Oregon Voices: George Atkinson, Harvey Scott, and the Portland High School Controversy of 1880

Abstract

OREGON VOICES George Atkinson, Harvey Scott, and the Portland High School Controversy of 1880 by Donald J. Sevetson WHEN PORTLANDHIGH SCHOOL, Oregon's firsthigh school, opened on April 26,1869, ithad forty-fivestudents and was lauded byHarvey Scott in an Oregonian editorial. "We congratulate the citizens of Portland," he wrote, "as well as the projectors of the plan on this new and essential element in the intellectual wants of the city, wherein is secured, freeof charge, and entirely atpublic expense, as fulland thorough an academic course as can be had in the city,and perhaps in the state."1 Ten years later,thepublic school system of Oregon was growing rapidly and Scott had changed his mind. He concluded that the Portland school systemwas out of control, reaching far beyond its legislative mandate. In particular, he disagreed with the need for a free public high school, believing that asking the public to provide anything more than eightyears offree "common school" was bad policy. Scott, proud of both his intellec tual attainments and self-financed course of study, used his editorial pulpit tomake a broad critique of the schools. His slashing style evoked debate and controversy across the city. Rev. George Atkinson shaped the community's response to Scott's critique. After arriving in Oregon in 1848,Atkinson had continuously worked for education, seeing it as a vehicle of both moral formation and economic improvement. He believed high schools were essential forprepar ing and providing a corps of qualified teachers. George Henry Atkinson, nineteen years Scott's senior, was born in 1819 in the seaport of Newburyport, Massachusetts. A child of a family of successful, influential merchants, Atkinson was raised in the adjacent settlementofNewbury, Massachusetts, until 1830,when the familymoved to 458 OHQ vol. 108, no. 3 ? 2007 Oregon Historical Society I-'-?-:-5-!-"'-1 O 33 . ' ; c/i inj2^^B^^IH9HKH^^^^^^^n9BBSS9nk^^ \^? rJk^^rflffWBW^flBf^HKML^M^B^^^BHFB8i^ ^L ?jJiilB TheNorth School,which opened in 1868,housed PortlandHigh School classes in two roomswhen thehigh school opened in April 1869.In 1891,thebuildingwas renamed theGeorgeH. Atkinson School. Newbury, Vermont. Four years later, fifteen-year-old Atkinson was in the initial class at Newbury Seminary, the town's first school. He attended two other Vermont academies before entering Dartmouth College in 1839. After graduating from Dartmouth, Atkinson attended Andover Seminary in Massachusetts and was ordained to theCongregational ministry in 1847. That same year,hewas commissioned amissionary to theOregon Territory by the (Congregational) American Home Missionary Society (AHMS). With his wife Nancy Bates of Springfield, Vermont, he embarked from Boston on October 25,1847, on theSamoset, reachingHonolulu in 125 days. After a threemonth stay in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), the couple secured passage on theCowlitz and arrived at FortVancouver on June 19, 1848, reaching Oregon City two days later. Atkinson served theCongre gational church inOregon City until 1863,when he moved to Portland to serve asminister of the FirstCongre gational Church. He held thatposition Sevetson,Portland High School Controversy of 1880 459 Harvey Whitfield Scott (1838-1910) OHS neg.,OrHi 87945 fornine years and, in 1873,theAHMS appointed him General Missionary for Oregon andWashington Territory.2 Harvey Scott was born inTazewell County, Illinois, in 1838,and initially received elementary education in a log schoolhouse there.After traveling theOregon Trail in 1852,his formal schooling was delayed forseveralyears. Scott assisted his father in clearing three farm sites and also worked as a logger,mill hand, carpenter, and rail splitterbefore entering theU.S. Army at age seventeen.3 He entered Pacific University in Forest Grove at age twenty-one, and was itsfirstgraduate, receiving the Bachelor ofArts degree in 1863.To pay for his schooling and living expenses while at Pacific Uni versity, Scott tutored and worked as amanual laborer. In 1865,he became editor of theDaily Oregonian. He left the newspaper in 1872 and returned to it in 1877, as both editor and part owner. Scott and Atkinson were similar in their strongwork ethic, boundless curiosity, and breadth of knowledge. Both left immense written legacies ? Scott through his editorial voice, Atkinson in voluminous correspon dence, secretarial records, newspaper contributions, and institutional his tories ? and both often used vision ary, even grandiose language. Scott utilized his...