The Clearing of the Ten Acres
A dense forest in the pioneer village of Seattle was cleared by hand in 1861 to build a university, marking the humble birth of an institution that would grow with the frontier territory.
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.
On July 17, 1854, the Congress of the United States gave Washington Territory two townships of land for the purpose of establishing a University. The legislature eventually located the university at Seattle on January 30, 1861. Daniel Bagley, John Webster, and Edmund Carr were appointed to select the site and sell the land to fund the construction. They accepted a gift of ten acres of land made by A.A. Denny, C.C. Terry, and Edward Leader. At that time, the tract was a dense forest, for Seattle was but a village of about 250 inhabitants dwelling near Commercial Street. The land was cleared and fenced, and on May 20, 1861, the corner stone of the University was placed in position with appropriate ceremonies. By the fall of 1862, the buildings were completed and the doors opened to students, with Professor A.S. Mercer serving as the first President.
“This tract at that time was a dense forest, for at that early day Seattle was but a village of about 250 inhabitants dwelling near Commercial street.”
The University of Washington grew from a ten-acre plot in a frontier village to a world-class research institution. This history of rapid expansion and land-use priorities echoes Seattle's ongoing struggles to balance urban growth, public institutional footprint, and housing density in the modern era.
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