The Great University Land Shuffle
Prominent citizens and state legislators met at the Chamber of Commerce to plot the move of the University of Washington to a massive new campus between Lake Union and Lake Washington.
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.
Last evening at the Chamber of Commerce a meeting was held between the legislative committee on the university and the citizens of Seattle to consider the question of changing the university from its present site to another near the city but more suitable. After considerable discussion, two committees were appointed, one to procure quit claims to the present site, and the other to devise a plan for securing the school section lying between Lake Union and Lake Washington. The university of the state of Washington should occupy a place at the apex of a pyramid of which the common schools were the base. The current site, if sold, would bring at least $400,000, which would provide a good site, a building, and a surplus for teachers. Professor O. B. Johnson noted that the college had outgrown its quarters with over two hundred students. It was suggested that the university needs at least eighty acres, and that the site between the two lakes would provide the necessary grounds for outdoor sports, which were deemed vital for student success.
“The university of the state of Washington should occupy such a place in this commonwealth.”
This meeting effectively paved the way for the University of Washington's move from downtown (the original 'University Tract' near 4th and University) to its massive present-day campus in the University District. The civic ambition to anchor the university in 80+ acres of land demonstrates how early Seattle leaders viewed land acquisition as the primary mechanism for civic growth.
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