University District, Seattle, Washington
Encyclopedia : U : UN : UNI : University District, Seattle, Washington
The University District is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because the main campus of the University of Washington (UW) is located there. It is bounded on the west by Interstate 5, beyond which is Wallingford and Northlake; on the east by 25th Avenue in the north, beyond which is University Village and Ravenna-Bryant, on the east by 35th Avenue and by Surber Drive east of the UW campus, beyond which is Laurelhurst; on the south by the Lake Washington Ship Canal, across which are Eastlake and Montlake; and on the north by NE Ravenna Boulevard and NE 45th Street, beyond which are Roosevelt, Ravenna, and Ravenna-Bryant.(1)
(1) University of Washington Computing and Communications, Facilities Services (modified 18 May 2005)
(2)
See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".
(3) Shenk, Pollack, Dornfeld, Frantilla, & Neman
(4) Cline
(2) UW Publication Services & UW Facility Services (revised July 1996)
(3) University of Washington Publication Services (revised September 1991), from August 1971, revised Sherman (August 1991).
(1)The University District includes the contiguous campus of the UW: main, N, S, E, and W, as distinct from the north campus in Bothell and the south campus in Tacoma. The contiguous campus of 1893 (first buildings opened 1895) east includes the Canoe House (1918), Husky Stadium (1920), Hec Ed Pavillion (1927), and acquired filled land from dump sites at 26th Avenue (sites 1911, 1920, 1926; closed 1966 or 1967).
(1.1) Canoe House,
Its main commercial street, University Way NE, is known throughout the city as "The Ave" in the "U-District".
[Master Plan Seattle Campus Final EIS] of [Campus Master Plan]
(1.2) Husky Stadium [Griffen & Marmor]
(1.3) Hec Ed Pavillion [Kline]
(1.4) Phelps, pp. 208, 210; "HISTORY @UBNA", next.
(2) Initial filled land was sold to private developers and is now south Ravenna including the University Village shopping center (1956). Otherwise, the lands due east were acquired by the state and under the auspices of the UW are now athletic fields, buildings, main car park E, and the Union Bay Natural Area (begun 1971, opened 1980).
(2.1)
(2.2) Three campus maps, referenced above.
What is now the University District has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). Prominent Native American Duwamish villages of the Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish nations were on a then-larger Portage Bay at what is now called Brooklyn Avenue, and the other on a larger Union Bay, near the present UW power plant (which is across from the UW IMA building), around the north shores a mile farther than today, and shores east of what is now the Union Bay Natural Area. (See also adjacent Ravenna neighborhood.) The Dkhw’Duw’Absh,International Phonetic Alphabet pronounciation: [Dkhw'Duw'Absh]. ("People of the Inside") tribe had the prominent village of SWAH-tsoo-gweel ("portage") on then-adjacent Union Bay, and what is now Ravenna was their backyard before the arrival of European settlers.Dailey, 26, ref. 2, 8) Villages were diffuse. In spring, people dispersed from their winter villages of longhouses to camps, gathering in summer for salmon. Gaps in the forest were maintained to encourage game and food supplies. Such "prairies" (anthrogenic grasslands) were cultivated at what is now the University District.(1) As well as Belltown, South Lake Union, along Sand Point Way NE, and most likely Alki, Georgetown, and others.
(2) Anderson & Green(1) ["Southern Coast Salish Territories"] (see Bibliography)
(2) See also Duwamish Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish, and
(3) Dorpat They were connected by a well-travelled path along what is now the Lake Washington Ship Canal (1883, 1916).
Surveyors noted several large Douglas Fir and Red Cedar (remarkable in that large trees were not unusual back then, so these would have been especially so). The U District was first surveyed in 1855, and its first white settlers arrived 12 years later. In 1890, that part of the neighborhood due west of the present UW campus was laid out as the Brooklyn Addition. One year later much of the land north of the Ship Canal, including Brooklyn, was annexed to Seattle, the UW moved from Downtown in 1893, and the first university building was built in 1895.
The name "Brooklyn" began to fade soon thereafter. Electric trolley tracks had been laid up Columbus Avenue (later 14th Avenue) in 1892, and the neighborhood soon began to be called "University Station" after the heated waiting house at the corner of what is now NE 42nd Street (1895). The name is not lost, however, for Brooklyn Avenue NE runs parallel to University Way, one block west.Dorpat
But for the trolley, Downtown was a trek, a boat, and a horsecart ride away. Considering early transportation difficulties, the U District was largely self-sufficient, with area businesses for people with ties to the University. Construction of family homes increased in the early 1900s, as did churches, theaters, stores, and a YMCA. The district's first bank and the first local public library opened in 1906, the modest library organized by local merchants.Burrows
As a result of a contest held by the University Commercial Club in 1919, 14th Avenue (by then already known as "The Avenue" or "The Ave") was renamed University Way, and the neighborhood was renamed the University District (1919). The neighborhood's principal arterials are the Roosevelt Way and 11th Avenue NE one-way pair and lower 15th Avenue NE; University Way, Brooklyn Avenue, and others are collector (tertiary) arterials, north- and southbound. NE Pacific, 45th, and part of 50th streets are principal arterials east- and westbound, NE Campus Parkway is a minor arterial.
