USA > California > Alameda County > Oakland > Illustrated album of Alameda County, California; its early history and progress-agriculture, viticulture and horticulture-educational, manufacturing and railroad advantages-Oakland and environs-interior townships-statistics, etc., etc > Part 4
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These are of fair architecture and good construction, principally of brick and stone. The surrounding grounds are being gradually improved and are already quite attractive. The landscape gardening is after plans suggested by Ex-State Engineer Hall. In Janu- ary, 1879, A. K. P. Harmon, of Oakland, donated to the University a gymnasium building, which has been prop- erly furnished. It is octagonal in shape, will seat one thousand two hundred people, and is used as a place for holding hops, lectures, commencement and simi- lar exercises. In connection with the gymnasium are a campus and cinder sprinting path. The North Hall building has four stories and a ground area of one hundred and sixty-six by sixty feet. It cost $92,468. The South Hall has an area of one hundred and fifty-two by fifty feet. Its architecture is superior and its cost was $198,000. The Bacon Art and Library building is named after H. D. Bacon, of Oakland, who, in November, 1877, donated to the University a fine art collection, and $25,000, with a proviso that the State appropriate $25,000 additional for the erection of a suitable library building and art gallery. The appropriation was made and the building erected. There are, properly, two buildings in one. That front- ing on the west is rectangular; the rear building is semicircular. The front portion is eighty-eight by thirty-eight feet. The center of the façade rises into a tower one hundred and two feet in height. The interior arrangements are well designed. There are broad lob- bies and stairways, an elevator, reading rooms, com- mittee rooms, store rooms, and a large art gallery, well lighted from the top. The rotunda of the library portion is sixty-nine feet in diameter and fifty-seven feet in height. It will hoid ninety thousand volumes. There are now in the gallery upward of fifty thousand books. The art gallery contains many paintings and sculp- tures by the best artists. The College of Mining and Mechanical Arts is a three-story structure of brick, stone, and iron, well furnished with mechanical appa- ratus.
For the College of Agriculture, a substantial build- ing has been erected. In connection with this college is an experimental station, sustained by the United States Government, and which receives reports from
various portions of the State on matters connected with agriculture, horticulture, and viticulture. It has a viticultural laboratory.
The Chemical Building and Laboratory is one of the most complete departments in the University, con- sisting of two stories and basement.
Owing to the general uses to which electricity and electrical appliances are being put, the Regents of the University during the past year had a building erected, at a cost of $56,000, used as a College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.
There are twenty-two buildings in connection with the State University and its grounds at Berkeley. The cost of these buildings was $558,000, and the further sum of $300,000 was expended for apparatus. As there are about two hundred lady students attend- ing the University, the erection of a Woman's Build- ing is in contemplation.
In addition to the buildings mentioned is the Stu- dents' Observatory to the north, and the two-story brick viticultural cellar on Strawberry Creek. There are a number of cottages owned by the University and occupied as homes by private individuals.
Besides these departments and buildings of the University at Berkeley, are the Colleges of Law, Medi- cine, Dentistry, and of Pharmacy, situated across the bay, in San Francisco, and the Lick Observatory, on Mount Hamilton, Santa Clara County, all of which are under the care of the Board of Regents of the Uni- versity, a brief history of which is subjoined.
In 1878 Hon. S. C. Hastings, now deceased, do- nated $100,000 for the establishment of a Law College in San Francisco, to be a component part of the State University. This department is now prosperous and efficient.
The Toland Medical Institute became merged in the University in 1873, as the Medical Department of the University of California. This was brought about by gifts of the buildings and property in San Francisco, by the late Dr. Toland. The property is valued at about $25,000, and is used jointly by the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry. The latter expect to soon have a separate building.
Though the gift of money and property in 1879, for the formation of a College of Dentistry, came to naught, a Dental Department was organized in 1882, and its standard is now second to none in the country, and is admitted to be unexcelled by any in Europe.
In 1872 a College of Pharmacy was incorporated by private individuals and subsequently became one of the integral portions of the University. It now has a faculty of seven members, and the number of stu-
18
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
dents is constantly increasing. Most of the students are engaged in work in the Medical Department.
