Ayer Cottage

First home of Pomona College
First home of Pomona College
	Ayer Cottage in 1887
Location	Corner Mission Blvd and South White Street, Pomona, California
Coordinates	34°03′17″N 117°45′33″W / 34.05483333°N 117.759041666°W
Built	1887
California Historical Landmark
Designated	June 27, 1938
Reference no.	289
	Location of First home of Pomona College in the Los Angeles metropolitan area

Ayer Cottage was the place of first meeting of Pomona College on September 12, 1888, in Pomona, California in Los Angeles County.^[1] It was designated a California Historic Landmark (No. 289) on June 27, 1938. It was built in 1887, and in 1888 rented to the college so that classes could be held there. The cottage had five rooms, each used as classrooms.^[2] The cottage has since been demolished and is now a burger stand at about 500 S White St., although a commemorative marker on the site is present.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Role in Pomona College history

Pomona College was incorporated on October 14, 1887, by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. Tuition was initially set at $60 per year for the Collegiate Department.^[2] After holding classes at Ayer College for two years, it planned to relocate to Piedmont Mesa north of Pomona, but was instead offered the site of an unfinished hotel in Claremont, California, a few miles away. The trustees chose to accept the offer, and the college relocated there in 1889 but kept its name. The hotel building would eventually become Sumner Hall, the current location of the college's admissions office. The college's first graduating class, in 1894, had ten members.^[5]

Pomona College founders’ values led to the college's belief in educational equity. Like other Congregationalist-founded colleges such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Bowdoin, Pomona received its own governing board, ensuring its independence.^[5] The board of trustees was originally composed of graduates of Williams, Dartmouth, Bates and Yale, among others.

Pomona College went on to become the founding member of the Claremont Colleges consortium in the 1920s. Today, it is fully nonsectarian, and is widely considered the premier liberal arts college on the West Coast.^[6]

Marker

The marker on the site reads:^[1]

On this site, September 12, 1888, was held the first session of Pomona College. 1937 by Historical Society of Pomona Valley. (Marker Number 289.)

California Historical Landmarks reports:^[1]

NO. 289 FIRST HOME OF POMONA COLLEGE - Pomona College, incorporated October 14, 1887, held its first class in this small frame cottage on September 12, 1888. Those in attendance consisted of a mere handful of eager students, five faculty members, and the president, Professor Edwin C. Norton. Five months later, in January 1889, the college moved to an unfinished boom hotel on a plot of land in the town of Claremont.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d californiahistoricallandmarks.com 289, First home of Pomona College
^ ^a ^b "Pomona College Timeline: 1888". Pomona College. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
^ calisphere.org, Ayer Cottage
^ claremont.edu, Ayer Cottage
^ ^a ^b "History of Pomona College". Pomona College. September 2006. Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2007.
^
Characterizations of the reputation of Pomona College:
- Barber, Mary (November 15, 1987). "Claremont Colleges: What began 100 years ago in an empty hotel surrounded by sagebrush has evolved into a unique success in American higher education". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2020. Several studies rate Pomona as one of the country's best private liberal arts colleges
- Childs, Jeremy (October 5, 2023). "The surprising source of a million-dollar Pomona College scholarship fund: School's beloved registrar". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 5, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2023. prestigious liberal arts school
- Fiske, Edward B. (July 6, 2021). Fiske Guide to Colleges 2022 (38th ed.). Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-4926-6498-7. the undisputed star of the Claremont Colleges and one of the top small liberal arts colleges anywhere. This small, elite institution is the top liberal arts college in the West.
- Goldstein, Dana (September 17, 2017). "When Affirmative Action Isn't Enough". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021. an elite liberal arts school
- Greene, Howard; Greene, Matthew (August 16, 2016). The Hidden Ivies (3rd ed.). New York: Collins Reference. p. 550. ISBN 978-0-06-242090-9. the leading liberal arts college west of the Rocky Mountains
- Ringenberg, William C. (December 1978). "Review of The History of Pomona College, 1887–1969". The American Historical Review. 83 (5). Oxford University Press: 1351–1352. doi:10.2307/1854869. JSTOR 1854869. one of the most respected undergraduate colleges in America
- Wallace, Amy (May 22, 1996). "Claremont Colleges: Can Bigger Be Better?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2020. Considered one of the finest liberal arts institutions in the nation