Lewis & Clark College - History

History

Like many modern universities, the institution that would eventually become Lewis & Clark was initially intended to provide secondary as well as higher education for a specific religious community, in this case Presbyterian pioneers in Oregon's Willamette Valley. To this end the Presbyterian church incorporated Albany Academy in 1858, making Lewis & Clark one of four Oregon colleges with foundations predating Oregon's statehood (along with Willamette University, Pacific University, and Linfield College). Within a decade of its founding, Albany Academy began to focus more exclusively on higher education, changing its official name to the Albany Collegiate Institution in 1866. Lewis & Clark's official founding date comes from the current charter, which has been legally valid since the Presbyterian church reincorporated the Albany Collegiate Institution as Albany College in 1867. Unlike most Oregon colleges of the pioneer-era, the college has been coeducational since the first class, which graduated in 1873. The early campus of 7 acres (28,000 m2) in Albany was situated on land donated by the Monteith family. In 1892, the original school building was enlarged, and in 1925 the school relocated south of Albany where it remained until 1937.

Albany College established a junior college to the north in Portland in 1934, with the entire school moving to Portland in 1939. The campus grounds later became home to the federal government's Albany Research Center. In 1942 the college trustees acquired the Lloyd Frank (of the historic Portland department store Meier & Frank) “Fir Acres” estate in southwest Portland, and the school name was changed to Lewis & Clark College. The original school mascot, the Pirates, was changed to the Pioneers in 1946.