University of California, Founder’s Rock and the College Homestead Tract

The history of the University of California goes back to the first State Constitutional Congress in 1849 when a group of men promoted the establishment of a state college.  Although unsuccessful in their attempt to persuade the legislature to establish and fund a state college, Rev. Samuel Hopkins Willey, Rev. Joseph Benton, Sherman Day, Frederick Billings and Henry Durant founded a small, private institution they named the College of California in 1855. It was located in Oakland

By 1858 the college trustees had selected thirty acres in a more rural location for their campus along the banks of Strawberry Creek.  On April 16, 1860 the site was dedicated at "the Great Rock" now known as Founder's Rock located at the Southwest corner of what today is Hearst Avenue and Galey Road. 

Founder's Rock is a natural outcropping which may have been thrust up by seismic activity centuries ago on the nearby Hayward Fault. It was once the most prominent feature in the surrounding landscape. The plaque commemorating Founders' Rock was placed by the graduating class of 1896.

The new campus site did not have a name until 1866, when it is said that Frederick Billings, looking west toward the Golden Gate, suggested the name "Berkeley" for Bishop Berkeley of Cloyne Ireland who began a stanza of a poem: "Westward the course of empire takes its way". Founders’ Rock is on the National Register of Historic Places, designated a City of Berkeley Landmark, and is a feature of California Historic Landmark No. 946.

In 1865 the State Legislature finally passed a bill creating "The Agriculture, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College".  In 1868 the University of California is formed when the State College and the College of California (a liberal arts college) joined forces.  Henry Durant, former president of the College of California, was the first president of the University of California. 

While all this is taking place there were no buildings on the Berkeley site and classes continued to be held in Oakland. It wasn’t until 1873 that the university’s first two buildings, North Hall (demolished) and South Hall (still standing) were ready for occupancy. 

There was also very little development of any kind in the vicinity of the future university, but the College of California had anticipated the need for a community to grow next to the college campus as early as 1864. The trustees created the College Homestead Association and sold 125 shares for $500 each. The association then purchased 160 acres to the south of the college property and subdivided the land as the College Homestead Tract. The lots they sold would fund college buildings and create a community.  

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny is the author of Berkeley Landmarks and An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area. This article is adopted from an article by Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny that appeared in the Berkeley Daily Planet, March 3, 2001.