The Era of the Founders (1880–1921)

Some 1,000 people,10 percent of the population of Los Angeles, turned out on September 4, 1880, to witness the laying of the cornerstone of USC's first building (today's Widney Alumni House). Just a month later, on October 6, USC opened its doors to 53 students and 10 faculty. The young university experienced seven boom years, followed by fiscal uncertainty in the 1890s. While elsewhere in the country the Carnegies, Cornells, Rockefellers, Stanfords and Vanderbilts were heavily endowing universities, USC forged ahead largely on the energies of its faculty, deans, presidents and trustees. As the population of Los Angeles grew from 11,000 in 1880 to 319,000 in 1910, USC struggled to keep up with the demands of a rapidly expanding Southern California community. The years of World War I (1914–1919) again demonstrated that USC, while vulnerable to economic cycles, was nevertheless resilient in difficult times.

During the era of the founders, the forerunners to today's schools or departments of education, dentistry, law, music, fine arts, marine biology, sociology, philosophy, journalism, pharmacy, business, religion and engineering all were added to the university.

1880

The university formally opens, with 53 students and 10 teachers. The College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is established, the first library is started, and a university band and a debate team are formed. Marion McKinley Bovard is named USC's first president, serving until his death in December 1891.

1881

USC's first dormitory, Hodge Hall, is opened.

1884

USC's School of Music is founded. USC holds its first commencement, with a graduating class of three students (one woman and two men).

1885

USC's College of Medicine, the first in Southern California, is established. USC's first endowed faculty position, the John R. Tansey Chair in Christian Ethics, is created. The university's first alumni organization is formed in the College of Liberal Arts, with 100 percent participation among the eight graduates of the classes of 1884 and 1885.

1887

USC's fine arts school opens off-campus in Pasadena's Arroyo Seco.

1888

USC plays its first football game and trounces the opponent 16– - 0.

1892

Dr. Joseph P. Widney (brother of Robert Maclay Widney, and first dean of the USC College of Medicine) accepts the task of coping with the financial difficulties of the period and becomes USC's second president. Widney is to serve the university for three years, asking little compensation, before leaving the presidency to resume his medical practice. USC's first student newspaper, a four-page weekly called the Rostrum, appears.

1895

The Rev. George W. White, presiding elder of the Los Angeles District of the Methodist Episcopal Conference, becomes USC's third president. President White finalizes reorganization of the two existing corporations of the University and the College of Liberal Arts, merging them as the University of Southern California on November 11, 1895. Enrollment increases to more than 500 students. USC adopts cardinal and gold as its official colors.

1896

USC's law school begins when a group of apprentices form a voluntary association to study under a prominent attorney. James Brown Scott, head of the nascent institution, exhorts the students to create a "law school of permanent character."

1897

USC begins training students in dentistry, establishing what is to become the first dental school in Southern California, and for 56 years the only dental school in the southwestern United States.

1902

USC's second school newspaper, the monthly Cardinal, is published.

1903

George Finley Bovard (brother of USC's first president, Marion McKinley Bovard) is named USC's fourth president.

1904

USC's first Olympic athlete, Emil Breitkreutz ('06), brings home a bronze medal for the 800 meters.

1905

USC's School of Pharmacy opens, as the first in Southern California.

1906

The USC Department of Physics begins offering courses in engineering, the precursor to USC's College of Engineering (established in 1925).

1909

USC establishes a department of education, which obtains full school status nine years later.

1911

President William Howard Taft visits the USC campus.

1912

Los Angeles Times sportswriter Owen R. Bird dubs USC's spirited athletic team the "Trojans". Fred Kelly wins USC's first Olympic gold medal for the 110-meter high hurdles. Greek letter societies are established. The Los Angeles Times announces that USC is "the first institution of its kind in the world to recognize the importance of the automobile" by establishing a course in that subject. The first edition of the Daily Trojan is published.

1914

A group of international students at USC founds the Cosmopolitan Club to "promote friendship" among students from Asia, Latin America and Europe.

1915

Ten-year-old Teresa Van Grove enrolls at USC, making her the youngest Trojan. USC's Department of Sociology is created.

1917

USC President George Finley Bovard makes the following announcement: "There are two kinds of institutions, both of which have their place. One is the small college, placed by itself and sufficient to itself, with country surroundings and its campus remote from the city. The other is the city institution - the university which tries to solve the problems of the city." The Board of Trustees decided that the University of Southern California should become and should remain a city institution.

1918

Mrs. Amy Winship, girlhood friend of Abraham Lincoln, attends USC at age 87 and is fondly nicknamed "the oldest co-ed in the world."

1919

USC's Department of Architecture opens, becoming the first of its kind in Southern California.

1920

USC's program in social work is founded. USC establishes the College of Commerce and Business Administration — the first business school in Southern California . The USC Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is established, reemerging three years later as the Graduate School.

1921

Bovard Auditorium, one of the oldest stage facilities still operating in the Los Angeles area, is completed.