[High-Resolution Version], PDF format, 16.1 MB
[Medium-Resolution Version], PDF format, 1.45 MB 12 January 2004.
[Low-Resolution Version], PDF format, 825 KB 12 January 2004.
["Planned Arterials Map Legend Definitions"], PDF format. 12 January 2004.
The high resolution version is good for printing, 11 x 17. The low and medium resolution versions are good for quicker online vewing. [Source: ["Street Classification Maps, Note on Accessing These PDF Files"]
The U District is characterized by the indigenous annual May [U District Street Fair], first of its kind in 1971,
The neighborhood's skyline landmarks (other than the UW campus) are its tallest buildings, Safeco Plaza and the Meany Hotel (now the Best Western University Tower). The former is the headquarters building of Safeco Corporation, located at the corner of Brooklyn Avenue NE and NE 45th Street. Built in 1973, it is 22 stories high and is the city's tallest building outside Downtown. The latter is Art Deco (1931, restored). The architect Robert Reame gave every room a corner window.University District Arts and Heritage Committee (Part 2 of 2, North Side) A jewel of the neighborhood is the formal Neo-classical Carnegie Library (1910) on Roosevelt Way at 50th Street.Burrows
In recent decades, the University District has suffered commercial decline, due at least in part to the more competitive capital investment and popularity of the University Village shopping center east of the campus, and Northgate Mall about 1-1/2 miles (2-1/2 km) north beside I-5. From 2002 to 2004, the city and the neighborhood have made some steps countering this trend by giving the Ave a repaving facelift including the addition of benches, bus bulbs, and period lighting.(1) Marmor
(2) Dorpat The addition of benches represented the reversal of a decades-long neighborhood trend away from providing free places to sit.
The local year-round homeless population, referred to as "Ave Rats", is notorious around Seattle for being a particularly young and counterculture crowd. It is not uncommon to have change demanded rather than requested. Many of them are victims of abuse and addicted to narcotics, particularly cocaine and methamphetamine. They commonly cluster in groups all along the Ave, buying and selling marijuana and doing hard drugs in the alleys. Their numbers have dwindled in recent years due to increased police patrols, tougher enforcement of loitering laws,to distinguish from following and designation of an Alcohol Impact Area (along with Broadway on Capitol Hill and parts of downtown neighborhoods).(1)Alcohol Impact Areas are not the same as neighborhood boundaries.
(2) Castro (13 December 2005) Another factor contributing to the Ave Rats' decline was the extension of organized, gang-related criminal activity on the Ave in recent years. Several groups, whose signature "tags" can be seen throughout the U-District, contributed to the transition in drug sales from marijuana (formerly sold by Ave Rats and transients) to include the organized sale of methamphetamine and cocaine. This transition has resulted in multiple incidents of gun-related violence, as well as obvious deals occurring in broad daylight.
(1) Castro (13 February 2006)
(2) Castro (14 February 2006)
(3) Further may be in archives of [The Daily of the U of W] at [Archives] (by year back to 1995, off-line back to c. 1891), the [North Seattle Herald-Outlook], [Real Change], or the alumni magazine [Columns]; P-I and Times (archives access with free registration) are at nwsource.com.
Regular visitors to the Ave could often recognize the same individuals standing at or "patrolling" the same areas, day after day.to distinguish from following The U District has seen these problems recur. Librarian "Miss Mary Baker asks for police protection from gangs of boys" causing what is today described as vandalism and harassment, reported in the University District Herald, 1921. Librarian Clara Van Sant wrote "Men hang outside the door to smoke, gossip, and pass comments to ladies coming into the library" through the early 1920s, in early versions of problems today.Burrows
Due to the size of the UW Greek system, fraternity and sorority members make up a sizeable portion of the local cafes' and bars' clientele, especially such establishments as Earl's and Tommy's,to distinguish from following. Cf. , "Due to the size". though well outnumbered by the Seattle campus student body of 39,250. Other bars have a wider base of patrons, including the College Inn (since the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in 1909)University District Arts and Heritage Committee (Part 1 of 2, South Side) and the Irish Emigrant. The University District is home to all of the UW's fraternity and sorority houses, most of them clustered along 17th Avenue NE between NE 45th and 50th Streets ("Frat Row" or "Greek Row"). On Thursday (when many Greek parties are held to deter high-schoolers) and Friday nights, it is not uncommon for parties to spill out into the local streets within the area. This reputation draws many crashers, and most of the recent instances of gun violence, injury, and property damage at UW student parties have been due to party crashers getting ejected.see
See also
The AveNote and references
}Bibliography
See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".
and
Burrows referenced "Report on Designation” for Landmark Status of the University Library, issued by Karen Gordon [City of Seattle], January 2002.
