Our historian took the time to put together some interesting facts about the relationship between University of Washington Club and the UW Faculty Auxiliary. 1916 was an important date for our organization.
100 YEARS UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CLUB AND UW FACULTY AUXILIARY
(through the years the names of the UWFA and the UW Club have taken on new names)
- The Faculty Women’s Club was formed in the spring of 1908 and consisted of both Women Faculty and Faculty Wives.
- In the next year, 1909, Seattle hosted its first World’s Fair in June through October… the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Definitely a magnificent occasion! The UW campus was covered with new buildings (many temporary) and marvelous exhibitions and activities. (Photos are available online).
- From the website of the current UW Club, we learn that, following the closing of the Exposition in October of 1909, 40 faculty men purchased the so-called Hoo-Hoo House that had been constructed for the Fair for an organization of lumbermen. (See photos at the UW Club).
This then became the home of Faculty Men’s Club…. just one year after the formation of the Faculty Women’s Club!
Briefly jumping forward….. just as the current Faculty Auxiliary celebrated its Centennial Anniversary in 2008, so did the current UW Club celebrate theirs in 2009! And returning to the chronology….
- In the year 1916, please note 100 years ago, the two groups making up the Faculty Women’s Club became separate organizations: the Faculty Women’s Association and the Faculty Wives’ Club. (The latter was renamed University of Washington Faculty Auxiliary in 1976.)
- It was also in 1916 that both ladies’ groups were granted access to the men’s Hoo-Hoo House for their meetings, study groups and cultural events.
- Eleven years later, in 1927, when an addition was added to the Men’s Club building, the Faculty Wives provided a financial contribution toward the Club’s furnishings, as did the Clubs of the Faculty Women and Faculty Men. (This renovation included, however, a small door on one side of the building, leading through the narrow hall-like access to the lower level dining room, through which all women were obliged to enter and exit the building! It took a while, but this situation did become rectified!
- In 1952 the Men’s Club (H-H H) was demolished and replaced with “what this marvelous building is now”! Once again, a considerable donation was provided by the Faculty Wives toward this lovely modern construction. The Club was given a new name: Faculty Center.
- Until completion of the new and much larger facility in 1960, the Faculty Wives had continued many of their activities in the Student Union Building (SUB, later the Husky Union Building).
- Also during the years 1957 through 1967, all three Faculty Clubs joined for the annual Christmas Dinners, first at the SUB and later at the new Faculty Center. Since the completion of the new Club building, the UWFA has continued to hold a great many of its events and activities…. lectures, movies, business meetings, scholarship awards events and receptions in this wonderful facility, which in 2004 was renamed once again, now as the UW Club.
- In 2016 the UW Faculty Auxiliary proudly takes note of, and honors the 100 years of the close association and interactions of our two very special University of Washington organizations.
Carol Hol UW Faculty Auxiliary Historian April 11, 2016
Carol Hol is now working on a comprehensive history of the UWFA and hopefully, we will post excerpts of it as they come along.
