Introduction Credits:
Meagan Hess

Introduction Date:
04/11/2006

Introduction Text:

In 1904, the Columbian University forged a partnership with the George Washington Memorial Association and became the George Washington University. This module explores the organized effort that came to be known as The George Washington University Movement.

From Columbian College to the George Washington University

President James Monroe signed the Act of Congress that created Columbian College in Washington, D.C. on February 9, 1821. 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.

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 closer to the center of government.

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 seeking a partnership with the George Washington Memorial Association.

The GWMA, founded in 1889, was desirous of establishing in the city of Washington a national university named for the first president. George Washington had indicated in correspondence and in his Will of his desire for the establishment of a national university and had apparently suggested the Camp Hill area of Foggy Bottom as an ideal site for such a university. 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, revised its emphasis toward more post-graduate education, and declared itself nondenominational. 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 works, lectures and research, and meeting space for learned societies. The Association agreed to raise funds for the building through subscription 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. The winner of the contest was by a local firm, Hornblower and Marshall, and shows the concept for the building and quadrangle. 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, which seemingly would have come as a shock, because, as it was said in the 1904 University Bulletin,

In fact, much of the fund-raising literature appealed to subscribers' sense of patriotism and nationalism. 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... in Foggy Bottom, the area that George Washington himself had envisioned as the site for a national university. Ironically, after nearly a century, the University was finally named for him and located in the place he had selected.