Campus Growth and Expansion

Claremont Men's College Campus, circa 1951-1952

An aerial photograph of the newly developed North Quad at CMC. The four-dormitory quadrangle consisting of Appleby, Green, Boswell, and Wohlford Halls stands completed; Pitzer Hall and the CMC President's House can be seen at the top left of the photograph. Hover over the annotation boxes for building locations.

Residence Halls

By the winter of the College’s first year, dormitories were deemed a pressing priority; George Benson, Robert Bernard, and Gerald Jordan began discussions with the Los Angeles-based architectural firm Allison and Rible on designs for a permanent dormitory. The firm submitted plans for a Monterey Colonial-style building that allowed direct access to its rooms from a ground-level gallery or from a second-story covered balcony. Open-air access to the rooms was both a cost-effective strategy and provided each student with a vivid and immediate view of the San Gabriel Mountains or the Pomona Valley. George Benson and the trustee building committee approved the plans and worked on details for three additional dormitories to complete a four-dormitory quadrangle.

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Funding for the first dormitory came from an inadvertent donor, Jerene Appleby Harnish. Mrs. Harnish initially gave a $75,000 endowment to the College in honor of her late first husband, Frank Bell Appleby, to support scholarship students from Thailand. However, Benson and the Board of Trustees negotiated an agreement with Mrs. Harnish to borrow against these funds for dormitory construction, and the building was given the name Appleby Hall.

Construction on Appleby Hall commenced in early 1947, and the building was available for student use by November 1947. The campus’ first dormitory was crucial for creating an image of future development and was officially dedicated on June 5, 1948.

A 1947 press release shows Appleby Hall as a welcome addition for those nonveteran students who had been living in temporary facilities in Bridges Auditorium during the College’s first year.

With the addition of Green Hall in 1948, Boswell Hall in 1949, and Wohlford Hall in 1950, a four-dormitory quadrangle with accommodations for 250 students was ready for use by the spring of 1950. The new dormitories were named in honor of their respective donors: CMC trustees Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence R. Green, donor Colonel James G. Boswell, and trustee Burnet C. Wohlford.

A student works at his desk in an Appleby Hall room, circa 1957-1958.

Housing classrooms and faculty offices, Pitzer Hall included a two-story administrative building facing west with four one-story classroom wings separated by landscaped patios extending to the east. An effort was undertaken to preserve as many of the trees on the acquired property as possible, including the stately eucalyptus trees leading to the building’s entrance.

Pitzer Hall

Completed in September 1949, Pitzer Hall was Claremont Men’s College’s first permanent academic building on the developing campus. In the spring of 1947, the Board of Trustees identified the long block running west from Amherst to Columbia Avenue between Eighth and Ninth Streets as a site for future expansion. Designated the “Pitzer Hall block,” the College began to acquire Pomona and Scripps-owned property, as well as privately-owned homes that occupied the site, including former Pomona College President Charles Edmunds’ home, which became the first CMC President’s House. Construction of Pitzer Hall began in early 1949; the completed building was dedicated officially on May 14, 1950. Seen as an architectural link with Pomona and Scripps colleges, the two-story winged and colonnaded Pitzer Hall signaled the arrival of Claremont Men’s College.

McKenna Auditorium and Student Fountain was built with the hope of improving student morale and well-being. The fountain portion would soon become known as the Hub, the persistent identity that migrated from its original location in the temporary Santa Ana units.

McKenna Auditorium and Student Union

By the beginning of 1950, Claremont Men’s College’s campus expansion was making progress with the completion of four dormitories and a central classroom and administration building. There were still many campus needs, however, and the students, faculty, and trustees all agreed that an auditorium and student lounge should be the next project. After a series of delays and augmented design plans, Donald McKenna enlisted his family to finance a 600-seat facility to be named in honor of his father, A.G. McKenna, with the Mothers’ Club supporting the construction of an attached student lounge. Construction commenced in November 1952 and the facility was dedicated on Parents’ Day, October 31, 1953, as McKenna Auditorium and Student Fountain (later, Student Union). With its state-of-the-art soda fountain, student lounge, and convenient auditorium, the facility added a further note of solidity to the young campus identity.

Professor Charles Povlovich teaches a class outside of Pitzer Hall South.

Pitzer Hall South

Initially, given the bank debt connected to the McKenna Auditorium and Student Fountain, it was thought that construction would temporarily cease at CMC. However, with the Korean War ending in 1953, Southern California and the nation were entering into a prosperous decade. So too, was trustee Russell Pitzer, whose business enterprises were prospering. While the McKenna Auditorium and Student Union was under construction, Pitzer made a substantial gift for a two-story annex to Pitzer Hall, which would include three classrooms on the first floor and nine faculty offices on the second. Construction on Pitzer Hall South began in February 1955; the new wing was ready for occupancy in September.

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Campus Beautification

Throughout the College’s early years, both students and faculty played an integral role in rock-clearing, landscaping, and other campus beautification efforts. Throughout 1948 and 1949, an ongoing effort known as “Operation Rockpile” saw students and faculty gather to clear rocks from various locations on campus in preparation for larger construction projects. George Benson took part in these efforts, painfully straining his back on at least one occasion in 1948. A humorous article in the March 19, 1948 edition of The Analyst speculated whether or not the physical education department would grant credit for the rock-clearing efforts.

Claremont Men’s College Campus, circa 1957-1958

This aerial photograph looking east at the Claremont Men’s College campus shows the growth and expansion the College had experienced over the course of just a few years. The campus stretches from Columbia Avenue at the bottom of the photo to Mills Avenue at the top, with a view of undeveloped land that would be acquired for CMC use in the future. Hover over the annotation boxes for building locations.

Tenth Anniversary Building Program

As CMC approached the tenth anniversary of its founding, its trustees launched an ambitious Tenth Anniversary Building Program to celebrate the milestone and accelerate the College into its second decade of expansion. Over a five-year span, the project budgeted at $800,000 saw the completion of nine major construction or improvement projects. By the early 1960s, the overall campus of Claremont Men’s College was complete.

Baxter Science Center

Baxter Science Center opened in 1955 at the corner of Columbia Avenue and Eleventh Street and served as a shared science center for CMC and Scripps College. It was named for Dr. and Mrs. George Baxter of Glendora; Dr. Baxter was a member of the Claremont College Board of Fellows. (Claremont Colleges Photo Archive, Claremont Colleges Digital Library)

Collins Dining Hall

With Story House becoming increasingly inadequate for a growing student body, the need for a free-standing dining hall became apparent. Funded in large measure by trustee and parent Whitley Collins, Collins Hall opened to students in the fall of 1957, seated 300, and offered magnificent views of Mt. San Antonio and the San Gabriel Mountains through its north window wall. (The dining hall was expanded in 1958 to accommodate students from Harvey Mudd College.)

Beckett Hall

CMC’s fifth dormitory, the two-story Beckett Hall, opened in the fall of 1957 and housed fifty-three students. It was named in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Garner Beckett; Mr. Beckett was the original chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Pitzer Hall North

Pitzer Hall North opened in 1957 and provided office and classroom space for the newly founded Harvey Mudd College until HMC could develop its own campus.

CMC Bookstore

A modest student bookstore was constructed between McKenna Auditorium and Wohlford Hall and operated by the Associated Students.

Gymnasium

A gymnasium for the CMC-Harvey Mudd athletics program was built for use by the fall of 1957, with a pool and field house added to the complex a couple of years later. In September 1974, the gymnasium was dedicated and renamed Ducey Gymnasium, in honor of physical education professor and longtime basketball coach Ted Ducey P'73, who died tragically in a flash flood accident.