Caltech Library News

The Campus turns 100

Throop Hall, Caltech's first building, dedicated June 8, 1910. Photo ID 40.4-70

Caltech celebrated the centennial of its founding in 1991, but the current campus is having its own 100th birthday in 2010. The complex of six schools that formed Throop Polytechnic Institute, Caltech’s predecessor, broke apart in 1910. The first building on the current campus, Throop Hall, was dedicated June 8, 1910, and was paid for by the citizens of Pasadena—and was originally named Pasadena Hall. The campus occupied the 28 acres bounded by Wilson and Hill Avenues on east and west and by San Pasqual Street and California Boulevard on north and south—only about 20 percent of the present grounds. The newly reformed Throop was to be collegiate only and devoted to the education of top-level engineers and scientists. The former lower division became the independent Polytechnic School, located just across California Boulevard from the new college.
Until it was irretrievably damaged by the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, Throop Hall stood at the center of the new campus.  The original campus plan dates from 1908.  It was later superseded by the work of renowned architect Bertram Goodhue. Posted 5-3-2010