Pacific University, Architectural Consultant Earn Award From Forest Grove Historic Landmarks Board

Pacific University and the Architectural Resources Group, which together produced a comprehensive report about the university’s historic buildings, were honored Wednesday by the Forest Grove Historic Landmarks Board.

The board honored the university and the architectural firm with the Eric G. Stewart award for documenting the historical significance of buildings on the university’s Forest Grove Campus. “Not only is it an accurate accounting and a valuable resource for cataloging these precious historic resources,” the board said of the report, “it is written with care, concern, and compassion for the history of Forest Grove.”

The campus buildings that have been designated as Forest Grove landmarks are:

• Old College Hall, 2021 College Way, 1850
• Knight Hall, originally known as the Marsh Family House, 2204 College Way, 1879
• Marsh Hall, 2043 College Way, 1895 and extensively repaired following a 1975 fire  
• Carnegie Hall, originally the Carnegie Library, 2009 College Way, 1912
• Creamery Building, originally the Forest Grove Creamery, 2017 21st Ave., about 1920
• Rogers Building, or the Old City Library, 2019 21st Ave., 1921
• Chapman Hall, originally the J.W. Hughes House, 2212 College Way, 1922
• Bates House, 2137 College Way, 1923
• McCormick Hall, 2209 College Way, 1924

Old College Hall

The Colonial Revival-style Old College Hall is now on its fourth location on campus, near the corner of College Way and Pacific Avenue. It is a link to the earliest days of the school, first hosting classes in 1851, when it was known as Tualatin Academy. For decades it served as a science classroom building, but was converted to the Pacific University Museum during the 1940s. It is the oldest educational building in the West, one of the oldest structures in Oregon, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Knight Hall

This charming Queen Anne house first housed Eliza Marsh, widow of Pacific University’s first president, Dr. Sidney Harper Marsh, and their five children. She lived there until her death in 1910, then it was turned over to successive owners until 1944, when Pacific bought it. It has been a dormitory, a fraternity, a music building, faculty offices and now, the undergraduate admissions office.

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Marsh Hall

Pacific University’s signature building was designed by the prominent Portland architecture firm of Whidden & Lewis and completed in 1895, when it housed a library, 13 classrooms, offices and a chapel. It was gutted by fire in 1975 and extensively renovated, re-opening in 1977. It was named for Dr. Sidney Harper Marsh, the first president of the university.

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Carnegie Hall

The Carnegie Foundation pledged $20,000 to build a new library on Pacific’s campus after fires destroyed two campus buildings. After the university raised additional money to operate the building, it was built in 1912. At the time, it was one of 108 Carnegie libraries on college campuses around the country, and the only one in the Pacific Northwest. It was designed by Whidden & Lewis of Portland based on specifications provided by the Carnegie Foundation.

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Creamery Building

Clarke’s Creamery stood on this spot in the late 19th Century, then was supplanted by a post office and a garage. A 1919 fire damaged the building, leaving only the rear wall and part of the side walls. The Palace Garage re-occupied the spot until it was replaced by the Forest Grove Creamery, which closed in the mid-1970s. Other commercial tenants followed, but the building was deeded to Pacific University by the estate of Helen Propstra, whose parents had run the creamery. Now it is home to Outdoors Pursuits.

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Rogers Building

Forest Grove residents raised money to build a library in the early 20th Century by passing a mill tax. Originally housed in a stationery store, the library operated until 1919, when it was destroyed by fire — though citizens managed to save most of the books. It was reconstructed on the same spot and served as a library until 1978. Pacific acquired the building in 1990.

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Chapman Hall

John Wilbur Hughes, a farmer and livestock auctioneer, originally lived in the bungalow with his wife and four children. The Hughes family was followed by the Henderson family in 1947, and the Hendersons gave it to Pacific University in 1966. It has been used as classrooms, storage and practice rooms for the Music School.

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Bates House

The house was built to be a residence for Pacific University’s president, and presidents William C. Weir (1923-1924), John Dobbs (1924-1940), Walter Giersbach (1941-1953) and Charles Armstrong (1943-1958) lived there during their tenures. It served briefly as a women’s dormitory and now is used for administrative and faculty offices.

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McCormick Hall

The Craftsman-style residence hall was built as a dormitory intended to house 53 male students. It was expanded to include an east wing and a pair of dormers immediately after World War II. The building was named for Anna E. Goodman McCormick of Tacoma, who donated the $49,300 needed to construct the building.