Green Lake is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, USA. Its centerpiece is the lake

Green Lake (Seattle)

Green Lake is a freshwater lake in north central Seattle, Washington, USA, within Green Lake Park. The park is surrounded by the Green Lake neighborhood to the north and east, the Wallingford neighborhood to the south, the Phinney Ridge neighborhood to the west, and Woodland Park to the southwest...

 and park after which it is named.

Its generally accepted boundaries are Interstate 5 to the east, beyond which lie Roosevelt

Roosevelt, Seattle, Washington

Roosevelt is a neighborhood in north Seattle, Washington. Its main thoroughfare, originally 10th Avenue, was renamed Roosevelt Way upon Theodore Roosevelt's death in 1919...

 and Maple Leaf

Maple Leaf, Seattle, Washington

Maple Leaf is a mostly residential neighborhood in Seattle, originally a rural suburb named Maple Leaf Addition to the Green Lake Tract or Green Lake Circle...

; N 85th Street to the north, beyond which lies the neighborhood North College Park/Licton Springs; Aurora Avenue N (State Route 99

Washington State Route 99

State Route 99, abbreviated SR 99, commonly called Highway 99, is a numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Washington extending just under from Fife in the south to Everett in the north, with a gap in Tukwila.-Southern division:...

) to the west, beyond which lies Phinney Ridge

Phinney Ridge, Seattle, Washington

Phinney Ridge is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, USA. It is named after the ridge which runs north and south, separating Ballard from Green Lake, from approximately N. 45th to N. 85th Street. The ridge, in turn, is named after Guy C. Phinney, lumber mill owner and real estate...

, and N 50th Street and Woodland Park to the south, beyond which lies Wallingford

Wallingford, Seattle, Washington

Wallingford is a neighborhood in north central Seattle, Washington, named after John Noble Wallingford . The QFC supermarket at the corner of N 45th Street and Wallingford Avenue N may be regarded as the center of the neighborhood; its large WALLINGFORD neon sign is made in part from letters in the...

.

Its main thoroughfares are the circumferential road around the lake, known at different points as East Green Lake Way N, East Green Lake Drive N, West Green Lake Drive N, Aurora Avenue N, and West Green Lake Way N; N 65th, N 71st, and N 80th Streets (east- and westbound); Wallingford Avenue N and 1st, 5th, Latona, and Woodlawn Avenues NE (generally north- and southbound but following the contours of the shoreline at some points); Green Lake Drive N and NE Ravenna Boulevard (northwest- and southeast-bound); and Winona Avenue N (northeast- and southwest-bound).

David Phillips surveyed the Green Lake area in September 1855 for the United States Surveyor General. The first settler was Erhart Seifried with a 132 acre (0.53418552 km²) homestead on the northeast shore of the lake in 1869. In 1891 a trolley line was extended from Fremont

Fremont, Seattle, Washington

Fremont is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. Originally a separate city, it was annexed to Seattle in 1891. Named after Fremont, Nebraska, the hometown of two of its founders, L. H. Griffith and E...

 along the eastern shore and around the northern end of Green Lake. Also in 1891, Green Lake was annexed to Seattle.

There is an extensive variety of housing types in Green Lake. Since 1995, the neighborhood has undergone significant redevelopment. Many houses have been completely remodeled and enlarged, often with the addition of another floor. This is a consequence of Green Lake's easy access to Downtown via both Interstate 5 and Aurora Avenue N.

Washington State Route 99

State Route 99, abbreviated SR 99, commonly called Highway 99, is a numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Washington extending just under from Fife in the south to Everett in the north, with a gap in Tukwila.-Southern division:...

The Green Lake Library, a Carnegie library

Carnegie library

A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems...

 that occupies 5000 square feet (464.5 m²) and cost $35,000 to build, was opened in 1910. As of 1999 the library held 54,000 catalogued items. The library was closed during 2003 for remodeling and reopened in March 2004. It is part of the Seattle Public Library

Seattle Public Library

The Seattle Public Library is the public library system serving Seattle, Washington, USA. It was officially established by the city in 1890, though there had been efforts to start a Seattle library as early as 1868. There are 26 branches in the system, most of them named after the neighborhoods in...

 system.

Prior to the 1991 redistricting

Redistricting

Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...

, Green Lake formed the center of Washington's 32nd Legislative District. The well-organized and rather left

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

-leaning Democratic Party organization of that district was widely known both to friend and foe alike as "the soviet of Green Lake", possibly an allusion to James Farley

James Farley

James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...

's legendary (though possibly apocryphal) 1930s remark about "the 47 States of the Union and the Soviet of Washington".

Green Lake is home to Green Lake Elementary School, Bishop Blanchet High School

Bishop Blanchet High School

Bishop Blanchet High School is a coed Catholic high school located just north of Green Lake in Seattle, Washington, United States. The school was founded in 1954 by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, and named for the first bishop of the diocese, A.M.A. Blanchet...

, and Seattle Parks and Recreation Department's Green Lake Small Craft Center (GLSCC). GLSCC is the site of both Green Lake Crew, a public rowing program, and the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club.

There is also a 2.8-mile path around the lake provides a perfect recreational spot for runners, bikers, skaters and walkers. Many others use the athletic fields or visit the park for boating, picnics and swimming.