Tualatin Academy was a secondary school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 that eventually became Pacific University

Pacific University

Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km west of Portland in Forest Grove...

. Tualatin Academy also refers to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

-listed college building constructed in 1850 to house the academy, also known as Old College Hall. The building now serves as the Pacific University Museum, and is one of the oldest collegiate buildings in the western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

.

Academy

Congregational minister Harvey L. Clark

Harvey L. Clark

Harvey L. Clark was an educator, missionary, and settler of what became Forest Grove, Oregon, United States. A native of Vermont, he moved to Oregon Country where he participated at the Champoeg Meetings and helped to found Tualatin Academy that later became Pacific University...

 started a missionary school in 1841 just north of East Tualatin Plains

Tualatin Plains

The Tualatin Plains are a prairie area in central Washington County, Oregon, United States. Located around the Hillsboro and Forest Grove areas, the plains were first inhabited by the Atfalati band of the Kalapuya group of Native Americans. Euro-American settlement began in the...

, now Hillsboro

Hillsboro, Oregon

Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...

. The school was soon moved to West Tualatin Plains (now Forest Grove) where in 1847 Clark was joined by Tabitha Moffatt Brown, the Mother of Oregon. The two then operated a school for settler’s children and Brown opened a school for orphans, opening in 1848. The Reverend Henry H. Spalding

Henry H. Spalding

Henry Harmon Spalding , and his wife Eliza Hart Spalding were prominent Presbyterian missionaries and educators working primarily with the Nez Perce in the U.S. Pacific Northwest...

’s wife Eliza was hired to teach at the school the first year. In 1848, Presbyterians and Congregationalists determined to start a school with Clark and Brown’s school as the location. The Oregon Territorial Legislature

Oregon Territorial Legislature

Oregon’s Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory...

 chartered the Tualatin Academy on September 29, 1849.

Founding trustees of the school included Clark, P. H. Hatch, George H. Atkinson

George H. Atkinson

George Henry Atkinson was an American missionary and educator in what would become the state of Oregon. In Oregon, he served as a pastor for several churches, helped found what would become Pacific University, and pushed for legislation to create a public school system in Oregon Territory...

, James M. Moore, and Osborne Russell

Osborne Russell

Osborne Russell was a mountain man and politician who helped form the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. He was born in Maine....

 among others. In 1854, when college classes were added, Pacific University

Pacific University

Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km west of Portland in Forest Grove...

 was split from the Academy. Tualatin Academy continued alongside the university until it was closed in 1914, at a time when many private high schools disappeared with the growth of public schools.

Building

The Tualatin Academy building, now known as Old College Hall, is a two-story wood-frame structure. Built by the community in July 1850 in barn raising fashion, it replaced a log cabin previously used by the school. A second identical building was added 18 years after Old College Hall and named Academy Hall. The building later was the Science Hall for the university and known as the Chem Shack to students from 1900 to 1950. In 1949, the science department moved out and the building was renamed as Old College Hall. That year two rooms upstairs became the Pacific University Museum.

Sitting atop its hipped roof is an octagonal shaped louvered belfry, similar to one that was on the Oregon Institute

Oregon Institute

The Oregon Institute was a school located in the Willamette Valley of the Oregon Country during the 19th century. Begun in 1842, it was the first school built for European-Americans west of Missouri. Founded by members of the Methodist Mission, it was located in what is now Salem, Oregon, United...

 building. The rectangular shaped hall is divided by a centralized cross hall. Colonial Revival in style, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 as Tualatin Academy on February 12, 1974. The downstairs of the building houses the Price Memorial Chapel and meeting space. Currently it is the oldest college building in the state and is still used as a museum and chapel.

Pacific University Museum

The second floor of Old College Hall contains the Pacific University Museum with exhibits about the history of the University, including items from school founder Tabitha Brown

Tabitha Brown

Tabitha Moffatt Brown was an American pioneer emigrant who traveled the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. There she assisted in the founding of Tualatin Academy, which would grow to become Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon...

, first school president Sidney Harper Marsh, alumni and friends. Visits are by appointment with the Office of the President. The museum opened in 1949 as part of the school's centennial celebration.