Author: WUpedia Contributor
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The Willamette University Choirs
Written by Sarah Samala, Class of 2028 Every December, Willamette University’s choirs come together in a decorated Hudson Hall to perform the annual wintertime concert, “Holidays in Hudson”: a night of carols, music and holiday joy for the Salem community. While the origins of this concert only span back to 1985, the Willamette choirs themselves Read more
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The Bistro
Written by Sarah Samala, Class of 2028 Wide windows littered with posters of campus events, a hand-drawn chalkboard menu, and a variety of donated couches and painted chairs; students, faculty and the Salem community are all-too familiar with Willamette University’s resident coffee shop, the Bistro. Located across from the Willamette University Bookstore in the Putnam Read more
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Homecoming Contests
Written by Savanah Anderson, Class of 2028 To most, Homecoming is a celebration for alumni consisting of a football game, a dance, and maybe the wearing of mums, as is the case for many universities and high schools. The Willamette students of decades past, however, had a different idea. A lot of different ideas. While Read more
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Kimball School of Theology
Written by Lilly Thies, Class of 2026 Many students are aware that Methodist missionaries founded the Salem landmarks of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1841, and Willamette University in 1842. But fewer know that where the modern building Ford Hall stands now, for thirty-five years, there was once the Kimball School of Theology, a pioneering Read more
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Wulapalooza
Written by Lilly Thies, Class of 2026 Wulapalooza, Willamette’s Earth, Art, and Music festival, was a hallmark of student life from its conception in 1998 to its last show twenty years later in 2018. In the first week of May, students, momentarily freed from studying for exams, would stream out onto Brown Field to bask Read more
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Leonard Jackson Powell
Written by Monte Remer, Class of 2026 At the age of fifteen, Leonard Jackson Powell left to work in the California gold mines. He parted with his family’s newly-tilled homestead outside of Portland, Oregon and his grieving father. The family had already traveled half a year from Missouri, trudging across “the then trackless desert”1 and Read more
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Charles E. Lambert
Written by Monte Remer, Class of 2026 At the end of the 1879 school year, Willamette’s President Thomas Gatch resigned along with his entire faculty.1 The school’s debt was ever-increasing, its expenses were constantly insurmountable, and the Board of Trustees refused to alter its operations to meet its budget. The Board decided that if Gatch Read more
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George Whitaker
Written by Monte Remer, Class of 2026 As newly-appointed president, George Whitaker arrived at Willamette demanding complete and rigid control over the university. He didn’t stay for long. Whitaker’s two-year presidency was defined by the school’s financial disarray, bitter interpersonal conflict, and the 1891 fire which consumed part of what is now Waller Hall. At Read more
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Martha Springer Garden
Written by Lilly Thies, Class of 2026 Tucked behind Sparks Athletic Center, The Martha Springer Botanical Garden is an idyllic yet easily overlooked corner of campus. Newly revitalized in Summer 2025, it is home to many species of interesting and beautiful plants, many of which are native to Oregon. The garden is a lush and Read more
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Phi Delta Theta
Written by Lilly Thies, Class of 2026 The role of sororities and fraternities in the context of a liberal arts education has been frequently debated in recent years, especially when it comes to small private schools like Willamette. The history of Greek life at Willamette is one that spans more than 100 years, and has Read more