Editing Linfield University (section)

=== The 1800s ===
Linfield traces its history back to the earliest days of [[Oregon Territory]], when pioneer Baptists in [[Oregon City, Oregon|Oregon City]] created the Oregon Baptist Educational Society in 1848.<ref name=Oregon>Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. [[Binfords & Mort Publishing]]. p. 148.</ref> This society was organized to establish a Baptist school in the region, which began as [[Oregon City College]] in 1849.<ref name=Oregon/> In 1855, [[Sebastian C. Adams]] began to agitate for a school in McMinnville. Adams and his associates were members of the [[Christian churches and churches of Christ|Christian Church]], and so the school became a Christian school.<ref name=Church>{{cite web |url= http://ncbible.org/nwh/proadamswl.html |work= Pioneer History to About 1900, Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Pacific Northwest |title= William Lysander Adams/Sebastian C. Adams/Pioneer Oregon Gospel Preachers |publisher= Northwest College of the Bible |author= Dailey, Charles |date= November 2000 |access-date= April 10, 2025}}</ref> To begin, {{convert|6|acre}} of property were donated by W. T. Newby and a group was formed to establish the school. The group included William Dawson, James McBride,  Newby, and Adams, and they bore the major part of the expenses of starting the school. These men built a building and convinced Adams, who was a teacher, to operate the school.  After about a year and a half and because of the difficulty of running the school alone and funding problems, Adams suggested that the school be turned over to the Baptists who were attempting to start up the West Union Institute that had been chartered in 1858 by the Oregon Territorial Legislature. The Adams group imposed the condition that the Baptists keep at least one professor employed continuously in the college department.<ref>Bancroft, Hubert Howe, "The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft", Volume XXX: "History of Oregon", Volume II, The History Company, San Francisco, California. 1888. pgs. 684 & 686</ref> Other accounts indicate that the Baptist group purchased the land in 1857 in order to start their school.<ref name=Oregon/>
The [[Oregon Territorial Legislature]] chartered the '''Baptist College at McMinnville''' in 1858.  The school later became '''McMinnville College''' in 1898.<ref name=Heritage>{{cite web|url=http://www.linfield.edu/explore/ |title=Pioneer Heritage |access-date=October 31, 2008 |publisher=Linfield College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801091946/http://www.linfield.edu/explore/ |archive-date=August 1, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Frederic |title=Linfield University |url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/linfield_college/#.Y_t_WezMI-Q |website=oregonencyclopedia.org |publisher=Oregon Encyclopedia |access-date=26 February 2023}}</ref>