''. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. 5 ;
      "Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 1-7 August 1984 8 ;
      "Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 17-23 December 1980. 9 ;
      ''The Puyallup-Nisqually'' by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. 10 .
      Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound"

    • Dolan, Maria & True, Kathryn (2003). ''Nature in the city: Seattle''. Seattle: Mountaineers Books, pp. 142–143. ISBN 0-89886-879-3 (paperback).

    • Engineering Department, Traffic and Transportation Division, ''Study : 20th Avenue N.E. bridge closure''. Seattle, WA: The Dept. {Link without Title} , 1975.

    • 22
      Dorpat referenced ''Seattle: Now and Then Vols. 1, 2, and 3''. Seattle: Tartu Publications, 1984, 1988);
      Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat, "The Ave: Streetcars to Street Fairs", typescript dated 1995 in possession of Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat, Seattle, Washington;
      Walt Crowley, ''Rites of Passage''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995;
      ''Cal McCune, From Romance to Riot: A Seattle Memoir''. Seattle: Cal McCune, 1996;
      Roy Nielsen, ''UniverCity: The City Within City: The Story of the University District'' Seattle: University Lions Foundation, ca. 1986;
      Clark Humphrey, ''Loser: the Real Seattle Music Story''. Portland, OR: Feral House, 1995.

    • 23

    • 24

    • 25
      Updated at 26
      "The Neighbors project was published weekly in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1996 to 2000. This page remains available for archival purposes only and the information it contains may be outdated. For more updated information, please visit our Webtowns section."

    • 27

    • 28

    • 29

    • 30

    • 31

    • 32

    • 33

    • 34

    • 35

    • 36
      See also pdf note .

    • 37
      High-Resolution Version , PDF format, 16.1 MB
      Medium-Resolution Version , PDF format, 1.45 MB 2004.
      The high resolution version is good for printing, 11 x 17. The low and medium resolution versions are good for quicker online vewing. [http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/streetclassmaps.htm#pdfnote "Street Classification Maps, Note on Accessing These PDF Files" ]

    • 38
      Note caveat in footer.
      Maps "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated 17 June, 2002.

    • 39

    • 40

    • 42

    • 43
      Wilma referenced "Calvary Cemetery", Historylink Metropedia Library (www.Historylink.org);
      "Ravenna Post Office", Historylink Timeline Library (www.Historylink.org);
      "City of Seattle Annexes Town of Ravenna", Ibid.;
      "Methodists Form Congregation in Ravenna Neighborhood", Ibid.;
      "University District", ''Historylink Magic Lantern Library'' (www.Historylink.org);
      Keming Kuo, "Beautiful Trees Cut To 'Line Someone's Pocket'", The Seattle Times, 29 June 1977;
      "Removal of Trees Protested", Ibid., 23 November 1926;
      "Removal of Giant Trees Would Be Crime", Ibid., 4 November 1926;
      "Roosevelt Park Again Ravenna", ibid., 29 May 1931;
      "Sears To Close Roosevelt Store", > Ibid., 1 November 1979;
      Shareen Singh, "Area's Metaphysical Bent Is Well Known", ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', 12 September 1998, Neighbors (project 1996-2000);
      Margaret Pitcairn Strachan, "Roosevelt-Ravenna Are Bustling Areas", The Seattle Sunday Times, 7 July 1946, p. 5;
      Seattle School Histories, 1869-1974 ed. by Sara Levant (Seattle: Seattle Public Schools, 1974).



    FURTHER READING

    • 44
      Image of Ravenna Park and the greater University District to Union Bay-Portage Bay.

    • 45

    • 46
      "with additions by Sunny Walter and local Audubon chapters."
      Viewing locations only; the book has walks, hikes, wildlife, and natural wonders.
      Walter excerpted from

    • --- 47
      See "Northeast Seattle" section. Particularly useful.