Courtesy of the University of Washington History of Science and Medicine:
One hundred years ago
— February 19, 1919 — Lt. James Mills Eagleson died of influenza just one day after having arrived at Newport News, Virginia, aboard the U.S.S. Mercury with members of the 69th Coast Artillery Corps. The son of prominent and well-connected members of Seattle society, Dr. James Beatty Eagleson and his wife Blanche Mills — they worked to establish a building on the University of Washington campus in their son’s honor.
James Sims Eagleson, Lt. Eagleson’s son, who he never met, was on hand for the building’s groundbreaking on Graduation Day, 1922, for what would become the campus chapter of the YMCA. Later the Bebb and Gould-designed building would become a regular part of the campus. Read more about James Eagleson here.