Two towns
One town was founded by people walking west. The other was incorporated around a railroad depot.
- Forest Grove Founded by Oregon Trail pioneers in 1841.
- Cornelius Officially incorporated in the spring of 1893.
A Main Street storefront. The historic downtown core runs one block north along Main Street and several blocks along Pacific Avenue.
Two beginnings
A school for orphans, and a grain warehouse.
Forest Grove
A Place Where Families and Businesses Thrive
The school came before the town had much else.
Cornelius
Oregon's Family Town
Cornelius grew around trade. The city is named for T.R. Cornelius, who bought a 1300-acre farm in the area.
The dated record
From the Oregon Trail to the university spreading out.
1841 to 1854: arriving and founding
- 1841 Forest Grove was founded by Oregon Trail pioneers.
- 1846 Tabitha Moffatt Brown, a 66-year-old widow, completed the trip west to the Oregon Territory.
- 1847 Nurseryman John R. Porter moved to Oregon.
- 1848 Harvey L. Clark helped found the Tualatin Academy, which later became Pacific University.
- 1849 John R. Porter was lured to the California Goldfields and returned to Oregon with the cones of the giant sequoia.
- 1850 Old College Hall was built.
- 1854 A new charter was granted establishing "Tualatin Academy and Pacific University".
1850s to 1893: two towns take shape
- 1850s The oldest homes in Forest Grove’s historic districts date from this decade.
- 1893 Cornelius was officially incorporated in the Spring of 1893. Cornelius
- 1969 Boxer became the official mascot of Pacific University.
- 1974 Old College Hall was listed on the National Historic Register.
- 1987 Tabitha Moffatt Brown was honored by the Oregon Legislature as the "Mother of Oregon".
1945 to 2010: the university spreads out
- 1945 Pacific University expanded into the health professions through a merger with the Pacific Northwest College of Optometry.
- 1975 Pacific University launched its Physical Therapy program.
- 1984 Pacific University launched its Occupational Therapy program.
- 1985 Pacific University launched its Professional Psychology program.
- 1995 The School of Education, now the College of Education, was established at Pacific University through a reorganization of the professional teacher education programs.
- 1996 The Physician Assistant Studies program was added at Pacific University.
- 2004 The College of Health Professions was formed at Pacific University, consolidating all the health programs except the College of Optometry under one umbrella.
- 2006 Pacific University opened a Health Professions Campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, in partnership with Tuality Healthcare Hospital and the Virginia Garcia Memorial Clinic, and established new programs in Pharmacy and Dental Health Science.
- 2008 Pacific University added a Masters in Healthcare administration program.
- 2010 The Annual Benefit Luau, presented by the Pacific University student Hawaiian Club, celebrated its 50th Anniversary.
What survived
Most of the brick downtown is from one decade.
The late 1880s brought a boom with the arrival of land speculators and developers.
That is why the core is so compact and so consistent. It runs one block north along Main Street and several blocks along Pacific Avenue, and it is an undesignated district, so nothing protects it except the people who own the buildings.
Still standing
