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The community belongs to a city described as vibrant and proud of its low crime, historic downtown, and cultural organizations.

As a resident of this city, I know we are always show casing civic responsibility in events, streetscapes, and the overall beauty of Forest Grove as our community focuses on preserving the trees and greenery.

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Since the settlement of the Atfalati people who first populated Forest Grove in the 1840's, there was a transition from indigenous life to European settlement and a new community. Due to the arrival of the European Americans, there were great changes in social structure and economy.

To this day the city is known as an educational and agricultural backbone of Washington County.

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The effects of climate change have been experienced in Forest grove, with higher water temperatures and increased fire risks. There has been an increased use of natural resources, pollution, and loss of biodiversity due to the city's economic growth. Natural disaster and climate related issues has the community concerned, prompting residents to adopt sustainable practices and advocate for protection. It has also brought about the need for reforestation and preservation of forests to mitigate CO2 emissions and protect the city's natural resources.

These efforts have fostered a sense of community resilience and a commitment to preserving the natural environment. Coming together to address and share plans, creating an active and engaged community that focuses on environmental care.

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How climate change affects Oregon forests and how those forests affect climate change are complex, multilayered, and urgent topics. According to a 2013 report …

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The goal of Forest Grove Indian and Industrial Training School in the 1880s was to take Native Americans into the U.S. culture, and from there erase their identity to become more "civilized".

However, the city's growth and development were influenced by the diverse cultural backgrounds of its early settlers and the educational and agricultural contributions of the university.

Now Pacific University hosts numerous events such as art exhibitions, music performances, and lectures open to the public about the past.

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You would never know.

Today, the block in Forest Grove bounded by 22nd and 23rd avenues and C and D streets reveals nothing of its past. It looks much like the surrounding residential blocks, lined with tidy homes, sidewalks, shrubs and "beware of dog" signs.

You'd never know that this block was partly cleared 129 years ago by young Native Americans, who were brought to this quiet corner of northwest Oregon as part of a younger country's drive to "civilize" them. You wouldn't know these young people once fashioned leather into shoes, planks into furniture, and fabric into uniforms under the supervision of white men and women. You wouldn't know that this unremarkable block once was the focus of a tug of war between Salem, Forest Grove and Washington, D.C. - a fight the locals eventually lost.

You'd never know that at least 12 young indigenous people died while they were being educated here.

Location and photo of the Indian Training School's original campus in Forest Grove. The photo shows the students in their uniforms, a male teacher and other teachers and staff in the foreground, with two dormitories and a workshop and in the background.

The Forest Grove Indian Training School

From 1880 to 1885, this block was the home of the Forest Grove Indian Training School, a project backed by the federal government, political leaders, a former military officer - and teachers and administrators of Pacific University, whose campus was four blocks to the east.

The school was not officially part of Pacific, but the university supported the enterprise in many ways. As noted in a 1904 history that is stored in the Pacific University Archives, Pacific's trustees exercised "a fatherly supervision" of the school, sending a delegation each year to visit the Indian school and report to the university. The trustees in turn passed their impressions to the Indian Department.

The Pacific connection started with a letter from the university's Board of Trustees to the Secretary of War in 1879. The trustees called for the appointment of Army Lt. M.C. Wilkinson to the new post of military professor at Pacific. In Wilkinson, they saw an opportunity to bring federal money to Forest Grove.

They came to the school from the prairies and mountains, dressed in blankets and moccasins, with uncut and unkempt hair, as wild as young coyotes. They have already learned to sing like nightingales and work like beavers."
- Harper's Weekly

"Lieut. Wilkinson has placed before the Board of Trustees the purpose and plan of the Interior Department to educate at some institution upon this coast a certain number of Indian Youth of both sexes, and the Board of Trustees make this application for the detail of Lieut. Wilkinson, with the understanding that this Board of Trustees incur no pecuniary liability thereby, and that the government pay all the necessary expenses attending the same," read the letter, which was copied into the written minutes of a board meeting.

The trustees' pitch worked. Wilkinson, still considered an active-duty Army officer, started putting Pacific students through military drills, and the bureaucratic and political machinery started grinding to bring to Forest Grove the nation's second federally funded, off-reservation Indian training boarding school, after the one launched in Carlisle, Pa., in 1879.

