Page 24 - Corvallis, OR Historic Preservation Plan

Historic Preservation Plan

Railroad Era (1880-1899)

The Western Oregon Railway Company, a railroad line running south
from Portland west of the Willamette River, connected to Corvallis in
1879. The first passenger train arrived in Corvallis in 1880. In 1884,
a rail connection between Corvallis to Yaquina Bay in the west was
established. This rail connection provided a more convenient shipping
route between Oregon and San Francisco, potentially to rival Portland.
These efforts, buoyed by the completion of a transcontinental
railroad connection to Portland in 1883, brought great prosperity
and growth in Corvallis. This included the construction of the Benton
County Courthouse (1888), the State Agricultural College of Oregon
Administration Building (1888), the first city park, now known as
Franklin Park (1889), a horse-drawn street railway (1889, demolished),
and a new city hall and fire station (1892, demolished). This boom was
interrupted by the Panic of 1893, which caused the Oregon and Pacific
Railroad to go into receivership and the city’s population growth to
stall. Nonetheless, Corvallis’s role as a commercial and educational
center had been firmly established.

Great technological advances occurred during this time as well. This
included the extension of telephone service in 1880, the establishment
of the Corvallis Water Company in 1885, and an electric light plant in
1888. Corvallis also saw the introduction of the pneumatic tire and
bicycle. Bicycling proved very popular, with several bicycle shops
operating throughout the downtown. The Corvallis Cycling Club was
established in 1894.

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The Oregon and Pacific Railroad Depot, which was originally located on Washington Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets, is now at the
southwest corner of Seventh and Washington Streets.

I 18 City of Corvallis