Sunday, April 13, 2025 

Please join us for the 11th annual Corvallis Tweed Ride on Sunday, April 13, 2025. We shall congregate at the intersection of 2nd and Washington at 10am and commence upon a scenic tour of town featuring the history of notable women of Corvallis (see details below). Vintage attire is encouraged. We will pause for a picnic, so pack a luncheon basket. The route will be an easy 11 miles. To receive updates, please register as "interested" or "going" on our Facebook 2025 event page.

Electronic route map

Corvallis Women's History Bicycle Tour

This tour was developed in collaboration with Jema Patterson of Engage Corvallis.

Stop 1: Helen Berg Plaza (Helen Berg: 1932-2010) 

Helen Berg was the first female (and longest-serving) mayor of Corvallis (1994-2006). Prior to that she served on the Corvallis City Council and was a statistics professor at OSU (1963-1993). She published research, including studies about the relationship between gender and economics. Her third husband was Alan Berg, a forestry professor at Oregon State who served on the Corvallis City Council (1973-1978) and as mayor (1979-1986). The couple donated land to the Audubon Society for the Hesthavn Nature Center. Location: Riverfront Commemorative Park near 1st & Jackson Avenue. 

Stop 2: Whiteside Theatre (Lillian McElroy Taylor: 1884-1932)

Lillian Taylor was a famous vaudeville performer at the Whiteside from its opening in 1922 until 1931. She played the organ and was noted for her talent and beauty. Shortly after losing her job during the Great Depression, she discovered her husband was having an affair. She shot him dead before turning the gun on herself. Legend has it that she haunts the Whiteside. After the original theater organ was returned to the building, people began reporting they could hear mysterious footsteps and the opening and closing of doors. Location: 361 SW Madison Ave. 

Stop 3: Corvallis Arts Center (Marion Moseley Gathercoal: 1911-2010)

Marion Gathercoal became known as “The Queen of Corvallis” due to her many years of community service. She led the effort to establish the Arts Center in 1963, organized many community events, and read children’s stories on the KOAC radio station (as “Lady Marion”). The building was constructed in 1889 and previously housed an Episcopal Church. Location: 700 SW Madison Ave.

Stop 4: The Biddle-Porter House (Alice Biddle: 1854-1918)

Alice Biddle was the first female graduate of Corvallis College (which later became OSU). Alice’s parents operated a drug store and her father served as mayor of Corvallis. She married William Walter Moreland (Professor of Natural Sciences), who helped the college become a land-grant institution. The house was built in 1856. Location: 406 NW 6th Street.  

Stop 5: Corvallis Train Depot (Dr. Chung Kwai Lui: 1909-2008)

The Corvallis Train Depot was constructed in 1910. It was originally located along the Southern Pacific tracks at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue. In 1917, it was moved to Sixth Street and Monroe Avenue (near Central Park and the Library). In 1956, the city of Corvallis purchased the building for use by the police department. The city sold it in 1982, and it was moved to its current location, where it has been the site of several restaurants. Location: 603 NW 2nd Street.  

Chung Kwai Lui immigrated from China in 1936 to attend a graduate program in physics at OSU. She was met at the train depot by the Dean - not the Dean of Science, but the Dean of Home Economics! Lui was quoted that she never forgot the look of shock on the Dean’s face when she told him that she was there to study physics. By 1941, she had completed two degrees and was the first woman to receive a doctorate in any field from OSU. She taught at OSU for several years, and was later hired by the Westinghouse Research Laboratory, where she studied materials for use as filaments in incandescent lighting, among which was uranium. The Manhattan Project contracted with her laboratory as part of the development of the atomic bomb. She had entered the US on a student visa, which would normally have required her to return to China to apply for admission as a permanent resident. To prevent her knowledge of atomic research from falling into the hands of the Chinese government, Congress and President Truman passed a bill to grant her US citizenship. 

Stop 6: Hannah & Eliza Gorman House (Hannah: 1811-1888; Eliza: 1839-1869)  

Hannah Gorman and her daughter Eliza, came to the Oregon Territory in 1844 as slaves of Major John Thorp, a farmer born in Kentucky. After they were freed, they bought land and built this house in Corvallis in 1857. This is notable, because in the same year, the state of Oregon adopted its Constitution which prohibited Black people from owning property. This was not enforced against the Gormans. Location: 641 NW 4th Street.

Stop 7: Vina Moses Center (Vina Moses: 1884-1971)

Vina Moses was a community organizer who coordinated charitable programs and community services from the WWI era to the early 1970s. She organized recreational and service opportunities for at risk young boys (a precursor to the Boy Scouts). During WWI she organized clothing for servicemen. She was instrumental in getting the community to equip a recreation room for soldiers at Camp Adair. She ran a clothing donation center from her house for over 50 years.

Stop 8: Letitia Carson Elementary School (Letitia Carson: 1814-1888)

Letitia Carson, a formerly enslaved woman, came to Oregon in 1845 and was one of the first Black female settlers in Oregon. She and her White partner, David Carson, settled on land that is now part of the Soap Creek beef ranch. After the death of her partner, Carson was forced off her land because of Oregon’s exclusion laws and the Whites only provision of the 1850 Oregon Donation Land Claim Act. She filed two lawsuits in the mid-1850s against the administrator of her late partner’s estate. Despite the Oregon Territory’s exclusionary laws, Letitia Carson won both suits.

