The University District (commonly the U District) is a neighborhood and a major district in central northeastern Seattle, Washington, comprising several distinct neighborhoods. The main campus of the University of Washington (UW) is located in the district, lending its name to both the district as well as University Way NE (commonly The Ave). The neighborhood lies north of Portage Bay and the Lake Washington Ship Canal and generally east of Interstate 5.

The area, originally a Duwamish settlement, was surveyed by the territorial government in 1855 and opened to settlement in 1867. Real estate developers created the Brooklyn neighborhood on the west side of the district in the 1890s, which was followed by the relocation of the UW campus to the east side of the district in 1895. The name Brooklyn faded from use in favor of "University District", which was adopted after a public contest in 1919.

Location

Like all Seattle neighborhoods, the boundaries of the University District are informal; by common usage, the University District is bounded on the west by Interstate 5; on the east by University Village and Union Bay; on the south by Portage Bay and the Lake Washington Ship Canal; and on the north by NE Ravenna Boulevard.

History

The area north of Portage Bay and west of Lake Washington has been inhabited since the end of the Vashon Glaciation approximately 16,000 years before present. The most recent Native American settlement in the area were the Duwamish villages of the Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish peoples. The Duwamish had several prominent villages in and around the University District, including sluʔwiɫ and wəq̓iq̓əb ("place of frogs") on Portage Bay.

The Duwamish also had trails through the areas that connected the village sites with waterways and fire-managed (burned) areas. These areas were cleared by fire for hunting purposes and to promote good crop growth. Blackberries, salmonberries, and root crops were plentiful, along with game including wolves, cougar, bear, deer and elk. One trail found by early non-native surveyors of the area extended from Portage Bay to Lake Washington and connected two native encampments, one on Portage Bay near the foot of Brooklyn Ave and one on Union Bay. No remnants of the Native American use of the area are extant in the University District today. The area now occupied by University Village was at that time a much larger Union Bay prior to the artificial lowering of Lake Washington.

thumb|right|1893 map of recently platted Brooklyn

The district was first surveyed in 1855; surveyors noted the presence of an existing trail used by indigenous communities as well as large Douglas fir and red cedar trees that impeded their path. The first white settlers in the area, Christian and Harriet Brownfield, established their homestead claim west of modern-day 15th Avenue Northeast in 1867. A portion of the surveyed land had already been reserved for public education use under territorial laws, either for a facility or to be sold to raise funds. This central area was called Brooklyn, which gave the current Brooklyn Avenue in the neighborhood its name. Brooklyn was slower to develop than areas to the north and west such as Ravenna and Latona, due to those areas being more gently sloped and located closer to the central lakes (Union and Green Lakes). Materials for land/street development and improvements were hauled in by horse-drawn wagons. unhurt. Steam and dust enveloped the derailed cars. Engineer ran to Fremont to telegraph to stop [the] evening passenger train[;] also [illegible] Engineer claimed train going 20 miles per hr.</blockquote>

right|thumb|Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern train wreck in the University District, August 20, 1894.

Electric streetcar tracks had been laid up Columbus Avenue (later known as 14th Avenue, and later still University Way) either in 1891 or 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. The 22-story UW Tower opened in 1975 as the headquarters of the Safeco Corporation and was acquired by the university in 2006.

The city council approved changes to the neighborhood's zoning code in 2017 to prepare for the opening of the U District light rail station. The new zoning designation allows for buildings up of to between Interstate 5 and 15th Avenue Northeast, with the exception of The Ave. The University District subsequently entered a new period of growth with the construction of several high-rise residential towers that are primarily for student residents.

Public transit

The district is served by two Link light rail stations: University of Washington station near Husky Stadium opened in 2016 as part of the University Link Extension; and U District on Brooklyn Avenue near NE 45th Street which opened in October 2021 as part of the Northgate Link Extension. Light rail service connects the U District to Capitol Hill and Downtown Seattle to the south, and Roosevelt and Northgate to the north.

Streets

The neighborhood's north-south arterials are (from west to east) Roosevelt Way NE (southbound only), 11th Avenue NE (northbound only), Brooklyn Avenue NE, University Way NE, and 15th Avenue NE. East-west arterials include NE Pacific Street, NE 45th Street, and part of NE 50th Streets. NE Campus Parkway is a minor east-west arterial, running only west of the campus.

Culture

thumb|right|This 1980s sign painted on the side of the 1934 Blue Moon Tavern commemorates its association with the [[counterculture of the 1960s; the small street sign at upper right declares the alley to be "Roethke Mews" after poet Theodore Roethke, a regular at the tavern when he was a professor at the university in the 1950s and early 1960s.]]

The annual U District Street Fair is held over a weekend in May, primarily on The Ave, and is among the longest-running street fairs in the United States. It was first held in 1970 with 300 vendors and organized by local merchant and peace activist Andy Shiga; it grew to 600 vendors and 100,000 visitors later in the decade. The fair was paused in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and returned in 2022; The neighborhood also has a weekly outdoor farmers' market that was founded in 1993 as one of the first in Seattle.

The Blue Moon Tavern has become an unofficial cultural landmark and was founded in 1934. The neighborhood was also home to historic coffeehouses that contributed to the city's coffee culture, beginning with Cafe Encore in 1958 and followed by Café Allegro, the oldest still-operating coffeehouse, in 1975. The oldest newsstand in Seattle, Bulldog News, was established in 1983.

The neighborhood was home to several long-running movie theaters and performing arts venues. The Neptune Theatre opened as a movie theater in 1921 and was converted into a performing arts venue in 2011 under the ownership of Seattle Theatre Group. The last remaining movie theater in the neighborhood, the Varsity Theatre on University Way, closed in January 2026. The independent Grand Illusion Cinema was founded in a renovated dental office in 1970 by Randy Finley and was run by the nonprofit Northwest Film Forum. Finley also founded the Seven Gables Theatre at a converted American Legion building in 1976. The locally owned Scarecrow Video, the largest video rental store on the West Coast, was founded in 1988 and is the last of its kind in the city. It has 140,000 titles and is operated by a nonprofit organization.

See also

  • Last Exit on Brooklyn
  • Seattle Public Library University Branch
  • University Book Store

Notes

References

  • <br />and
  • Crowley here is citing his own Forever Blue Moon, The Story of Seattle's Most (In)Famous Tavern, Seattle: Blue Moon, 1992.
  • <br />Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section.
  • <br />John Moe interview with Guerren Marter, Grand Illusion Cinema manager.
  • <br />Compiled, designed, drafted in cooperation between Physical Plant and the Department of Geography, August 1971, revised Sherman (August 1991).
  • Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas — University District
  • U District Partnership
  • Seattle Photograph Collection, University District – University of Washington Digital Collection