The story
History
Founding
In 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens recommended the establishment of a university in the Washington Territory. Prominent Seattle-area residents, including Methodist preacher Daniel Bagley, saw this as a chance to add to the city's potential and prestige. Bagley learned of a law that allowed United States territories to sell land to raise money in support of public schools. At the time, Arthur A. Denny, one of the founders of Seattle and a member of the territorial legislature, aimed to increase the city's importance by moving the territory's capital from Olympia to Seattle. However, Bagley ultimately persuaded Denny that founding a university would better contribute to the growth of Seattle's economy. Two universities were initially chartered, but later the decision was repealed in favor of a single university in Lewis County provided that locally donated land was available. When no site emerged, Denny successfully petitioned the legislature to reconsider Seattle as a location in 1858.
In 1861, scouting began for an appropriate 10 acres (4 ha) site in Seattle to serve as a new university campus. Arthur and Mary Denny donated eight acres, while fellow pioneers Edward Lander, and Charlie and Mary Terry, donated two acres on Denny's Knoll in downtown Seattle. More specifically, this tract was bounded by 4th Avenue to the west, 6th Avenue to the east, Union Street to the north, and Seneca Streets to the south.
John Pike, for whom Pike Street is named, was the university's architect and builder. It was opened on November 4, 1861, as the Territorial University of Washington. The legislature passed articles incorporating the university, and establishing its Board of Regents in 1862. The school initially struggled, closing three times: in 1863 for low enrollment, and again in 1867 and 1876 for shortage of funds. Washington awarded its first graduate Clara Antoinette McCarty Wilt in 1876, with a Bachelor of Science degree.
19th-century relocation
By the time Washington state entered the Union in 1889, both Seattle and the university had grown substantially. Washington's total undergraduate enrollment increased from 30 to nearly 300 students, and the campus's relative isolation in downtown Seattle faced encroaching development. A special legislative committee, headed by UW graduate Edmond Meany, was created to find a new campus to better serve the growing student population and faculty. The committee eventually selected a site on the northeast of downtown Seattle called Union Bay, which was historically the land of the Duwamish, and the legislature appropriated funds for its purchase and construction. In 1895, the university relocated to the new campus by moving into the newly built Denny Hall. The University Regents tried and failed to sell the old campus, eventually settling with leasing the area. This later became one of the university's most valuable pieces of real estate in modern-day Seattle, generating millions in annual revenue with what is now called the Metropolitan Tract. The original Territorial University building was torn down in 1908, and its former site now houses the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
The sole-surviving remnants of Washington's first building are four 24-foot (7.3 m), white, hand-fluted cedar, Ionic columns. They were salvaged by Edmond S. Meany, one of the university's first graduates and former head of its history department. Meany and his colleague, Dean Herbert T. Condon, dubbed the columns as "Loyalty," "Industry," "Faith", and "Efficiency", or "LIFE." The columns now stand in the Sylvan Grove Theater.
20th-century expansion
Organizers of the 1909 Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition eyed the still largely undeveloped campus as a prime setting for their world's fair. They came to an agreement with Washington's Board of Regents that allowed them to use the campus grounds for the exposition, surrounding today's Drumheller Fountain facing towards Mount Rainier. In exchange, organizers agreed Washington would take over the campus and its development after the fair's conclusion. This arrangement led to a detailed site plan and several new buildings, prepared in part by John Charles Olmsted. The plan was later incorporated into the overall UW campus master plan, permanently affecting the campus layout.
Both World Wars brought the military to campus, with certain facilities temporarily lent to the federal government. In spite of this, subsequent post-war periods were times of dramatic growth for the university. The period between the wars saw a significant expansion of the upper campus. Construction of the Liberal Arts Quadrangle, known to students as "The Quad," began in 1916 and continued to 1939. The university's architectural centerpiece, Suzzallo Library, was built in 1926 and expanded in 1935.
