The corner stone was laid on May 21, 1861, and school opened in 1862. The sessions have known but few interruptions from that day to this.
The territorial history of the institution is filled with struggles, with victories and defeats, the latter predominating. Most of the lands having been used for buildings, there was no revenue except from the tuition fees paid by the students. Not a dollar was appropriated from the treasury of the territory until 1875, when $1500 was given for repairs. In 1877 the sum of $3000 was voted out of the treasury to pay the tuition fees of scholars to be appointed by the legislators, the judges and the governor, similar provisions were attached to all subsequent appropriations, which amounted in all, from 1854 to 1889, to the sum of $34,350.
Under the changed conditions of statehood, from November, 1889, to the present time, the university has fared much better. The total appropriations for that period amount to $473,492 38, of which $225,000 will be paid back upon the sale of university lands. The University of Washington now has one of the finest sites in America. It consists of 355 acres in the city of Seattle. This land has water frontage on both lakes Washington and Union. The soil is covered with a luxuriant growth of native trees and shrubs, most of which will be preserved though thousands of specimens of other plants are being introduced every year so that the University will soon have one of the finest arboreta in America.
The new buildings include one large main building, made of stone and pressed brick, at a cost of $112,000; a small but complete stone observatory building; a large frame drill hall and gymnasium building, and a brick power house. The illustrations of these buildings are made from photographs by a student, Clarence B. Blethen, of Seattle. Other buildings are planned for the near future.
The main building is well equipped with numerous laboratories stocked with the latest approved apparatus to aid in the institution of chemistry, physics, biology; geology and civil engineering, as well as a library, museum and lecture rooms. The latest additions to the faculty and to the material equipment provide for the work along lines of mining, mechanical and electrical engineering, showing that the university will keep pace with the rapid development of the various resources of the state.
The great event in this year's history of the University of Washington is the formal inauguration of President Frank Pierrepont Graves, Ph. D., LL. D., on November 30. Dr. Graves has for three years enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest college president in America. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1869. He was graduated from Columbia university in 1890, and later pursued post-graduate studies in the large universities of the East, including Harvard, Columbia and Boston. He was an instructor of Greek in Columbia, later professor of classical philology in Tuft's college, from which place he went to Laramie in 1896, to become President of the university of Wyoming. His progress has been substantial, as well as rapid. He is the author of three Greek books: "The Burial Customs of the Ancient Greeks," The Philoctetes of Sophocles," and "A First Book in Greek," the latter being written in con- junction with Dr. E. S. Hawes. In 1895 he was married to Miss Helen Hope Wadsworth, a graduate of the Boston university, in the class of 1891. President Graves, with his scholarship, energy and enthusiasm,' and his wife, with her culture, refinement and sympathetic interest in all that pertains to the university, have inspired the institution with an abundance of new life.
The attendance has already risen from 164 at the close of last year, to 230 at the close of the first term of this year. Besides these regular students there are 130 teachers who are pursuing free Saturday courses, established for their benefit. During the winter months free courses will be offered for miners and prospectors. Last year these helpful courses in mineralogy and assaying were highly appreciated by a large number of miners and others interested. The attendance this year will be much greater, judging from the number of inquiries.
