Oregon 150

A Brief History of the University of Oregon

1876: University of Oregon opens, with first students registering October 16.

1877: First building, later named Deady Hall, completed.

1878: First class, with five members, graduates.

1879: UO Alumni Association formed.

1884: School of Law established in Portland.

1886: Villard Hall completed. Music department added that would become School of Music in 1902.

1893: First dormitory, Friendly Hall, opens.

1894: First football game held.

1895: First track team organized. First summer session held, near Seaside.

1900: Graduate School organized. First fraternity, Sigma Nu, established. Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) organized.

1904: First Rhodes scholar, Harvey Densmore, named. First sorority (later Kappa Alpha Theta) organized.

1907: First library building, Fenton Hall, opens.

1910: Education school established. Oregana chosen as name for yearbook.

1913: Plan to consolidate University of Oregon and Oregon Agricultural College in Corvallis defeated.

1914: Schools of commerce, architecture established.

1915: Johnson Hall constructed. Law school moves to Eugene from Portland.

1916: Journalism school created from department established in 1912.

1920: Gerlinger Hall completed. Hayward Field opens. Oregon Daily Emerald replaces Oregon Emerald.

1926: First Ph.D. granted. McArthur Court finished.

1931: Museum of Art completed.

1932: Zorn-Macpherson bill to combine University of Oregon and Oregon State College at Corvallis defeated. Upper-division science courses moved to Corvallis.

1934: William Parry Murphy '14 awarded Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research on pernicious anemia.

1937: Library completed. Law school moves into Fenton Hall.

1939: The University of Oregon Ducks, known as the Tall Firs, win first NCAA national basketball championship. Chapman Hall opens.

1947: Athletic Director Leo Harris forms an agreement with Walt Disney to allow Oregon to use Donald Duck as school's mascot.

1949: Erb Memorial Union constructed.

1956: Oregon's Jim Bailey runs first sub-four-minute mile on U.S. soil at the Coliseum Relays in Los Angeles. Walter Brattain, M.A. '26, wins Nobel Prize in physics for his research on semiconductors.

1959: Institute of Molecular Biology created as one of the first U.S. institutes to encourage interdisciplinary research. Honors College established.

1962: Oregon wins first of five NCAA men's track championships. Virgil Boekelheide, professor of chemistry, is first UO faculty member elected to National Academy of Sciences.

1967: Autzen Stadium completed.

1969: University of Oregon elected to elite Association of American Universities.

1970: Men's track and field coach Bill Bowerman and former Ducks track star Phil Knight '59 develop the first Nike running shoe. Oregon wins its first NCAA men's cross-country championship. School of Music's Oregon Bach Festival and Chamber Music Series founded.

1972: Steve Prefontaine runs at the UO, solidifies Eugene's status as Track Town USA.

1977: Deady and Villard halls designated National Historic Landmarks. Animal House filmed on campus.

1989: New four-building, $45.6 million science complex opens.

1992: Riverfront Research Park dedicates first building.

1994: Dave Frohnmayer named fifteenth UO president. Renovated Knight Library rededicated. University launches the Oregon Campaign, state's largest fundraising drive. The James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center founded.

1995: Ducks represent Pac-10 in Rose Bowl for first time in thirty-seven years.

1999: William W. Knight Law Center opens. First phase of Student Recreation Center completed.

2001: The University of Oregon celebrates 125th anniversary with publication of widely acclaimed, international award-winning Atlas of Oregon second edition.

2003: Faculty members secure a record $90.2 million in research funding. Autzen Stadium renovated and expanded. Lillis Business Complex-most environmentally friendly business school facility in country-opens.

2005: UO launches Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives, most ambitious fundraising effort in state history. Renovated and expanded art museum reopens as Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Museum of Natural and Cultural History reopens with new interactive exhibits in entirely redesigned and reconstructed gallery spaces. Many Nations Longhouse opens. Ground broken for $27 million Living Learning Center, first new residence hall on campus since 1960s.

2008: White Stag Block opens in Portland.