Among the gifts to the State University were that of the late Edward Tompkins, of Oakland, of forty- seven acres of land on New Broadway, for the estab- lishment of the. Agassiz Professorship of Oriental Languages; donotions by William and Eugene Hille- gass and George M. Blake, of portions of the Univer- sity site; the Michael Reese Library fund, of $50,000; and the $75.000 given in 1881 by D. O. Mills, to found the chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity. The will of the late Dr. C. M. Hitchcock, of Napa, bequeaths a certain portion of his estate to the University, conditioned entirely upon the failure of his daughter, Mrs. Lillie Coit, to leave issue at her death. The possible value of this endow- ment may be stated as $25,000.
One of the greatest gifts to the University was the $700,000 left by James Lick for the establishment of a great astronomical observatory. This observatory, located on Mount Hamilton, Santa Clara County, was turned over to the Regents in 1888. The plant cost $582,000. A graduate school or college in astron- omy where a post-graduate course is given, is main- tained. The income from the remainder of the gift is hardly adequate for the maintenance of the depart- ment, but the additional sum required is taken from another portion of the University's revenue.
One of the features of the University of California is its Museum of Natural History. The purpose and scope of the museum have been, up to the present time, first, to contain and furnish type collections for class teaching; and, secondly, to put on exhibition for the benefit of visitors all that could be made access- ible. Its collection is gathered from all over the world.
The University of California furnishes facilities for instruction in science, literature and the professions of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy. In the col- leges at Berkeley, namely, those of Letters, Agricul- ture, Mining, Mechanics, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and Military Science, these privileges are offered without charge for tuition to all persons qualified for admission. The professional colleges in San Francisco are self-sustain- ing and only require moderate tuition fees. All courses are open to all persons without distinction of sex.
Its departments of instruction comprise the follow- ing:
I. In Berkeley :- (1) The College of Letters: (a) Classical Course; (b) Literary Course; (c) Course in Letters and Political Science; (2) the College of Agri- culture; (3) the College of Mechanics; (4) the College
of Mining; (5) the College of Civil Engineering ; (6) the College of Chemistry ; (7) the College of Electri- cal and Mechanical Engineering.
II. In San Francisco :- (1) The Hastings College of the Law; (2) the Toland College of Medicine; (3) the College of Dentistry; (4) the California College of Pharmacy.
III. In Santa Clara County :- The Lick Astronom- ical Department (Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton), with a graduate School in Astronomy.
The total endowment of the University of Califor- nia is nearly $7,000,000. The cash capital is $4,053,- 824.57, and the value of real and other property, $2,899,954.72.
The Department of Military Science has for a num- ber of years been one of the features of the University of California. It includes two hours each week in tactical instruction in the field, and one hour a week in the study of military science, engineering, fortifications, strategy, tactics, ordinance, gunning, military law, courts and boards, improvements in war, study of the battles, etc. This department is in charge of an offi- cer of the Regular Army of the United States, de- tailed for that purpose by the Secretary of War. Its standard in rank is No. I of all the military schools in the United States. It is composed of all the able- bodied male undergraduate students for four years in the colleges at Berkeley, and any claiming exemption are required to undergo medical examination. Those over twenty-four years of age and foreigners may be excused. The battalion last year comprised three hundred cadets, divided into six companies, with the necessary field, staff and company officers, commis- sioned by the Governor, from the battalion, under the law of the State. The course of instruction pursued is in accordance with rules prescribed by the President of the United States, and is divided into a Practical and a Theoretical Course. In the latter part of April each year the department is inspected by an In- spector-General of the United States Army, who re- ports to the Secretary of War. The uniform is dark blue, except the officers' trousers, which are a light blue.
From Mr. James Sutton, the Recorder of the Fac- ulties of the University, the following accurate sta- tistics of the students in attendance in the various de- partments for the year 1892-93 were obtained :-
Departments.
Men.
Women. Totals.
ACADEMIC.
Graduate Students
3I
9
40
Undergraduate Students.
399
183
582
PROFESSIONAL.
Law
2
I20
Medicine.
86
12
98
Dentistry
I14
I14
Pharmacy.
99
4
103
Lick Astronomical
4
4
Totals
851
210
1061
PLATE 8.
-
RES. OF EDWIN WH
PLE, DECOTO, CAL.
