First home of Pomona College | |
---|---|
Location | Corner Mission Blvd and South White Street, Pomona, California |
Coordinates | 34°03′17″N117°45′33″W / 34.05483333°N 117.759041666°W |
Built | 1887 |
Designated | June 27, 1938 |
Reference no. | 289 |
Ayer Cottage was the place of first meeting of Pomona College on September 12, 1888, in Pomona, California in Los Angeles County. [1] It was designated a California Historic Landmark (No. 289) on June 27, 1938. It was built in 1887, and in 1888 rented to the college so that classes could be held there. The cottage had five rooms, each used as classrooms. [2] The cottage has since been demolished and is now a burger stand at about 500 S White St., although a commemorative marker on the site is present. [1] [3] [4]
Pomona College was incorporated on October 14, 1887, by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. Tuition was initially set at $60 per year for the Collegiate Department. [2] After holding classes at Ayer College for two years, it planned to relocate to Piedmont Mesa north of Pomona, but was instead offered the site of an unfinished hotel in Claremont, California, a few miles away. The trustees chose to accept the offer, and the college relocated there in 1889 but kept its name. The hotel building would eventually become Sumner Hall, the current location of the college's admissions office. The college's first graduating class, in 1894, had ten members. [5]
Pomona College founders’ values led to the college's belief in educational equity. Like other Congregationalist-founded colleges such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Bowdoin, Pomona received its own governing board, ensuring its independence. [5] The board of trustees was originally composed of graduates of Williams, Dartmouth, Bates and Yale, among others.
Pomona College went on to become the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium in the 1920s. Today, it is fully nonsectarian, and is widely considered the premier liberal arts college on the West Coast. [6]
The marker on the site reads: [1]
California Historical Landmarks reports: [1]
Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolled 902 undergraduate students as of 2021 and awards the Bachelor of Science degree. Admission to Harvey Mudd is highly competitive, and the college maintains a competitive academic culture.
Occidental College is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast of the United States.
Claremont is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, 30 miles (48 km) east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 34,926, and in 2019 the estimated population was 36,266.
The Claremont Colleges are a consortium of seven private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges —Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College—and two graduate schools—Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and Keck Graduate Institute (KGI). All the members except KGI have adjoining campuses, together covering roughly 1 sq mi (2.6 km2).
Pomona College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium of adjacent, affiliated institutions.
Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps provided its initial endowment.
Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is known for its social justice culture and experimental pedagogical approach.
The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of downtown Los Angeles.
Burt William Johnson was an American sculptor.
Sumner Spaulding (1892–1952) was an American architect and city planner. He is best known for designing the Harold Lloyd Estate, a.k.a. Greenacres, in Beverly Hills, California, the Catalina Casino in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, California, and the Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates, California.
Elijah Wilson Lyon was an American diplomatic historian who was the sixth president of Pomona College from 1941 to 1969. Born in Mississippi, he studied at the University of Mississippi and Colgate University, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. During his tenure at Pomona, he guided the college through a transformational and turbulent period, and he is credited with helping shape it into a leading liberal arts institution. After his retirement, he wrote a history of the college, published in 1977.
The Mabel Shaw Bridges Music Auditorium, more commonly known as Bridges Auditorium or Big Bridges, is a 2500-seat auditorium at Pomona College in Claremont, California, United States. It was designed by William Templeton Johnson and opened in 1932. It hosts a variety of performances for the college and outside groups.
The Pomona–Pitzer Sagehens are the joint varsity intercollegiate athletic programs for Pomona College and Pitzer College, two of the Claremont Colleges. It competes with 11 women's and 10 men's teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) of the NCAA Division III.
Numerous traditions have been established at Pomona College, a highly selective liberal arts college in Claremont, California, since its founding in 1887. They have varying levels of popularity, longevity, and institutional recognition. Taken together, they are a significant component of the school's culture and identity, promoting social cohesion among students and other community members.
On the Loose is an outing club for the undergraduate Claremont Colleges (5Cs), a consortium of five highly selective liberal arts colleges based in Claremont, California. It organizes trips to outdoor destinations around Southern California and the Western United States.
The Associated Students of Pomona College, commonly abbreviated as ASPC, is the student government of Pomona College, an elite liberal arts college in Claremont, California, United States. It was founded in 1904, and is composed of elected representatives. Its primary functions are distributing extracurricular funds, conducting advocacy, running student programming, and providing various student services.
The Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, known colloquially as the Benton, is an art museum at Pomona College in Claremont, California. It was completed in 2020, replacing the Montgomery Art Gallery, which had been home to the Pomona College Museum of Art (PCMA) since 1958. It houses a collection of approximately 18,000 items, including Italian Renaissance panel paintings, indigenous American art and artifacts, and American and European prints, drawings, and photographs. The museum is free to the public.
Charles Burt Sumner was a minister in the Congregational church and a founding trustee of Pomona College who served as its de facto first president.
Frank Parkhurst Brackett was an American professor of astronomy who taught at Pomona College.
Several studies rate Pomona as one of the country's best private liberal arts colleges
prestigious liberal arts school
the undisputed star of the Claremont Colleges and one of the top small liberal arts colleges anywhere. This small, elite institution is the top liberal arts college in the West.
an elite liberal arts school
the leading liberal arts college west of the Rocky Mountains
one of the most respected undergraduate colleges in America
Considered one of the finest liberal arts institutions in the nation