历史

自1946年以来

Portland State University has been emboldening students and challenging the status quo in Portland for 75 years. From our founding to serve veterans home from World War II, we have been committed to meeting the needs of individual students and society as a whole.

We first opened in 1946 as the Vanport Extension Center for 220 students in Vanport, a city built to house wartime shipyard workers. After surviving a devastating flood in 1948, we moved three times before finding our permanent home in 1952 in the heart of downtown Portland, 俄勒冈州.

从那时起, we have grown into 俄勒冈州’s most diverse urban public research university with 26,000 students and more than 200 degree programs.

参观 事业单位图书馆’s University Archives 查看更多照片和历史.

Beginnings: "We are starting from nothing" 1946

事业单位学生s celebrating the end of World War II — Caption: Celebrating end of World War II in Portland. (1945年8月.(俄勒冈历史学会，第2号. 84845.)

1945年二战结束时, the surge of returning veterans triggered demand for greater opportunities for higher education in Portland. The result was the Vanport Extension Center, which opened its doors in the summer of 1946 offering two years of college study.

Columbia Hall of the Vanport Extension Center with snack bar in the foreground.

斯蒂芬决定, 十大博彩公司网站的创始人, found the location and assembled facilities, 教师, and staff in only three months to open the Vanport Extension Center. "As you know,” he wrote to one of the first professors, “we are starting from nothing,"

Looking west at Vanport City, the second largest city in 俄勒冈州 during World War II. 大约在1942年. — Looking west at Vanport City, the second largest city in 俄勒冈州 during World War II. (大约在1942年.(俄勒冈历史学会，第2号. 68762.)

Vanport City was established in 1942 and lasted only six years. It was a hastily constructed public housing project, built by wartime industrialist Henry J. Kaiser to meet the housing needs of World War II workers at the shipyards in Portland and Vancouver, 华盛顿.

Vanport street scene with residences and water tower in the background. (1943) (City of Portland Archives, A2001-025-627.)

This temporary city was officially named Vanport because of its central location between Portland and Vancouver. The city was built on 650 acres of Columbia River floodplain, near the current site of Delta Park, 波特兰国际跑道, 和苍鹭湖高尔夫球场.

1947年左右的范波特住宅. (俄勒冈州 Historical Society, 78694)

Many returning veterans had married after the war and started families. Recognizing the special needs of the targeted student body, the availability of family housing as well as other family-related resources were a strong focus for Vanport's outreach and promotion.

范波特市鸟瞰图 — View of Vanport City, with Columbia Hall on the right

After shipyard workers left Vanport following World War II, the city gained a new purpose with the establishment of a temporary college. Officially designated Vanport Extension Center, the school's primary purpose was to educate servicemen and women returning from the war.

学生s take a break in the cramped quarters of Vanport snack bar.

第二次世界大战结束时, military veterans flooded back to the United States armed with the GI Bill. But veterans returning to Portland faced a dilemma: There was no four-year public institution of higher education in the city. The solution was Vanport Extension Center.

Housed in begged-and-borrowed classrooms in Vanport City, the school was overcrowded and understaffed from day one. 早在1946年12月, the student newspaper published a letter proposing a permanent institution.

范波特足球在泥里, accentuated by aromas from the nearby smokestack of the meat-packing plant.

The state board president, Edgar W. 史密斯, foresaw continued veteran growth and promised students that as long as enrollment kept above 1,000, the school was safe for another year. However, the future course of this "temporary" extension center was far from certain.

1948年阵亡将士纪念日的洪水

The failed dike that allowed flood water from 史密斯 Lake (right) to pour into Vanport City (left).

"Remember: Dikes are safe at present. 如有必要，我会警告你的. 你会有时间离开的. 不要激动." Thus read a bulletin to Vanport City residents from the 住房 Authority of Portland on 5月30日, 1948.

Aerial view of extensive flooding of Vanport City. (City of Portland Archives, A1999-004.1138.)

In spite of repeated assurances from the authorities, the Columbia River broke through the dike protecting the city on the soggy afternoon of Sunday, 5月30日, the same day the 住房 Authority issued its reassuring bulletin.

