Qualla: Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LittleT889, CC BY-SA 4.0. The notification letter said 'E. Saarinen,' but this time nobody confused father and son -- that was the Gateway Arch story. Washington University has its own identity problem. Founded in 1853 as Eliot Seminary, the school was immediately renamed because its founder, Unitarian minister William Greenleaf Eliot, refused to have a university bear his name, fearing it would seem sectarian. The subcommittee he appointed chose 'Washington Institute' because the charter had been granted on George Washington's birthday. In 1976, the board of trustees added 'in St. Louis' to distinguish the school from the dozen other institutions named after Washington. It is the only elite research university in America that has spent its entire existence trying to tell people who it is.

Image: LittleT889 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington University in St. Louis: Eighty-Year-Old Students and Night School

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Senate, Public domain. Washington University held its first classes on October 22, 1854, in the Benton Schoolhouse, a facility loaned by the public school board. Tuition was free. Students ranged from 8 years old to 46. The university had no buildings, no faculty, and no established course offerings --...

Image: U.S. Senate | Public domain

Washington University in St. Louis: Olympic Fields and Gothic Quadrangles

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Doc2129, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1899, the university held a national design competition for a new campus. The Philadelphia firm Cope and Stewardson won with a Collegiate Gothic plan inspired by Oxford and Cambridge. Construction of the first building, Busch Hall, began in 1900, but none of the new buildings ...

Image: Doc2129 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Washington University in St. Louis: From Commuter School to Global University

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. For much of the 20th century, Washington University was a respected regional institution -- good, but not transcendent. The transformation came under Chancellor William Henry Danforth, appointed in 1971, who over 24 years established 70 new endowed professorships, constructed doz...

Image: Public domain

Washington University in St. Louis: Debates and Desegregation

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tstuddud (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. Washington University has hosted four presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate, more than almost any venue in America. The campus served as the stage for the 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2016 presidential debates, and the 2008 vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and ...

Image: Tstuddud (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0