The cornerstone of the new building was laid on July 4, 1894. The main addresses were delivered by Daniel Bagley and Arthur A. Denny, both of whom had been prominent in the exercises when the cornerstone of the first building was laid on May 20, 1861. At this christening the building was called "Administration Building" but before completion was renamed "Denny Hall" in honor of Mr. Arthur A. Denny.76 Out of money saved from the original plans a drill hall and gymnasium costing $7,000 was constructed. From stone left over from Denny Hall the present observatory was constructed. Removal to present campus, September 4, 1895.-The university moved into the quarters on the new and present campus on September 4, 1895.77 3. The Disposal of the 10-Acre Tract With removal to the new site the regents began to consider selling the 10-acre tract. The act of March 7, 1891, had authorized the university land and building commission to sell at auction to the highest bidder, provided that the bid should not be less than the appraised value. But the law of March 14, 1893, while authorizing the sale or lease provided that no sale could be made except upon the six-eighths affirmative vote of the regents. With this restriction and the growing belief that ultimately the growth of Seattle would enhance the value very greatly the regents decided to lease rather than to sell.78 No records are available to show what was done with the property following the autumn of 1895 for a couple of years. Bagley records that About 1897 the old building was rented to Seattle School District No. 1, which occupied it for a time, after which the Seattle Public Library rented it. Old North Hall, formerly used as a dormitory, became the temporary headquarters of the law school. The United States Government was looking for a site upon which to con, struct a Federal building, and the regents, considering that the erection of such a structure would greatly enhance the remaining portion, consented to sell a strip 64 by 240 feet at its appraised value, which was $25,000.7 That was the northwest corner on what is now Third Avenue and Union Street, in the very heart of the city. The Federal post office was erected there and still occupies the site. 76 Bagley, op. cit., p. 150. 77 Catalog, 1895-96, p. 14. "Report of the Board of Regents, Dec. 1, 1894, p. 13. "Bagley, op. cit., p. 151. In 1898 the regents advertised for bids to lease the property, reserv. ing quarters for the law school and a business office for the board of regents. One of the many offers was accepted. A 30-year lease was made. Certain reservations were made for university purposes. The annual rental was to be $32,500 and during the term of leasure improvements of a substantial type aggregating $452,500 were to be made. All buildings were to be of brick. These and all improvements were immediately to become the property of the State. Before the lease was delivered the State land commission made the claim that the regents had no authority to dispose of any university land, and the lessee refused to enter upon the contract until assured of the validity. The State land commission claimed that certain legislative enactments of 1893, 1895, and 1897 vested such rights in that commission. The regents, through Richard Winsor, instituted suit against S. A. Calvert, commissioner of public lands. The regents won in the Superior Court of King County. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which again decided in favor of the regents. The decision, rendered on November 27, 1901, was as follows: The authority vested in the board of regents of the State university by the act of March 14, 1893, to sell the State university site in the city of Seattle, which had been originally donated for university purposes, and apply the proceeds of sale towards the purchase and construction of a new site and building, was not abrogated so as to vest the power of sale in the State land commissioners by the passage of the act of March 15, 1893, which provides that the said board of State land commissioners should have full supervision and control of all public lands granted to the State for common school, university, and all other educational purposes, and should possess and exercise over such lands all the authority, power, and functions and should perform all the duties which the State land commission, the State school land commission, and the State board of equalization and appeal for the appraisement of tide and shore lands had exercised, since the latter act expressly restricted its operation by making it apply to public lands only "so far as the same shall not have been disposed of and not appropriated by law to any specific public use." Again on December 23, 1902, the 10-acre tract was leased, this time to the University Site Improvement Co. The tenants were to pay a cash rental of 2 percent annually for the first 5 years on a valuation of $300,000. During the second 5 years the rate was to be 3 percent on the same valuation. Subsequent to that the rate was to be 3 percent on a valuation to be determined by appraisers every 10 years. Besides the cash rental the lessees were to make during the first 10 years at least $100,000 worth of permanent improvements (exclusive of buildings), such as sewers, grading, paving, sidewalks, etc. Only brick or stone buildings were to be constructed. All buildings and improvements at once became the property of the State. Again, a lapse occurred. The Improvement Co. failed to carry out the terms of the contract and on October 1, 1904, the lease was declared forfeited. On November 1, 1904, another lease was executed, this one with James A. Moore of Seattle. This lease covered a period of 50 years, to terminate in 1954. The terms were: For the first 3 years, $6,000 per year; for the next 5 years, $9,000 per year; for the next 10 years, 3 percent per annum of the appraised value of the land, the appraisers to be chosen by both parties; for the next 10 years, 4 percent per annum on the appraised value, similarly determined; for the last 22 years, 6 percent per annum on the appraised value, determined as before. During the first 8 years Moore was to make permanent improvements, exclusive of buildings, valued at $85,000. As in the previous leases, it was stipulated