Merritt Davis Business College

A.K.A. Merritt Davis School of Commerce[1], Merritt Davis School of Business, Trend Colleges, Inc.

Timeline
1941 School Established[2] opens at 420 State Street.[3]

1981 Bought out by Trend Colleges, Inc.[4]

1987 Changes name to Trend College, has average of 330 students.[5]

1994 Trend Colleges, Inc. closes all campuses including Salem’s[6]

Merritt Davis (1876– 1972[7])

Merritt Davis from Capital Business College Photo, 1904. Detail WHC Collections 0084.016.0008.

Meritt Davis’ career as a teacher of business skills in Salem was long and storied.

Born in Eugene area in 1876[8] to a father that had come over the Oregon Trail in 1846.[9] He attended the University of Oregon where he was a track star. [10]  He began his teaching career in Eugene in 1899.[11]

He arrived in Salem in 1901 to teach the Commercial Business College.[12]  He then served for 30 years as the head of Salem High School’s “commercial department.”[13]

School Subjects

At the beginning the school taught skills that were necessary for working in business.  There was typing, Gregg shorthand, bookkeeping and accounting.[14]  Additionally, the school utilized its connections to help students find jobs through their “placement bureau.”[15]  Advertisements for the new school played up the new and modern accommodations with “fluorescent lighting and individual desks” and the experience of the teaching staff that included Beulah S. Fisher (in charge of stenography, officing training and typing), C.H. Castle (accounting department) and Davis himself as the head of the school.[16]

[1] See Advertisement Capital Journal  25 Aug 1941 pg 5

[2] “Merritt Davis College Changes its name.” Statesman Journal. 04 Mar 1987 pg 39;   “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5

[3] See Advertisement Capital Journal  25 Aug 1941 pg 5

[4] “Merritt Davis College Changes its name.” Statesman Journal. 04 Mar 1987 pg 39

[5] “Merritt Davis College Changes its name.” Statesman Journal. 04 Mar 1987 pg 39

[6] “Slamming Doors on Opportunity.” Statesman Journal. 30 Oct 1994 pp 1E – 2E.  States that school closed August 26, 1994.  And Advertisement “Total Liquidation” Statesman Journal  17 Sept 1994 pg 27 which describes the “total liquidation for the Trend Colleges, Inc. Salem Campus at 210 Liberty St SE” supports this statement.

[7] Obituary.  “Pioneer Education Dies at 96.” Capital Journal. 28 June 1972 pg 1

[8] Obituary.  “Pioneer Education Dies at 96.” Capital Journal. 28 June 1972 pg 1.  Birth date given as 7 May 1876 from Find-a-grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169905388

[9] See Information on Lycurgus Davis.  Obituary appears in the Oregonian.  29 Dec 1918.  See reference transcription here: https://sites.google.com/site/oregonpioneerobituaries/lane-county/lycurgus-davis

[10] “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5

[11] “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5

[12] See WHC Collections image of staff at Commercial Business College, 1904.  WHC 1984.016.0008 and others.  Also Obituary.  “Pioneer Education Dies at 96.” Capital Journal. 28 June 1972 pg 1.

[13] “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5.  “Merritt Davis, retired this spring from the position he held for 30 years as head of Salem high school’s commercial department,…As head of the commercial department he saw its enrollment grow from 35 pupils with one teacher to more than 800 with nine teachers and high rating throughout the northwest.”

[14] “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5

[15] “Davis Plans New School.” Oregon Statesman. 10 Aug 1941 pg 5

[16] See Advertisement Capital Journal  25 Aug 1941 pg 5