The University of Washington hosted military facilities for both the Army and Navy during World War I. The campus had a branch of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC), with nearly 2000 male students registered, and the University providing room and mess while the military provided training. SATC began recruitment in September 1918, and was demobilized in November 1918, eventually becoming the campus ROTC program, still active as of 2019. In 1917, the U.S. Navy set up a temporary training station on the University of Washington campus, near where the university's health sciences center is now located. The training camp was active from 1917-1919, during which time over 5,000 mostly college students were trained for both naval and naval aviation units.

This photograph shows men constructing a building for military use on the UW campus. The photo is dated 1917 by the photographer, and captioned "UW Construction Army H.Q." Since work for the SATC did not begin until 1918, it is unclear whether this photo show construction of a building for the SATC or the Naval Training Station.

Handwritten on sleeve: U.W. Construction Army H.Q. 1917
Webster & Stevens number: 59200

Caption information sources: "Varsity Students to Enroll in Army," Seattle Daily Times, September 17. 1918, p. 8; "1,950 to Enter Student Corps Next Weeks," Seattle Daily Times, September 22, 1918, p. 5; "Parade Features S.A.T.C. Farewell," The Seattle Daily Times, December 13, 1918, p. 11; and The Seattle Daily Times, July 18, 1918, page 17
Caption information source: U.S. Navy Naval Historical Center, retrieved from http://www.history.navy.mil