Oregon 150: Can you say "Sesquicentennial"?

The State of Oregon marked its 150th birthday on February 14, 2009. The celebratory theme of this milestone occurance is "Sustain the Spirit!" Activities and events will take place throughout the year.

TRACKING OREGON'S BOUNDARIES -- Maps from 1802 to 1861

In honor of Oregon's 150th birthday, the University of Oregon presents an exhibit of Pacific Northwest maps created in the nineteenth century during a time when the United States government had an intense interest in the northwest and learned much through exploration, trade and settlement. The earliest map was drawn before Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on the expedition west. For more information, please click here.

The exhibit will be on display in the state capitol building at 900 Court Street NE in Salem, February 2-27, 2009. The capitol is open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

PIONEERING STORYTELLER -- Lauren Kessler's Oregon Story



To celebrate Oregon 150, the Oregon Library Association is encouraging everyone in the state to read the same book. The selected book, "Stubborn Twig" by Eugene author and UO Professor Lauren Kessler, is the true story of three generations of a Japanese-American family, spanning across the 20th century in Hood River, Portland and Eugene.

Kessler writes of her own Oregon experience and discusses Oregon stories for UO home page feature.



OREGON MAPS -- A digital online collection

The University of Oregon Libraries and the Oregon State University Libraries present the Oregon Maps online collection in celebration of Oregon's sesquicentennial.

Maps are some of the most information-rich documents that we use to communicate to each other. They visually represent not only the physical terrain, but also our impact upon it. As European settlers populated Oregon, Western traditions of cartography came as well. One hundred and fifty years later, the Jeffersonian survey grid is imprinted in everyone's mind as most of Oregon's roads and property boundaries have been drawn on top of our Public Land Survey System.

OTHER OREGON 150-RELATED EVENTS & ITEMS OF INTEREST:

  • February 14, 1859: Read the Act of Congress Admitting Oregon to the Union wherein the United States government presented the newly admitted state with one of its first birthday gifts: land for a state university.

  • Sundays thru March 29, 2009: Eugene Library's Oregon 150 Series. The UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History is partnering with the Eugene Public Library and the Museums of Springfield/Eugene (MUSE) to bring a series of events focused on celebrating the state's fascinating history and culture. Films, expert speakers and authors will be part of these gatherings, which take place at 2:00pm every Sunday at the Eugene Public Library through March 29. Admission is free, so come and learn more about the great state of Oregon!

  • UO's "Dear Oregon" tribute which appeared in a special Oregon 150 supplement of "The Oregonian" on February 8, 2009.

  • February 12, 2009: Science Pub II - Double Happiness: A second look at the archaeology of 19th century Chinese occupations in Jacksonville, Oregon, featuring Patrick O'Grady and Chris Ruiz, archaeologists from the UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Event takes place at 7:00pm at Cozmic Pizza, 199 W. 8th Avenue in Eugene. Co-sponsored by OMSI, UO College of Arts and Sciences, and the Science Factory.

  • February 14, 2009: The UO's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art will celebrate Oregon 150 with free museum admission for the day! Open to the public 11:00am to 5:00pm.

  • February 14, 2009: The UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History will also celebrate Oregon 150 with free museum admission for the day! Open to the public 11:00am to 5:00pm.

  • February 15, 2009: Oregon 1859: A Snapshot in Time. Get a glimpse of the way Oregon was with an illustrated talk featuring photos and insights into life at the start of statehood. Author Janice Marschner provides an introductory tour of Oregon's Indian history, early Euro-American "settlers," and the era's industries, architecture, transportation, religious groups, and educational institutions. Takes place at 2:00pm at the Eugene Public Library downtown.
  • February 18, 2009: The students of the Oregon Brain Trust (OBT), a Community Conversation group, will host an Oregon Sesquicentennial event: History of Student Living on Campus at the University of Oregon, featuring a panel of different generations of students, faculty and staff to talk about what the UO was like when they were on campus. Ramey Room, Carson Complex, 7:30-9:00pm.