When the school opened, the leaders of Pacific, along with some local merchants who stood to benefit, considered it a victory. Many of the roughly 600 townspeople of Forest Grove, however, remained wary.

"Kill the Indian ... save the man"

People of European descent had settled into all parts of the country by the 1880s. Native people had largely been driven from the territories they used for centuries, herded on to reservations and forced to sign treaties drawn up by government officials. The remnant of the Tualatin Kalapuyas, who had lived near Gaston when missionaries like Tualatin Academy founder Harvey Clarke arrived in Oregon in the 1840s, were forcibly relocated southward to the reservation of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

In a country still healing from the wounds of the Civil War, the government aimed to find a way to secure a final peace with the people it had decimated with disease and warfare and driven from their lands.

The effort to resolve the unfinished business of settling the continent was wrapped in a belief that native people should be assimilated - cleansed of the characteristics and habits that distinguished their former lives and educated in the ways of white people. The Indian training schools were a manifestation of this effort. With the establishment of the Forest Grove Indian Training School, Wilkinson had most success enrolling children from tribes near Puget Sound,southeast Alaska and from east of the Cascades.

A group portrait of students from the Spokane tribe at the Forest Grove Indian Training School, taken when they were "new recruits."

Seven months later - the students pictured are probably the Spokane students who, according to the school roster, arrived in July 1881: Alice L. Williams, Florence Hayes, Suzette (or Susan) Secup, Julia Jopps, Louise Isaacs, Martha Lot, Eunice Madge James, James George, Ben Secup, Frank Rice, and Garfield Hayes.

A particularly poignant pair of photos in the Pacific University Archives vividly show what it meant for native youths to leave their families to come to Forest Grove. An 1881 photo of new arrivals from the Spokane tribe shows 11 awkwardly grouped young people, huddled together as if for protection in an unfamiliar place. Some have long braids of dark hair; some girls wear blankets over their shoulders; some display personal flourishes, including beads, a hat, a neckerchief.

A second photo of the group is purported to have been taken seven months later, after the Spokane children had lived and worked for a time at the Indian Training School. In this photo, the same children are seated stiffly on chairs or arranged behind them. The six girls wear similar dresses; the four boys wear military-style jackets, buttoned to the neck.

Further, one girl is missing in the second photo - one of the children who died after being brought to Forest Grove, said Pacific University Archivist Eva Guggemos, who has extensively studied the history of the Indian Training School. The girl's name was Martha Lot, and she was about 10 years old. Surviving records tell us she had been sick for a while with "a sore" on her side and then took a sudden turn for the worse.

The before-and-after photos of the Spokane children were meant to show that the Indian Training School was working: Young native people were being shaped into something "civilized" and unthreatening, something nearly European. But today the before-and-after shots appear desperately sad - frozen-in-time witnesses to whites' exploitation of indigenous children and the attempted erasure of their cultures.

"Some white people who have visited this school and see what We Indian children have done and do, say With great astonishment, Did the Indian children do this?"
- The Indian Citizen, 1880s

Harper's Weekly magazine published a story about the Forest Grove Indian Training School in 1882, telling readers: "They came to the school from the prairies and mountains, dressed in blankets and moccasins, with uncut and unkempt hair, as wild as young coyotes. They have already learned to sing like nightingales and work like beavers."

Forced transformations like these played out across the country as America sought to deal with the nation's original sin. When Capt. Richard Pratt, who founded the U.S. Training School and Industrial School in Carlisle, addressed a conference in 1892, he said this:

"A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man."

This was the context for the establishment and operation of the Forest Grove Indian Training School.

Native American students in Forest Grove

Of the schooling itself, most of what we know derives from superintendents' reports to the government, in letters and diaries written by teachers or administrators, and photos, which were often staged. These sources generally painted a rosy picture of what student life was like.

An autograph book exemplifies the skilled penmanship.

