sibly that of some devoted donor) the venture was to be named “The Pomona College.” This name was not finally accepted for some twenty years.
From time to time I heard of the progress of the undertaking. Father’s cousin, Nathan Blanchard, who had been disappointed in his boyhood ambition for a college education in Maine, was much concerned in this project for providing opportunity for the young people of his later state. He became one of the first trustees, and continued on the board and was vitally interested so long as he lived. It was to his generosity that the college owes its beautiful acreage of oaks and native growth, Blanchard Park.
Rev. Charles B. Sumner, the minister of the Pomona Congregational church, had secured a young man, Frank Brackett, recently graduated from Dartmouth to open a private school in Pomona. It met in the church parlor. Mr. Sumner’s son and daughter and a few others needed a chance to prepare for college. After about six months the authorities of the new college took over this school as a preparatory department—teachers, students, and all.
In the meantime, plans for a permanent building were maturing, and amid hopes and prayers, joy and a certain trepidation, the corner stone was laid on the beautiful heights at the mouth of Live Oak Cañon, close to the mountains, with a wide outlook over the valley.
When plans for the college first took form, Southern California was full of hope and enthusiasm—those were the boom days. Men were making fortunes over