Stop 9: Kathryn Jones Harrison Elementary School (Kathryn Jones Harrison: 1924-2023) 

Kathryn Jones Harrison was a leader of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. She was born in Corvallis. Her parents died during a flu pandemic when she was 10, and she was raised in foster care. She became a nurse and worked at Lincoln City Hospital. She was elected to serve on the Siletz Tribal Council in the 1970s and has been credited for helping to pass the Reservation Restoration Act of 1988 which deemed the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon one tribal unit for purposes of Federal recognition and eligibility for Federal benefits, as well as for purposes of tribal self-government. In 2021, Jefferson Elementary School was renamed for her.

Stop 10: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (Edith Yang: 1918-2012)

As a Chinese-American, Edith Yang became the first woman of color to be licensed as an architect in Oregon (in 1954), and she designed many buildings in our area, including this Unitarian church. From 1979 to 1991 she was the Staff Architect for OSU and served on the boards of several organizations (Arts Council; Housing Authority).

Stop 11: Edith & Hoya Yang house

This mid-century modern home was designed by Edith Yang and built in 1951. She and her husband Hoya lived here for many years. Hoya Yang was a professor of food science at OSU, and he played a significant role in the development of the wine industry in Oregon and helped to perfect the Maraschino cherry. Hoya planted a madrone on this property in 1950 that is now the largest one in Corvallis.

Stop 12: Cordley Hall (Dr. Helen Margaret Gilkey: 1886-1972)

Helen Gilkey established a career as one of North America's most distinguished botanists, was an American authority on truffles, and was a talented botanical illustrator and watercolor artist. She earned a BS and MS from the Oregon Agricultural Collect (OAC/OSU) before earning a PhD in botany from the University of California in 1915. She was a professor of botany at OAC from 1918 to 1951, and served as the Curator of the OAC Herbarium early in her career. During her academic career, Gilkey wrote or co-authored several books and more than forty scientific articles. Cordley Hall houses the OSU Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and Herbarium.

Stop 13: Bates Hall (Mercedes Bates: 1915-1997)

Mercedes Bates was an American magazine editor and businesswoman who was most famous for her role as Director of the Betty Crocker division of General Mills (1964-1983). She graduated from OSU in 1936 with a degree in Health and Human Sciences. She modernized the image of Betty Crocker during a time of significant cultural change. Her donations to OSU funded the establishment of the OSU Child Development Center in 1992 in Bates Hall.

Stop 14: Milam Hall (Ava Milam Clark (1884–1976) 

Ava Milam Clark was the Dean of the School of Home Economics for over 30 years (1917-1950), and through her frequent visits abroad, was instrumental to the development of home economics in multiple countries. She was an advocate for the inclusion of scientific principles into home economics education, especially through research on food and housing. She served in high-profile leadership roles in multiple organizations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. OSU named the Home Economics Building Milam Hall in her honor.

Stop 15: Kidder Hall (Ida Kidder: 1857-1920)

Ida Kidder was the first professional librarian for the Oregon Agricultural College (from 1908-1920). Kidder significantly grew the library’s collection and staff and successfully lobbied for a new library building (constructed in 1918). She lived on campus in Waldo Hall and connected with students on a personal level, leading her students to nickname her "Mother Kidder" as early as 1912. Beginning in her mid-50s, Kidder suffered from arthritis and a cardiac ailment which made it difficult for her to walk. In 1917, she began to use an electric cart to get around. The student newspaper held a contest to name it. Kidder chose the "Wicker Mobile” as the winning name. In 1962, the old library building built in 1918, was renamed Kidder Hall in her honor. Her ghost is said to haunt the fourth floor of Waldo Hall.

Stop 16: Snell Hall (Margaret Comstock Snell, MD: 1843–1923)  

Dr. Margaret Comstock Snell was appointed the first professor of Household Economy and Hygiene at Corvallis College in 1889 and served until 1907. She trained as a medical doctor at Boston University, graduating in 1886. At OAC she incorporated aspects of her medical training into the curriculum, teaching "people how to stay well, rather than treat them once they are sick." In 1957, OSU named Snell Hall in her honor.

Stop 17: Waldo Hall (Ida Kidder)  

Stop 18: Alice Biddle Statue (“The Quest”)

This statue, known as “The Quest,” was made by Kirk St. Maur in 1983. The inscription states: “The Quest symbolizes Alice E. Biddle, who in 1870 became the first woman to graduate from what is now Oregon State University. It reflects the energy, dedication and strength of all students in the pursuit of learning.”

Stop 19: Site of Corvallis Brewery (Victoria Entz Bauerlin Gerber: 1848-1923)

Victoria and John Bauerlin opened the first brewery in Corvallis (Corvallis Brewery) in 1864. When John died 2 years later, Victoria kept the business going despite being only 19 and having a 2 year old toddler.