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We have come here today to witness the dedication of an educational institution named in honor and in kind and affectionate remembrance of Dr. John McLoughlin—the Father of Oregon—one of the best and noblest of men.

Fifty years ago, on the third day of September, 1857, this man—the greatest of Oregon's citizens, the greatest of its benefactors, the greatest of its humanitarians—died in this city, near where this building stands, a martyr to his principles and to his humanity. It is given to comparatively few men to be long remembered, after their deaths, in books and in histories. Still rarer is the man long held in grateful memory, and whose good deeds are treasured in the minds and in the hearts of those who personally knew him and of their descendants, and whose fame is kept alive in the traditions of a people as well as in its histories. Such a man is Dr. John McLoughlin.

It is hardly necessary at this time to give, in more than bare outline, a recital of the life and deeds of this grand and noble man. For lack of time I cannot, in this address, even mention some of his noble acts.