Outside of what is now the Woodland Park Zoo

Along with Ballard and other neighborhoods north of the Fremont Cut, Greenwood and Phinney Ridge were not a part of Seattle proper until later.

Originally named Woodland, the neighborhood became Greenwood in 1907. Greenwood Avenue carried city streetcar and Everett interurban, passenger-railroad traffic during the first half of the 20th century. The section of the neighborhood north of 85th Street was annexed to the City of Seattle in 1954. Residents were hopeful that being a part of Seattle would mean sidewalks. But, to this day, the hoped-for sidewalks have never happened. Moreover, some

Photo courtesy of Phinney Neighborhood Association

of the homes and businesses built north of 85th were built on a peat bog, which accounts for some of the quaintly warped side streets.

Phinney Ridge is named after developer Guy Phinney. His estate and private menagerie, which lured prospective homebuyers to ride the trolley to the burgeoning neighborhood, was purchased by the city and became the basis for the Woodland Park Zoo.

Green Lake’s development, too, is a tale of the trolley, which, in 1891, ran along the eastern shore to the north end of the lake. The city annexed the neighborhood that same year.