seemed feasible. In this provision for collegiate education it preceded all educational institutions on the Pacific Coast. It may be regarded as one of the acts of splendid audacity with which the student of western history becomes familiar.
The charter provided that the name of the institution should be "The President and Trustees of Tualatin Academy." The name Tualatin is from the Indian name of the river and the plain, which signifies a smooth and slowly flowing stream. Land for a campus was secured by gift from Mr. Clark and other settlers, and a tract covering the present site of Forest Grove was given by Mr. Clark for the purpose of securing an income. It was the plan of the founders that this should be platted into lots as the site of a town. The present name Forest Grove was given to the prospective town in 1851, in preference to the name Vernon, by the trustees of the academy. Care was taken that conditions favorable to a school community should exist by placing in the deeds a clause making the property revert to the institution in case ardent spirits were ever sold on the land forming this early property of the institution.
The school possessed no buildings of its own and the work was first carried on in the log building used by Mr. Clark as the Congregational Church. The first distinctive school building was that erected in 1851 which is still in use and was at that time considered a fine structure, It was erected at a cost of about $7,000, of which the item of labor at $8 to $10 a day was an interesting item. There were many intermissions in the work of construction. The building was the cause of much sacrifice on the part of the early settlers and deserves to stand as a reminder to the later generations of the work of their fathers. The raising of the frame was celebrated in the true pioneer fashion as a festival occasion, and the campus was dotted