The following newsclippings, numbered in the scrapbooks as given, are from the Seattle Public Library Archives:
University District Herald, April 18, 1941, p. 1 (UN7);
Ibid., April 11, 1941 (UN8);
Ibid., August 14, 1934 (UN9);
Press Release from Nancy L. Wright, Community Relations, Seattle Public Library to Mary Bratton at the University District Herald, Submitted June 16, 1980 (UN13);
Photocopied original program from the opening ceremony August 5, 1910 (UN15);
Robert E. Iams, “History of University Branch As Part of Community Analysis,” November 15, 1979 (UN16);
University District Herald August 1, 1946 (UN20);
Robert E. Iams, “University Branch Library History” Flash Vol. 23, No. 2 (October 1964)(UN27);
Seattle Public Library Annual Report 1906-1907 16th ed. (UN28);
Seattle Public Library Annual Report 1910-1911 20th ed. (UN30);
Photocopied clipping of unknown publication, (probably University District Herald), October 28, 1921 (UN32);
Editorial, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 7, 1937;
University Library Quarterly Reports, December 1918, October-December 1920, April-June 1921, July-September 1923, October-December 1925, April-June 1932, July-September 1932, and April-December 1933, Seattle Public Library Archives;
University Library Yearly Reports, 1938, 1942, 1944, 1951, 1955, 1957, 1968, 1971, 1972 Seattle Public Library Archives;
Press Release June 25, 1980 from Barbara Erling in the University Branch Library History file, at the University Branch Library;
Alyssa Burrows interview with Michael Delury, University Branch Librarian 1998-Present on December 4, 2002;
Carrie Tuckwood, University Librarian to Alyssa Burrows, December 2002.
Ctowley referenced Walt Crowley, Forever Blue Moon, The Story of Seattle's Most (In)Famous Tavern. Seattle: Blue Moon, 1992.
Crowley referenced Cal McCune, From Romance to Riot: A Seattle Memoir. Seattle: Cal McCune, 1996;
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage, A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995; author's archives.
Crowley referenced Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995;
Paul Dorpat and Walt Crowley, "The Ave: From Streetcars to Street Fairs" (unpublished mss., prepared for University District Chamber of Commerce, 1994).
Page links to [Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section].
Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [n.d.] [ref. 2]
Duwamish et al vs. United States of America, F-275. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. [ref. 5]
"Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 1-7 August 1984 [ref. 8]
"Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 17-23 December 1980. [ref. 9]
The Puyallup-Nisqually by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. [ref. 10].
Recommended start is ["Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound"]
Dorpat referenced Seattle: Now and Then Vols. 1, 2, and 3. Seattle: Tartu Publications, 1984, 1988);
Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat, "The Ave: Streetcars to Street Fairs", typescript dated 1995 in possession of Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat, Seattle, Washington;
Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995;
Cal McCune, From Romance to Riot: A Seattle Memoir. Seattle: Cal McCune, 1996;
Roy Nielsen, UniverCity: The City Within City: The Story of the University District Seattle: University Lions Foundation, ca. 1986;
Clark Humphrey, Loser: the Real Seattle Music Story. Portland, OR: Feral House, 1995.
John Moe interview with Guerren Marter, Grand Illusion Cinema manager.
Alumni magazine.
"Seattle Wireless: One of the first community wireless networks, and probably one of the largest."
Previously retrieved [15 November]] 2005.
Links to ["Seattle's Original Brewpub"]. Selection from
[Title incremented annually each January].
[Master Plan Seattle Campus Final EIS] of [Campus Master Plan]
Sources for this atlas and the neighborhood names used in it include a 1980 neighborhood map produced by the Department of Community Development (relocated to the [Department of Neighborhoods] and other agencies), Seattle Public Library indexes, a 1984-1986 Neighborhood Profiles feature series in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, numerous parks, land use and transportation planning studies, and records in the [Seattle Municipal Archives].
[Maps "NN-1120S", "NN-1130S", "NN-1140S".Jpg [sic] dated 13 June 2002; "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated 17 June 2002.]
"Maps" is part of ["American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection"], at Libraries Home > Subject > History > Tm > Pacific Northwest History.
[High-Resolution Version], PDF format, 16.1 MB
[Medium-Resolution Version], PDF format, 1.45 MB 12 January 2004.
[Low-Resolution Version], PDF format, 825 KB 12 January 2004.
["Planned Arterials Map Legend Definitions"], PDF format. 12 January 2004.
The high resolution version is good for printing, 11 x 17. The low and medium resolution versions are good for quicker online vewing. [Source: ["Street Classification Maps, Note on Accessing These PDF Files"]]
(2) UW Publication Services & UW Facility Services (Revised July 1996)
(3) University of Washington Publication Services (Revised September 1991)
Compiled, designed, drafted in cooperation between Physical Plant and the Department of Geography, August 1971, revised Sherman (August 1991).
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.