[Images of America: Washington 01] • Seattle's Ravenna Neighborhood

For centuries, Native American tribes lived peacefully along the trout-filled stream in a ravine that would later become part of northeastern Seattle. In 1887, the Reverend Beck disembarked from the Seattle Lake Shore Eastern Railroad and, in this same area, bought 300 lushly forested acres that he turned into a township and park, both called Ravenna. The town was only three and a half miles from the city center and soon boasted a flour mill and a finishing school. The park itself, with its giant trees, mineral springs, fountains, and music pavilion, soon became a major attraction and well worth the 25cents admission. Eventually the timber was harvested and the school replaced by the university. Today the park remains a haven of serenity and the stream once again runs through i