In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry in the Seattle area were forced into inland internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. During this difficult time, university president Lee Paul Sieg took an active and sympathetic leadership role in advocating for and facilitating the transfer of Japanese American students to universities and colleges away from the Pacific Coast to help them avoid the mass incarceration. Nevertheless, many Japanese American students and "soon-to-be" graduates were unable to transfer successfully in the short time window or receive diplomas before being incarcerated. It was only many years later that they were recognized for their accomplishments, during the University of Washington's Long Journey Home ceremonial event that was held in May 2008.
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On October 2, 1946, the University of Washington formally opened a medical school as part of a School of Health Sciences against the Washington State Medical Association's oppositions, who did not wish to create a competitive surplus of physicians. The operation was spearheaded by President Henry Suzzallo based on plans created by Gideon Weed, Rufus Willard, and Thomas Minor earlier in 1884. The G.I. Bill was later created and passed, establishing the School of Health Sciences while providing $3.75 million for buildings and $450,000 for salaries. This was the foundation for the University of Washington Medical Center, ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top ten hospitals in the nation. The School of Health Sciences was later renamed the School of Medicine in 1946, which is now consistently ranked as the top medical school in the United States. The University of Washington's role as a medical school sharply drew more attention after the World War II boom in wartime industry and economics.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was nominated in 1954 by the University of Washington's Physics Department to lecture physics students for one week, but was unable to attend because of loyalty checks asked for by the US Federal Government. Oppenheimer never accepted the invitations, and President Dr. Henry Schmitz disapproved of his nomination.
From 1958 to 1973, the University of Washington saw a tremendous growth in student enrollment, its faculties and operating budget, and also its prestige under the leadership of Charles Odegaard. During this period, the faculty was sharply divided over the issues of the role of the faculty in faculty appointments, and the conflict of who should run the University, the faculty or the parents and taxpayers. Henry Schmitz characterized the matter as "an internal power struggle." UW student enrollment had more than doubled to 34,000 as the baby boom generation came of age.
The University of Washington has a long history with civil rights starting from 1874, through 1899 with civil activism and through 1968 to 1975. This era was also marked by high levels of student activism, as was the case at many American universities. Much of the unrest focused around civil rights, actively seen when football coach Jim Owens suspended four Black football players on October 30, 1969, for "[a] lack of commitment to the team," after which activists demanded Owen's resignation and the rest of the black football players on the team refused to play. For a time, activists had been passionate as to incite a response from school administration to occupy the campus after the activists harmed 17 persons. African American Dr. Robert Flennaugh was appointed to the UW Board of Regents on March 25, 1970 and later on June 22 the University of Washington Daily eliminated gender-based help ads. Activism peaked in 1975 when 2,000 students protested university hiring practices on the campus through May 13 and 14. Further opposition to the Vietnam War occurred, and in response to anti-Vietnam War protests by the late 1960s, the University Safety and Security Division became the University of Washington Police Department. On June 29, 1969, a bomb detonated on campus, causing $100,000 in damages and no injuries. No group claimed responsibility for the incident.
Odegaard instituted a vision of building a "community of scholars", convincing the Washington State legislatures to increase investment in the university. Washington senators, such as Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson, also used their political clout to gather research funds for UW. The results included an increase in the operating budget from $37 million in 1958 to over $400 million in 1973, solidifying UW as a top recipient of federal research funds in the United States. The establishment of technology giants such as Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon in the local area also proved to be highly influential in the UW's fortunes, not only improving graduate prospects but also helping to attract millions of dollars in university and research funding through its distinguished faculty and extensive alumni network.
21st century
In 1990, the University of Washington opened its additional campuses in Bothell and Tacoma. Originally designed for students who had completed two years of higher education, both schools have since evolved into four-year universities with the authority to award degrees. The first freshman classes were admitted in the fall of 2006. Today, both the Bothell and Tacoma campuses also offer a range of master's degree programs.
In 2012, the university began exploring plans and governmental approval to expand the main Seattle campus, including significant increases in student housing, teaching facilities for the growing student body and faculty, as well as expanded public transit options. The University of Washington light rail station was completed in March 2016, connecting Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood to the UW Husky Stadium within five minutes of rail travel time. It offers a previously unavailable option of transportation into and out of the campus, designed specifically to reduce dependence on private vehicles, bicycles and local King County buses.
