Gatke Hall - Willamette University - Salem, Oregon - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

The Place:
Built in 1903, this former Salem Post Office building was originally located on the northeast corner of Church and State streets. In 1937, if was replaced on the same block by a new post office building. This building was moved to it's current location on the Willamette University campus at 12th and State. The moving process took about six months to cover just over 2,000 feet (.38 miles). For several years, this move is said to have occupied a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Heaviest Building Ever Moved."

The building housed Willamette University's College of Law until 1967. Today it is known as Gatke Hall and provides administrative office space for the University.

The Person:
Robert Moulton Gatke was the school’s first Political Science professor, teaching at the institution for 53 years. Gatke's primary scholarly interest was the history of the Northwest; in 1943 he published Chronicles of Willamette: The Pioneer University of the West, a 700-page work on the history of the university and the Mid-Willamette Valley. The Willamette Board of Trustees voted to rename this building for him in 1968.

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