San Francisco County
MILLS
COLLEGE & SEMINARY
Rev. Cyrus T. & Susan L. Mills,
founders.
MILLS
COLLEGE and SEMINARY. This institution was
established at Seminary Park, Brooklyn, Alameda county,
California, in 1871. Its founders were Rev. Cyrus T. Mills, D. D., who
died April 20, 1884, and his wife, Mrs. Susan L. Mills. Both of them brought
to the work a large and varied experience, having been educators for more than
twenty years.
The
first school of which they were principals in California was the Young Ladies
Seminary at Benicia. There they labored seven years, their accommodations
becoming wholly inadequate to the demands of the school. Desiring to
establish on a permanent basis a seminary for young women, it was determined to
erect a new building upon a site better adapted to the purpose. As a
result the school was re-opened, under the most favorable auspices, August 1,
1871. Generous contributions have been made from time to time by the
friends of education, additional buildings have been erected, until Mils College and
Seminary is one of the most perfectly equipped institutions of learning on the
pacific coast. While the curriculum is not quite equal to the highest
standard of the East, it is as far advanced as the present stage of progress on
this coast will warrant. It is being strengthened each year, and it is
confidently expected that in a few years the diploma of Mills College will
represent a degree of mental discipline equal to the best.
Dr.
Mills was a graduate of Williams College and of the Union Theological Seminary,
New York. Mrs. Mills received her education under Mary Lyon at Mt.
Holyoke. Before coming to California they were connected with Batticotta College, India, and Oahu College in the Sandwich
Islands. Obliged by ill health to seek a more genial climate, they
purchased the school at Benicia from which Mills Seminary has sprung. In
1877 the large property was transferred by Doctor and Mrs. Mills to an
influential board, first having been legally incorporated. The work was
carried successfully forward until the time of Dr. Mills
death, April 20, 1884. In furtherance of his plans and by Mrs. Mills request, the board of trustees immediately took steps
for the organization of the college proper, and as a result, in 1885, the
institution was incorporated as Mills College.
Nearly
3,000 young women have been enrolled as pupils of Mills College. Including
the class of 1891, 430 have been graduated. There are now fifteen
scholarships, the interest of which is used to aid worthy pupils. Among
the endowments is one of $50,000, given by Mrs. Mills to establish the Mark
Hopkins chair of mental and moral philosophy. When the property was given
to the young women of the State by Doctor and Mrs. Mills, it was estimated to
be worth $275,000, but to-day it is worth at least $400,000. In the
establishment of so excellent an institution of learning, Doctor and Mrs. Mills
have recorded themselves benefactors for all time to come, and in the thousands
of minds yet to come under its training they have erected a monument the
proportions, magnitude and beauty of which will not be surpassed in
ages. They have given far more than mere money: have devoted their lives
to the work.
Transcribed
5-03-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.