Monmouth

Monmouth is a lesser known Willamette Valley small city. It is not located on I-5, or on any main road to the Oregon Coast or to the Cascades. But it is a nice place to walk around, and it looks like a nice place to call home as well. Most notably, Monmouth is home to Western Oregon University, formerly the state's teacher's college, with 6,000 students. This walk goes through the university campus, along the well-preserved main street, and through some older historic neighborhoods. The walk is 2.6 miles long, and is flat.

The walk starts at the intersection of Highway 99W and the Monmouth-Independence Highway, the auto-oriented center of town, at a Burgerville. This Oregon fast-food chain (although headquartered in Vancouver, Washington) is a significant cut above the national competition, and you will pay a premium over the competition's prices to enjoy its food. It would be interesting to see future competition between Burgerville and In-n-out Burgers, should the latter chain ever make its way form a certain state to the south into the northern regions of Oregon.

From Burgerville head east on the Independence-Monmouth Highway (Independence, subject of another walk on this blog, bounds Monmouth on the east), first crossing the street to the left side. On the left are several early 20th century historic residences.

Continue on Independence-Monmouth Highway to Heffey Street, then turn left. On the corner is this old house that is in need of some at least cosmetic repair. A sign that there are still opportunities to make major contributions to the older sections of Monmouth by rehabbing old houses.

At Jackson Street turn left. The next several blocks have more historic homes, including this example of a Queen Anne vernacular style on the left.

Continue to Highway 99W. To the left is another Oregon icon (although it actually has outlets in six states), Dutch Brothers coffee. This privately-owned chain was started in 1992 by two brothers in Grants Pass, Oregon, and now has over 200 outlets. Carefully cross Highway 99W and continue west.

Once across Highway 99W continue on Jackson Street. At the corner of Jackson and Ecols, on the left, is the Ackerman House. Constructed in 1911, this bungalow-style residence was the home of John Ackerman, president of Oregon Norman School (now Western Oregon University) from 1911 to 1920.

Continue two more blocks on Jackson Street. At the corner of Jackson and Knox, to the right, is the Howell House. Built in 1891, this Eastlake Stick Style Home served for many years as a boarding house for Western Oregon University students. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Turn right onto Knox St. After one block you will see this large house on the right, and behind it is the edge of the Western Oregon University campus. The building visible in the background is Rice Auditorium, the main performing arts center on campus.

Continue north on Knox Street until it tees into Winegar Avenue. At the intersection you will see a sign that is normal around American college campuses - a "residential parking zone" sign. Students and their cars are universally unwelcome on nearby residential streets, and Monmouth is apparently no exception.

Turn left onto Winegar Avenue and follow the street as it curves. The name changes back to Knox Street after the curve. The street is lined by another common aspect of neighborhoods around American college campuses - well-used apartment buildings housing students. What differentiates this street is its median. The center street area is landscaped as a "xeriscape," which is defined as landscaping requiring little or no irrigation. A xeriscape in Oregon is going to look quite different from (and much more lush than) a xeriscape in Arizona or Nevada, but it is commendable for the city to authorize a project that doesn't need irrigation in the center median of this street.

At Gentle Street turn left. To the right is a parking lot and beyond the lot is the Gentle House. The house was constructed in 1880. Both the structure and its grounds were donated by the Gentle family to Western Oregon University, which makes the house available for public functions.

Gentle Avenue tees into Monmouth Avenue. Turn left onto Monmouth and enter the Western Oregon University campus. The school was founded in 1856 as a private Christian college. It became Oregon Normal School, a state college, in 1882. After a brief closure for lack of funds in 1909 it reopened in 1911. In 1939 it became Oregon Teacher's College. In 1981, to reflect the growing curriculum it became Western Oregon State College, and was upgraded to University status in 1997. The 156-acre campus now serves approximately 6,000 students.

Continue along Monmouth Street. Painted onto the sidewalks are these large paw prints. The university's sports teams are the Western Oregon Wolves.

On the right is the Werner University Center, the hub of campus activity. Originally built in 1960, it has seen significant remodeling and expansion over the years to serve the growing student population.

After crossing Church Street, on the right is Todd Hall, originally constructed in 1912. It was the first dormitory on campus, exclusively for women. Now it serves as the location of the school's Teaching Research Institute. It reportedly hosts the ghost of it's namesake, Jessica Todd.

Next on the right is Campbell Hall, which was originally built in 1871 but extensively remodeled since. One of the remodelings was necessary after the 1962 Columbus Day Windstorm blew off its bell tower. In front of Campbell Hall is a 125-foot tall Sequoia tree, planted in 1887.

On the left, across from Campbell Hall, is the university's Instructional Technology Center. (In case you haven't figured it out, Western Oregon University still heavily emphasizes education and training of elementary and secondary school teachers). The building was originally constructed in 1915.

At the edge of the campus, at the corner of Jackson and Monmouth Streets to the left, is the former Community Evangelical Church. Originally constructed in 1891, it was moved to this site in 1922 on wooden rollers. The steeple was another victim of the 1962 Columbus Day Windstorm. The building is now occupied by the non-denominational Heart to Heart Church, which doesn't have a website but does have a Facebook Page.


Across from the church is West House. This attractive colonial structure was built in 1924. It became the school's male dormitory in 1937 (as is fitting for a mid-20th century teacher's college, the men's dorm was smaller than the women's dorm!). It now houses two of the university's academic departments.

Turn right onto Jackson Street. After one block you will see McArthur Stadium to the right, home to the Western Oregon Wolves football team. The university is part of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in NCAA Division II, and is not in the same conference as nearby Willamette or Linfield Colleges. The stadium was built in 1980, replacing wooden Memorial Stadium. The previous stadium burned to the ground in 1979, according to some sources in "spectacular fashion."

After two blocks on Jackson turn left onto Whitman and then left again onto Main Street. After 1 1/2 blocks St. Hilda's Episcopal Church, housed in this quaint structure, will be seen on the right. The building was constructed in 1935.

Continue west on Main Street, which is indeed Monmouth's traditional "main street," On the right is the Monmouth City Hall. The city's staff is apparently packed into this nondescript building, and the city is considering options for expansion. Monmouth is notable for incorporation in 1856 as a "dry" city, and the city remained liquor free (or at least liquor store free) until voters finally changed the city charter in 2002.

After crossing Warren Street you will see Main Street Park on your left, a traditional looking central park square with a pretty gazebo. In front of the park is this giant flagpole, proudly flying the American, Oregon, and Monmouth city flags.

On the right side of the street, across from Main Street Park, is the M.I. (Monmouth Improvement Company) building. The structure, built in an Italianate style, has been on this site since 1902.

Continue along Main Street, which has several early 20th century commercial structures. Most notable is this building at the corner of Main and Broad Streets. It is known as the Polk County Bank Building. It was constructed in 1889 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Continue another three blocks along Main Street to the starting point of the walk, Burgerville.