Ravenna Creek's original source was from Green, Haller, and Bitter lakes, then the Cowen Park ravine west wall when the watershed was diverted to sewers (1908–1948).

The creek source is actually seeping from the original west wall of the ravine, even though the gulch has been partially filled at the southwest corner of Cowen Park.

Cowen (actual surname Cohen, changed upon his arrival to America) was an English native who came from a family of South African diamond merchants.

[1][2] For many decades of Seattle city history, the Ravenna Park ravine had been ignored by loggers and farmers and still possessed full old-growth timber rising nearly 400 feet (120 m).

[3][4][5] Most of the land was owned by mining and real estate magnate William Wirt Beck who, in addition to preserving the ravine's trees for park land, would give Ravenna its name (after Ravenna, Italy) and would plat one of the first subdivisions in the neighborhood in 1890 around the home he built that still stands East of the park at NE 60th Street and 26th Avenue NE.

The City of Seattle planned to use the ravine for staging a comprehensive stormwater drainage piping project in 1986, galvanizing the neighborhoods of the watershed to protect and restore the park.

[10] A volunteer group, Friends of Ravenna Ravine, works to remove invasive species, such as English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberry from the park and restore native vegetation.