Washington State University history

After an exhaustive examination of bidding towns such as Yakima and other towns in the Palouse region, the state's new land-grant college opened to 59 students in Pullman on January 13, 1892, offering three major courses of study: agriculture, engineering, and domestic science.

Enoch Albert Bryan, appointed July 22, 1893 and serving for 22 years, was the first influential president of WSU and considered by many as the true founder of the university.

The Washington Agricultural College football team, called the Farmers, played its first varsity game on November 10, 1894, beating the University of Idaho at Moscow, 10-0.

Washington Agricultural College campus, Pullman, 1895

The year 1897 saw the first graduating class of seven men and women.

View of Pullman and Washington Agricultural College campus, on hill at rear, 1898

As the college approached the end of its first decade of existence, Bryan and others tried to garner the necessary support to change the name of the school, which resulted in the introduction of a bill to change the school name to “Washington State College” in 1899.

The first summer school session started in 1900.

Again in 1905, it was renamed the State College of Washington.

Ernest O. Holland succeeded Enoch Bryan as President of the Washington State College in 1915.

Few people challenged its relevance to higher education, particularly after 1916, when Washington State College defeated Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island, 14-0, in the first annual Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

The Graduate School was created in 1917.

The live cougar replaced a stuffed specimen that had been stolen by a marauding band of students from the University of Washington back in 1919.

Annie M. Fertig, appointed Dean of Women in 1924, took a stern and uncompromising approach to guarding student morality.

Even then, the rivalry persisted in the form of an edifice conflict -- Holland wanted a library at the State College that would surpass the grandeur of the cathedral-like library built at the University of Washington in 1926 and named after Suzzallo.

When Governor Roland Hartley gave the school a live cougar as a mascot in 1927, the students voted to name him Butch in Meeker’s honor.

Simmering resentment over “Dean Annie’s Rules” gave rise to Washington State’s first general student strike, in early May 1936.

Enrollment didn't reach pre-Depression levels until 1936 and salaries until 1937 in nominal terms. It was during this time in 1944 however, when WSC saw the exciting introduction of the Cougar Gold brand of sharp white cheddar cheese from the campus creamery.

Funding for the Holland Library was delayed by the state however until 1950.

On September 1, 1959, the state legislature passed a bill unopposed that officially changed the name to Washington State University.

The Honors program was introduced during the 1960 school year.

The university joined the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1962, which included the University of Washington, and four other universities in California at the time.

They opened the State of Washington Water Research Center, welcomed 37 into their new nursing class, and by 1970 had over 15,000 students.

The public history program at Washington State University was established in 1979 and offers both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees.

For the first time in its history, Washington State University began an early-start semester academic calendar in the year 1984.

Washington State University at Tri-Cities in Richland and the branches in Spokane and Vancouver were established in 1989.

The efforts seemed to have paid off when WSU lost its rank and was completely excluded from The Princeton Review’s party school list in August 2000.

In 2014 the school took over the administration of an educational cooperative in Everett; under the new name WSU North Puget Sound, it offers bachelor’s degrees in select majors for students who have completed their first two years of study at a community college.

The original concept to honor the history, investments, and people of the college formed in 2015 after the college was rebranded as the Carson College of Business.

The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine achieved full accreditation in June, 2021.