19
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
There is no tuition charged at the seven colleges situated in Berkeley, viz .: The Colleges of Agriculture, Mechanics, Mining, Chemistry, Engineering, and Let- ters. Small tuition fees are charged students in the colleges of Law, Medicine Dentistry, and Pharmacy in San Francisco. The only other Universities of the larger class in the United States that do not charge tuition are the Leland Stanford Jr., at Palo Alto, Cali- fornia, and the Kansas University, though the charges at the Michigan and several others are light.
In an article recently written by Miss Millicent W. Shinn, a graduate of the University of California, the following comparisons of the great Universities are made, with reference to capital, income, teachers, and students.
Total wealth of (1) Columbia College, $18,000,000; (2) Harvard, $16,700,000; (3) Yale, $11,000,000; (4) Michigan, $9,000,000; (5) California, $8,1 30,720; (6) Cornell, $8,000,000; (7) Pennsylvania, $6,800,000. The annual incomes from these are estimated at $1,- 026,738 for Harvard; Columbia, $800,000; Yale, $499,- 720; Michigan, $400,000; Cornell, $350,000; California, $306,661, and Pennsylvania, $275,000. The Universi- ties of Wisconsin, City of New York, Boston, Ne- braska, Johns Hopkins, and Vanderbilt she finds range in incomes from $101,500 to $82,987. Miss Shinn says she can find no financial statements from Prince- ton College, nor from the Leland Stanford Jr. Univer- sity, but as near as she could ascertain, these two and the Chicago University have incomes between $100,000 and $200,000. In a comparative table, showing the number of students, Miss Shinn places the University of California as seventh in the list. with one thousand and seventy-nine for 1892, with Michi- igan University at the head, having two thousand six hundred and ninety-three students. California stands fifth in the list as regards teachers, having one hun- dred and ninety-four; Harvard leads the list, with two hundred and fifty-three, Columbia, two hundred and twenty-six; Yale, two hundred and twenty-five, and Pennsylvania, two hundred and seven; Michigan, with more than double the students, compared with Califor- nia, has only one hundred and forty-nine instructors. The proportion of graduate students to the under- graduate and professional in the University of Califor- nia is the same as that of Michigan, Boston, and Wisconsin, and is one per cent below Yale and Penn- sylvania, four per cent below Harvard, seven per cent below Cornell, and nine per cent below Columbia.
The opening of the great Leland Stanford Jr. Uni- versity at Palo Alto has had no injurious effect upon the University of California, but, on the other hand, the student roll of the State Institution shows a larger in- crease during the past two years than ever before.
INSTITUTION FOR DEAF AND DUMB AND THE BLIND.
An account of the origin and purpose of the State School.
The special education necessary to the deaf and dumb and the blind. has been munificently provided for by the State, at the Berkeley Institution. Such children as are unfortunate enough to be deprived of either of the senses of sight or hearing are there pro- vided for, free of all cost.
The State Institution is as much a part of the public- school system of California as is the State University. Founded by a committee of ladies, on the 17th of March, 1860, the Institution grew year by year, until, in 1864; the Legislature assumed complete control, and appointed a State Board of Trustees.
On December 1, 1865, Mr. Warring Wilkinson, of the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, entered upon the duties of Superintendent, which position he still retains. Since that time the school has experienced many vicissitudes of fortune.
At the Legislative session of 1866, a commission to purchase a tract and erect suitable buildings was ap- pointed. The Commissioners organized on the 10th of April, 1866, and bids for sites were immediately advertised, in various and widely-circulated papers. After mature deliberation, the Commissioners unani- mously selected a tract of one hundred and thirty . acres, known as the Kearney farm. This site is lo- cated on the foothills above Berkeley, four and a half miles to the north of the city of Oakland. It pos- sesses a sulubrious climate, devoid of the sharp winds of San Francisco, and the extreme heat of the inte- rior valleys. It commands a magnificent view of the Bay of San Francisco and the Golden Gate, and its location cannot be surpassed for health, or for the beauty of its surroundings.
A fine stone building was erected, and occupied in the autumn of 1869. This edifice had the misfortune to be destroyed by fire on Sunday afternoon, January 17, 1875. A temporary wooden building was erected on the same site, until an appropriation could be ob- tained from the Legislature for new permanent build- ings. The Legislature, at the session of 1875, set aside $1 10,000 for that purpose.