Force of the floodwaters caused widespread destruction, destroying the city. (City of Portland Archives, A 2001-083.

A 10-foot wall of water rushed in, 两小时内, the homes and possessions of many students and families, as well as the Extension Center buildings, were under several feet of water.

The flood of 1948 destroyed the Vanport Extension Center.

Vanport City was destroyed, and the dreams of a permanent college appeared to be lost.

People display Extension Center signs recovered from the flood waters — Donald Parker (second from left) and others display Extension Center signs recovered from the flood waters. (俄勒冈州历史学会，第2号. 68991.)

The road to college status was filled with political potholes. After the flood, Chancellor Paul C. Packer suggested that the destruction of the facilities and most of the student housing made this “a good time to close the facility.”

1949年洪水过后

Vanport director 斯蒂芬决定 at the administration building of the former 俄勒冈州 Shipbuilding Corporation, the new home of the Vanport Extension Center, 1948年秋季

After the flood, Epler and his colleagues scrambled to keep the center alive. Portland Public 学校 offered the use of Grant High School in northeast Portland for the 1948 summer session. There was a much larger problem to solve: finding a location for the coming fall. The federal government came to the rescue. Space for the new campus was found in North Portland in buildings formerly occupied by the 俄勒冈州 Shipbuilding Corporation. The new campus soon came to be known affectionately as "俄勒冈州 Ship."

Vanport College housed in the 俄勒冈州 shipyard building — “Vanport College” in the 俄勒冈州 shipyard building

学生s named the 俄勒冈州 shipyard building Vanport College, even though it was still officially Vanport Extension Center. Director 斯蒂芬决定 wryly observed, "We are fortunate in having probably the largest single college parking lot in the nation and perhaps the world."

学生s change the name of the building to Portland State College in anticipation of the institution's future, even though its official name upon moving to Portland in 1952 would be Portland State Extension Center.

在这个不确定的时期, the masthead of the student paper, 先锋, began to appear with the subhead "The College That Wouldn't Die," inspired by a national story in the Christian Science Monitor about Vanport's post-flood success. The school's commitment and fighting spirit furthered its growth at 俄勒冈州 Ship from 1948 to 1952.

State Representative Rudie Wilhelm receives a commemorative pen from 斯蒂芬决定 (left) for co-sponsoring the bill that moved the extension center to the Park Blocks in downtown Portland. 乔荷兰, 教师 member and athletic director, 和菲尔·普特南, Vanport Center's assistant director, 鼓掌. (1949)

4月15日, 1949, 政府ernor Douglas McKay authorized $875,000 to purchase the former Lincoln High School building on the Park Blocks as a permanent home for the Portland State Extension Center. 当时, Portland was the largest metropolitan area in the United States without a public four-year college. After extensive repairs following its purchase in 1949, the former Lincoln High building was rechristened Old Main in 1952.

Finding a home in downtown Portland 1952

前林肯高中, at the corner of SW Market and Park, took on a new life in 1952 as the new home of Portland State.

Lincoln Hall, first dubbed Old Main, is now home to the 事业单位’s 艺术学院. It was built in 1911 in a classical revival style with high Corinthian columns and balcony projections to the South Park Blocks side. The auditorium and stage were remodeled in 1975, and an extensive restoration was completed in 2010.

政府. Paul Patterson signs legislation on Feb. 14, 1955 making Portland State a four-year college.

Although many students and community members campaigned for the establishment of a four-year public college in Portland, the post-war Baby Boom also played an important role. With the flood of veterans back from the war and starting families, educational leaders realized that, 到50年代中期, there would be a critical shortage of qualified teachers.

学生s and supporters celebrate four-year college status with a six-block long cavalcade of cars. 1955 — 学生s and supporters celebrate four-year college status with a six-block long cavalcade of cars. (1955)

It had been nearly nine years since the first class opened its "temporary" doors in Vanport City. 学生s and 教师 celebrated with a parade from Old Main through downtown Portland and back. 学生s were elated that they no longer needed to transfer to other state institutions to obtain a bachelor's degree. State teacher accreditation for Portland State quickly followed to meet the critical need for public school teachers. As a result, teacher education students provided a majority of the first graduating class of 1956.