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About Ballard
Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. Incorporated as an
independent city in 1890, it was annexed by Seattle in 1907, but has retained
much of its old Scandinavian flavor. Its major landmarks include the Hiram M.
Chittenden Locks (usually referred to as the "Ballard Locks" locally), the
Nordic Heritage Museum, and Golden Gardens Park. It is bounded by Crown Hill,
north of N.W. 85th Street; Phinney Ridge and Fremont, east of 8th Avenue N.W.;
Salmon Bay (part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal) to the south; and Shilshole
Bay (part of Puget Sound) to the west.
The first homesteader in the area was one Ira Wilcox Utter, who filed his claim
in 1852. Thirty-six years later, John Leary, Judge Thomas Burke, and railroader
Daniel H. Gilman formed the West Coast Improvement Company to develop Burke's
land holdings in the area in anticipation of the coming of the Great Northern
Railway, whose tracks would be laid along the Salmon Bay coastline on their way
to Interbay and points south. They also had a spur built off the main line of
the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad from Fremont. Three miles (5 km) of
this line are now operated as the Ballard Terminal Railroad, which runs along
Salmon Bay from N.W. 40th Street to the BNSF Railway mainline at N.W. 67th.
William Rankin Ballard, owner of land adjoining Judge Burke's holdings,
subsequently joined Burke, Leary, and Gilman, and took over management of the
development, then called Gilman Park. Upon incorporation in 1890, the settlement
took Ballard's name, and operated as an independent city for 17 years.
The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are Seaview, 32nd, 24th, Leary, 15th, and
8th Avenues N.W. (north- and southbound), and N.W. Leary Way and N.W. 85th,
80th, 65th, and Market Streets (east- and westbound). The Ballard Bridge carries
15th Avenue over Salmon Bay to Interbay, and the Salmon Bay Bridge carries the
BNSF Railway tracks over the bay, west of the locks.
Ballard is the traditional center of Seattle's ethnically Scandinavian seafaring
community, although in recent years the decline of the fishing industry and
gentrification have both made inroads into the actual demographics. For years,
Ballard remained a clich� in local humor, especially its reputation for overly
cautious, elderly drivers. The Seattle-based comedy show Almost Live! often made
reference to Ballard, especially in the reccurring "Cops in Ballard" sketch.
Ballard also contains Ballard High School, soon to be the largest in the
district.
Ballard Avenue N.W. between N.W. Market Street and N.W. Dock Place was added to
the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
A Neighborhood in Transition
In the first decade of the 21st century, Ballard emerged as one of the most
interesting neighborhoods in Seattle. Its live music scene expanded, with
leading venues like the Tractor Tavern (founded 1994) and Mr. Spot's Chai House;
the Second Saturday artwalk became a popular and established tradition (although
off the radar of local critics and curators); and the restaurant, boutique, and
cafe scene exploded. Part of this resurgence of activity was attributable to the
rediscovery of in-town neighborhoods that was occurring elsewhere at the same
time, part to the growing affluence of Seattle and the region, and part to the
attractiveness of Ballard as a community, with its historic district and "the
road ends here" geography. The remodel of the historic Bay Theater-the oldest
continuously operating movie house west of the Mississippi-from a failing
single-screen theater to a well-appointed triplex catalyzed the gentrification
of the downtown district, attracting people to Ballard from outside of the area.
In 2005, a new library building, designed by architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski
Jackson, was opened as part of the Seattle Public Libraries' "Libraries for All"
initiative.
Educationally, Ballard is home to several of the Seattle School District's
highest-achieving public schools. Ballard High School, the flagship institution
of the community, has undergone a great deal of change since undergoing massive
renovation in the late 1990s. Before the renovation, BHS was considered a
second-rate school in the district, especially after suffering the gang-related
shooting of a female student immediately in front of the school in 1994; the
girl who was killed had no gang affiliation.The rejuvenated school is now in
demand as students from all over the city seek placement there.
The retail and artistic activity has been accompanied by a real-estate boom. As
of early 2006, ten major condominium/retail projects were underway within a
five-block radius of the downtown Ballard core. This growing density is looked
at with ambivalence by most of the community, but is inevitable as it had been
written into the neighborhood plan created under the administration of Mayor
Norm Rice which aimed to reduce suburban sprawl by targeting certain Seattle
areas for high-density development. The influx of new residents will undoubtedly
create further traffic congestion in the community; the relative lack of mass
transit linking Ballard to other Seattle neighborhoods, and scarcity of parking
in central Ballard are issues that have not been resolved. Transit and growth
remain the two most contentious issues regionwide, with little strong leadership
from local politicians. Exploring many of these challenges on both a community
level and civic, is the newly formed nonprofit Sustainable Ballard with the
slogan "A Blueprint for EveryTown USA", where neighbors model good foreign
policy implemented locally. This fast growing communitywide effort has created
many successful projects, among the latest being the Ballard "Get Carbon
Neutral" campaign, working toward Ballard becoming the first carbon neutral
community in the nation, a goal mentioned in Al Gore's speech at NYU Law School
on September 18, 2006.[3] Ballard, an ideal walking and bicycling community, is
eagerly working toward relocalization: addressing challenges (climate crisis and
global energy descent) by working toward solutions locally.