University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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work. Afterwards Re -. M. M. Bo ard, pastor of the Fort Street Church and Mr. G. D. Compton were consulted. Lots had been offered tor a campus in East Los Angeles; bids were made also from Temple street, Boyle Heights, and West Los Angeles. At a meeting of the trustees appointed by the Church the offer from West Los Angeles, which was secured by Rev. A. M. Hough, was chosen, and it was decided to name the institution the University of Southern California, and to use every effort to make it such. The present deed of trust was, on July 29, 1879, executed by ex-Governor J. G. Downey, O. W. Childs, and Tsaias W. Hell- man to A. M. Hough, J. P. Widney, E. P. Spence, M. M. Bos ' ard, G. D. Comp- ton, and R. M. Widney. In June, 1880, it was decided to sell thirty lots at $200 each, and erect and furnish a frame building in which to begin the school. The corner stone was laid September 4th of the same year, Bishops Simpson and Wiley officiating. According to contract the building was finished the 6th of the follow- ing month. Ill August of the same year M. M. Bo ' ard, pastor of the Fort Street Church, and his brother, P. D. B i ard, took a contract to open the educational work in this building. The directors were to furnish this building and the Bovard brothers were to receive all income from tuition and endowment fund as compensation for then ser -ices. Rev. M. M. Bovard was elected President and ser -ed in that capacity until his death, near the close of i8gi. On July 10th, 1880, Mr. and Mrs. William Hodge, through President Bovard, donated Hodge Hall to the University. This was to be used as a boarding hall for young ladies, but was occupied by both ladies and gentlemen for awhile. It stood a short distance West of the campus then, but later was moved to its present location. It is now occupied by the College of Music and Y. . C. A. headquarters. in November, 1882, Chaffey Brothers tendered a deed of triist for the Chaf- fey College of Agriculture, to be located in Ontario. This land was wilued at $100,000. In June, 18S5, Mrs. Sarah E. Tanse ' donated lands alued at $20,000, to en- dow a chair of Moral Christian Ethics. The College of Medicine was organized and put in operation by Dr. J. P. Widney in 1885. The College was formerly on Aliso street, but now has a neat and appropriate building on Buena Vista street. Dr. H. G. Brainerd is now Dean over an able corps of instructors. The same year Hon. Chas. McClay gave a campus and land alued at $150,- 000 for the McClay College of Theology at Fernando. The building was dedi- cated by Bishop Bowman in 1888, upon its completion. In ' 93 the school was moved to Los Angeles and occupies the old frame University building. Dr. Geo. Cochran is Dean, and the work done is very progressive. One of those schools which died in its infancy was the Tulare Academy, for which a deed of property valued at $70,000 was secured. Other boom projects 18

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3(istorV of Qi. §. ©. IS the purpose- ot the writer to give in brief outline a history of the University of Southern California, comprising those schools which are, which were. Hid which were to have been. The early story of iJb ;! ' our University is as full of mar -els as a fairy tale. Projects arose like a mirage, to fade away as mys- teriously as they arose. Donations of real estate which promised vast sums failed to yield anything. Like everything else our University suffered from the boom. Nevertheless our school survived and has gained much since, so we may truly boast of being in a better condition than ever before. The writer has endeavored to give dates approximately true, but may have failed in some respects, owing to the difficulty of gathering scattered data, for very little of our history has ever been written. Twenty-five years ago it became apparent to the Church that Los Angeles was to become one of the great centers of the Pacific Coast. Before our great trans-continental railroads had reached our Land of Sunshine, messengers of civ- ilization put it into the heart of the Methodist Episcopal Church to make plans tor providing a school for Christian education. Accordingly, in May, 1875, Presiding Elder John R. Tansey called a convention to discuss the feasibility of establishing, in the words of the report, a school of high grade. A committee was appointed to look out for favorable conditi ons. The old brick church on Fort street, (now the First Church on Broadway) was secured, and O. S. Frambes opened the Los Angeles Academy, which continued until 1880. The Church elected such officers as were necessary to look after the school. Projects, which had begun as early as 1868, were on foot to organize a college in Los Angeles. Hon. Don Abel Stearns and Hon. R. M. Widney were planning to put Laguna Rancho (11,000 acres adjoining Los Angeles City) into a building and endowment fund for a University, but Mr. Stearns died suddenly before the plan was completed. One evening in May, 1879, Hon. R. M. Widney invited Re ' . A. M. Hough, Hon. E. F. Spence, and Dr. J. P. Widney to discuss plans for the Unixersity 17

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were located at Moiitaho, near Ventura, at Rialto, College of Fine Arts at San Diego, and at Escondido— but more was said concerning their advent than has been said concerning their departure. Another school which promised much and utterly tailed was the College of Applied Sciences at Inglewood. Out of this extensive system of schools, the College of Medicine, McClay College of Theology, Chaffey Preparatory Institute, and the College of Liberal Arts with its departments of Academy, School of Music, College of Oratory, and School of Art remain, and if the signs of the times are to be read as omens, they are here to stay. In 18S4 our brick- building was erected at a cost of 37,000. This was form- ally opened in January, ' 87, Bishop Fowler being present. The building is four stories high and is about one hundred feet square. Thus reads the history of the great University system, of which our College of Liberal Arts forms a part. Dr. M. M. Bovard continued as President until December 30, ' 91, when he was called to the great school beyond, having spared no pains to further the inter- ests of the school. Dr. J. P. Widney was then elected to the presidency, in which capacity he served until June, ' 95, when he resigned. In September, ' 95, Geo. W. White, A. M., U. D., was chosen for President by the Conference, and fills the chair today. Dr. White is well known throughout this part of the state. His work lies largely in the field, looking after the financial interests of the Uni- versity. Besides this he holds the chair of Christian Ethics in the School of Theology. In September, ' 87, Dr. W. S. Matthew was made the tirst Dean of the Col- lege of Liberal Arts. He was followed by Hev. Cherrington, but again took the deanship, where he served until the Summer of ' 94, when he resigned. Upon his resignation, M. E. Phillips, Ph. M., D. D., a man of broad culture and noble purpose, was elected to the office of Dean and still continues this work, loved and respected by the student body and by the community at large. The Faculty, which numbered two in the tirst session, was increased to twelve when our school took the present brick building for its domicile. hi this list we notice the familiar names of Prof. Tamar Gray and Prof. John Dickinson. Miss Gray is the onlv one of the number who appears on our Faculty of today. At present we have in the College of Liberal Arts and its departments seventeen in- structors, men and women of the highest scholarly attainments, who spare no pains to equip those under their charge with the best possible preparation for use- ful men and women. Among the institutions of our College we notice the museum and library were formed at the very beginning, but neither one on a very large scale. When Pro- fessor Dickinson was chosen first Curator in ' 87, he asked that they spell it creator instead, and truly he did much for the musem, placing in it a fine col- lection which he had gathered on the Eastern half of this continent. In fact, most of the material, excepting a few ethnological specimens and some mineral 19