Historic Overview

In 1860, the Legislative Assembly of Washington Territory passed "An Act to Relocate the Territorial University" in Seattle, "provided a good and sufficient deed to ten acres of land, eligibly situated in the vicinity of Seattle, be first executed to the Territory of Washington for University purposes."

Early in 1861 Arthur and Mary Denny, Charles and Mary Terry, and Edward Lander donated land on a forested 10-acre knoll overlooking Elliott Bay. The University was established there, on the site of what is now the Fairmont Olympic Hotel on University Street in downtown Seattle.

The Territorial University of Washington opened November 4, 1861. The fledgling University was little more than a backwoods school, which closed for lack of funds several times during its earliest years. The first faculty consisted of one professor who taught a curriculum that included Latin, Greek, English, history, algebra, and physiology.

Washington became a state in 1889, and by that time the University was firmly established as an institution of higher education.

Growing enrollment and the lack of available land in what was becoming downtown Seattle soon made a larger campus necessary, and in 1895 classes opened in Denny Hall, the first building on the present Seattle campus.

In 1909 the University of Washington was the site of a world's fair called the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The exposition opened a new period for the University, as national attention was focused on it and the Pacific Northwest.

Since World War II, the UW has earned an international reputation for its research and graduate programs. It is a leader in a variety of fields. Research is of great benefit to the broader community, and undergraduates benefit by learning from professors who are at the forefront of generating new knowledge. The UW's graduate programs are among the most highly rated in the nation.