The North Delridge community, centered along the northernmost portion of Delridge Way SW, extends south to approximately SW Brandon St, west to 35th Ave SW and SW Avalon Way, north to SW Spokane St, and east to the Pigeon Point community and then along 21st Ave SW. To the south are the neighborhoods of High Point and Riverview, to the north and east is the Duwamish Industrial District (and the all-but-forgotten community of Riverside), and to the west are Admiral, Genesee and Fairmount Park.
While Native Americans have lived in the area since time immemorial, North Delridge got its modern start in the mid-1880s when a small settlement was established around what was then known as Young’s Cove, a marshy, intertidal portion of Elliott Bay which extended south to what is currently SW Andover Street near 26th Ave SW, serving as the historical outlet of Longfellow Creek. The original name of the community was Humphry’s Settlement. The adjacent creek received its name from John Longfellow, who moved to the area in that same era and established a farm and logging company along the creek near what is now SW Oregon St.
In the 1890s the state passed legislation allowing dredging of waterways and fill of tidelands, which expanded available land in the area of Young’s Cove and along the nearby Duwamish River and brought an influx of industry. In 1904 William Pigott and Judge Wilson, both natives of Youngstown, Ohio, established a steel mill on the newly reclaimed tidelands and renamed the adjoining community after their hometown. Many people in the area worked at the mill and it became central to the identity of the community.
The area continued to grow after the first Spokane Street bridge was completed and streetcar service connected it to the rest of Seattle. Housing expanded up the ridges adjoining the neighborhood as the steel mill and nearby maritime industries grew. Pigeon Hill, the prominent ridge to the east of the mill, received its name from the myriad birds who nested on the hillside, feeding off the plentiful grain spilled from the flour mill on Harbor Island. A commercial district was established between Pigeon Hill and Youngstown, with a few of the original buildings from that era still present on Delridge Way north of SW Andover St.
In 1939 the community and main north-south thoroughfare were officially renamed Delridge after the dells and ridges of its geography. Several years later, during World War II, the Youngstown playfield (now Delridge Playfield) was first commandeered by the US Army for a barrage balloon battalion, and then taken over by the Seattle Housing Authority to provide temporary housing for steel mill workers to boost wartime production.
Source: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Neighborhoods/Planning/Plan/Delridge-plan.pdf
Photos: https://loghousemuseum.org/history/delridge-history/