The University Is Coming. Where Will the Students Live?

Speculation is rife as to what the streetcar companies in the city will do to accommodate the 600 or more students who will be in attendance at the state university when that institution is opened in its new quarters on the shores of Union Bay on September 2. The regents have decided that there shall be no dormitories on the grounds, and, of course, this will necessitate the hauling of students twice a day, morning and afternoon, between the university and their homes or lodging places. At present there is but one streetcar line touching the grounds, the Third and Suburban Railroad, and it is felt that it will be impossible for that line to accommodate the increased traffic after September.

Those who have given the matter thought say it would be entirely practical for the owners of the Broadway electric road to extend that line from its present terminus across the arm of Lake Union to the university grounds, and this would give almost as direct a line to the heart of the city as is now afforded by the Third Street line. It also will be feasible for the West Street road to extend its line by building a branch road to the university grounds from Ballard by way of Ross, Fremont and Brooklyn. The Consolidated Company's line now running to Fremont would probably be the first to be extended, however, and that would leave little necessity for the Ballard line to reach Fremont. Within the past few days surveyors have been seen in the field in the Denny-Fuhrman addition beyond the present terminus of the Broadway line, and it is claimed that the talked-of route of the extension of the Broadway line was being examined and that the route will parallel the Third Street line, crossing the eastern arm of Lake Union and tapping the university grounds at the same terminus. This line has a franchise extending to the grounds and it may be that the extension is contemplated in the near future. The field is there and the traffic would undoubtedly be large, for outside of the faculty there will be over 300 students to handle daily.

Kilbourne Avenue is being graded from Ross to Fremont and it is understood that the street will be improved through and Brooklyn to the university grounds. When this street is all graded it will give an easy and practical grade for an electric line along its entire length. A line could be built from Ballard down the valley to Fremont. There is a fine site for buildings and it is probably a matter of only a short time until the place will be built up, in which event numerous students would find homes there and the line would be a necessity. There is also some talk of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway, following the policy of railroads of large Eastern cities where colleges or universities are located, putting into service a suburban schedule, running trains twice a day to the grounds. A station could be built on the grounds and the service would be complete and comfortable.

One thing that attracts attention from visitors, and is also the source of a good deal of unfavorable comment, is the lack of facilities in the shape of private homes and boarding houses for the accommodation of the students. In most cities where universities are located it is customary among some of the best families to provide homes for the students at reasonable cost. Students are usually a desirable class of tenants and few families would object to having them for a few months each year in their homes. At Brooklyn, Latona and Fremont the present accommodations for the increased population which the new university will be the means of bringing to that part of the city are meagre. It is suggested that, if some of the property holders out there would build desirable residences and rent rooms to students, it would not only be a paying investment but a good thing for the city. People in somewhat straitened circumstances would thus be enabled to live well in comfortable and spacious houses and could feel reasonably sure of having a good portion of their rental and living expenses taken off their hands by the students who would be only too glad of such homes. It is very probable that between this time and next fall buildings for this purpose will be put up in large numbers.

The regents of the university have considered that the state has sufficient when it furnishes the school buildings and the faculty free of charge to the students, and have abandoned all idea of supplying dormitories. These buildings on the ground would not only be expensive but would make discipline more difficult and would necessitate increasing the faculty.