Almanac: August
August 1
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On this day in 1996 two University of Portland athletes led the United States Olympic women's soccer team to a 2 to 1 victory over China to win the gold medal. A goal by Shannon MacMillan in the 19th minute and another by Tiffeny Milbrett in the 62nd were the only goals scored by the US team in a game played before 78,418 fans, the largest crowd in history to watch a women's team athletic event.
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Brother Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C., was named the first chief academic officer of the University to hold the title Provost on this date in 2002.
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This is the feast of St. Alphonsus de Liguori, founder of the Redemptorists, and Doctor of the Church. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest influences on modern moral theology.
August 2
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On this date in 1923, the President of the United States, Warren G. Harding, died suddenly in San Francisco. He was returning from a trip to Alaska, the first visit by any sitting President, and had stopped in San Francisco before continuing his journey back to Washington. His death provoked wide sympathetic response throughout the country and his burial in his home town, Marion, Ohio, a few days later was one of the most significant public events of the decade. His reputation suffered later with the discovery that two of his cabinet members had manipulated public policy for personal gain. The dedication of his memorial tomb, a large circular collonade comparable to those found in the country's capital, had to wait until 1933 when, President Herbert Hoover, defeated for re-election, could be persuaded to preside at the event.
August 3
- The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
August 4
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James Ussher (1581-1656), the Anglican archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, computed this as the date of the creation of the universe in 4004 B.C. by integrating data furnished in the scriptures with material then known from Greek and Roman chronology. The date was widely accepted until the nineteenth century.
August 5
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August 6
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This is the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
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In 1960 Thearn Gavin was awarded the first master of business administration degree in the University's history.
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It was on this date in 1945 that the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a populated area was released over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb destroyed 90% of the city and is estimated to have killed 130,000 persons.
- Alfred Tennyson was born on this date in 1809 at Somersby in Lincolnshire, England. By the time of his death on October 6, 1892, he had become Poet Laureate of England, one of the great literary celebrities of his era, and had been raised to the peerage as Lord Tennyson. His publication in 1850 of In Memoriam, a group of poems he had written in memory of his friend, Arthur Hallam, who had died seventeen years earlier, met with great success and wide popularity. Among its admirers was Queen Victoria. Tennyson purchased a home at Farringford on the Isle of Wight, not far from the favorite retreat of the queen, with whom he formed a close friendship.
August 7
- The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
August 8
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This is the feast of St. Dominic (1170-1221), founder of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans, one of the medieval orders of friars that contributed greatly to the establishment and growth of European universities.
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At around 5:45 p.m. on this day in 2001 a fire broke out along the bluff that borders the University and the east side of the Willamette River. Within a half hour the fire threatened homes along Willamette Boulevard. Although the blaze was never an immediate threat to campus buildings, some students, staff, and members of the Holy Cross religious community were soon involved in giving help to threatened householders and firefighters. Before it was brought under control, the fire reached five-alarm status, engaging all on-duty members of the Portland fire bureau. No homes were lost or serious injuries suffered, but firefighters remained on the scene throughout the night and into the daylight hours of August 9.
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William Bateson, the English biologist who founded and named the science of genetics, was born on this date in 1861.
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On this date in 1937 Bonneville Dam began producing power.
August 9
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The Church observes on this date a memorial for St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a Carmelite of Jewish ancestry who was put to death at Auschwitz under the Nazis. As Edith Stein she had achieved recognition as a graduate student in philosophy when she served as assistant to phenomenologist Emund Husserl. While visiting Catholic friends, she came upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila and became convinced of the truth of the faith. She became a Catholic and entered the Carmelite order. In 1939 she had been transferred to a convent in the Netherlands to avoid the Nazi persecution of the Jews. After the German occupation of the Netherlands she was made to wear the star of David over her habit to identify her Jewish ancestry. In 1942 she was arrested, transported to Auschwitz, where she died on August 9.
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On this date in 1974 Richard M. Nixon resigned as president of the United States.
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It was on this date in 1952 that the University awarded its first master's degree in library science.
August 10
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August 11
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On this date in the year 2000 George W. Bush visited the campus as Republican candidate for president and spoke in the Chiles Center to a rally sponsored by the Republican party.
August 12
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Robert Fulford, associate professor of communications studies, who had served on the faculty for thirty years, died on this date in 2000.
August 13
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August 14
- On this date in 1945 representatives of the emperor of Japan surrendered to the allied forces, an event which effectively ended World War II.
August 15
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This is the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
August 16
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Bro. David Martin, C.S.C., died on this date in 1986 at Notre Dame at the age of 85. He had come to the University in 1928 and was assigned to work in the library, then housed in the basement of Christie Hall. In subsequent years he completed a bachelor's degree at the University and another bachelor's degree, in library science, at the University of Washington. He later earned a master's degree in library science at the University of Chicago while on leave from the University of Portland. As University librarian he directed the planning for the Wilson W. Clark Library, which was dedicated in 1958. The original design of the library reflected his ideals and interests, including large aquaria that he tended daily for many years. He inaugurated a master's program in library science at the University of Portland in affiliation with Rosary College in Illinois. He laid the foundations for the archives of the University and became its first archivist in 1966, when he retired as director of the library. He continued to work and live at the University for many years and moved to Holy Cross House at Notre Dame in 1983.
