Wendell - Seattles Ravenna Neighborhood

Seattle is an area that is blessed with a wealth of excellent libraries, archives, and museums. In particular, I would like to thank the staff at the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections, Seattle Public Library, Seattle Municipal Archives, and Museum of History and Industry. I would also like to acknowledge my reliance on HistoryLink.org, the online encyclopedia of state and local history for Washington; and King County Snapshots, an online catalog of local historical images. NortheastSeattle.com; Ravenna-Bryant Community Organization; and local newspapers the Seattle Times , Seattle Post-Intelligencer , and North Seattle Herald-Outlook were also treasure troves of information.

There are a number of people I would also like to thank individually. These include Lorraine McConaghy, without whose class Nearby History this project would have been insurmountable; Anne Frantilla, librarian at Seattle Municipal Archives and childhood friend at whose house adjacent to Ravenna Park I spent many a happy hour; Eleanor Toews, librarian for Seattle Public Schools Archives; Sarah Canwell with University Village; Jay Milton with Ivars (Kidd Valley); Diana Crane with Pacific Consumers Cooperative; Robin Hing with Childrens Home Society; Mary Greengo and Tom Wagner with Queen Mary; and David Watkins with Ravenna Volvo.

In particular, I would like to thank those people who gave generously of their time and access to private collections, including Larry Taylor and Don Bowen at the Theodora, John McManus at McManus Shoes and Footcare Center, Bill and Kitty Wilson at Ravenna United Methodist Church, Eileen Paul, Peter Blecha, and Carol Kocher. Special thanks to my sister, Robin Reid, for helping to maintain our family collection and happy memories of our time at the house on Twenty-ninth Avenue NE.

I also wish to thank my editor at Arcadia Publishing and good friend, Julie Pheasant-Albright, for her expert guidance and assistance during the writing and production of this book and for calling me up one morning and informing me this would be my next project. Finally, I would like to thank my husband, Tony Hicks, and my children, Isabelle and Jack Burke, for their love and support, always.

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One

PRIOR TO 1900 RAVINES, RAILROADS, AND BIG TREES

Before settlers came, the principal feature of Ravenna was the creek that drained Green Lake and emptied into Union Bay. Glacial melt-off formed the wooded ravine, and Native Americans lived in a village on the shore of Union Bay. In 1852, David Doc Maynard arrived in the area. Reportedly he named Seattle after his friend Chief Sealth, leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Henry Yesler opened his sawmill in 1853, and in 1861, Washington Territorial University was established. By 1870, Seattles population was 1,107.

The Ravenna area would have several owners before increasing in value in the mid-1880s when the Seattle, Lake Shore, and Eastern Railroad extended up the shore of Lake Washington from Seattle. By this time, Seattles population had grown to 3,533. In 1887, George and Oltilde Dorffel were the owners. The area still possessed its old-growth timber, and they designated the ravine as a park, likely because the steep topography would make building problematic. Ravenna became a stop on the new railroad.

In 1888, Rev. William W. Beck and his wife, Louise, purchased 400 acres on Union Bay. They developed the property around Ravenna station and set aside 10 acres for the Seattle Female College. Beck also opened the Ravenna Flouring Company. The Becks fenced the ravine and opened Ravenna Park. They imported exotic plants and built paths, picnic shelters, and fountains. Admission was 25.

Washington Territory became Washington state in 1889, the same year as the Great Seattle Fire and the dedication of Calvary Cemetery. By 1890, Seattles population had grown to 43,487, an increase of approximately 40,000 people in 10 years. The population of Ravenna in 1892 was 50. By this time, Ravenna also had a grocery store, general store, and post office. On July 17, 1897, the steamer Portland arrived in Seattle with a ton of gold, a phrase coined by Erastus Brainerd, press agent for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and Beriah Brown Jr. at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Seattles population and economy grew rapidly after this, as Seattle became the port that would supply the gold fields of Alaska and the Yukon.

Reverend Beck was a real estate developer who marketed Ravenna as Seattles most desirable suburb in the 1890s. He purchased 400 acres on Union Bay and developed the property around the Ravenna station of the Seattle, Lake Shore, and Eastern Railroad into town lots. This photograph shows the area around what is now NE Sixty-fifth Street and Ravenna Avenue NE with a sign offering half-acre home tracts. (Courtesy Jay Milton.)

This poster of Beck shows him standing by Roosevelt-Ravenna Parks Big Stick. The front states, The mountains around Seattle can not be seen always, but Beautiful RavennaQueen of Parkscan. The back has a notation that says, Uncle Wirt standing beside the Big Tree. In 1890, there was a sign on this tree that read, measures 44 ft around, 18 in above the ground. (Courtesy Peter Blecha.)

A woman stands beside and appears to be partaking of Ravenna Parks mineral springs. At the time, there were over 40 springs in the park, including Mineral Spring, already well known to visitors; the Lemonade Spring near the big trees; Petroleum Springs in the center of the park; and a larger Mineral Spring in the upper creek bed. (Courtesy Peter Blecha.)

This glimpse of Mineral Spring was made into a postcard. The surround is made of leather with the words Mineral Springs, Ravenna Park. Seattle, Wash. burned into it. The 1903 Ravenna Park Im Walde said, Ravenna Park will ... be the Kohinoor of parks to him who takes time to breathe its air, drink its waters, rest his eyes on its vegetation, and listen to the songs in trees and canyons. (Courtesy Peter Blecha.)

Just married and full of missionary zeal, if few financial resources, the Reverend Harrison Brown and his wife, Libbie, arrived in the Northwest in 1895 determined that the areas orphaned children find homes. A Century of Turning Hope into Reality: A 100 Year Retrospective of Childrens Home Society in Washington State asks, regarding the children in this photograph, Whence came these homeless waifs in the early years? The most common disruptions in childrens lives at the turn of this century were death, desertion, drink, and divorce. (Courtesy Childrens Home Society of Washington.)