Founding the University of Washington
In 1861, commissioners reported on the hard-won construction of the territory's first university, built from scratch with donated land and volunteer labor.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
To the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory: We have the honor to submit a report of our doings under the act of our appointment of January 11, A.D. 1861. We selected a ten-acre site adjoining the town of Seattle, in King County, upon a beautiful eminence overlooking Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. The Hon. A.A. Denny donated eight and a fraction acres, and Messrs. Terry and Lander the other one and a fraction. We have cleared (grubbed) and fenced the ten-acre site with a good picket fence, and have erected a University building, 50 by 80 feet, two stories in height, beside a belfry and observatory. The foundation is solid masonry. Messrs. Pike and Russell are the architects. We began in April without one dollar, yet we have done the work specified above, have never dishonored an order, and have kept clear of debt as required by law. There is a good school of some thirty students now in progress, with A.S. Mercer, A.B., late of Ohio, as teacher. We respectfully suggest that you continue a board of commissioners to guard the lands against trespass and empower them to continue sales to support the institution.
“We began in April without one dollar... We have never dishonored an order. We have kept clear of debt as required by the law.”
This report documents the humble, scrappy origins of the University of Washington, which relied on land grants from early Seattle pioneers like Arthur Denny. Today, the university is a massive global research institution, but these records capture the moment it was just a few acres of cleared land and a wooden building on a hill.
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