Columbia Prep: 1901-1955

Columbia Preparatory school and Columbia University were the same school, with the same faculty, campus, and buildings.  Founded in 1901 and ‘residing’ in West (Waldschmidt) Hall the high school unit existed as the backbone of this University, with strong academic programs and a reputation for athletic competition.  With the first collegiate class graduating from the school in 1929 (SIX graduates!), the two schools separated in 1935, taking the names, The University of Portland and Columbia Preparatory School (Columbia Prep).  In 1948, due record setting undergraduate enrollments for the University following World War II, Columbia Prep was moved from the University of Portland campus and relocated to the fifty acre Wilcox Estate in Southwest Portland.  The Prep school did not thrive after this transplant, and as enrollment declined, the decision was made to close Columbia Prep for good in June 1955.  As announced in the Oregon Journal newspaper on June 3, 1955, “Doors Close for Good — Columbia ‘Prep’ Ends 54-Year Life”.  In its day Columbia Prep was one of the premier private secondary schools for young men in the West; fulfilling in part the dream and intention of Archbishop Alexander Christie, our founder and first patron.  The University of Portland proudly hosts the annual Columbia Prep reunion on campus in honor of this legacy.