"Formerly the laundrying for the whole school was done by the girls and a Chinaman. The Chinaman struck for higher wages and an Indian boy was put in his place, and it was found he did equally well," notes the 1884 superintendent's report. "Since which time the number of boys in the boys' laundry has been increased to five, and they now do about two-thirds of the washing for the whole school."

One of the few sources of direct testimony from students at the time are the slim entries in a teacher's autograph book, a collection of notes written by about 44 young students during their time in Forest Grove. Many are filled with brief Christian sentiments, reflecting the evangelistic education they received at the school.

"To dear teacher," reads one. "We can write our names in albums in this sinful world of ours. But will our names be found in that album which will be open on the last day before the great judgement. Your kind and willing teaching will never be forgotten through life. Your obedient scholar, W.H. Wilton, Forest Grove, O., July 20th, 1881. From Puyallup Reservation."

Also surviving in the Pacific University Archives is a single yellowed and tattered copy of The Indian Citizen, a single-sheet student newspaper. It notes practical things such as "During the past 4 months 493 garments, and 82 articles of household use, have been made, by an average of 10 girls, in No. 1 sewing room." It also notes the formation of "The Indian Base Ball Club."

The Indian Citizen has a lead editorial headlined "The Future of the Indians," which speaks of the challenges indigenous people faced in the western United States in the 1880s.

"Most of the white people have an idea that Indians cannot learn or remember anything which they are taught. But a great many who think in that way have been greatly surprised when they see the intelligence of the boys and girls and see some articles which they can make and that they are as industrious as any white children can be. Some white people who have visited this school and see what We Indian children have done and do, say With great astonishment, Did the Indian children do this?"

Perhaps the most vivid account of life at the Forest Grove Indian Training School is contained in an 1882 letter written by a teacher, Mary Frances Lyman, to her parents, Reverend and Mary Lyman. She describes "an unfortunate incident" at the school.

"Obid Williams, the black sheep of the school, stole some money out of Hoxter's store. Over 100 dollars, and then telling Charley Abraham, one of the best Spokane boys, that he had a lot of money from home persuades him to run off with him. They stopped at Hillsboro and bought some clothes and then walked on toward Portland.

"Some of the Indian boys in pursuit got on the train here, and hid themselves over the train. Obid & Charley walked as far as Beaverton and then concluded they would ride the rest of the way. As soon as they got on the cars Ch. Varner the 1st Sergeant of the I.T. School stepped up and said 'Lets go home, Charley,' then the rest of the boys showed themselves and they brought the boy back on the freight train. The boys who went after them showed considerable sense. The stealing was a very bad thing, and I fear will injure the school very much. The boys may have to be sent to prison, I don't know. I feel very sorry for Charley who is really a good boy and who felt very bad about it."

The boys were returned to the school, but Obid (or Obed) Williams was sent to the state penitentiary to serve a sentence of a year. When he was released back to the Forest Grove Indian Training School, the superintendent put him on a train back to the Washington Territory.

Relocation to Salem

After Wilkinson was ordered to return to full-time active Army duty, Dr. Henry John Minthorn was appointed superintendent of the training school in Forest Grove. The educator and physician was a stern leader, as former Indian School student Henry Sicade wrote in 1917 to Samuel Walker of Forest Grove.

"I well remember how the doctor would use his fists and number tens instead of reasoning with the boys," said Sicade, referring to the doctor's hands and feet.

Minthorn is probably best known as being the uncle of future president Herbert Hoover, who lived with Minthorn's family in Newberg and Salem beginning in 1885. As Hoover wrote later, "The doctor was a mostly silent, taciturn man, but still a natural teacher."

Minthorn, a Quaker, preferred Newberg and Salem to Forest Grove, where Congregationalists held sway. Just a few months after arriving, he began to pitch the federal government on the idea of relocating the Indian Training School.

The stealing was a very bad thing, and I fear will injure the school very much. The boys may have to be sent to prison, I don't know. I feel very sorry for Charley who is really a good boy and who felt very bad about it."
- Mary Francis Lyman, 1882

He succeeded in persuading the Indian Department, the Interior Department agency that oversaw Native American affairs, that the school should own enough acreage for the native students to farm. Officials in Salem offered the federal government a donation of 171 acres for the school and its farmland. Pacific and Forest Grove officials countered by offering real estate enticements of their own, but they couldn't match Salem's offer. The school moved from Forest Grove to Salem in 1885.

