Eddy Elbridge Wilson was born in Corvallis in 1869 and was a student at Oregon State when the school was still known as Corvallis College. He graduated in 1889. Later an attorney and bank executive, Wilson was heavily involved with numerous campus and community organizations, as well as the State Game Commission. He twice served on the OAC board of regents -- from 1906 to 1915 and from 1924 to 1929. Wilson died in 1961.
The Union Pacific Oregon's First Railroad, 1882, President Henry Villard, Chief Engineer Hans Thielsen and other O. R. & N. Officials at East Portland.
Bristow served on the college faculty from 1882 to 1894. He was principal of the preparatory department and also taught classes in bookkeeping and beekeeping.
Identified from left to right are Ida Burnett, Elmer E. Charman, Miss Jessie Taylor, and T. Leonard Charles [?]. Ida Burnett, later Ida Callahan, served as principal of OAC's preparatory department (1894-95), as Dean of Women (1906-07), and as an instructor of English from 1896 until her death in 1932. Callahan Hall is named for her.
The building had been remodeled and expanded in 1876 in order to accommodate a year-round preparatory department and an additional faculty member. Much of the lumber for the addition was donated by a member of the board of trustees, R. W. Brock of Corvallis.
Left to Right: E. E. Grimm, Prof. of Ag; Mrs. Ida Callahan, Assist. in Prep; B. L. Arnold, President; B. J. Hawthorn, Professor of Languages, Dr. Joseph Emery, Prof. of Math and Natural Sciences; W. W. Briston. Benjamin L. Arnold served as the President of Oregon Agricultural College from 1872-1892. Arnold constructed a curriculum structure, dividing studies into two departments, Literary and Scientific. Each department contained specific corresponding schools.
Joseph Emery was a professor from 1867-1885 at Corvallis College. He taught mathematics, physics, geology, and physiology. He helped to raise the funds to purchase the original lands for the OSU campus. In 1885 Emery left Corvallis and became an agent for the U.S. Indian Agency at Klamath [Falls]. He died January 18, 1924 at Salinas, California.
Margaret Comstock Snell became the first professor of Household Economy and Hygiene in 1889. Snell was known as the "Apostle of fresh air", for her love of walks and open windows, and taught courses in sewing, cooking, entertaining, and conversation. Snell expanded the Home Economics department and retired in 1908.
"In 1862, Congress appropriated 90,000 acres of land for the support of an Agricultural College, with the condition that the college be in operation in 1867. Under this act a denominational school of the M. E. church (South), already existing at Corvallis, was charged with the management of the Agricultural College. By doing so, the land grant was secured, and the expense of erecting a new building was saved. In this simple old structure, the pioneer students of O.A.C. were introduced into the mysteries of scientific farming. In 1867, the institution boasted twenty-two students."--The Orange, 1909. The Corvallis College building was located near the Courthouse.
This photograph was probably taken close to where the Marys River flows into the Willamette River. It is likely that Emile Pernot and John Fulton were photographing each other.
The class of 1888 was the last to graduate from the old Corvallis College. Top row, left to right: Mary Newton (Slayton); Annie Lilly (Robbins), Gertrude Davis (Strange), Jessie Groves (Kittredge), Lilly Groves, Jennie Lilly (Mason). Front row: William W. Hall; James H. Collins; William Stock; Ira E. Allen.