W.A. Jensen Memorial Gate - Oregon State University National Historic District- Corvallis, OR
N 44° 33.936 W 123° 16.205
10T E 478553 N 4934731
Jensen Memorial Gate is located in the Lower Campus area of the university. OSU has the distinction of being one of only two colleges in the United States to be registered as a National Historic District.
Waymark Code: WMQ0GA
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 11/22/2015
Views: 2
Located in the eastern portion of the Oregon State University campus known as the 'Lower Campus' is a gate entrance comprised of two stand-alone parts made of brick, stone and iron that provide a gateway into SW Campus Way. There are two small, bronze plaques monumented on both sections and they read:
IN MEMORY OF
W.A. JENSEN
1907 - 1942
This memorial gate is listed as a contributing structure (Site #IOTB-34) as part of the Oregon State University National Historic District. The erection date of this gate is listed as 1941.
I did a little research online for information on William Arthur Jensen and was able to determine that he was the Executive Secretary for Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) during the years 1907 until 1942 and acted as University President during 1924 while W.A. Kerr (official President) recuperated from an auto accident. The house Jensen and his wife Lillian Francis Jensen lived in is part of the College Hill-West Historic District which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There was also a bronze sculpture dedicated to the memory of Lillian Francis Jensen in the Memorial Union Building on campus after her passing. The statuette is of a figurine titled "The Young Mother" by Bessie Potter Vonnoh. I do not know if this statue is still located in the building. I could not locate any other information other than from a census which listed his age at 46 in 1930.