Minthorn quit the superintendent's job a little before the move, going on to become the first superintendent of Friends Pacific Academy, the predecessor of Newberg's George Fox University. He later moved to Salem.

The Indian Training School, known today as the Chemawa Indian School, still operates in Salem. It is the country's oldest continually operating off- reservation boarding school for Native Americans. The school today says its intention is to "afford each student an opportunity to achieve his/her full potential as a shared success between themselves, parent and our community."

Nothing remains to mark the school's time in Forest Grove. Pacific converted the Indian Training School's boys' dormitory into its first dormitory for college men in the 1890s, but the land was sold and the former dormitory demolished in 1908.

Pacific grapples with its history

While Pacific did not pay for nor operate the Indian Training School, it supported its mission. It invited the school to open in Forest Grove. It leased, then donated, the land on which the school stood. It employed the first superintendent as a professor of military tactics. It supplied trained teachers to work in the school, and its trustees lobbied on the school's behalf to government officials in Washington.

"I've always been drawn to exploring the horrible things we do to each other. And asking 'Why don't we learn from the past?'"
- Eva Guggemos, 2019

The presence of the Indian Training School now lives on mostly in the Pacific University Archives, where Guggemos has organized, cataloged and digitized some of the records that have been assembled through the years. Thanks to her efforts and those of her former student assistant Shawna Hotch '17, who graduated from the Chemawa Indian School and whose ancestor George Brown attended the Forest Grove Indian Training School, you can read digital images of the letters written by Wilkinson, Sicade and others associated with the school.

Among the more haunting items in the collection is the autograph book, which holds page after page of the careful cursive of the young students.

"My dear teacher," reads one in careful, flowing script. "Remember me as one of your scholar. Yours faithfully friend, Chas. A. Thompson, from Nez Perce Agency, Idaho. August 17, '83."

Thompson died as a student, far from home, on March 13, 1885. The culprit was likely tuberculosis, the leading cause of U.S. deaths in that decade.

Archival photographs. Top: The carpenter class. The 10 young men are in western dress and are performing various carpentry tasks. A complete dresser stands in the background. Bottom: The housekeeping class. The 20 girls of various ages are in western dress and are performing various tasks from sewing to washing.

As university archivist, Guggemos has worked diligently to document this history. She has conducted extensive research on the Indian Training School, helped arrange exhibits, made public presentations and placed documents online. She is writing a book about the school that she hopes will be published in the coming 12 months.

"I've always been drawn to exploring the horrible things we do to each other," she said. "And asking 'Why don't we learn from the past?'"

Guggemos has ideas about ways Pacific can acknowledge its part in establishing and supporting the Indian Training School. For example, she thinks the site of the school should have a historical marker.

She suggests Pacific should reach out to the tribes of students who died at the school, asking their input on how to better acknowledge and care for the unmarked graves that exist in the Forest View Cemetery in Forest Grove. Pacific has reached out, in a separate effort, to local tribes to discuss the return of Native American artifacts held by the university.

And, Guggemos thinks Pacific can make constant, public acknowledgement that it is built on land where native people were pushed out. The first such acknowledgement took place at the May Commencement ceremonies.

Today, historians and Native groups are examining the legacy of the training schools, which caused children to be separated from their families in order to be shaped into something like white men and women. While the schools caused lasting damage to native families and tribes like the Puyallup, the Piute, the Nez Perce and the Spokane, they did not succeed in "killing the Indian." In fact, native people are reclaiming their culture and history in the Northwest and elsewhere.

Stan Uentillie '97, a Pacific alumnus and a member of the Navajo tribe, whose parents worked at Chemawa and attended federal boarding schools for 12 years, attended Guggemos's recent public presentation on the Indian Training School.

When it was over, he took the microphone.

"The sun, the moon, the stars, the weather ... are the only things that haven't been taken from us," he told the hushed room. "No more saying we're sorry. That doesn't cut it anymore." ■

This story first appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Pacific magazine. For more stories, visit pacificu.edu/magazine.

