University of Oregon - Oregana Yearbook (Eugene, OR)

Page 9 text:

. J ,ag o l .,...,,., .. ,. . ..,...,, V .,,., ,. .. ., ,..,., .. ,. . .. , ... .....,.. . . ..,, .,,,,.,,.I,:E , :erin W., ?,.,:.?,?,,v?l?,:,i l l E igiztnriral Svkrtrh nf the Hninrraitg U one can justly accuse Oregon students of lack of loyalty to Alma Mater, but in the matter of reverence for the past we are, perhaps. open to reproach. We spend our allotted time at the University and attend our classes,-at least, some of them, we try to do our part in her activ- ities, we rejoice a-t her victories and lament at her defeatsg but how often do we stop to consider and appreciate the events which were responsible for the existence of the University, and, indirectly, for our being here? First of all, be it known that the history of the University of Oregon, rich as it is in noble traditions and associations, is neither ancient nor hoary. Fifty years ago there was no University. On the ground which is now occu- pied by the campus and buildings stood the log cabin of lrlilyard Shaw, an agent of the Huclson's Islay Company, and one of the first settlers in Lane County. The cabin was located near the present site of Villard Hall, be-- neath the great oaks which stand at the north end of the campus. llut this is anticipating somewhat, Most of us know that there is ai suburb lying south of Eugene called College Hill. NVQ have waited clown town for a street car, ton days when we were not in a hurry to get homej, and wondered why the only car which passed, and the one we didn't want, was labeled Co-llege Crest. In the natural fitness of things, that name should be given to the part of the city in which the University is situated. llut long before the University of Ore- gon was est iblished on the present campus, there was a flourishing institu- tion of learning on College Crest. VVe say fiourishing, because at that time l25 students was a goodly number for a state in which there were scarcely fifty thousand inhabitants all told. This old college was established by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1855. A two-story wooden building was built to accommodate it on Col- lege Crest, then known as College lslill. During the first three years of its existence, however, the college was twice burned out. The third building was of stone, larger and more substantial than its predecessors. It served as the home of the college until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. The financial stringency prevalent at that time, coup-led with internal dissension in the church, necessitated the discontinuance of the pioneer institution, but College Crest still remains a memorial to an educational movement now forgotten, but which contained the germ of the present University. Rev. E. P, Henderson had been the President and most of the Faculty of the Presbyterian college during its precarious life, and soon after its dis- Ten

Page 11 text:

, ,, W -..,. ., . . . . .... ..,. ,,. ....,., . . .......-.-- sg-vm... ..--r.--1 1 0 , ,. A ,U :,:.., 1 , . , 'o - I. .- l , V ' ' - 3--l 4 i nto . solution he established a private school on the east ridge of Skinner's Butte, where the stone ruins of the old building still serve as a rendezvous for col- lege piggers. After a few years Henderson abandoned his venture, but the school was later reopened on the same site by john C. Arnold and Robert Veatch. Some interest attaches to these two forbears of our present faculty on account of the fact that they were graduates, respectively, of institutions with which we are still more or less familiar,-Xalillamette University and the Oregon Agricultural College. So successful was Arnold as a teacher, that he was offered the principal- ship of the Eugene district school. He accepted on condition that provision be made whereby he might carry on more advanced courses of study than were then deemed necessary for a liberal education hereabouts. In other words, the nucleus of a high school was formed. Now took place an event from which the beginning of the project for the University of Oregon may be dated. A meeting was held in the district school house to consider ways and means to maintain the infant high school. lly the flickering light of a single tallow dip, the pioneer citizens of Eugene conceived the idea of expanding their original purpose and striving for an infinitely great-er prize. The Act of Congress of February 14, 1859, admitting Oregon to the Un- ion, had already provided for a State Unniversity by the grant of 72 sections of la.nd for that purpose. On account of the mcagern-ess of the population, which was concentrated in the VVillamette valley and about Portland, the in- stitution had n-ot yet been established, although sev-eral sectarian schools then existing had coveted the appropriation as an addition to their endowments. The leaders in the district school house meeting, among whom ll, li. Dor- ris and I. P. Thompson were prominent, suggested that Eugene advance its claims as a location for the proposed State University. Accordingly, a general meeting of the citizens of Lane County was called August 26, 1872. At this time the Union University Association was organized with the deli- nite object of bringing the University to Eugene. The Association was cap- italized at fifty thousand dollars, which was estimated to be the sum rc- quired as Lane County's contribution toward the founding of the University. Other towns were spurred by Eugene's initiative to seek the same ob- ject, and when the state legislature convened n the fall of 1872, bills were brought forward for the establishment of the University in Corvallis, Mon- mouth, Albany, Salem, Forest Grove and Eugene. The central location of Eugene, and the fact that it was not the seat of a sectarian college, appealed to the solons, and they accepted the proposition Elvwn