North Pacific College
Drawing of the 1911 building
|
|
|
Former names
|
North Pacific College of Dentistry |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Active | 1899–1945 |
| Location |
Portland, Oregon, United States 45°31′44″N 122°39′35″W / 45.52891°N 122.65983°WCoordinates: 45°31′44″N 122°39′35″W / 45.52891°N 122.65983°W |
| Fate | Portions merged into Pacific University and the University of Oregon School of Medicine (now OHSU) |
North Pacific College was a private, post-secondary educational institution located in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. A professional school, North Pacific had pharmacy, dental, and optometry programs. The dental program was purchased by the state of Oregon and merged into the University of Oregon School of Medicine and now exists as the Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry. The optometry school was merged into Pacific University and still exists as the Pacific University College of Optometry.
The foundations of the school started in the 1890s in Tacoma, Washington, when physicians in that city sought to compete with Seattle by opening a dental school before the University of Washington could establish their own school. Meanwhile, in Portland, Dr. Herbert C. Miller had been asked by the University of Oregon to lead a group to investigate adding a dental school to the School of Medicine in Portland. While Miller's group decided it was premature to start a school in Portland, the Tacoma group founded the Tacoma College of Dental Surgery in 1893. Soon after, the Tacoma school moved to Portland, while Dr. Miller and a group of Portland dentists founded the Oregon College of Dentistry in 1898.
After competing for a short time, the two dental schools merged in 1900 to create the North Pacific College of Dentistry. First located at northwest Fifteenth Avenue at Couch Street, the first class graduated in 1900 with five graduates. The school added the North Pacific College of Pharmacy in 1908, and moved into a new building in 1910 at the corner of northeast Sixth Avenue and Oregon Street. Also in 1908, the school changed its name to North Pacific College. The pharmacy school added a chapter of Kappa Psi (Beta Iota) in 1913. The school's building was expanded in 1921. That year, the North Pacific College of Optometry was added to the college. In 1940, alumnus Dr. Newton Uyesugi and Dr. Roy Clunas purchased the College of Optometry from Dr. Harry Lee Fording. After America's entry into World War II in 1941, the optometry school was closed in 1942 as Dr. Uyesugi was of Japanese ancestry and he was forced to relocate due to the Japanese exclusion orders. During World War II, the dental school was part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program, and in 1941 the pharmacy school closed. Another reason the optometry school was suspended in 1942 was that the head of the school joined the Navy.
...
Wikipedia