Berkeley, across the Bay from San Francisco, is the seat of the Colleges of Letters and Science of the University of California. The University, founded in 1868, has played a very important part in the educational development of California and of the Pacific Slope. Its other departments are at San Francisco and the Lick Observatory, with the great telescope, is at Mt. Hamilton.
A number of the buildings at Berkeley are handsome, and the picturesque grounds, two hundred and fifty acres in extent, command a splendid view of the Golden Gate and San Francisco. The very interesting open-air Greek Theater, built in 1903 on the general type of the theater at Epidaurus, accommodates twelve thousand spectators and is used for university meetings, commencement exercises, and concerts. The museums, the library, and the laboratories are admirably adapted to their uses.
At Palo Alto, thirty-four miles south of San Francisco, one mile from the station is the Leland Stanford, Jr. University, founded by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford in memory of their only son and endowed by them with upwards of thirty million dollars. The buildings were mainly designed by H. H. Richardson, who took the motif of their architecture from the cloisters of the San Antonio Mission. The material is buff, rough-faced sandstone, surmounted by red-tiled roofs, producing brilliant effects of color in conjunction with the live oak, white oak, and eucalyptus trees outside, and tropical plants in the quadrangle, and the blue sky overhead. In the earthquake of 1906 the buildings suffered severely, the damage done being estimated at nearly two million dollars. Much, however, has been restored or rebuilt. The buildings include a low quadrangle, enclosing a court five hundred and eighty-six feet long and two hundred and forty-six feet wide, with a beautiful colonnade on the inner side; an outer, two-storied quadrangle, with cloisters on the outside; a Chapel; various dormitories; an Art Museum; a mechanical department; and a village of professors’ houses.
Seattle (sē-ăt´t´l), Wash. [Named for the chief of the Duwamish tribe of Indians, See-aa-thl.]
It is finely situated on Elliot Bay, an arm of Puget Sound, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight miles from St. Paul. It occupies a series of terraces rising from the shore of the Sound, with steep hills rising from the water, the heights commanding superb views of the snow-crowned Olympic Mountains and the Cascades, including Mounts Rainier and Baker.
The residence streets run up the slope of a hill, with the business portion built on the level ground at the foot, stretching along the excellent harbor, with its many wharves.
Among the finest edifices are the Roman [621] Catholic Cathedral, the Union or King Street Passenger Station, with Carnegie Library, the American Bank, and the Alaska, Lowman, White, Central, and Empire Buildings.
Its notable buildings include, also, the County Court House, County Almshouse, Opera House, High School, and Hospital. The city is beautified with monuments and statues, unique among which is the Totem Pole, in Pioneer Square, near the Union Station, which was brought from Alaska and is one of the best examples of its kind. There is a good statue of Wm. H. Seward, by Richard Brooks, and in the campus of the University of Washington is a colossal statue of Washington, by Lorado Taft.
The University has grounds three hundred and fifty-five acres in extent, and furnished the site for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909.
Other leading educational institutions are Seattle Seminary (Methodist), Seattle Female College, College of the Immaculate Conception and Academy of the Holy Name (both Roman Catholic).