- Seattle Neighborhoods: Maple Leaf — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Although Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood appeared in the 1890s as a dream of real estate developers, the hilltop community northeast of Green Lake was slow to grow. The last half of the twentieth century saw dramatic changes to the area, but Maple Leaf remained a stable home to middle-class families. The residents were late to organize themselves politically, but their patient and focused persistence soon gained nationwide recognition.
- Albania - The World Factbook (cia.gov)
After declaring independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, Albania experienced a period of political upheaval that led to a short-lived monarchy, which ended in 1939 when Italy conquered the country. Germany then occupied Albania in 1943, and communist partisans took over the country in 1944. Albania allied itself first with the USSR (until 1960) and then with China (until 1978). In the early 1990s, Albania ended communist rule and established a multiparty democracy.
- Maple Leaf, Seattle (Wikipedia)
The area that is now the Maple Leaf neighborhood appeared on maps in 1894 as a plat by real estate promoters and was called the Maple Leaf Addition to the Green Lake Tract. The name may have come from the Maple Saw Mill that operated to the east on Lake Washington or from some maple trees that once grew in the area. There is also an apocryphal story that Maple Leaf was so far north of downtown Seattle that it got its name for being near Canada.