Community Hall (formerly the Administration Building, then Benton Hall) was the first building constructed on the

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

campus in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton Co ...

and the oldest structure on its campus today. Its original name was simply the "Administration Building" while the university itself was using the name under which it was first organized: Oregon State Agricultural College. It is situated on a gentle slope called "College Hill," just west of the city's commercial center on the west bank of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

, there anchoring what remains of the school's original buildings on the "Lower Campus" (given with current names and years built): Apperson Hall (1899), Benton Annex (1892), Education Hall (1902) and Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center (1898).

History

In 1860 a lien was placed on the first building to occupy the site, by a carpenter who had not been paid for his work. The ensuing sheriff's sale resulted in ownership of the building, the land and the school operating there (Corvallis College) transferring to Rev. Orceneth Fisher on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, where he served as pastor. By 1885, calls from local leaders were growing loud to convert it to a state institution which would be eligible for federal funds under the

Morrill Land-Grant Acts The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally owned land, often obtained from Native American tribes through treaty, cessi ...

and the church agreed to relinquish control. In response, the Oregon State Legislature passed an act that reorganized the school as the state's agricultural college, but skeptical of the actual awarding of land-grant status it decided to require the citizens of Benton County to bear the full costs for the construction of a suitable building to house its offices, which the act required to be no less than $25,000 (equivalent to $675,000 in 2020), and if successful the building would become

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

property of the state upon completion through

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

. The 1880 census had reported only 1,400 households within the entire county, but less than two years later the sum had been raised, permits secured and construction began on the building still standing today, largely unchanged, as Community Hall. The cornerstone was laid by the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Oregon on August 17, 1887 and it officially opened in September 1889 at the start of the school's final academic year as the State Agricultural College of Oregon; it opened for the 1890 term as simply the Oregon Agricultural College. On October 28, 1987, Governor

Neil Goldschmidt Neil Edward Goldschmidt (June 16, 1940 – June 12, 2024) was an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state, and federal offices over three decades. After serving as mayor of Portland, Oregon, ...

signed a proclamation declaring the day as "Benton Hall Day". Benton Hall was renamed Community Hall in November 2017.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places Oregon 1888 establishments in Oregon Beaux-Arts architecture in Oregon National Register of Historic Places in Benton County, Oregon Oregon State University buildings Historic district contributing properties in Oregon University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon University and college buildings completed in 1888