Rev. and Mrs. William A. Finley. William A. Finley was the first president of Corvallis College from 1865-1872. Finley was a Methodist minister who helped alter the reputation of Corvallis College from a "pioneer high school" to a higher education institution.
Corvallis College as it appeared in about 1868. It was located in the center of the block bounded by Fifth, Sixth, Madison, and Monroe Streets in Corvallis, Oregon.
Street view of Main Street (Second Street), Corvallis, Oregon in 1869. This is one of the earliest known photographs of downtown Corvallis. Versalius N. Preston and L. F. Wilson (father of E. E. Wilson) are standing on the single-horse dray near the center of the image.
William W. Moreland was head of the Primary department and a professor of Natural Sciences at Corvallis College. In 1868, Moreland, a legislative clerk, and Senator C. B. Bellinger made Corvallis College Oregon's land-grant institution. Under the Morrill Act of 1862, Corvallis College would be granted 90,000 acres of land.
The Finleys' first home home in Corvallis (known as the "Nest in the West") stood on Van Buren and 5th Streets. The Finleys are standing on the upper porch, with their son, Ernest, and a niece. On the lower porch are Rev. Lowell, pastor of the Corvallis Church, and his wife, right; Mr. Osborne and daughter; and Rosa Jacobs. This photograph was published in the June 1930 "Oregon Stater", page 8.
Burkhart was a member of the Corvallis College Class of 1871 and was from Lebanon, Oregon. He was elected as the Alumni Association’s first vice president after its founding in early 1873. He also served on the college’s board of trustees in 1887 and 1888.
Class members included Rosa Jacobs (front row center), John B. Elgin (front row right), James K. Weatherford (top row right), Thomas C. Alexander, and Alonzo J. Locke.
This image shows some of the preparatory and college level students enrolled at the time. The 1872-73 college catalog lists ninety-eight students at all levels, including twenty-six “agricultural students.”
Sarah Finley was the daughter of a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Despite health concerns that precipitated the Finleys’ return to California in 1872, she lived to be 89 years old, passing away in 1937. Finley was a leader of the suffrage movement in Sonoma County, California. Thomas Houseworth & Co. was one of the leading photography studios in San Francisco in the 1870s and 1880s.
From back left: Frank Cauthorn, Newton Addison Thompson, George P. Lent, and Isaac Jacobs. Addie M. Allen and Minnie M. White are the women in the photo. Addie M. Allen married Newton Addison Thompson and Minnie M. White married O.A.C. Pres. B. L. Arnold.
"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.
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.
"The bands' last assembly at the dedication of Corvallis Brewery building in 1887. From left to right: Loren Mason, cymbals; N.P. Briggs, drums; driver of band wagon; E.A. Milner; White; Ed Anderson, clarinet; L. Wilson; Dave Irvine, horn; Jess Houck, alto; Wayman St. Clair; J. Mason; N.R. Barber. The back of photo has handwritten note ""Hunt's Brewery, north on 2nd street at the corner where the U.S. Post Office now stands. The Blacksmith....next on the right was Manual .......restaurant, the small white building at left stood where Montgomery Wards Building now stands. Opposite the Brewery stood Corvallis first grocery store, where the Huston Building (now being remodeled) has stood for many years."""
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.
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.
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 addition to classroom and lab work, OAC students studying entomology in 1890 were required to do fieldwork during their third year. According to the 1890-91 college catalog, “each student will, under the instructor’s direction, learn how to work with insecticides, and will be required to carry on experiments to discover the best means of preventing insect ravages.”
Cauthorn served on the college’s board of regents from 1888 to 1891, and was chair of the board’s executive committee in 1890 and 1891. He also served in the Oregon Senate from 1883 to 1891. As a regent, he spoke before the Oregon legislature in order to secure appropriations for OAC, including $25,000 in funds for construction of the first men’s dormitory. After Cauthorn’s death in 1891, the dormitory was named Cauthorn Hall in his memory. Two subsequent dormitories have carried his name.
The building was constructed in 1859 and expanded in 1876. It served as the primary bulding for what is now Oregon State University until 1888, when the new Administration Building (Benton Hall) was completed on the west edge of the original college farm.
Top left to right: Tommie Jones '89; Robert J. Wilson '86; James H. Collins '88; Allen Addison '90; Laura Korthauer '87; Carrie Baldwin 1882/1883; Archie Horning 1882/1883; E. E. Wilson '89; Hattie Hanna '80; Ira E. Allen '88.
Nettie Spencer was born near Corvallis in 1861 to Oregon pioneer parents. She graduated from Corvallis College in 1882, and spent the next several years teaching and studying at various places in the U.S. and abroad, including Portland, Davenport College (North Carolina), Berlin, Paris, London, and India. She returned to Oregon in 1916 and taught at Eugene and Roseburg High Schools. Spencer received a master's degree in sociology from Oregon State in 1928. She was a charter member of the Mazamas, a Portland mountain climbing club, and in 1935 was elected president of the Oregon State Women's Press Club. Spencer died in Portland in 1953.
The shop was located in the 1889 section of the original Mechanical Hall. This, along with other shops, served as the labs for students studying mechanics and mechanical engineering.
Composite cyanotype photograph of Oregon Agricultural College buildings. Buildings shown starting at the top left are: Mechanical Hall, Fairbanks Hall and The Greenhouses. View of campus with Benton Hall in background. Women's Center Building (Station Building), Alpha Hall, The Farm and Benton Hall in the center of photo
Originally named Cauthorn Hall and was later named Fairbanks Hall. It was constructed in 1892 as a men's dormitory. Women lived in the dormitory from 1912 until the early 1930s, when it was converted into a classroom building. The building is now home to the Art Department.
John Fulton (Class of 1892), who taught chemistry at Oregon State for several decades, is standing, center-right, wearing a cap. F. L. Washburn taught zoology and entomology classes in the 1890s. Many of the zoological specimens in this photograph later became part of the collections of the Horner Museum.
J. H. H. stands for the initials of the man, J. H. Harris, who contributed the uniforms for the first nine baseball players. John Fulton is the person on the far right in the back row of the photo.
Oregon Agricultural College cadets lined up for morning inspection. Now known as Fairbanks Hall, this building was constructed in 1892 as a men's dormitory and was originally named Cauthorn Hall. Women lived in the dormitory from 1912 until the early 1930s, when it was converted into a classroom building. The building is now home to the Art Department.
The new College President, John M. Bloss, arrived in Corvallis on June 3rd and conferred degrees to the Class of 1892 at the Commencement program on June 29th. Bloss is the tallest man in the back row. John D. Letcher, Acting President in 1892 until Bloss' arrival, is standing to Bloss' left and in front of him.
Harvey L. McAlister was known as "Pap Hayseed" during his student years at Oregon Agricultural College (OAC). McAlister came from Lexington, Oregon (in Morrow County) to OAC in 1893. As a freshman, he played center on the first OAC football team. McAlister attended OAC from 1893 to 1897 and earned a BS in Agriculture. After service in the Spanish-American War, he returned to Lexington where he farmed until his retirement in 1947, when he moved to the Veterans Home in Napa, California. McAlister died in California in 1955.