Controversies
On January 23, 1939, the University of Washington was criticized for hiring Economics Professor Harold J. Laski, a British Marxist, as a visiting lecturer in between the First Red Scare and Second Red Scare. The University of Washington was highly suspect by the Truman Administration in 1948 and 1949. Thomas H. Bienz, a Democratic State senator, declared that "At least 150 [University faculty members] are Communists" and soon thereafter two investigations were started by the Canwell Committee and the University. Professor of philosophy Herbert Phillips, professor of old English literature Joe Butterworth and professor of social psychology Ralph Gundlach were dismissed after the investigations. A year after, another second investigation was commenced by the Joint Legislative Fact-finding Committee on Un-American Activities in the State of Washington, leading to investigations into other professors with a response of "One hundred and three professors [signing] an open letter to the University of Washington Board of Regents that stated the firings were based on guilt by association. The letter also declared that faculty morale and the University's reputation was damaged."
The original proposal of the University included increases for research scientists of about 10% over three years plus changes in the pay structure and a catch-up increase of 3.25% for those who did not get a merit raise last year. For postdocs, the original UW offer was an average 15% total wage increase in 2023, including 13% in January when new minimums were introduced, plus higher minimum salaries.
2025 IEB sit-in
On May 5, 2025, while participating in a pro-Palestinian sit-in protest in UW's recently constructed Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB), 33 students were arrested. The students were protesting against the University's ties to Boeing, which has continued to sell military-grade weaponry to Israel amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The company had invested $10 million in the construction of the IEB in 2022. The protesters, numbering about 75 students, hung a banner which declared the new name of the building as the "Sha'aban al-Dalou Building", in honor of a 19-year-old Palestinian software engineering student who was killed in 2024 by an Israeli bombing. They occupied the building for several hours and barricaded the doors until they were forcibly removed by riot police. The University had called in the Seattle Police Department and the Washington State Patrol to remove them. According to one of the leaders of the protest group, "[the police] gave a one-hour dispersal warning to those inside, then entered within 10 minutes, were immediately violent — grabbing people, throwing people downstairs, slamming people into the ground", and several students reported injuries. A UW spokesperson "said that he was not aware of any protester injuries". According to UW, the protest resulted in $900,051 in damages to the IEB.
A few days later, the University announced emergency suspensions for the students who had been arrested. After an eight-month long investigative process, the students involved in the protest were acquitted of the majority of charges by UW's disciplinary process. All of the students were found responsible for "failure to comply with law enforcement and for entering the building without authorization", and one student for "Disruption or Obstruction". All were found not responsible for charges of "Abuse of Others," "Aiding, Assisting and Attempting," and "Vandalism". Their suspensions were lifted, and no further sanctions were imposed upon them by the university. Some still face criminal charges.
History of energy at UW
The first UW power plant was built simultaneously with some of the first campus buildings back in 1895, and was located to the east of campus along the existing shoreline of Lake Washington. The plant, which burned coal to produce steam to help heat and electrify the campus, was quickly replaced in 1901 as the campus’ energy needs began to grow.
This second power plant was located where the modern day Allen Library stands. It too used a coal and steam system, and was in use for 7 years before it was put to rest and a third plant was built.
This third power plant, which originally consisted of two 250 horsepower coal powered boilers, remains the current site for the University of Washington's central power plant. It is located opposite Montlake Boulevard from the Intramural Activities Building (IMA). The university started their switch from coal to natural gas in 1956 and finished in 1988, motivated by growing global environmental concerns and awareness.
An additional power plant, the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP), was added to campus in 2017. This plant serves as a backup power supply to research buildings on Southwest campus, and generates and stores chilled water for cooling purposes. The current capacity of this plant is 6 megawatts of emergency power and 4,500 tons of chilled water, but is expandable to double the size of both reserves with no necessary building modifications. The WCUP was awarded the Envision Gold Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure for its sustainability focused building design and purposes.
From Wikipedia’s article on University of Washington, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5