- Seattle Neighborhoods: University District — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Seattle’s University District, home of the University of Washington since 1895, is located in the northeast section of the city, north of the Portage Bay part of Lake Union. Its main spurs to development were the developer James Moore (1861-1929), the 1895 move of the Territorial University from downtown to what was then called Brooklyn, and the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington campus in 1909. In the late twentieth century, the main challenges to this “city within a city” have been the development of nearby malls. It is a neighborhood of restaurants, cafes, a renowned street fair, a farmer’s market, and a few venerable institutions such as the University Book Store, University Inn, and the Meany Hotel.