Ravenna, Seattle, Washington

Ravenna is a neighborhood in northeastern Seattle, Washington named after Ravenna, Italy. Though Ravenna is considered a residential neighborhood, it also is home to several businesses, many of which are located in the University Village, a shopping mall.

Ravenna Park, located near University Village and the walking or biking route connecting Green Lake to Burke–Gilman Trail, is located within the neighborhood.

Ravenna and Ravenna-Bryant

Human habitation in what is now Ravenna dates to the end of the last glacial period (c. 8000 BCE). Before Euro‑American settlement, the land formed part of the homeland of the Duwamish—the ''Dkh^w’Duw’Absh'' (“People of the Inside”)—one of the Coast Salish nations. Their village of ''SWAH‑tsoo‑gweel'' (“portage”) stood on nearby Union Bay, while the forested wetland that became Ravenna served as a vital backyard and travel corridor.

Founding and early development (1880s–1900s)

The Burke–Gilman Trail follows the route of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, which reached the district about 1886. In 1890, mining and real‑estate entrepreneur **William Wirt Beck** (1851–1944) platted roughly 400 acres with an eye to creating an ideal community modeled on Ravenna, Italy. That same year he opened the *Seattle Female College* in his home—still standing a few blocks east of today’s Ravenna Park—and helped launch the Ravenna Flouring Mill Company, which built King County’s first grist mill. Beck also preserved 70 acres of old‑growth timber in the ravine that became Ravenna Park.

A streetcar line began service in 1891 along 14th Avenue NE (now University Way NE), skirted the south edge of Ravenna Park, and connected the suburb to downtown Seattle. In 1903, the Olmsted Brothers incorporated Ravenna Boulevard into their citywide parks‑and‑boulevards plan, giving the neighborhood its signature diagonal greenway.

Annexation and land changes

Ravenna incorporated as a town in 1906 and was annexed by Seattle the following year. At annexation, the town limits stretched from 15th Avenue NE to 20th Avenue NE north of NE 65th Street and to 30th Avenue NE south of NE 65th, with NE 55th Street forming the southern edge.

After the 1916 opening of the Montlake Cut, Union Bay’s water level dropped, exposing mudflats that were progressively filled during the 1910s–1950s. The southernmost reclaimed land later hosted University Village, an open‑air shopping center that opened in 1956.

Boundaries

Modern Ravenna is bounded on the west by 15th and 20th Avenues NE, beyond which lies Roosevelt; on the north by NE 75th and 85th Streets, adjacent to Maple Leaf and Wedgwood; on the east by 25th and 35th Avenues NE, facing View Ridge, Windermere and Laurelhurst; and on the south by NE Ravenna Boulevard and NE Blakeley or NE 45th Streets, across from the University District and University Village. The neighboring area commonly called *Ravenna–Bryant* extends the eastern edge to 45th Avenue NE between NE 75th Street and Sand Point Way NE.

Transportation

The principal arterial through the neighborhood is 25th Avenue NE, while 15th and 35th Avenues NE and NE 65th Street function as minor arterials. NE 40th Avenue NE and NE 55th Street serve as collectors. NE Ravenna Boulevard is a signed local bikeway, and 20th Avenue NE has been closed to motor vehicles since 1975, creating a popular pedestrian and cycling route over the former 20th Avenue Bridge.

Community landmarks and events

Since 1951, residents of Park Road—locally famous as **Candy Cane Lane**—have mounted an elaborate December lights display, drawing bumper‑to‑bumper evening traffic. A corner grocery has operated on Ravenna Boulevard since the 1920s, while Queen Mary Tea Room (known for Victorian afternoon tea), the Duchess Tavern (established 1934), and Seattle’s only family‑owned Volvo dealership round out the neighborhood’s longstanding businesses.

The late‑19th‑century view above looks northeast across the depot (foreground center) toward the Seattle Female College on the hillside, with the Ravenna Flouring Mill in the foreground; several buildings shown, including the Phillips House, remain standing today.

Ravenna-Cowen Park

The conjoined Cowen Park and 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. The parks comprise the centerpiece of the neighborhood.

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. 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. The legacy helped save Seward and Carkeek parks, and helped galvanize conservation efforts ever since. 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.

Ravenna Creek

Projects have included daylighting portions of the creek (partly with the goal of restoring native fish runs), building and maintaining trails, and restoring riparian habitat, sometimes in collaboration with the University of Washington's environmental science program. 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)
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See also

* Ravenna-Cowen North Historic District

References

Bibliography

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* — see heading "Note about limitations of these data".
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* — maps NN‑1030S & NN‑1040S dated 17 June 2002.
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* — links to "Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle"; cites Waterman, Buerge, Smith, etc.
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* — draws on Dorpat & Crowley, Crowley *Rites of Passage*, and other U-District histories.
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* — high-, medium-, and low-resolution PDFs available.
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Further reading

* — Aerial image of Ravenna Park and the greater University District to Union Bay–Portage Bay.

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* — Viewing locations only; the full book includes walks, hikes, wildlife, and natural wonders. "With additions by Sunny Walter and local Audubon chapters."

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External links

Seattle.gov: Seattle Department of Neighborhoods – Ravenna

{{Seattle neighborhoods

Former municipalities in Washington (state)
Streetcar suburbs