Newby-Cook House

1420 NE 5th Street  |  Built 1879

In 1843, William T. Newby and his wife Sarah emigrated to Oregon from McMinnville, Tennessee. They
built a simple cabin and secured 640 acres through the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. The large
rectangular land claim – roughly one mile by one mile – encompassed much of the historic downtown
and central residential areas of modern McMinnville. In 1856, Newby platted five acres of his land claim
and registered it with Yamhill County as McMinnville, Oregon.

Fellow Tennessee pioneer John F. Cook came to Oregon in 1852 and settled as a farmer in Yamhill
County. In 1856 he married Esther Prosser and the couple started a family before acquiring a portion of
Newby’s land at the far eastern edge of early McMinnville in 1877. Cook immediately donated a portion
of his new property for McMinnville’s first public school. Named Cook School, the original four-room,
two story structure, gave way to a larger wood schoolhouse in 1890, and transitioned to a brick building
in 1929. Appropriately, it became the McMinnville School District’s offices in 2017.

In 1879, Cook constructed this Classical Revival home for his wife and their seven children. Built during
the same year the railroad arrived in McMinnville, the house reflects the lifestyle of a successful pioneer
farmer. With its high ceilings, wood floors and large windows for natural light, it was a comfortable and
practical family residence with a large front porch. A prominent staircase led to the second floor and a
balcony that overlooked the surrounding farmland.

The home and surrounding property remained in the Cook family for nearly 100 years, while the farm’s
acreage gradually became a surrounding neighborhood as McMinnville expanded eastward. The
Newby-Cook House represents the tangible link between two Tennessee pioneers and the settlement
that grew into the thriving McMinnville community of today.

For images of the the property, and further details, check out the link below:

Historic Resources Inventory Documentation