that all buildings and other improvements at once became the property of the university. In 1907 this lease, with some amendments, was continued with the Metropolitan Building Co., successors to James A. Moore. The following statement quoted from a regents' report gives the salient facts concerning the leasehold at present in force: The tract is under a forty-seven year lease to the Metropolitan Building Company bearing the date of 1907. Operating under the act of the legislature of 1915, the income from this lease (at present $40,000 a year), together with tuitions and matriculation fees, goes into the "University of Washington Building Fund." The following table 80 will show the terms for the remaining years of the lease, giving the period, the esti mated valuation, the rate upon which the rental is based, and the annual rental: Pres. Thomas M. Gatch's service, 1887-95, connected the old regime under territorial days with the new impulse furnished by admission of Washington to full status in the sisterhood of commonwealths. His splendid service during the transition period in initiating a new order of things has already been recited and need not be expanded here. Mark W. Harrington, president 1895-97.-Following the resignation of President Gatch a careful search was made for a successor with 80 Regents' Report, 1919. p. 96. broad training and large vision for the future university in its new home. A long personal interview was obtained with President David Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford Jr. University, and an extensive correspondence was carried on with the principal educational men of the United States. The result was the choice of Mark Walrod Harrington.81 His alma mater was the University of Michigan where he received the degrees of A.B. and A.M. in 1867 and 1868. His travels were extensive in various parts of the world. The University of Michigan made him professor of astronomy in 1878 where he remained until 1891. He then became Chief of the United States Weather Bureau. In 1884 he founded the American Meteorological Journal to which he made frequent important contributions. His acceptance of the presi dency at Washington was considered very fortunate. Unfortunately his career there was cut short by mental breakdown, resigning March 24, 1897.82 No major change appeared in the organization of the university during Harrington's first year, except that the department of pedagogy was merged with philosophy, paideutics and oratory. A department of political and social science was listed. Latin and Greek were com bined in 1 department and the modern languages were separated into 2 departments, German and French. Physics became terrestrial physics and geography. During that year the position of registrar and librarian was established with Clark Davis as the incumbent. In 1896-97, the last year of President Harrington's regime, the institution was organized on a very ambitious university scale. Six coordinate colleges and a department of military science and tactics were listed in the catalog. The colleges were: (1) Literature, science, and the liberal arts; (2) engineering; (3) mines and mining; (4) chemistry; (5) medicine and surgery; (6) law.83 William Edwards, President, 1897.-When President Harrington resigned, March 24, 1897, Prof. William Edwards of the department of physics was elected president on March 24, 1897. He was a grad uate of the University of Michigan, 1890, and came to the University of Washington as professor of physics in 1897. Whether the reorganization that took place during the year 1896-97 was the work of President Harrington or President Edwards is not known. The catalog was issued after President Harrington's resig Bagley, op. cit., p. 154. Catalog, 1896-97, p. 10. Catalog, 1896–97, p. 28. nation on March 24, 1897, but after that there was not much time for reorganization. President Edwards' incumbency was brief. He had been selected because he had made such an excellent showing in arranging the laboratories and scientific apparatus in the new building at the time of the removal that he was regarded with favor." He was not so fortunate as an executive. He wished to organize the institution on a strictly university basis with emphasis upon graduate work. The conditions were not ripe for this. He wished to abolish the preparatory department. The faculty opposed it. His views on university organization and his alinement in a religious controversy brought him into disfavor. On October 1, 1897, he ended the tension by resigning from the university.84 Acting President Charles Francis Reeves, 1897-98.-Charles Francis Reeves was made acting president on October 1, 1897, when President Edwards resigned. Professor Reeves had been professor of modern languages in the University of Washington since the opening of the academic year, 1895-96. He was a graduate of Pennsylvania State College, 1878, and also received the degree of M.S. from there in 1881. After extensive travel in Europe he served as professor of modern languages and librarian in his alma mater until 1890. He then engaged in business for 5 years, when he became a member of the Washington faculty. On the election of President Graves, August 1, 1898, Professor Reeves resumed his position as professor of modern languages. He retired from university work in 1903 when he again reentered a business career. His death occurred in Seattle on Decem ber 29, 1933. During the incumbency of Acting President Reeves the University retained the same nominal organization of many colleges. The ambitious program was toned down, however, by the statement in the catalog "The colleges of medicine and surgery and the college of law are not yet organized."85 Pharmacy was listed in the college of chemistry. The administration of President Graves, 1898-1902.-On August 1, 1898, Frank Pierrepont Graves became president of the University of Washington, having been elected some months earlier. Dr. Graves was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., June 23, 1869. He was graduated from Columbia University with the degree of B.A. in 1890 and a year later received the M.A. degree from there. He received the Ph.D. from Boston University in 1892 and from Columbia in 1912. He has been Bagley, op. cit., p. 156. |