Renton Hill was historically a neighborhood of Seattle

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...

, Washington, USA; it was roughly the southern part of today's Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington

Capitol Hill is the most densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the center of the city's gay and counterculture communities, and is one of the city's most prominent nightlife and entertainment districts....

 and the adjacent part of First Hill

First Hill, Seattle, Washington

First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, named for the hill on which it is located. The hill, in turn, is so named for being the first hill one encounters traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington....

, centered roughly at 18th and Madison. It was named after lumberman and merchant Captain William Renton (1818-1891).

The Renton Hill Community Improvement Club was the city's first community club

Neighborhood association

A neighborhood association is a group of residents or property owners who advocate for or organize activities within a neighborhood. An association may have elected leaders and voluntary dues....

, organized in 1901 for public improvements such as water, sidewalks, lighting, and beautification. Along with the Capitol Hill Community Club, the club reorganized in 1929 to exclude racial minorities, using a restrictive covenant

Restrictive covenant

A restrictive covenant is a type of real covenant, a legal obligation imposed in a deed by the seller upon the buyer of real estate to do or not to do something. Such restrictions frequently "run with the land" and are enforceable on subsequent buyers of the property...

. This was in reaction to encroaching African American population from the east, Asian from the south, and urban downtown from the west.