Turning 150 years old is pretty impressive.
Oregon City is no stranger to big birthdays, but for the Oregon City School District 2024 marks a major milestone: 150 years since its official founding in 1874.
On Saturday, Oct. 5, OCSD held a birthday celebration for its 150th anniversary at the new Oregon City Service Learning Academy campus.
Concluding a jam-packed homecoming week at Oregon City High School, the celebration opened the doors of all of the district’s schools for tours before the gathering at OCSLA.
A presentation on the history of the district was given by OCHS art teacher and City Commissioner Rocky Smith, Jr.
“I love this city and I love its history,” said Smith. “What an amazing weekend for the high school and school district, homecoming last night, fireworks and parades and dances and everything.”
Smith graduated from Oregon City High School in the 1990s and started working as an art teacher there in 2001.
With 150 years of history, OCSD is almost as old as the state of Oregon itself, and Oregon City’s pivotal role as the first city in the state stretches back further. The first formal education system in Oregon City was established by Sidney Moss in 1843, in a ballroom on the second floor of his hotel.
“The 1830s into the 1840s, that’s when the pioneer settlers started coming into Oregon City,” said Smith. “The territorial governor, before Oregon, Joseph Lane and his territorial government, recommended a free and public school system and the rest is history.”
In 1851, eight years before Oregon was officially admitted into the United States, the first educational law was passed in Oregon Territory and Moss’s classroom space became the first official Oregon City public school.
OCSD was formally recognized as a school district by Clackamas County in 1874.
The upper school was originally at the old seminary building, founded by George Abernethy, before moving to the Barclay School on 12th Street in 1889. The school bell that hung in the old seminary and Barclay School sits on the front lawn of the district offices and is the oldest school bell west of the Rock Mountains.
It wasn’t until 1936 that the high school on the Jackson campus was built through a federal Public Works Administration grant. After closing in 2003 it is now used for Clackamas County events and, more often, as a set location for TV for shows such as “Everything Sucks!” and “Grimm.”
“There's so much about the old high school that didn't get transferred to the new high school, but we all thought it was a dream come true to have a new high school,” said Smith. “For a majority of this town that is their high school; we all have connections to the building and we don’t know what the future of that building is.”
Smith also highlighted more recent OCSD history – such as the 1997 OCHS girls basketball team appearing on a box of Cheerios and the high school’s big move in 2003 from the old campus to the new campus.
“One of the most iconic things in the history of the school district is the move,” said Smith. “Imagine moving a whole high school in a weekend. It’s insane, but it happened.”
Smith also mentioned the football rivalry between West Linn High School and OCHS, known as “The Battle of the Bridge.” The 104th game of that rivalry takes place this season — a tie-break as the schools have 51 wins each and one tie over the years.
The 150th birthday celebration also gave the district a chance to spread the word about the upcoming capital construction bond election in November. The bond program would raise an estimated $163 million in funding to renovate all six of the district’s elementary schools.
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