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Back in the late 19th century, when Pacific University was an outpost of higher education in the Pacific Northwest, the school took part in an ignoble American experiment. With Pacific's support, the Forest Grove Indian Training School brought Native American children to a nearby campus, where they were forced to abandon tribal culture in favor of learning the skills and religion of the dominant white society.

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The three social change influences that have impacted Forst grove community the most are Globalization and Inequality, Education, and Social Movements.

Globalization and Inequality:

Forest Grove, part of a growing county, is expected to experience significant population growth and job expansion in the coming years, mostly influenced by the city's economic development strategies and policies. Capitalism and economic expansion are driving forces for income inequality. The gap between the poorest and wealthiest households is the biggest it has been, potentially due to tax policies and declining labor unions

Education:

The school's impact on the tribes of the pacific Northwest is still felt today, and efforts are being made to confront the boarding systems legacy of trauma. Ongoing efforts to confront this legacy and promote educational equity for the future of Forest grove.

Social Movements:

Organizations and movements advocating for civil rights, environmental protection, and social justice have significantly impacted the community. These movements raised awareness, mobilized resources, and influenced policies that shape the social aspect of Forest Grove.

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Globalization has had a mixed impact. Globalization has led to economic growth and opportunities in the city of Forest Grove. Globalization has influenced employment, working conditions, income, and social protection, increasing standards of living. On the other hand, it may have worsened issues such as unemployment, inequality, and poverty. There is an ongoing debate whether globalization has reduced or created more issues to the people in Forest Grove and the state of Oregon. Some individuals recognizing the positive aspects it brings, such as new industries and jobs, and other focusing on the harm it can do to local economies and individual workers.

Inequality:

A main concern of modern economic growth and demand for goods is the requirement of rapid production at low costs. Leading to the inevitable exploitation of nature and workers. Capitalism and economic expansion are arguably the driving forces for the income inequality Forest Grove is currently experiencing. The gap between the poor and wealthy households has increased more than past years, potentially due to tax policies and declining labor unions. This gap continues to widen because of GROSS Domestic Product growth and low employment rates. Housing and economic inequality continues to rise as public housing and support services have been disinvested. The Oregon Center for Public Policy highlights the staggering levels of economic inequality in the state. Hence, the overall housing crisis in the region, as Oregonians struggle to pay rent or find shelter.

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Discover population, economy, health, and more with the most comprehensive global statistics at your fingertips.

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Forest Grove thrives on a combination of traditional and modern capitalism. The city is mainly supported by a diverse range of businesses, including retail, services, and education. The Forest Grove Chamber of Commerce plays an important role in promoting commerce and industry, economic development, education, and social and cultural matters. Along with the city's proximity to the Portland metro region and its location near Silicon Valley, making it an attractive area for business relocation. Forest Grove's affordable industrial and commercial land, low power costs, and access to a highly skilled regional workforce have contributed to its economic success. The city's development policies and partnerships with Forest Grove Economic Development Partnerships have enhanced its ability to attract and support businesses.

Nonetheless, Forest Grove is experiencing an increase in poverty rates. The city's economic opportunities analysis indicates that the city's land supply and capacity to accept the oncoming employment growth is not enough to meet the demand, which in turn leads to a shortage of employment land. This connects to the lack of job opportunities currently and as a result, poverty. The Forest Grove Foundation and the City of Forest grove offer programs to help individuals and families in alleviating poverty. Such as food assistance, partnering with Oregon's Food Bank's Fresh Alliance program, housing, and utility assistance from the City of Forest Grove's Average Monthly Payment Program (AMP).

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Forest Grove, OR is generally considered a safe place. Crime rates are low compared to the national average, with both violent and property crimes being exceptionally low.

A significant concern Forest Grove does have is healthcare discrimination. Notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, where marginalized communities faced an increase of discrimination in accessing healthcare services. The Oregon Senate has then approved of a bill that prohibits discrimination in healthcare based on national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability, addressing discrimination and ensuring that healthcare is accessible to all. There has also been the implementation of new laws that are meant to protect workers, including those in the healthcare area, against discrimination based on age, date of graduation, and other characteristics. These laws are an ongoing effort, not only in Forest Grove but the state of Oregon, to strengthen labor protections and ensure fair treatment in the workplace.

