Burien Neighborhoods: Exploring Our City’s Past

This neighborhood is home to the first library in the King County Library System, founded by the Wednesday Social Club (formerly known as the Women’s Progress Club of McKinley Hill). In its heyday, Boulevard Park had a thriving business district, but it was severely impacted by the expansion of Sea-Tac Airport.

 Boulevard Park Library, the first to be included in our county's library system. 

The Chelsea Park Improvement Club was active in the 1940s and 1950s. The club raised money for community projects and sponsored dances and other social events. In 1947, the area adopted the slogan, “Where Lilies Grow.” Lily bulbs were brought in from Oregon growers and sold in the neighborhood.

 Chelsea Park, made possible by lily sales and community effort over half a century ago. 

The Olde Burien and Sunnydale neighborhoods competed to become the economic center of the area, but it was the initiation of service of the Lake Burien Railroad that opened up access and gave Olde Burien the commercial edge. In 1912, service began on the Lake Burien Railroad, affectionately named by residents “The Toonerville Trolley” or “The Galloping Goose.” The main commercial district of downtown Burien took off after World War II. 

 Olde Burien, with historic 1920s-era storefront façades. 

 Tin Room Bar & Theater, one of the oldest buildings in the neighborhood. 

 Southgate Masonic Temple, constructed in 1920. 

 Haye's Feed & Country Store, one of the best intact examples of its kind in a historic downtown center. 

 The Antlers, original home of Wilson's Grocery, established in 1915. 

One of the first shopping centers in the area was the Glendale Shopping Center, located at 136th Street and 1st Avenue South. It included a dress shop operated by two teachers at White Center Heights School. One of the teachers, Rozella Roff, would eventually become the first female principal in the Highline School District.

Many settlers* established homesteads in the Five Corners area. The Elsey family built a shake mill on 1st Ave S and 160th St in the 1890s. It remained covered in dense forest until 1928 when Louis Balzarini created Five Corners Nursery on his homestead. A neighbor added another nursery, and soon development in the area took off. 

*The term “settlers” is used to refer to non-Native people in the area.

Named after real estate promoter Linden I. Gregory, this area was formerly known as “Wobbly Hill” or “Poverty Hill”. As the land was cleared of trees, Seattle workers building wooden ships for World War I became its first residents. Many of these workers, who lived in small shacks, were members of the International Workers of the World labor union who were also known as “Wobblies”.

Farmers from this area traveled to Pike Place Market to sell their meat and produce.

During Prohibition, smugglers brought their boats into Salmon Creek to supply The Flame and other taverns with alcohol. The wooded ravine provided ample cover as they worked their way up the hill. The creek used to teem with salmon. School-aged boys sent to collect water from the creek sometimes waded in to grab a few of the huge fish for their families.

The “kettle lake” and its surrounding forest were once teeming with fish and wildlife, important resources for Native people and settlers alike. In 1884, Gottlieb von Boorian had a homestead on the southeast corner of the lake. He became a popular and respected figure, and the community was renamed Burien after his death. He and his wife immigrated from Middle Selesia, now part of modern-day Poland, in 1862.

 The Ruth School for Girls, which opened on the shore of Lake Burien in 1933. 

 Log Hall on Ambaum, built in the late 1920s by the Highline Mens' Progressive Club. 

Annexed to Burien in 1998, this primarily residential neighborhood is home to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Center. The Highline Area Food Bank inhabits the former Manhattan Community Hall, which was established in 1952 to provide a meeting place for the community to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes.

Manhattan School was one of the earliest schools in the area. Built in approximately 1902 and torn down in 1960, it was located at near 1st Ave S and Normandy Park Rd. Twelve property owners, with 14 children total, formed the Manhattan School District and built the one-room school house because they felt it was too dangerous for their children to be walking through woods full of wild animals to get to Sunnydale School. In 1924, seven local school districts united to build Highline High School. 

 Manhattan Community Hall, built to serve the community in 1952. 

The forested hills and ravines of Maplewild made it unsuitable for most homesteads, yet some hearty souls toughed it out. Years later those homesteads were subdivided, with one property becoming Duffy’s Gardens. On land donated by the Three Tree Point Garden Club, the Boy Scouts of America Troop 377 dedicated their new scout lodge, a one-room cabin built by the youth, in 1949. The curves and dips of Maplewild Avenue can be attributed to early road construction which followed the path of least resistance. 

 Three Tree Point Cabin, built by Boy Scouts in 1949. 

 Duffy's Gardens, built by the daughter of the man who purchased The Seattle Times in 1893. 

Jacob Ambaum purchased land where St. Bernadette Catholic Church now stands. In 1916, he created a road for use by horse and wagon between his property and the curves of Salmon Creek on the road that now bears his name. He was instrumental to the development of the Lake Burien Railroad, which used the roadbed he had already built. 

Development here boomed after Seahurst became the southern terminus of the Lake Burien Railroad; by 1917 there were six real estate offices in the immediate area. In 1947, a 544-unit affordable apartment complex for veterans of World War II and their families was built on Ambaum at 136th Street. Those apartments are now known as Alcove at Seahurst. Seahurst was also the location of Gunther’s Tower, a 50-foot tower that featured a spiral staircase built around a Douglas fir tree. This is where prospective buyers could see land surrounding Lake Burien that was being offered for sale.

Coast Salish peoples set up camps near the mouths of Salmon Creek and Miller Creek (in Normandy Park) to take advantage of the abundance of salmon in summer and fall. Beach and river camps were important summertime places for different groups to meet for intergroup cooperation and celebration.

 Lake Burien School Memorial Park, the site of a 1914 elementary school later used as a community meeting place. 

Logging of the plateau in the late 19th century gradually opened this area for farms that over time were subdivided for homes. Construction of Ambaum Road made the area more accessible to potential homeowners. The  Shorewood on the Sound Community Club  was established in 1946.

In 1919, a group of Seattle businessmen organized to build the Rainier Golf and Country Club. A few years later, members of the Seattle Jewish community, excluded from Rainier, built their own golf course next door, now known as Glen Acres Golf and Country Club. The early years of The Boeing Company brought an influx of professionals who built stately homes in this neighborhood.

 Glen Acres Golf and Country Club, featuring a nine-hole course that opened to great acclaim in 1925. 

Arguably the birthplace of what we now consider Burien, Sunnydale is home to the historic Sunnydale Elementary School and a memorial to the local men and women who died in World War I. Prior to World War II and the incarceration of Japanese Americans, a number of Japanese American families operated greenhouses and farms in the Sunnydale area. Many of them returned after the war and reopened greenhouses and nurseries. Mike and Jane Kelly are considered this area’s first settlers. Mike Kelly famously said after stepping out of the woods into a mossy clearing, “This is truly a sunny dale.”

Highline High School opened here in 1924, built by a coalition of seven small school districts. The façade of the replacement high school, now under construction, incorporates some elements of the historic building.

 Sunnydale Elementary School, which also served children from White Center to Des Moines until 1902. 

 Highline High School, which first opened its doors in 1924.