Knights Templar (Masonic order) - Bruce Commandery No. 17, Corvallis, 1916. Top Row (l to r): Raber, N. L.; Springer, Charles L.; Fulton, John; Wooster, L. F.; Strange, E. L.; Thatcher, B. J.; Allen, John F.; Savage, W. H.; Horner, J. B. Second Row (l to r): Yates, J. Fred; Harper, J. A.; Peavy, G. W.; Taylor, W. K.; Woodcock, M. S.; Gaskins, W. F.; Skelton, G. V.; Lowe, J. C.; Teeter, T. A. H.; Bell, J. R. N. Third Row (l to r): Hammel, J. C.; Horning, E. B.; Tillery, M.; Appelman, F. S.; Jensen, W. A.; Beaty, E. B.; Ressler, E. D.; Buxton, E.; Dobell, C. A.; Baker, C. L. Bottom Row (l to r): Woodcock, C. H.; Bauer, M. H.; McBurney, R. M.; Curtis, W. J.; Guthrie, H. M.; Ball, W. M.; McElheney, G.; Johnasen, C. V.; Mellon, Levi; Howard, C. E.
William Asa Finley served as the first president of Corvallis College from 1865 to 1872. He was appointed as president in 1865 by the Methodist Episcopal Church South and was president at the time the college was chosen as the agricultural college for Oregon under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act.
A successful Oregon businessman and politician, Henry B. Miller served as the fourth president of Oregon Agricultural College for only eleven months. The Board of Regents chose Miller, a member of the board since 1895, to succeed John M. Bloss.
Thomas M. Gatch was the fifth president of Oregon Agricultural College from 1897-1907. Gatch established a number of four year programs including electrical engineering, horticulture, and forestry. OAC experienced an increase in student enrollment during Gatch's years as president. Photo was used in the 1908 Orange, page 3.
Photo of John M. Bloss in the college greenhouse. John McKnight Bloss was the third president of Oregon Agricultural College from 1892-1896. Bloss was also the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Professor of Mental and Moral Science. During his years of presidency, the school colors were changed from navy blue to orange and black and intercollegiate athletics were formed. Bloss was also the first president to encourage women to study agriculture. The first school annual, The Hayseed, was created.
Benjamin Lea Arnold was named the second president of Corvallis College in the summer of 1872 by the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and he arrived in Corvallis that September. During Arnold's twenty-year presidency, one of his greatest achievements was starting the State Agricultural Association with the intent to construct a suitable building for school purposes.
William Jasper Kerr was chosen as the sixth president of Oregon Agricultural College in 1907 and led the college through a twenty-five-year period of tremendous growth in numbers of students and faculty, academic and research programs, and physical facilities.