Tualatin+Academy


 * Wikipedia: Tualatin Academy
 * Pacific University website: A Short History of Pacific University & Pacific University museum
 * Council for Independent Colleges - Historic Architecture: Old College Hall
 * Friends of Historic Forest Grove: Old College Hall

"In 1844 a large immigration headed this way, among the number, Thos. G. Naylor. The tall oaks in the grove that bears his name, west of town, have grown from mere "saplings" since the Naylor settlement was made...At this time the nearest trading post was Oregon City, thirty miles distant. The following year a log school house, which was also used for church purposes, was erected. A petrified stump in the college campus marks the spot where stood "the old log church," and J.E. Walker is the author of a poem on this epoch in the town's history, The Pacific University was founded in 1848, recieving its charter in 1849. About this time a blacksmith shop was started, presumably to supply the proverbial long-felt want, and a general store was opened. In 1849 Rev. Elkanah Walker came to this section with his family, acquiring the donation (land claim) right of Deacon Peter Hatch...Rev. Walker was a pioneer Congregationalist Presbyterian missionary, sent out by the American Board of Missions in Boston, Mass."

Dr. Gilbert, //Pacific University and Forest Grove:// //A Look Into the Past//

//"Tualatin Academy and Pacific University// Photo 2] Tualatin Academy was organized in September 1848. The first classes were held in the log church built by the First Congregational Church of what was then called West Tualatin Plains. This building stood on the present campus of Pacific University, at a location west of the south end of Marsh Hall, a place where the graduating class of 1867 erected a petrified log as a marker.

In 1850 The Rev. Harvey Clarke, president of the Board of Trustees of the Academy, hired a local carpenter, Milton Tuttle, to build a new classroom building. On July 9th and 10th, 1850, the people of the Tualatin Plains gathered for a 'wall raising' for a large new classroom building. The building was roofed over, and one classroom was set up in half of he lower floor of the new building. Classes started there in March 1851. This building of 1850 stood where Marsh Hall now stands. In 1893, when Marsh Hall was started, it was moved across the campus to stand where the east end of Washburn Hall now stands. Here the building was officially named Science Hall, but the students soon called it Chem Shack. When Washburn Hall was built, the 113 year old building was moved again, to its present location, where it is now named Old College Hall.

In 1868-1870 a second classroom building, very similar in appearance to the first one, was built about where the north end of the Harvey Scott Library now stands. The new building became known as the Academy Building, while the 1850 building was called College Hall. The upper right picture on the opposite page is a photograph taken about 1872. Photo 3] It shows the College Hall on the left side of the picture and the new Academy Building on the right side. Note the similarities between the two buildings. Both buildings are seen from the east - the photographer was standing in front of the present location of Old College Hall.

The lower picture on the facing page Photo 4] is a photo taken in about 1887, showing the first three buildings on the campus: the College building on the left, almost hidden by the tree; the Academy building in the center, also surrounded with trees; and on the right side is the first (1882) dormitory, Ladies Hall. The campus, partially enclosed by these three buildings, is treeless, shrubless, and judging from the number of student seen, must have been the common meeting and playing ground. David's Hill forms the distant background behind the Academy building and Ladies Hall. The photographer must have been standing near present day Cedar Street, at the corner of 21st and Cedar."