- Seattle Neighborhoods: Ballard — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
The Seattle neighborhood of Ballard is a “city within a city” with a decidedly Scandinavian accent. Located in the northwest part of the city, it is a maritime center. Salmon and Shilshole bays on Puget Sound form its southern and western boundaries, and Phinney Ridge rises to the east. Ballard incorporated as a city in 1890, and its citizens voted to annex to Seattle in November 1906. Today sightseers visit the Hiram Chittenden Locks on the Ship Canal to watch salmon begin their spawning journey or they tour historic Ballard Avenue. Ballard’s increasingly diverse residents enjoy the district’s small town pace and easy access to downtown.
- Seattle Neighborhoods: Interbay — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Once a salt marsh between two extensions of Elliott Bay, the Interbay neighborhood is home to businesses and industries representing the wide sweep of Seattle’s history. A transcontinental railroad, first completed in the nineteenth century, runs next to the home of a twenty-first century biotechnology company. A food bank, a fishing fleet, and a golf course round out the wide variety of activities where once deranged hermits hid from society.
- Seattle’s Ballard Bridge carries 15th Avenue NW across the Lake Washington Ship Canal at Salmon Bay, connecting the Ballard neighborhood north of the canal with Interbay to the south.