The loss of the previous building, by fire, was deemed of sufficient weight to justify the Board of Directors in adopting the plan of segregated build- ings. These were erected upon designs executed by Messrs. Wright and Sanders, of San Francisco. This system permits additions to be easily made to the In- stitution, as necessity may require. The buildings at present consist of a fine central Educational building,
3
20
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY. -
which contains, in addition to the class rooms, a mag- `bequests are available for the assistance of deserving nificent Assembly Hall, Library, Art Gallery, and pupils. Executive offices. This and all the buildings are The past year had a combined attendance of fully two hundred scholars. Mr. Warring Wilkinson, the Prin- cipal, is assisted by an efficient and enthusiastic corps of instructors. constructed of massive red brickwork, upon heavy foundations of blue stone, ornamented with granite abutments, cornices, and sills.
To the rear of the Educational building is the Re- fectory, containing a great dining hall, pantries, store- rooms, and a splendid kitchen. Beneath the Refec- tory is a fine Gymnasium, fitted with the improved apparatus supplied by Dr. Sargent, of Harvard. These buildings are flanked by four homes, which serve for the accommodation of the pupils and teachers. All . are fireproof, and perfect in sanitation. In the rear of this collection is a bakeshop and a cooking school, where the girls are trained in the art of cookery. Near by stands a complete steam laundry, an engine house, and an electric-light plant. Still farther in the back- ground are the carpenter shops, and the printing of- fice, where a weekly paper is set up and published by the pupils. Fine playgrounds, lawns, and flower beds give ample scope for the amusement and delectation of the scholars outdoors. Several large orchards furnish a good supply of fruits, a large kitchen garden supplying its quota of vegetables, while a magnificent herd of Holstein-Jerseys provides the Institution with milk and cream.
The education of the deaf mutes is conducted upon the now generally-accepted Combined System, which includes instruction by the aid of signs and the Man- ual Alphabet, and also a course of articulation and lip reading. The school course follows very closely that which is pursued in the ordinary publie, granimar, and high schools. After graduation, several of the pupils have entered and completed courses in the University.
In addition to the ordinary school work, the Insti- tution possesses all the requirements of a technical In- stitute. The male pupils receive tuition in carpenter- ing, cabinet work, printing, and gardening, whilst all are eligible for instruction in drawing. One of the graduates has already received high honors in the World of Art. Mr. Douglas Tilden was awarded the certificate of Honorable Mention at the French Salon in 1889. The girls, both the blind and the deaf, take lessons in cookery from a certified instructor.
The blind are trained in piano and organ playing, voice culture, and typewriting. The Institution pos- sesses a great pipe organ, the gift of Messrs. Wright & Sanders, the architects of the buildings. The deaf girls receive lessons in sewing. The pupils have also a perfectly-organized Literary Association, known as the De l'Epeé Society, as well as first-class baseball and football clubs. Several scholarships from private
The affairs of the Institution are under the manage- ment of a Board of Directors, appointed by the Gov- ernor of the State, and consisting of W. C. Bartlett, LL.D., President; Rev. J. K. MeLean, D. D., Vice President; ex-Governor G. C. Perkins, Messrs. John W. Coleman, Warren Olney, and W. L. Prather, Sec- retary and Treasurer.
Alameda County is highly favored in having this truly magnificent school, second to none of its kind in the world, situated in its midst; and the Institution of- fers a strong inducement to parents with deaf or blind children, to make the county their home.
See plate No. 11. F. O'D.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The pride of the American people is the free public school system. Germany, with its compulsory sys- tem of education, under governmental control, cannot compare with the free public school system of the United States. In the matter of education, California, one of the younger States in the great federation, is abreast of the times and behind none of her sisters. This was shown by her teachers and scholars during the visit of the National Educational Convention to California a few years since. Alameda County ranks as one of the highest in the great western common- wealth, both in the examination of its public school- teachers and in the grade of its schools, while Oak- land, the county seat, has for years been called the Athens of the Pacific Coast, in deference to its learn- ing and culture. The statistics of the county show that of the census children an exceedingly small per cent do not attend some school-public, private, or parochial.
