Pomona College was established as a coeducational institution in October 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to create “a college of a New England type” on the West Coast. Classes first began in a rented house in Pomona in September 1888. The following January, the school was moved to Claremont after a piece of land, with an unfinished hotel on it, was given to the college. The unfinished hotel would eventually become Sumner Hall and would house Admissions and the Office of Campus Life. Despite the move to Claremont, the school kept the name Pomona College, and graduated its first class of ten students in 1894.
Pomona has always believed in educational equity, and in 1904 it graduated Winston Dickson, who became one of the first African-American students in history to attend Harvard Law School. Like other Congregationalist-founded colleges (others include Harvard, Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Bowdoin) Pomona was given its own governing board, ensuring its independence. The board of trustees was originally composed of graduates of the selective East Coast schools that Pomona wished to emulate. In recognition of the college’s rapidly growing stature, Southern California’s first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established there in 1913.
By the mid-1920s, Pomona was quickly expanding, which led then-president James A. Blaisdell, to call for “a group of institutions divided into small colleges—somewhat of an Oxford type—around a library and other utilities which they would use in common.” This move allowed Pomona to keep its small, liberal arts-focused teaching while at the same time creating the resources of a larger research university. On Pomona’s 38th anniversary in 1925, the Claremont Colleges were incorporated. The Claremont Colleges continued to grow, and in 1997 the consortium reached its current status, with five undergraduate and 2 graduate institutions.
Pomona College is located in Claremont, CA, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The downtown area of Claremont is known as “the Village,” and is only a block away from campus. Offering a variety of shops and restaurants, the Village is currently expanding with the new “Village West,” which will house some new restaurants and a five-screen art cinema. Claremont is home to about 34,000 people, and it boasts pristine, tree-lined avenues and historic buildings. It is sometimes called “the City of Trees and PhDs.”
Pomona’s campus is also less than five miles south of the San Gabriel Mountains. Mount San Antonio (also known as Mount Baldy) is 14 miles north of campus and visible from much of it. The Mount Baldy Ski Lifts are a popular spot for students to ski and snowboard in the winter. On clear days, the Chino Hills are visible to the south and the San Bernardino Mountains to the east.
Los Angeles is a short drive away, and the city offers entertainment, jobs, internships, shopping, restaurants, beaches, and much more to students, many of whom have a car and will regularly go into the city. Being near Hollywood also gives entertainment-minded students a chance to start learning about the business and getting involved in it.
Joshua Tree National Park (or more familiarly, “J-Tree”) is only about an hour from campus. This expanse of desolate high desert is home to the beautiful Joshua tree made famous by Tom Wolfe in his book, The Right Stuff. Students go to J-Tree to hike, bike, and camp.
Pomona’s campus covers 140 acres in Claremont, CA. It includes 59 buildings, 12 of which are residence halls. The campus is bounded by First Street borders the campus to the south, Mills and Amherst Avenues to the east, Eighth Street to the north, and Harvard Avenue to the west. Pomona is divided into North Campus and South Campus, with Sixth Street running roughly through the middle. Many of the older buildings are in the Spanish Renaissance Revival and Mission Styles, and are only one or two stories in height. Later buildings have taken inspiration from these styles, with usually three or fewer stories and stucco walls. The architecture, along with the grassy quads and abundant trees, gives the college a country club atmosphere.
South Campus consists of mostly first-year and sophomore housing, as well as academic buildings for the social sciences and humanities. Some buildings of note include Harwood Court, a dorm built in 1921, Oldenborg Center, a foreign language housing option for sophomores, Sumner Hall, Pomona’s first building, Bridges Auditorium, used for concerts and speakers with a capacity of 2,500, Bridges Hall of Music, a concert hall built in 1915 with seating for 600, and Carnegie Building, which dates back to 1929 and houses the politics and economics departments.
Marston Quadrangle is located between Carnegie Building and Bridges Auditorium. Developed in 1923, it contains 101 trees, ranging from sycamores to redwoods, and helps further Pomona’s attempt at being “a college in a garden.” The Organic Farm, or simply, “the Farm,” is located in the southeastern corner of campus. Created by a group of sustainably-minded students on a piece of fallow campus land, the farm has been incorporated into the curriculum of the environmental analysis program at Pomona.
North Campus is similarly a mix of residential and academic buildings, the majority of which house the science departments, including the Richard C. Seaver Biology Building, built with environmentally friendly features. The Lincoln and Edmunds Buildings, completed in 2007 and also on North Campus, were the first in Claremont to be awarded a gold certification award from the US Green Building Council’s LEED Program.
Located on the south side of Sixth Street (but still considered North Campus) is the Smith Campus Center, which is home to the mailroom, the Coop student store, student government, and two restaurants. Administrative offices are located in Alexander Hall.
Also on the south side of Sixth Street, the Rains Center is the main athletic facility, with a fitness center, a gym, and locker rooms. Next to Rains are the Merritt Football Field, Alumni Baseball Field, and Haldeman Pool. Walker Beach and Wig Beach are two large, grassy recreational areas of the campus. Students are commonly seen playing volleyball, sunbathing, and studying on these fields throughout the year.
The biggest issue at Pomona of late occurred in March 2004, when a professor from Claremont McKenna vandalized her own car. The car was found with its windows broken, its tires slashed, and the body of the vehicle spray-painted with racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic comments. No one knew who was responsible at first, and the act was seen as a hate crime. Pomona is a very liberal and diverse campus, and students and faculty are quite sensitive about issues of discrimination and race. Classes were cancelled for a day, professors gave speeches about the incident, and there was general student uproar.
A week after the incident, the Claremont Police and the FBI announced that the vandalism was actually committed by the owner of the car and that the entire incident was a hoax. The case was then turned over to the District Attorney's Office for review.
