GW and The Washington Memorial Association

From GWUEncyc

Article

By G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian

It is commonly known that President James Monroe signed the Act of Congress which created Columbian College on February 9, 1821. What is less known is that the concept of a large and urban institution began to evolve early in the College's history. After the Civil War, the trustees moved the College from College Hill, its original location near Florida Avenue and 14th Street, to the center of Washington where the departments of law and medicine were already located. The property at College Hill was sold to provide the funds needed to construct a new physical plant. Besides being consolidated in one location, the College began to provide opportunities for employed students to take advantage of after-hours education, a mission which continues to the present.

By the late 1880s, the institution’s charter had been amended changing the name to Columbian University, the campus was centralized in its downtown location, the University started a period of growth and expansion, adding the Corcoran Scientific School in 1888, and the School of Comparative Jurisprudence and Diplomacy in 1898. By order of the Corporation of the University at the 1892 annual meeting, a School of Graduate Studies was established, offering thirty different fields of graduate study toward the master's degree and the doctorate. The school was well along the way to its present status as an institution of higher learning close to the center of government, offering not only a fine undergraduate education but quality graduate programs for professionals employed in the city of Washington and its environs.

Charles Willis Needham, a Baptist layman and dean of the law school, was elected the eighth president of Columbian University in 1902. Throughout his tenure, financial difficulties plagued the institution. The University had mortgaged property to build a new medical building, which put considerable strain on finances, and for several years it operated at a deficit. President Needham had difficulty raising money to cover the losses and was looking for different directions that would help to develop and improve the University. As a result, he was open to the suggestions of The George Washington Memorial Association.

The George Washington Memorial Association, founded in 1889, was desirous of establishing a national university named for the first president in the city of Washington. The Association's president, Mrs. Archibald Hopkins, influenced President Needham to propose changing the name of Columbian University to The George Washington University. In an organized effort that came to be known as The George Washington University Movement, Columbian University sold a law building and purchased Van Ness Park, immediately south of the White House, with the proceeds, agreed to change its name to The George Washington University, revised its emphasis toward more post-graduate education, and declared itself non-denominational. The name of the University was officially changed by Act of Congress on January 23, 1904, and by the Board of Trustees on February 20.

As a part of the negotiations, the University trustees asked the Memorial Association to construct on University property, at a cost of $500,000, a building dedicated to the memory of George Washington. The University would use the building for administration, graduate work, lectures and research, and meeting space for learned societies. The Association agreed to raise funds for the building through subscriptions and gifts. Upon completion, the George Washington Memorial building was to belong to and be maintained by The George Washington University.

A competition for the design of the building was announced and a jury selected. It is the architectural concept for the building and quadrangle, drawn up by a local firm, Hornblower and Marshall, that is to be found in old print galleries. The print appeared in Harper's Weekly and was circulated, presumably, in the fundraising effort.

During the same period, the University was in an aggressive period of expansion. It acquired the National College of Pharmacy, organized a College of Veterinary Medicine, and created the College of Engineering and Mechanical Arts. This expansion, combined with the costs of construction and maintenance, created a heavy economic burden.

The Memorial Association, in the meantime, was having difficulty raising capital for the Memorial Building. Even when fundraising efforts were combined under the control of the University's Board of Trustees, subscriptions were not forthcoming. Finally, President Needham was forced to sell some of the University's valuable property to cover the losses, and one of the parcels sold was the five acre plot just south of the White House where the Memorial Building had been planned. The Memorial Association withdrew from its agreement with the University in 1909. While this chapter in the University's history seems to have been fruitless, it did provide the University with its current and important name. Under a new president, Charles H. Stockton, who was elected in 1910, the financial picture began to improve.

Stockton reorganized the University, sold most of its property and relocated the department of arts and sciences to 2023 G. Street. Ironically, the area that George Washington himself had envisioned as the site for a national university was Foggy Bottom. After nearly a century, the University was finally named for him and located in the place he had selected.

Note: This was first published in Arts and Sciences, CCGSAS Alumni Newsletter.

Document Information

Images: 1
Photographic Credit: University Relations Photo Collection
Author or Source: Bricks Without Straw by Dr. Elmer Louis Kayser; The George Washington University Bulletin, 1904; Files on The George Washington University Movement; Board of Trustees Minutes, 1989-1904
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian

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