“Since 1958, Clatsop Community College has been adding its history to the unique, historical area which surrounds it. Located on a broad ledge on the north side of Coxcomb Hill, its 40-acre campus sits midway between the Astoria Column on the crest and midtown Astoria at its base. Its expansive view sweeps from Tongue Point on the east to the Columbia River bar on the west, which Captain Robert Gray discovered in May 1792. From the top of the hill to the south can be seen the wooded site of the rebuilt Fort Clatsop, winter headquarters of Lewis and Clark in 1805-06. The College, thus surrounded by history, has a significant history of its own.~Vera Whitney Gault
(Vera Whitney Gault, authored “Clatsop Community College A Brief History” published by Clatsop Community College in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary in May 1983.)

Fifty years ago the first President Richard Boss, of what was then called Clatsop County Community College, gave the first student body of the new college a message and a challenge. The first students were asked to initiate the customs, traditions, and student organizations for the new college.

That, “wonderful challenge and tremendous responsibility”, lives on today with the college’s present day students. Their lives are changed, and so are those who work with them. What is even more important to those who come to learn at what is now called Clatsop Community College is the same clear and ever present focus on student centered learning, which has remained the heart of the institution.
(Excerpt from upcoming publication on CCC's first 50 years)

Photo Courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society