Given the fact that George Edmonston Jr., the editor of E-clips and the Oregon Stater, will soon be retiring, he will close out his involvement with E-clips by sharing a list of the 20 historical events he considers to be the most important in school history. He'll cover one event each week.

#14 OSU's first president: William A. Finley (1865-1872)

William Finley

When William Asa Finley, a Methodist Episcopal Church (South) minister, was hired in 1865 to serve as OSU's first president, he was 31 years old and a pioneer of the Oregon and California trails. A dozen years earlier he had crossed the prairies and the High Sierras with a wagon train from Saline County, Mo., to the San Jose Mission in California. OSU in the 1860s was known as Corvallis College, a small pioneer academy operating with a bad case of name inflation. Separated into primary and preparatory departments to accommodate students in a wide-range of ages and stages of learning, the school was competent at what it did, but lacked the financial or material resources to function as anything beyond the rough equivalent of today's small town high school. Finley's orders were to "kick the place up a notch," to upgrade both facilities and academics to something on the level of a real college.

Finley was optimistic by nature and also possessed a willingness to persevere against all odds. He realized that his school would be judged according to the standards of the day--those of the eastern liberal arts colleges. This meant heavy doses of Latin, Greek and philosophy. With but three on the faculty, he would have to do a lot of the teaching himself. His yearly salary of $1,200 made him one of the highest paid residents of Benton County.

By 1867, Finley's upgrades were ready to be tested on OSU's first class at this level: Alice Biddle, Annie F. Finley, Louis F. Horning, and Charles J. Mulkey.

Of the four, only Biddle would graduate with OSU's first class in 1870. Joining her at commencement were J. K. P. Currin and Robert M. Veatch, both of whom had enrolled in 1868. Approximately 126 students were in attendance at the time and classes were open to all. This atmosphere of equality is not surprising when it is realized that Finley's approach to curriculum clearly reflected the policies of his alma mater, Pacific Methodist College, which may hold the distinction of being the first co-educational college in the far west.

How should we remember Finley? In a big way. During his administration, spanning the years 1865-72, Corvallis College advanced from the standing of "pioneer high school" to that of a full-fledged institution of higher learning, producing graduates with "legally conferred degrees." The term or quarter system was introduced and the land grant endowment was secured from the state under the Morrill Act.

He also put in place something else that would help define OSU's future. It was Finley who purchased (on credit) "The Farm," a small plot of land that would give rise to the birth of scientific agriculture in the Pacific Northwest, and also furnish the growing school with a new campus. Today, the location is known as "lower campus" and features Benton Hall, Apperson Hall, the Women's Center and the Education Building.

After his resignation, Finley returned to Santa Rosa, Calif., where he served as Pacific Methodist's second president. He went on to finish his career as president of Santa Rosa Young Ladies College. He died in 1912 at the age of 78.