Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/531



S. C. Adams, a teacher, thought his donation claim a good location for a town. He agitated a high school in 1855 as "a nucleus for a settlement." This was duly established with six acres of land and a building that was "large and commodious for those times." Adams conducted it for a year and a half. Then, although he and his neighbors belonged to the Christian Church, he proposed that the school be given to the Baptists, who were about to establish West Union Institute in Washington County. This was done, with the condition that at least one professor be employed continuously in the college department. It was chartered by the Oregon Legislature in the winter of 1858 as McMinnville College. The first principal was G. C. Chandler, uncle of Mrs. Belle W. Cooke, the poet. During the 6o's, J. W. Johnson, later the first president of the University of Oregon, served four years as principal. In 1922 its name was changed to Linfield College. The following song, copyrighted in 1917, was a belated original production for so old a school: