A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 61

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 61

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In 1904 the principal college building, the Hall of Letters, was built. It is a brick structure of three stories and a basement with a frontage of 180 feet on Pasadena avenue, and a depth of 100

feet. In this building are lecture rooms, halls for the Christian associations and literary so- cieties. It also contains the auditorium, fur- nished with opera chairs and having a seating capacity for six hundred. The cost of the build- ing complete was $57,000.

The Stimson Library was completed and oc- cupied early in 1905. It is the gift of Charles M. Stimson of Los Angeles. It was erected at a cost of $20,000 and is regarded as one of the most beautiful library buildings on the Pacific coast. It contains reading and reference rooms, librarian's office, stack rooms and the usual facil- ities for efficient work. The college library con- tains about 5,000 volumes.

In 1905 a campaign was inaugurated to se- cure for the college an endowment of $200,000. O. T. Johnson of Los Angeles offered to con- tribute one-third of the amount on condition that the other two-thirds be secured within a speci- fied time. By persistent and tireless effort un- der the superintendence of the Rev. W. S. Young, chairman of the special committee, and Rev. Hugh K. Walker, president of the board of trustees, and other friends of the college, the an- nouncement was made on February 1, 1906, that more than $200,000 had been secured. The pro- ductive funds of the college are now equivalent to $360,000. At the close of the college year of 1904-1905, Rev. Guy W. Wadsworth resigned the presidency and Rev. W. S. Young, D. D., acted as president pro tem. during the college year of 1905-1906. John Willis Baer, LL. D., secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions and also at one time national secretary of the Chris- tion Endeavor Society, was elected president to take office at the beginning of the college year 1906-1907. He was installed October 26, 1906.

THE THROOP POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE.

This institution of learning, located in Pasa- dena, was founded by Hon. Amos G. Throop in 1891. The first name chosen was Throop Uni- versity. Its curriculum was planned to include a university course.

Father Throop, as he was reverently called. endowed the university with $200,000 and con- secrated all his energy to its support. Articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of

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state September 23, 1891. On October 2nd the first board of trustees was organized. It con- sisted of the following-named persons: H. H. Markham, H. W. Magee, J. C. Michener, W. U. Masters, J. S. Hodge, George H. Bonebrake, Delos Arnold, T. P. Lukens, E. F. Hurlburt, T. S. C. Lowe, P. M. Green, F. C. Howes, Milton D. Painter, A. G. Throop and L. A. Sheldon. Hon. A. G. Throop was elected president ; L. W. Andrews, secretary, and P. M. Green, treasur- er. The Wooster block, a four-story building on the corner of Fair Oaks avenue and Kansas street, was leased for five years and preparations were made for the opening of the school. The university opened November 2, 1891, with a good attendance of students.

At the close of the first college year (1892) the name of the institution was changed from Throop University to Throop Polytechnic In- stitute, and it was decided to "make the manual training and polytechnic departments" the lead- ing features of the institution.

In 1892 a body of land was secured at the corner of Fair Oaks avenue and Chestnut street. On this a building known as Polytechnic hall was erected, and to this the shops and labora- tories of the manual training department were transferred.

To provide for increased attendance, another building, known as East hall, has been erected. It is 68x150 feet, three stories in height and is located directly east of Polytechnic hall. It cost, finished and furnished, nearly $40,000. On the first floor are the class rooms for languages, lit- erature, mathematics, history, stenography, type- writing, etc. On the second floor are an assem- bly room, library and quarters for the department of biological sciences. In 1904 further enlarge- ment became necessary and a two-story brick ad- dition was made to Polytechnic hall, while all the shops were overhauled and extensive im- provements made. These changes were made possible by the generous action of the citizens of Pasadena in subscribing a fund of about $1,200 for the work. An out-door gymnasium, the gift of John S. Cravens, with a fine equipment of apparatus, was added in the autumn of 1904.

Miss Susan H. Stickney of Pasadena, in Aug-

ust, 1904, donated to Throop Institute a hand- some building at the junction of Fair Oaks and Lincoln avenues, known as the Stickney Mem- orial building, with the sole condition that the property be occupied by the art department of the institute. The building is entirely devoted to the work of the art department.

Throop hall, at No. 289 North Los Robles av- enue, is a boys' dormitory with accommodations for about fifty boys and young men. It is owned by the Institute and consists of a main building of. thirty-five rooms and two adjoining cottages, These are located in a tract of about one and a third acres. A tennis court and a play ground are included in the conveniences for pupils liv- ing at the house.

The school is endowed with the following trust funds : The Eldridge M. Fowler of $50,- 000, the Olive Cleveland, consisting of the in- come from property worth $20,000 and the John Wadsworth professorship fund, income produc- ing property worth about $30,000.

The Institute comprises five schools, the col- lege, the normal school, the academy, the com- mercial school and the elemetnary school. The president of the Institute is Walter A. Edwards, A. M.

WHITTIER COLLEGE.

Whittier College and the city of Whittier, where it is located, take their name from the Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier.

On the 27th of September, 1891, the Whittier Educational Association, a corporate body under the laws of the State of California, established Whittier Academy in the town of Whittier. The beginning was made in a store building fur- nished by the Pickering Land and Water Com- pany. Three years later this company donated the beautiful site now occupied, and the sum of $8,000 was subscribed and paid by the citizens of Whittier and the members of the Friends Church in California. With this money the pres- ent building was constructed. In the summer of 1900 the Whittier Educational Association trans- fered its interests to the California Yearly Meet- ing of Friends.

In 1901 Whittier College was organized and incorporated under the present management, and

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the first class, entering with advanced standing of one year, graduated in 1904.

In 1904 the college building was completed by the addition upon the south side of a wing containing laboratories, association rooms, of- fice and reception rooms, dining room, kitchen and dormitories. The auditorium was also re- modeled and all the older class rooms renovated.

In the summer of 1905 a spacious gymnasium was built and equipped, and the athletic field was graded for track, baseball and general field sports.

During the college year, ending in June, 1906, a continued effort has been made to raise an ad- ditional $100,000 endowment. At the close of the college year there was still lacking $32,000. "Everything that human plan could devise had failed to complete the amount. There was still lacking over $17,000, and the last available source seemed exhausted. It seemed that failure was stamped upon the effort. It was a day of gloom. So Saturday had passed. Worn out by a long week of almost continuous meetings, the people were beginning to disperse, the clerk was just calling for adjournment when he was interrupted by an additional gift to the endowment. The first was followed by another and another with- ont solicitation so rapidly that the names could scarcely be taken." (Whittier College Bulletin July, 1906.)

The amount was raised and the college is pre- pared to enter upon larger work in the future.

THE HARVARD SCHOOL ( MILITARY ).

The most successful effort in the history of Los Angeles to build up an educational insti- tution combining military training with a high standard of scholarship is the Harvard School (Military) founded by Grenville C. Emery, A. M., in 1900.

The ground was purchased for the school in April, 1900. The following summer two build- ings were erected, Rugby hall and Harvard hall (now Junior hall) in the mission style, with Ar- thur B. Benton as architect.

The school first opened September 25, 1900, with forty pupils. The number increased to seventy-two during the year. Six years later the school opened with 240 pupils.

Buildings have been erected from time to time as the need of the school demanded to the cost of $95,000. These are the new Harvard hall, Rugby hall, Arnold hall, Junior hall, and the gymnasium.

The older cadets are armed with Springfield rifles, 45 calibre West Point model, smaller rifles being provided for the younger boys. Waist belts, cartridge boxes and bayonet scabbard com- plete the equipment of the cadet private.

A fully equipped 80-foot indoor rifle range, underneath Arnold hall, permits the instruction of cadets in rifle shooting.

A cadet band has been organized, the larger instruments, such as the tuba, bass drum, etc., being the property of the school.

CHAPTER LIII.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS.

THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY.

T - HE only attempt at founding any institu- tion of the character of our modern read- ing room and library during the Mexican era of our city's history was that made by the Amigos del Pais in 1844. The Amigos del Pais (Friends of the Country) was a society or club made up of the leading citizens of the town, both

native and foreign. A lot 100 varas square, free of taxes, was granted the society by the ayuntamiento. An adobe building was erected and fitted up with a dancing hall. A reading room was partitioned off from the main hall and a small library of books was collected. There were no daily newspapers in the reading room. A newspaper six months old was late news, and a

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book of the last century was quite fresh and readable. The Amigos for a time enjoyed their social privileges and the society flourished. Then the society ran in debt and its membership fell off. The building was disposed of by lottery. An- dres Pico drew the lucky number. The McDon- ald block, on North Main street, stands on the site of the Amigos' hall.

After the American conquest the question of founding a library and reading room was fre- quently agitated. The Mechanics' Institute, in 1856, '57 and '58, was a flourishing literary as- sociation. It maintained a course of lectures which were well patronized. The society owned a corrugated iron building on the southeast cor- ner of North Spring street and Court street, where the Home Savings Bank building now stands. It was ambitious to found a pub- lic library and reading room, but the times were unpropitious. Money was scarce and popula- tion migratory. The institution died and its good intentions perished with it or went where all good intentions go.

The first attempt under American rule to establish a library and reading room in Los An- geles that accomplished something was made in 1859. A call was issued for "all who are dis- posed to aid in establishing a library and read- ing room to meet in Wells, Fargo & Company's express office Monday evening, April 4, 1859."

The call was signed by H. N. Alexander, G. W. Wood, J. Fleishman, P. Sichel, H. S. Alan- son, J. Foy, L. M. Jacobs, William H. Workman, N. Williamson, E. H. Workman, M. J. Newmark, F. Mellus, F. Bachman and P. H. Downey. Of all the signers of that call only William H. Work- man and M. J. Newmark are living.

At the meeting a constitution and by-laws were adopted. A membership fee of $5 was re- quired and the monthly dues were fixed at $1. At a subsequent meeting John Temple was elect- ed president ; J. J. Warner, vice-president ; Fran- cis Mellus, treasurer ; Israel Fleishman, secre- tary, and the following-named were chosen a board of directors: E. Drown, J. H. Lander, J. Frohlong, H. Mellus, E. J. C. Kewen, S. F. Rey- nolds and R. Emerson.

The people were asked to contribute books to the library. A motley collection of volumes in

English, French, German and Spanish were do- nated. The membership was not large and the dues were not paid promptly; the result was that the rent of the rooms and the salary of the librarian bankrupted the association. The books were sold at auction to pay its debts and then there was another "light that failed" in the old pueblo-more good intentions that went to form additional pavement.

In the early '70s, when the city began to take on a new growth, the project of founding a pub- lic library was again revived. On the 7th of December, 1872, a meeting was called at the old Merced theater, located .on North Main street just south of the Pico house or National hotel ; the building is still standing but long since ceased to be used as a theater. Over two hundred cit- izens were present. Gen. J. R. McConnell, a prominent lawyer, acted as president, and W. J. Broderick, then the proprietor of a bookstore, acted as secretary. Sixty-six vice-presidents were selected from the prominent men of the city. These were to head the roll of membership and to give the enterprise a good send-off. The Los Angeles Library Association was formed. and a committee was appointed to canvass the city for members, subscriptions and donations of books. This committee included ex-Gov. John G. Downey, H. K. W. Bent, Harris Newmark, W. J. Broderick and S. B. Caswell. A life mem- bership cost $50, a yearly membership $5.

Governor Downey gave the use of four rooms on the second floor of his block, corner of North Main and Temple streets, free for three months ; these rooms were fitted up with open shelves, newspaper racks and reading tables. The first board of trustees consisted of J. G. Downey, S. B. Caswell, H. K. W. Bent, G. H. Smith, Ignacio Supulveda. W. H. Mace, A. W. Potts, T. W. Temple, R. H. Dalton, Gen. George Stoneman, E. M. Stanford. W. B. Lawler and J. R. Mc- Connell; this board to have control of the library and the appointment of the librarian and assist- ants. The legislature of 1873-74 passed an act authorizing the levying of a small tax on the property of the city for the maintenance of. the library. In 1878, by act of the legislature, the mayor and members of the city council were

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made ex officio a board of regents to manage the affairs of the library.

During the '7os, subscriptions, donations, balls theatrical performances and membership fees mainly supplied the funds for the purchase of books and periodicals. The amount raised by taxation was barely sufficient to keep up the run- ning expenses, salary, rent, etc. The period between 1880 and 1889 was not covered by so many donations, but occasional subscriptions and membership fees kept the library running until the adoption of the new charter changed the manner of conducting the institution. The new charter dispensed with the board of regents and provided for a board of five directors appointed by the mayor. In July. 1889, the library was re- moved from Downey block to the city hall. The Dewey system of classification was then adopted and is still used. The records show that the library then contained just 6,600 books. An extra large appropriation was made that year on condition that $10,000 be applied to the purchase of books.

The librarians, with their term of service, are as follows :

J. C. Littlefield. ... December, 1872- January. 1879 Patrick Connolly. .. January, 1879-June, 1880

Mary E. Foy. . June, 1880-January,

Jessie A. Gavitt. .. . January, 1884-January, 1889

Lydia A. Prescott. . January,

1889-April, 1889

Tessa L. Kelso. April. 1889-May, 1895

Clara B. Fowler. . . . May, 1895-June, 1897

Harriet C. Wadleigh June, 1897-May.

Mary L. Jones. . . . . May. 1900- June,

Charles F. Lummis . June, 1905 -.

In 1891 the annual membership fee which at that time was $3 was abolished and the library made free. A training class was organized the same year for training attendants and the follow- ing year (1892) the board of education placed the school library in custody of the library board.

The question of securing a library building has been agitated for a number of years. At a special election held in 1893 the question of issu- ing bonds to the amount of $50,000 for a library building to be located in Central Park, was sub- mitted to the people. It was voted down on the plea that the title to the park would be invali- (lated by using it for any other purpose than a place for recreation. This claim has no valid

foundation. At the city election of 1904 a ma- jority vote of the people decided in favor of locat- ing the library building in the park.

In August, 1906, the volumes belonging to the public school library, numbering about 15,000, were withdrawn and a library room for the schools fitted up in the Grand Avenue school.

In April and May of the year 1906 the library was moved from the city hall, where it had been housed for seventeen years, to the Homer Laughlin Annex on Hill street south of Third street. When it moved into the city hall it con- tained 6,600 volumes ; when it moved out it had 123,000 volumes. Its growth while there crowd- ed out all the other occupants of the third floor of the city building. First the school superin- tendent and the board of education had to hunt other quarters, then the city engineer and the street department.

It was claimed the weight of tons of books made the building unsafe and the council or- dered the library board to find new quarters. The quarters in the city hall "were wholly inade- quate for library purposes and the library author- ities were as willing to move as the council was to have them go."

"The new quarters are the second and third 1884 floors of a three-story reinforced concrete build- ing. fire-proof and earthquake-proof, with auto- matic fire-sprinkling system, and the first plunger elevator west of Ohio. Floor space inside of 1900 20,000 square feet as against 7,000 in the old 1905 quarters ; besides nearly 7,000 square feet in the roof garden already established on the floor back of, and level with, the first library floor. There is another but larger floor adaptable for roof gardens over the second library floor, which will probably be put in operation within a year. A couple of Carnegie branches in Brooklyn have roofs and some flowers in terra cotta flower-pots ; but Los Angeles has the first real roof-garden reading room in America. It has over 300 run- ning feet of rose hedge, bush and climbing, from five to ten feet high ; 50 feet of heliotrope hedge ; 50 fcet of geranium hedge : an arbor 80x16 feet with eastern and western varities of grapes, with wistarias, honeysuckle, etc .: a 19-foot dracena and a 23-foot crepe myrtle: fine specimens of orange, lemon, grape-fruit, palm (in variety),

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cherimoya, fig, alligator pear, oleander, camphor, loquat, bamboo, catalpa, banana, tubber, etc. (all in receptacles as capacious as the average tree gets out of doors, even in this country), a foun- tain 10 feet interior diameter, with four kinds of water lilies now in bloom, and with two varie- ties of goldfislı ; and a large space in which mere men may read while they smoke. There is also, of course, space for women in which no smoking is allowed. This roof garden is already largely patronized. Its seating capacity is almost equal to the total space provided for public use in the old quarters."*

The total number of employes of the Los An- geles Public Library in 1905 was 52. The ap- propriation received from taxation was $62,500; of this $28,945 was paid for the salaries and $10,307 for books. When the library was moved into the city hall in July, 1889, there were only six employes and the amount paid for salaries was $2,632.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Although Southern California is rich in his- torical material, yet more than a century passed before any society was organized for its preserv- ation. On the evening of November 1, 1883, in a room of the old Temple block, corner of North Main and Market streets, used at that time for a council chamber, the following-named gentlemen met for the purpose of organizing an historical society : Col. J. J. Warner, Gen John Mans- field, H. D. Barrows, N. Levering, Prof. J. M. Guinn, Maj. C. N. Wilson, ex-Gov. J. G. Dow- ney, Prof. Ira More, J. B. Niles, A. Kohler, Don Antonio F. Coronel, George Hansen, A. J. Brad- field, Maj. E. W. Jones and Prof. Marcus Baker. The question of organizing a society was dis- cussed and a plan formulated. At a subsequent meeting held December 6th, officers were elected, a constitution and by-laws adopted and the or- ganization completed. The first officers of the society were: J. J. Warner, president; H. D. Barrows, A. F. Coronel, J. G. Downey, John Mansfield, vice-presidents ; J. M. Guinn, treas- urer; C. N. Wilson, secretary. Its meetings at first were held in the council chamber, later on

in the city court room, and now at the houses of the members. During the twenty-three years of its existence about two hundred and fifty per- sons have been received into membership. Of these fifty are dead, a number have been lost through removal, withdrawal and non-payment of dues. The active membership is now about fifty.

The society has issued twenty annual publica- tions of papers read before it or contributed to it. These publications make two thousand octavo pages and form six complete volumes of val- uable history. It has expended in publication, purchase of books and newspaper files about $5,000 cash; and in addition to this it has re- ceived in donations of books, curios, files of paper, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, etc., historical material worth at least $5,000 more. Its library includes bound volumes and pamphlets, in all about six thousand titles. Its publications have a wide circulation. They are sent to historical, scientific and geographical so- cieties, to public libraries and to the leading col- leges and universities of the United States and Europe.

The society was incorporated February 12, 1891. It is the oldest historical society on the Pacific coast and the only one in California doing state work. The legislature of 1905 passed an act appropriating $125,000 for the erection of a building for the society and for the newly cre- ated court of appeals. Governor Pardee vetoed the bill on the plea that the legislature had made appropriations in excess of the revenue.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.

The Southern California Academy of Science first bore the name of the Southern California Science Association. It was organized in 1891. Its first president was Dr. A. Davidson, and Mrs. Mary E. Hart filled the position of secretary. Its growth was slow at first. In 1896 the asso- ciation was reorganized and took its present name. Since then it has had a healthy growth. Its present officers and board of directors are: W. H. Knight, president; Abbot Kinney, first vice-president ; J. D. Hooker, second vice-presi- dent ; W. C. Patterson, treasurer; B. R. Baum- gardt, secretary; Prof. J. A. Foshay, C. D. Cun-

*Charles F. Lummis' "Books in Harness." "Out West" -- September, 1906.

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ningham, Prof. W. L. Watts, A. Campbell-John- ston, Dr. S. M. Woodbridge, directors. Its pros- pectus thus outlines the object of the society : "It is the special province of our Academy to engage in those investigations which will ac- quaint us with our physical environment. No richer field exists for the prosecution of scien- tific inquiry than that of which Los Angeles is the metropolis. Its peculiar topographical fea- tures, rugged mountain chains, varied mineral deposits, and plains and fertile valleys, and its strange forms of animal and plant life, furnish abundant material for the physicist and the stu- dent of nature." The Academy has an active membership of about one hundred and fifty. The members are divided into sections for spe- cial and technical work. The following are the principal sections : Astronomical, Botanical; Agricultural Experiment; Biological; Geolog- ical.

General meetings are held the second Tuesday evening of each month from September to June inclusive. The Academy is incorporated and has accumulated a considerable collection of sci- entific material. It publishes scientific papers read before the society or contributed to it.

PIONEERS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Among the purposes for which this society was organized are "to collect and preserve the early history of Los Angeles County and to per- petuate the memory of those who, by their hon- orable labors and heroism, helped to make that history." The work, therefore, of this society is largely historical in its nature and it cannot be classed with purely social or fraternal societies, extended historical notices of which it has been found impossible to insert in this work.

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 61

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184