CALTECH STUDENT HISTORY NOTES
CALTECH BEGINNINGS
Caltech began in 1891 when Amos G. Throop founded Throop University, endowing it with his entire fortune of more than $100,000. In his diary entry of September 1, 1891, Throop wrote: ``Planted potatoes, cleaned a water pipe, husked the corn ... In the afternoon, saw Mr. Wooster and rented his block for five years... and hope I have made no mistake.'' The articles of incorporation for Throop University were filed on September 23, 1891. A Board of Trustees was organized and met for the first time on October 2, 1891. Their first business was to sign the five-year lease of the building known as the Wooster Block at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Kansas (Green) Street in Pasadena.
|
|---|
| Wooster Building about 1891. View east on Green from Fair Oaks. |
Throop University, housed in the Wooster Block, first opened its doors on November 2, 1891. There were 31 students and 6 faculty. The school was co-educational and advertised itself ``..as an institution of learning embracing the different departments and colleges of higher education, to furnish to students of both sexes and all religious opinions a liberal and practical education which, while thoroughly Christian, is to be absolutely non-sectarian in its character''. The brief circular which announced the event mentions that the Wooster block contains sufficient space for both instructional rooms and dormitories. The catalog for the next year, 1892-93, provides more detail and states that two floors of the Wooster building are being handsomely fitted up as living rooms for students and that it will be under the charge of the matron, Mrs. J.B. Sunderlin. The room rate is less than one dollar per week. The catalog also states that arrangements are being made for the opening of a Students Home Dining Hall in the immediate vicinity of the Wooster Building.
The photograph below shows the Wooster Building about 1898. In 1903 it will be incorporated into the last-added annex of the Green Hotel, seen in the rear center at the corner of Green and Raymond. The second photograph show the Wooster Building with its distinctive entrance in 2014.
|
|---|
| View east on Green Street from Fair Oaks about 1898. The Wooster Building is on right. |
|
|---|
| View south on Raymond from Colorado in 1928. |
|
|---|
| View north on Raymond from Colorado in 1890. |
In September, 1892, a new building known as Polytechnic Hall was built a short distance away at Fair Oaks and Chestnut Street. A two-storey brick structure, it was intended for the Manual Training Department. Partly because of this shift in the instructional emphasis, the institution was renamed the Throop Polytechnic Institute for the 1893-94 year. All class work was transferred to Polytechnic Hall and Wooster Hall was then fitted out as the students home.
|
|---|
| Polytechnic Hall about 1910. |
|
|---|
| Location of Polytechnic Hall. |
|
|---|
| Plan of Polytechnic Hall. |
Last updated 4/10/04.
Christopher E. Brennen