Smoke clouds a past of cultural erasure in Forest Grove, but Pacific University students are weaving a new narrative of belonging — and justice.
Pacific University could become home to the first Longhouse in Washington County, as the school explores a prospective space for students to embrace and celebrate their cultural identities.
The project was proposed by the university’s Indigenous Student Alliance as a step toward reconciliation and reconnection. The university, and all of Washington County, is located on the ancestral lands of the Tualatin Kalapuya, whose home was ripped away by the federal government in the 1800s.
“This Longhouse will serve as a symbol of respect for and recognition of all Indigenous peoples,” the Indigenous Student Alliance said in its proposal. “It will be a hub for sharing cultural experiences, learning about the history and anthropology of the region, and showcasing Indigenous art and artifacts.”
The vision for a place to gather has been a focus since the student group’s inception in 2022, according to alliance advisor Nikol Roubidoux.
“They wanted to have some sort of meeting space on campus for Indigenous students. And when I say Indigenous, I mean Indigenous people from anywhere — not just Native Americans, although that is a large focus,” Roubidoux said. “It’s basically a space that the students are wanting to have that connects them to home and their cultures; that helps them to learn about their cultures, because many don’t even know the history of their ancestors and who they descended from.”
Roubidoux, a member of Friends of Historic Forest Grove, chronicled initial plans for the historical organization to donate land for the students to have a plank house in the city. But after discussions with the university’s Indigenous Engagement Committee, she said plans shifted to having a structure on campus.
“Most of the other schools in Oregon have quite large Longhouses and big Native American alliances on school campuses, and we wanted to do something similar,” Roubidoux said.
Following discussions with university President Jenny Coyle, the alliance identified a 10,000 square-foot lot at 2105 Cedar St., which the institution formerly allotted for parking.
“The approval for actually building the Longhouse was approved by our board of trustees last December. So now it’s just a matter of getting the word out there and getting people to donate,” Roubidoux said.
The alliance is collaborating with Native American-based design firm Akana in planning for a 1,500 square-foot building. While cost estimates are still up in the air, Roubidoux said the initial estimation is around $2.5 million.
A place to gather
Longhouses were the traditional dwelling for the Iroquois and many other Northern Native Americans, but the elongated structures represent much more than somewhere to sleep.
According to Indigenous Student Alliance co-directors First Moon Venecia and Angelina Dominguez, the Longhouse is slated to be a one-story building with an indoor and outdoor kitchen, as well as a flat area to practice dances and have large gatherings. Additionally, students hope to have a garden to fill with Indigenous plants.
“We’re hoping that it’ll be a multi-purpose space. Maybe an anthropology class wants to come and use it for a class period, or elementary schools can host a class,” Dominguez said.
Venecia, a member of the Karuk tribe, also mentioned how the space would have removable floor panels so that people can sit on the ground.
“We can’t have a fire in the middle, but I think that is such an important aspect of storytelling and drumming and singing songs,” Venecia said.
“It’s also not going to only be open to the Forest Grove community; there’s a lot of Indigenous and Native people in Hillsboro and Cornelius and other places where going out to Portland would be kind of a far drive,” she said. “And I think something really nice about ours is that it’s going to be a little smaller — definitely community centered and focused.”
Promoting cultural exchange, art will adorn the walls of the new space, and the Indigenous Student Alliance plans to invite other student groups to practice traditions and connect.
“We’ve proposed this with the idea that this is going to be a gathering place. It’s going to be a gathering place for our Indigenous students where they can feel safe — feel safe with recognizing who they are, where they come from,” Roubidoux said.
Reconciliation of the past
Forest Grove — and Pacific University — played a significant role in the forced assimilation of Native American youth, with the city being home to the second off-reservation federal boarding school in the United States.
From 1880 until 1885, 310 Native American children were forcibly taken away from their families across the Pacific Northwest and placed in the Forest Grove Indian Training School. Brought to Forest Grove by steamboat, train and wagon, students were indoctrinated into Christianity and isolated from all vestiges of their identities.
“Once they got there, all of their things from home that had any kind of cultural significance were taken away. So clothes, etc., were taken away and replaced with things that were supplied by the school,” Eva Guggemos, Pacific University archivist, said. “Most of them arrived already having been given Western names. But they would be given a Western name, and they would be forbidden to speak their language.”
Students at the school would be put into academic classes for half the day, and then they would be subjected to vocational training that ranged from farming to blacksmithing.
“They were not incidentally the same trades the school needed to support itself,” Guggemos said. “The girls working in the cooking classes would supply all the meals to the school; the girls in the sewing class would supply clothes; the boys in the carpentry class would supply furniture.”
Eleven, potentially 12, students died in custody at the Forest Grove school, while many others returned home with diseases, Guggemos said. The primary cause of death was tuberculosis, with arduous workloads and poor care for students exacerbating conditions.
According to Guggemos, Pacific University directly contributed to the school, donating a four-acre block of land where the institution was built and lobbying on its behalf. Guggemos added that Pacific employed the boarding school’s first superintendent as a professor in order for him to found the school.
“The way the university benefited was more in perceived ‘added prestige’ to the community. There were several years while the school was open that Pacific would advertise Indian School — it was sort of a thing that made the town notable and different,” Guggemos said. “The federal school also brought money into a very small town. Federal contracts for things like buying food for the kids or buying cloth to make the clothing were filled by local merchants … . Some of those merchants were on the board of trustees.”
In terms of the university’s role in the school, Pacific spokesperson Blake Timm said the school does not shy away from subjects that foster “honest discussion.”
“The university has taken a number of steps over the past few years to acknowledge and recognize our past involvement with the Forest Grove Indian Training School,” Timm said. “We respect all cultures, traditions and many facets of life. And part of that is talking about having conversation and acknowledging the past and identifying how you can learn from that for our future.”
Moving forward
At the beginning of May, the Indigenous Student Alliance held its inaugural reconciliation powwow — an event that recognized and honored the Native American children impacted by the Forest Grove Indian Training School.
The Longhouse will be home to future powwows, and students aim for that space to bring light to that history of injustice.
“We understand that it is unrealistic to give the entirety of land back to Native peoples, especially as it exists now. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t create those spaces, especially for minority populations,” Venecia said. “I think it’s just another form of reparations — acknowledging what has happened and what we can do to further support Native people and the students that go here as well.”
Venecia added that the alliance aims to retrieve artifacts from the boarding school to house in the Longhouse.
“We want to ‘rehome’ a lot of artifacts from the Indian training school that was here; they need a better home that is not the library,” Venecia said. “A lot of the items were attempted to be given back to the rightful owners, but they didn’t want them. So it will be a more appropriate venue to have those things on display.”
As the project begins to make headway, Timm said the university is looking for funding sources to get things off the ground. Funding for the project was not addressed in the university’s five-year budget, and because the alliance wants to expedite the construction, the university will only be directly contributing land.
“Our advancement team is actively meeting with and identifying potential donors — individuals, tribes, foundations — that would like to partner with Pacific on the project. So that includes several regional foundations (and) local tribes. The fundraising is really still in the early stages. The project received the support of our board of trustees back in December. And since then, it’s been starting to cultivate those relationships and talk to those groups about how they might want to be involved with this project.”
“The ultimate goal would be for us to break ground on it in conjunction with (Pacific’s) 175th anniversary,” Timm said. “However, that is all contingent on the fundraising; you have to have the money in hand before moving forward. Once we have the money in place, we’ll move forward.”
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