There are in the county, outside of the cities of Oak- land, Berkeley, and Alameda, fifty public school dis- tricts, governed by Boards of School Trustees chosen by the electors of the districts. In round numbers there is an aggregate number of eight thousand school census children in these districts. The enroll- ment in the public schools in these outside distriets shows about eighty per cent, with an average daily attendance of sixty per cent. In these districts there are three Union High Schools, created under an Act of the State Legislature of 1891. Number One of
21
ILLUSTRATED ALBUM OF ALAMEDA COUNTY.
these is located at Livermore, Murray Township, and embraces advanced pupils from nine school districts. Number Two is at Centerville, Washington Township, and includes ten school districts. Union High School, Nunber Three, is located at Hayward, Eden Township, with six school districts. In nearly all the schools are grammar grades. Eight of theni have more than three departments and seventeen of them have more than one department. There are grammar grades in upward of forty of them. School is maintained in all for ten months in each year. The average salary paid to teachers is $70 per month for the ten months. The number of teachers in the fifty public school districts is one hundred and twenty-two.
The present revenue of the public schools of Ala- meda County, as given by the County Superintend- ent, George W. Frick, and City Superintendents, J. W. McClymonds and D. J. Sullivan, of Oakland and Alameda, is as follows :-
Localities.
County Tax. State Tax. |District Tax.
Oakland
$ 50,984
$146,881
$112,526
Alameda ..
12,004
34,176
20,446
Berkeley
6,079
17,020
Outside ..
34,289
100,867
49,178
Totals
$103.356
$298,944
$182,250
The total expenses for the past year for the public schools of the county were as follows :-
Oakland .
. $319,734
Alameda .
81,873
Berkeley
24,919
Outside districts .
137,492
Total .
$564,018
The school tax rate for the county was ten cents on the $100 valuation. The Oakland rate was twenty- seven cents additional, which includes five cents for school bond redemption and interest.
Every school district in the county has a school lot and building, and seventy-five per cent of these are above the average country schoolhouses, being good buildings with large ornamented grounds Ten or twelve of the schoolhouses are almost entirely new and are of the most modern construction. Only about a dozen are small structures, unadorned and with un- ornamented grounds, and these will not long remain so, as the matter of larger grounds and new buildings is being agitated The total aggregate value of the real property and improvements in these outside dis- tricts is $284,924. Over every district schoolhouse, or from a flag pole in their yard, floats the stars and stripes, and the children are taught loyalty to the government under which they live. Each school dis- trict has a library, and a certain amount of the annual tax is set aside for additions to the libraries.
The annexed table shows the value of the school property of the county up to January 1, 1893, includ- ing real estate and improvements, libraries, and appa- ratus.
Localities.
Real Estate and Improvements.
Libraries.
Apparatus.
Oakland.
*$492,040
$ 3.300
$6,000
Alameda
190,000
900
989
Berkeley
25,000
275
250
Outside
262,205
14,509
8,210
Total
$969,245
$18.984
$15.469
*NOTE .- The improvements in the Oakland school property during 1893 will bring its value up to about $1, 500,000.
The total value of the school property in the county is :-
Oakland
$1,001,340
Alameda .
191,889
Berkeley.
25,525
Outside districts
284,924
Total
$1,503,678
PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
There are a number of private educational institu- tions in Alameda County, where collegiate and aca- demic educations may be obtained by those desiring to send their children to these institutions rather than to those of the State or county.
Prominent among them is Mills College, founded nearly thirty years ago, by the late Rev. C. T. Mills, D. D., and his wife, Mrs. Susan L. Mills, as a seminary for young ladies. It is situated on extensive grounds in Brooklyn Township, about five miles east of the center of Oakland, and is reached by two lines of steam railroad, as well as by an electric street railway. In 1877 it was endowed largely by Dr. Mills and Mrs. Mills and incorporated as a college, and its property is held by a Board of Trustees, for the Christian, but unsectarian, education of young women. Its cur riculum embraces the usual college courses. Its graduates number hundreds and are settled all over the Union as well as in other lands. The annual at- tendance is about two hundred. It has been under the management, since the death of Dr. Mills, princi- pally of Mrs. Mills, with the trustees. She is now the President of the Institution.
At Irvington, on the line of railroad between Oak- land and San Jose, and within about a mile and a half of the old Mission of San Jose, the site of the first Spanish and American settlement in the county, is the Washington College for boys and girls. It in- cludes a preparatory and a commercial department, as well as the collegiate. For a time it was under the control of the members of the Christian Church
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