The first joke I heard moving to Oregon 30 years ago was about people moving west and how they decided on Oregon over California.
The shortened version of the joke is about coming to a fork in the road with one fork holding gold-bearing quartz marking the trail to California and the other with a sign that said "To Oregon."
The List: See the oldest universities in Oregon
Those that could read took the trail to Oregon.
As a Californian, I chuckled politely. Now that I’m an Oregonian, I think it may be true: Four of Oregon’s oldest colleges were founded before Oregon became a state in 1859.
I learned this after compiling research for this week’s Top Colleges & Universities list. While the list in our print edition is based on enrollment, I created a supplemental list ranking several Oregon universities based on the date each was founded.
To find out which school is oldest, click on the image to the right.