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Not satisfied with merely achieving the establishment of schools, however, the promoters of education began to move in the direction of buildings owned by the city instead of renting. The County of Multnomah had been organized in December, 1855, and in May of the following year a committee of citizens was appointed to ascertain the cost of different sites for school grounds. A report was shortly submitted in favor of the James Field block, on which the Portland Hotel now stands, and the suggestion meeting with approval, it M^as purchased for $1,000. Here a two-story structure, known as the Central School, was erected at an expenditure of $6,000. On May 17, 1858, it was formally opened, with L. L. Terwilliger principal and Mrs. Mary J. Hensill and Owen Connelly assistants. In July following the names of 288 pupils were on the rolls. In 1883 the board of directors sold the block on which the school stood for $75,000.

In 1849 Rev. James Harvey Wilbur, D. D., located in Portland. A pioneer of the highest type, he was destined to leave a lasting impress educationally as well as religiously upon the whole region. Physically strong, himself a competent carpenter, and possessed of unlimited energy, the erection of the Taylor-Street M. E. Church was his opening endeavor. With his own hands he felled the trees which covered the lot. Recognizing that education and the progress of intelligent religion are indissoluble, the church was scarcely finished when Mr. Wilbur set about the establishment of a denominational school, which should be superior to anything yet attempted on the coast. Mechanics' wages were $12 per day and lumber $120 per thousand, but the realization of his project went forward with dauntless zeal, and, under the style and title of "The Portland Academy and Female Seminary," the building was opened in 1850 or 1851 at an outlay of $8,800. Mr. Buchanan was first placed in charge, but he was succeeded the year following by Rev. C. A. Kingsley and wife, who conducted it with success for eight years. Faithful and earnest work was done in "the academy."

With all due deference to the academy, the founders of Portland became desirous of establishing free schools, similar to those of the Eastern states. Most prominent in the movement was the Rev. George H. Atkinson, who began to agitate the subject immediately after the organization of the territorial government August 13, 1848. Mr. Atkinson arrived in Oregon in June of that year, bringing with him a quantity of school books of the latest and best authors. Despite some opposition and after much discussion an organization was at last completed. The board of directors consisted of Anthony L. Davis, Alonzo Leland and Reuben P. Boise. This board announced that John T. Outhouse "would begin a school in the school house next door to the City Hotel on Monday, December 15, 1851. Books to be