Editor's note: Over a period of 12 years beginning in 1983, local historian Ken Munford wrote 561 columns for the Gazette-Times. As part of the city's 150th anniversary, the newspaper will publish a selection of these columns each Saturday. This one was originally printed on Aug. 21, 1989.

The original Adair Village, eight miles north of Corvallis, opened in 1946 to house married students and the new Oregon State College faculty.

It had a population more than twice the size of present Adair Village, which was incorporated as a city in 1976 -and had a much higher birth rate.

To provide living quarters for the families of the young men pouring into the campus under the GI Bill, the college bought the hospital built for Camp Adair in World War II. The hospital wards, with their covered connecting ramps, were remodeled into partially furnished apartments. The college hired a manager, manned the fire station, maintained the streets and collected $48 to $60 a month for rent from the residents.

Government of this new community of cooperating strangers was turned over to the student residents. With the assistance of Dean Daniel W. Poling, they organized a village council and elected a mayor and other officers. They passed and enforced ordinances controlling traffic, solicitations, firearms, dogs and sanitation. They encouraged recreation and homemaking and children's activities. Volunteers cleared an area for a city park named "Cordair."

A Mother's Club sponsored a library, a kindergarten and a thrift shop. For the Little Beaver Play-School, Corvallis clubs donated equipment. The village fire department made and repaired toys.

The market and theater buildings became social centers. Leo Bruyer, who ran the grocery store and meat market, says that the popular bulletin board was filled with all sorts of ads and notices. The post office and dry cleaning and laundry agency were nearby. The only telephone was in the manager's office. Callers had to pay 10 cents long-distance toll charge for calls to Corvallis.

Preschool children could attend the village kindergarten. Older ones were bused into Corvallis schools.

Former residents have fond memories. Evelyn and Bill Wheeler had moved out of student housing in trailers at the University of Minnesota and liked the space and convenience of Adair, where they could walk to the store.

Fred Winger and Bill Crooks built wooden sidewalks and planted gardens. Russell Maddox remembers the covered ramps where youngsters could run, play and roller skate. Marie Campbell taught in the kindergarten. Through a bridge club and dances, Ruth and Glen Page got acquainted with faculty couples with whom they worked in years to come.

Most of the faculty lived in D Row, but Clay and Harriet Shaw lived in Adair Heights, one of the three houses that had been built across Highway 99W for medical officers at the hospital. The Jesse Bones and Spencer Apples lived among students on A Row.

Ralph and Mary Salisbury and Paul and Peggy Goodmonson struggled to roast a turkey for Thanksgiving in a small oven. This memorable experience has brought them together for holiday dinners many a year since then.

Not many remnants of the era remain. The church building has become the Adair Village City Hall. The chimney of the heating plant still stands. The yellow one-story warehouses on the south side date back to the hospital days.

After providing housing for 1,430 student families, the project closed in 1951. In 1959 the area was swept clear to make way for the Adair Air Force Station, which occupied the site for 10 years. The buildings still in use and the present housing date from that period.