August 17
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Father Francis P. Goodall, C.S.C., who served at the University briefly in the mid-forties and again from 1952 to 1965 as a faculty member in mathematics, died on this date in 1974 at age 77.
August 18
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At Ancona, Italy, this was the birthday in 1899 of Pietro Belluschi, the architect and designer of the Chapel of Christ the Teacher on the University's campus. After study at the University of Rome and at Cornell, he practiced architecture in the Pacific Northwest. He became dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT in 1951. Among his works are the Portland Art Museum (1931), the Bank of America World Headquarters, San Francisco (1969), and the Juilliard School, Lincoln Center, New York City (1969). In 1972 he received the gold medal of the American Institute of Architects. Belluschi was also the designer of a number of other churches including St. Philip Neri at 18th and Division in Southeast Portland and the new St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. He died in Portland on February 14, 1994.
August 19
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Father Patrick J. Dalton, C.S.C., who served at Portland in 1905-1906, died on this date in 1939, at age 63.
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And Father Joseph J. Gallagher, C.S.C., third president of the University, from 1906 to 1914, died on this date in 1946, at age 77.
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Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, and essayist, died on this day in 1662. He is probably as well known for his claim that God is known through the heart rather than through reason as for his foundational contribution to the modern theory of probability.
August 20
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This is the feast of St. Bernard, twelfth-century mystic, monastic reformer, and Doctor of the Church.
August 21
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On this date in 2003 President George W. Bush held a luncheon fund-raiser in the Chiles Center on campus nearly closing the University for several hours and bringing to the University neighborhood more than 300 policemen with their vehicles, horses, dogs, and equipment, as well as hundreds of persons protesting the policies of the Bush administration, all in addition to the five hundred Republicans who paid from $2,000 to $10,000 (depending on their proximity to the president) to dine on cold salmon and salad provided by Bon Appetit, the University's catering service.
August 22
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The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
August 23
- The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
August 24
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In 1891 this date marked the cornerstone dedication of West Hall, the future home of the Methodist-sponsored Portland University. The building was designed by the architectural firm of McCaw, Martin & White and seems to have been modeled on Sever Hall, built a dozen years earlier at Harvard University and designed by the noted American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-86). The original cost of the building was $35,000 (cf. James Covert, A Point of Pride, p. 14).
August 25
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This is the feast of St. Joseph Calasanz, who lived from 1556 to 1648, and who founded a religious community dedicated to the education of the children of the poor.
August 26
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In 1995 this date marked the dedication of the Orrico Health Center, named in honor of the late regent of the University, Frank Orrico. The Orrico family, whose gift made construction of the center possible, attended the dedication led by Frank's widow and his son, Brent A. Orrico, also a regent of the University.
August 27
- The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
August 28
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This is the feast of St. Augustine (354-440), one of the four great Fathers of the western Church and a doctor of the universal Church. A teacher of rhetoric, he was converted to Christianity by St. Ambrose. He later became bishop of Hippo in his native region along the northern coast of Africa. His writings and intellectual vision had immeasurable influence in subsequent centuries. More than a thousand years after his death, opposing religious camps of the sixteenth century claimed his authority in defense of their doctrines.
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In 1986 the rebuilt Pilot House was opened on this date.
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This was the birthday in 1749 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the poet, novelist, dramatist, and natural philosopher, who was the greatest figure of the German Romantic movement and of German literature in general.
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On Barclay Street in New York, it was the birthday in 1774 of Elizabeth Ann Bayley, who was to marry William Seton and, as Mother Seton, would found the Sisters of Charity at Emmitsburg, Maryland, for the education of Catholic children in the United States. In 1975 she became the first native citizen of the United States to be canonized a saint.
August 29
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Father Michael Quinlan, second president of the University, died on this date in 1944 at age 70. He served in that office from 1902 to 1906. He headed the first group of Holy Cross religious to come to the University and succeeded Father Edward P. Murphy, who had been appointed president by Archbishop Christie. Father Quinlan left the Holy Cross community in 1934 to become incardinated into the diocese of Seattle.
August 30
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In 1964 this date saw the departure of the first group of students for the University's program in Salzburg. Under the guidance of the program's first resident director, Father Ambrose Wheeler, C.S.C., the group would travel to Scotland to begin a tour that would take them through England and the continent before arriving in Salzburg.
August 31
- The University of Portland Almanac presently offers no specific entry for this date. If you wish to suggest material that would appropriately be listed under this date, please contact the editor.