  • March 12, 2009: Science Pub III - Bits and Pieces: Artifacts and residues teach about life on the Rogue River at the time of contact, featuring Brian O'Neill, senior research associate and staff arcaeologists from the UO's Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Event takes place at 7:00pm at Cozmic Pizza, 199 W. 8th Avenue in Eugene. Co-sponsored by OMSI, UO College of Arts and Sciences, and the Science Factory.

  • April 2009: Rendezvous 2009! The Northwest History and Heritage Extravaganza

    • -- Eliot Fackler, the UO's newest Oregon Heritage Fellow for "Protesting the Industrial Freeway: Neighborhood Activism and Urban Planning in the Interstate 505 Freeway Revolt" will be making his presentation at this conference on April 17, 2009.

  • May 14, 2009: University Day. Conceived by UO President Prince Lucien Campbell in 1904, replacing wooden planks and building sidewalks was an early University Day activity and portions of sidewalks with 'University Day' and dates can be seen on the sidewalks leading to Deady Hall's west facade. Revived in recent years, University Day has become an annual campus-wide beautification event. Last year, more than a thousand students, staff and faculty gathered to plant flowers, spread bark dust and improve the campus environment. University Day has strong roots in community service and solidarity.

  • May 17-30, 2009: Earth Matters: Ecodrama Festival of New Plays
    • . A ground-breaking new project that includes an international EcoDrama Playwrights Contest, Festival & Symposium on Theatre and Ecology. Join us for ten days of performances, workshops, new play readings, guest speakers, and roundtables about how the art of theatre might help grow a sustainable future.

  • May 21-31, 2009: Symposium on Ecology and Performance 2009
    • . Ecology is at the heart of burgeoning creativity and interdisciplinary scholarship across the arts and humanities. This Symposium, together with the concurrent Festival, invites artists, scholars and activists to share their work, ideas, and passions with one another and with the larger community who attend the Festival.

  • September 13, 2009: The 200th birthday of Eugene Franklin Skinner -- founder of the City of Eugene.


    • TAKING CARE OF OREGON:

  • UO Environmental Leadership Program (ELP)
  • "What is the ELP?" - YouTube video

    • YOUTH LEGACY PROJECTS:

  • Summer Academy to Inspire Learning
  • Environmental Education Projects

    • TRAVEL OREGON 150:

  • Exploring Oregon's History Through its Built Environment

    • UNIVERSITY OF OREGON STORIES:

  • UO volcano expert Cashman named a 2009 AGU Fellow.
  • A Yakama elder teaches UO students an American Indian language that only 200 people (soon to be more) can use.
  • Researchers, led by UO archaeologist, find pre-Clovis human DNA in Oregon caves
  • Preserving one of Oregon's original Native American Languages
  • UO Alum elected Mayor of Portland
  • 2008 Undergraduate Research Award Winners:

    • -- Diana Dickman for "Living with Exclusion: Chinese Merchants in Baker City, Oregon, 1899-1915"
    -- Scott Montanaro for "Finding a Role for Bilingualism: Language Minorities in Portland Public Schools, 1975-2003"
    -- Jenette Eccleston for "Reforming the Sexual Menace: Early 1900s Eugenic Sterilization in Oregon"
    -- Michael Matsumaro for "The 1960s NAACP Campaign to Integrate Public Housing in Portland"
  • Immigration Report Reveals Oregon's Challenges
  • Narrated Slideshow: Woodburn, Oregon: a microcosm of immigrant shifts in America
  • 100 years of protecting Oregon's workers summarized in study

    • PUBLICATIONS:

  • Understanding the Immigrant Experience in Oregon (English version)
  • La experiencia de los inmigrantes de Oregon (Spanish version)
  • Atlas of Oregon

    • The University of Oregon is a proud participant in Oregon 150 - the sesquicentennial celebration of Oregon's admission to the Union in 1859. The mission of Oregon 150 is to inspire people across the state to remember, experience and celebrate Oregon and, together, create a robust and sustainable future. For more information: www.oregon150.org.