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| Moo-vers and shakers on Waud's Bluff from The Oregonian Sunday, September 26, 2004 By TOM GAUNTT In the 1890s, students enrolled at the college atop Waud's Bluff in North Portland took the streetcar to the station at University Park. The setting -- cow pastures and the occasional farmhouse -- may have seemed rustic, but the experience had its level of sophistication. "If you write when you are coming, you will be met at the station by some of the teachers," a college brochure assured students. The professors led their students from the station to the college -- a single building -- passing Hemstock & Sons, a general store that also served as the college bookstore and sold real estate. Heading down Fiske Avenue, they walked past farmland and Hubbardville, a large farmhouse-cum-boarding house for students run by Mrs. Mattie Hubbard. In the next block stood the college president's house, an imposing mansion that hosted college receptions. Once on campus, students entered West Hall, which looked so much like Sever Hall at Harvard that some believe the design was filched. "The resemblance is pretty striking," said James Covert, a retired University of Portland professor, who wrote a history of the university called "Point of Pride: The University of Portland Story." "If you look at the two plans, it would be hard to see any other explanation." Then, as now, the relationship between the college on the bluff and the University Park neighborhood is strong. Today more than 3,300 students attend the University of Portland, which consistently gains top honors among small universities nationwide. Students and staff visit the coffee shops and eateries along Lombard, and many live in the neighborhood as renters and homeowners. The university has a program to encourage faculty and staff to buy houses in the area. Since 1998, it has granted $491,000 to employees seeking homes in University Park and adjacent neighborhoods. "We're a partner in the neighborhood," said James Kuffner, director of the office of personnel and administrative services, which oversees the grant program. "We wanted to help attract and keep quality faculty and staff and also wanted to help build a community. Now more people walk to work and come to activities." To date, 49 employees have used the program, and Kuffner said the investment also is paying off in subtle ways that are hard to measure in dollars and cents. Clearly, the university values its relationship with its neighbors. On Sept. 10, the university invited everyone in the neighborhood to attend its first night soccer game. Each month, University Park residents get a newsletter -- "Notes for Neighbors" -- telling them about what's coming up at the university and offering discounts to some events. Too, the neighborhood has benefited over the years from its university ties. When the school was founded in 1892 as Portland University, it was a Methodist institution. It was the brainchild of some of the founders of Willamette University, who thought that Portland needed a college and found the ideal spot atop the bluff. The university's founders joined with a land speculation firm called Portland Guarantee Co. Financed with bonds, the joint venture bought about 600 acres, deeding 71 acres for the college campus. The rest was subdivided into lots with prices between $250 and $550. Unfortunately, an economic depression hit in 1893. Enrollments fizzled -- even though the college paid up to $300 in traveling expenses -- and lot sales dribbled to a halt. When the bonds came due in 1896, the joint venture was broke and the land went back to its original owners. Portland Archbishop Alexander Christie saw potential for the site as a Catholic college. He bought the campus for $1 plus two lots the archdiocese owned elsewhere in the city. By September 1901, the college was Columbia University and had 52 students, according to the Rev. James Connelly, author of "The University of Portland: A Century of Teaching, Faith & Service." Within a year, Christie had obtained financial support from the Congregation of Holy Cross, the same group that runs Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. By 1915, Holy Cross had invested $130,000 in the school with the ambition of making it the Notre Dame of the West. "It limped along for years as Columbia University,' said Connelly. "There was some confusion over this school and Columbia University in New York, so it became the University of Portland in 1935." And as the college grew and became more stable, the neighborhood grew up around it. |
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