Greenwood, Seattle

Greenwood

Greenwood is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, USA.

The generally accepted boundaries of Greenwood are Aurora Avenue N. (State Route 99) to the east, beyond which lies Licton Springs; N. 105th Street/Holman Road to the north, beyond which lie Broadview and Bitter Lake; 8th Avenue N.W. to the west, beyond which lies Crown Hill, and N. 80th Street to the south, beyond which lies Phinney Ridge. The boundary between Greenwood and Phinney Ridge is somewhat nebulous; the two neighborhoods do joint planning for events and share a Chamber of Commerce.

The primary north/south thoroughfare through Greenwood is Greenwood Avenue North. North 85th Street carries traffic east to Interstate 5 and west to Golden Gardens Park. Greenwood Avenue carried city streetcar and Seattle-Everett interurban passenger railroad traffic during the first half of the twentieth century.

Originally named Woodland, the neighborhood became Greenwood in 1907. The section of the neighborhood north of 85th street was annexed to the city of Seattle later, in 1954; this later access to city services is still evident in the many streets without sidewalks in the northern section of the neighborhood.

Greenwood is served by the North Cluster of the Seattle School District. Primary schools in Greenwood include Greenwood Elementary and Bagley Elementary with several others in nearby neighborhoods. No high school is located within the North Cluster but Nathan Hale, Roosevelt, Ballard, and Ingraham are all nearby. Schools that sit in the neighborhood themselves are Greenwood Elementary School and St. Johns Catholic School. The heart of Greenwood, west of Greenwood Avenue and north of 85th Street, lies atop a peat deposit, also known as a bog.^[1] The area was molded into a bowl shape after the last glacial retreat, that was in turn, filled with runoff of dead plants that created the peat bog.^[2]

Once the groundwater recedes, peat compresses, causing building settlement that cannot be undone.^[2] Due to the issues surrounding new developments that have created an impervious surface, and have diverted rainwater to city sewers, on August 22, 2008 the city is added peat bogs to the list of Environmentally Critical Areas.^[3] This is intended encourage building techniques that would stabilize the ground water area and reduce building settlement in the neighborhood.

Greenwood includes Sandel Park and Greenwood Park.

Greenwood has a down-to-earth appeal for many of its residents. There are numerous bars, restaurants, and specialty stores along Greenwood Avenue.

Greenwood hosts the annual Greenwood Classic car show.

In autumn 2009, Greenwood experienced several dramatic arson fires. The first, on October 23, burned three buildings to the ground at the intersection of 85th Street and Greenwood Avenue. These buildings included the Green Bean Coffee house, Phở Tic Tac, and Szechuan Bistro; this fire also did significant damage to the historic Taproot Theatre. The two November 4 fires did much less damage and affected a private home and the Rosewood guitar store on 84th and Greenwood. These fires have not been openly linked by the Seattle Fire Department to four arsons from August 2009. Those fires sent a man to the hospital, destroyed the former OK Corral BBQ restaurant, a three-story unoccupied home on N 104th St.^[4][5][6]

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Greenwood, Seattle, Washington

• Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce