University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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History of the University of Washington HE. University ol Wasliington has been a part of the governmental equipment from the beginning ol this Commonwealth's separate existence. When the Terri- tory was hrst organized in IS53 there were less than four thousand people in the domain. and yet those few pioneers had an abundance of hope and foresight. In preparing the foundations for the future State they were swift to recognize the value of education. At the hrst session of the Territorial Legislature provision was made for a complete system of common schools, and at the same time an effort was made to secure the cap-sheaf of that system in a Territorial University. Governor Issac l. Stevens, in his hrst gubernatorial message, recommended a memorial to Congress requesting a grant of land to aid such an institution. This was done, and Congress acted promptly by granting two townships of public lands for the purpose. Thus far the progress was rapid enough to satisfy the most sanguine of the settlers, but at that point there was encountered an obstacle such as has proved troublesome to nearly every one of the new States of the West: a contest over the location of such a desirable institution. The second session of the legislature, in l855, enacted a law creating two Universities, one to be located at Seattle and another at. Boisfort Plains in Lewis County. Each institution was to have one-half of the granted lands. The need of the Universities was not as great as the ambition of the pioneers. The several boards of County Commissioners neglected to select the lands. No one proposed to abandon the idea of a University, but it was allowed to drift with other plans for a greater future. ln l858 the Legislature combined the two Universities and chose as location Cowlitz Prairie in Lewis County. To counteract this move, some of the dissatisfied settlers incorporated the Puget Sound University, as an independent institution. 11

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This display of determination, coupled with the continued failure to realize on the granted lands, caused the Legislature to enact a law in 1861 locating the University in Seattle, and providing that the granted 'lands must be used for the erection of buildings and that the citizens of Seattle must give a free site of at least ten acres. To carry those provisions' into effect a Board of Commissioners was appointed, consisting of Rev. Daniel Bagley, John Webster and Edmund Carr. The Board organized on Washington's birth- day, l86l. Arthur A. Denny offered a free site of ten acres on the old Capitol Hill, since demolished to make room for the New Washington Hotel and other buildings. That site was rejected when Mr. Denny offered any ten acres that might be desired from his farm. When the site was finally chosen it was found that about one-third of the area extended into lands owned by Charles C. Terry and Judge Edward Lander, who promptly joined with Mr. Denny in making the gift to the Territory. The Commissioners then sold enough of the granted lands to clear the site and erect the first buildings. Before the Legislature convened again the buildings were finished and classes were organized for instruction. 9, -2 S 5 - 1- -:U ' a vi. .L ,A 12