In addition, Oregon law provides avenues for filing complaints and seeking legal representation. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) enforce these protections, and individuals can receive assistance from local attorneys who specialize in discrimination cases. As it is important for individuals in Forest Grove and the state to be aware of their rights and have the resources available to them in case they are to experience discrimination in healthcare.

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The Forest Grove Indian School, which operated until 1885, was part of a broader U.S. federal policy to take children away from their Native American families and place them in boarding schools. These schools punished students for any expression of their Native cultures or languages. Ultimately leading to lasting effects on the tribes of the Pacific Northwest. The school's legacy includes high mortality rates among students, alienation from their families and traditional culture, and the reassurance of their Indian identity. The school's location at a great distance from the reservation made it difficult for parental visits and for students to escape.

The school's impact on the tribes of the pacific Northwest is still felt today, and efforts are being made to confront the boarding systems legacy of trauma. There are ongoing efforts to confront this legacy and promote educational equity for the future of Forest grove. Overall, the education system has played a role in shaping the community's educational landscape, addressing historical injustices and improving educational outcomes for all students. The Chemawa Indian School, the successor to the Forest Grove Indian School, has made these efforts to counteract the negative impacts of assimilation policies. The school has now been focusing on celebrating Native American heritage. Encouraging students to take pride in their heritage and offering programs that promote cultural awareness and education.

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Religion has had a significant effect on the city of Forest Grove. In recent times, religion helps societies meet their basic needs, providing a sense of belonging and community. Including spiritual nourishment and supporting residents in their times of need. However, the influence of religion in Forest Grove can also be seen in the historical context of the Indian Training School. Religion played a great role in the assimilation of Native Americans into the dominant society. While it was administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, religious institutions supported it, including Pacific University. Promoting the idea of "civilizing" Native Americans.

The assimilation was heavily influenced by the Christianity missionaries and the American Protestant culture. The protestant missionaries played a significant role in the process by promoting the adoption of American-style monogamous family structures, clothing styles and hairstyles, and a new gendered division of labor. They believed that by converting to Christianity and adopting American civilization, Native Americans could be absorbed into the white settler population and contribute to the U.S. governments purposeful expansion.

The pressure on Native Americans by the U.S. colonialism were intense but was contested. Native Americans developed their own range of strategies to ensure the survival of their communities and preserve their own cultural integrity. Still seen today in Forest Grove.

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There have been collective efforts that have challenged systematic injustices and driven meaningful changes in Forest grove. The mobilization of social movements has been important in addressing issues such as discrimination, inequality, and environmental sustainability. Including altering policies and creating an overall sense of unity in the community. Most importantly it raises awareness. The Forest Grove City Council is actively involved in community initiatives and development, committing to social issues and community engagement.

Members of Forest Grove, OR have been involved in various social movements. Recently, students from Forest Grove High School participated in a walkout to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), committing to immigrant rights and local issues. There have also been movements advocating for workers' rights, along with community meetings for housing solutions for the homeless. Overall, providing support for vulnerable groups, the Forest grove Foundations programs serve vulnerable community members, and addresses issues like homelessness and food insecurity. Along with other social movements:

Indivisible Forest Grove is a grassroots organization dedicated to electing progressive leaders and rebuilding democracy, resisting the GOP agenda and fighting for progressive policies.

Unite Oregon has been leading the fight for social justice, empowering communities and advocating for an Oregon that is safe, prosperous, and healthy for all.

Forest grove, Oregon is home to various social movements that aim to address community issues to promote social justice. Some notable social movements in the area include:

Adelante Mujeres is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Latine women and their families through education, leadership training, and enterprise opportunities. They serve over 22,000 people each year and focus on changing the lives of Latine women and their families by providing strong, empowered leaders in their communities.

Forest Grove Forward aims to create a sustainable future for Forest Grove by focusing on environmental care, responsible financial choices, and community growth. The goal is to ensure a thriving, inclusive city for generations to come.