Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis
Motto
Strength through truth
Established
February 22, 1853
Chancellor
Mark S. Wrighton
History

Washington University was conceived by seventeen St. Louis business, political, and religious leaders concerned by the lack of institutions of higher learning in the Midwest. Missouri State Senator Wayman Crow and Unitarian minster William Greenleaf Eliot, grandfather of the Nobel Prize laureate poet T. S. Eliot, led the effort.

The university's first chancellor was Joseph Gibson Hoyt. Crow secured the university charter from the Missouri State Legislature in 1853 and handled further political maneuvering. While Eliot was in charge of raising funds for the university, he accepted the position as President of the Board of Trustees. Early on Eliot was able to solicit some support from the local business community, including John O'Fallon, one of the wealthiest people in St. Louis. He briefly considering naming the university the O'Fallon Institute, but Eliot failed to secure a permanent endowment. In fact Wash U is unique among American universities in not having had a prior financial endowment to begin with. The institution had no backing of a religious organization, single wealthy patron, or earmarked government support. Financial problems plagued the university for several decades after its founding.

Modern era

Washington University spent its first half century in downtown St. Louis bound by Washington Ave., Lucas Place, and Locust Street. By the 1890s, due to the dramatic expansion of the Manual School, and a new benefactor in Robert Brookings, the University began to move west. The university Board of Directors began a process to find suitable ground, and hired the architecture firm Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot of Boston. A committee of Robert S. Brookings, Henry Ware Eliot, and William Huse found a site of 103 acres (0.42 km²) just beyond Forest Park, located west of the city limits in St. Louis County. The elevation of the land was thought to resemble the Acropolis and inspired the nickname of "Hilltop" campus, renamed the Danforth campus in 2006 to honor former chancellor William "Bill" H. Danforth. In 1899 the university opened a design contest for the new campus. A plan for a row of quadrangles, submitted by Cope & Stewardson Philadelphia, won unanimously. The cornerstone of the first building, Busch Hall, was laid on October 20, 1900. The school delayed occupying Busch Hall until 1905 to accommodate the 1904 World's Fair and Olympics. The delay allowed the university to construct ten buildings instead of the seven originally planned.

Fitting for its national prominence gained since World War II, Washington University has been known to be a progressive campus, frequently inviting speakers such as NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who received an honorary doctorate in 2000.^[11] Washington University admitted its first women law students in 1869.^[12] Washington University School of Medicine later admitted its first women medical students in 1918.^[13] Washington University integrated St. Louis Jewish Hospital, a local pioneering institution, as a major affiliate in 1963.^[14] The process of desegregation at Washington University began after World War II in 1947 with the School of Medicine and the School of Social Work followed by all undergraduate programs in 1952

Medical Campus

Washington University Medical Center comprises 135 acres (0.5 km²) spread over approximately 12 city blocks, located along the eastern edge of Forest Park within the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis. The campus is home to the School of Medicine and its associated teaching hospitals, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital. Many of the buildings are connected via a series of sky bridges and corridors.

The School's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also serve as the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, which are part of BJC HealthCare. Washington University and BJC have taken on many joint venture projects, such as the Center for Advanced Medicine, completed in December 2001.

Olin Residence Hall, named for Spencer T. Olin, provides residential services for 200 medical and graduate students.^[31]

The Medical Campus is accessible via the Central West End MetroLink station, which provides a quick link to the Danforth, North, and West Campuses.

Medical Campus Includes:

• Barnes-Jewish Hospital
• Central Institute for the Deaf
• St. Louis Children's Hospital
• Rehabilitation Institute of Saint Louis
• Siteman Cancer Center
• Center for Advanced Medicine

• Eric P. Newman Education Center (conference and convention center)

Academics
Undergraduate and Graduate Programs

• College of Arts & Sciences (1853)
• University College (1931)
• Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts (2005)
• College of Art
• College of Architecture
• Olin Business School (1917)

School of Engineering (1854)
Graduate and Professional

Danforth Campus

• School of Law (1867)
• Olin Business School (1912)
• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
• George Warren Brown School of Social Work (1925)
• Graduate School of Art
• Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design
• Sever Institute

Medical Center

• School of Medicine (1891)

• Central Institute for the Deaf (1914)

Location
St. Louis, MO, U.S.
Campus

• Urban and Suburban

2,335 acres (9.01 km²)

• Danforth Campus, 169 acres (0.7 km²)

Medical Campus, 59 acres

• Tyson Research Center, 2,000 acres (8 km²)

North Campus, 13 acres
Website

www.wustl.edu