The Voorhis Connection
University's History Linked to Fond Memories at Small School for Boys in San Dimas

During a recent reunion, Voorhis alumni visited the landmark chapel at the former Voorhis School for Boys in San Dimas.

Avon Carlson was an agriculture student at the California Polytechnic School in San Luis Obispo in the summer of 1938 when university president Julian McPhee asked him to drive a stake-sided truck loaded with filing cabinets and books down to the former Voorhis School for Boys in San Dimas.

Carlson arrived at the school and fell in love with the secluded citrus tree-lined campus situated on 157 acres of lush land with giant California oaks, a running stream and graceful Mediterranean-style buildings.

Nearby, Charles Voorhis, a pioneer in the automotive world who had established the school for underprivileged boys, and McPhee were busy wrapping up the land transfer of what would later become the Voorhis Unit, the Southern California campus of the Cal Poly school. Little did Carlson know he would be one of its first students.

The Voorhis Unit opened in the fall of 1938 with an all-male enrollment of 110 students working toward vocational and technical certificates in citrus production, ornamental horticulture and agricultural inspection.

Mario Cota reads an inscription on Voorhis Rock, which was originally on the San Dimas facility and moved to Cal Poly Pomona in 1997 when Voorhis Park was established.

Nearly 70 years later, Voorhis alumni continue to hold strong ties to and memories of the oorhis Unit, and it is their contributions to the university's early days that has helped to shape Cal Poly Pomona's mission, values and traditions today.

"The gift of the Voorhis School for Boys in San Dimas to Cal Poly is considered the genesis of the Cal Poly Pomona campus as we know it today," says Ron Simons, associate vice president for university development. "Mr. Voorhis was impressed with the type of program taking place at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and was eager to replicate that opportunity in the Southland."

Cal Poly Pomona's learn-by-doing philosophy was first prevalent at the Voorhis Unit where students received hands-on training in their chosen fields, worked alongside professors on major projects and solved real-world problems in classrooms and laboratories. The school's first intramural sports teams were formed at the Voorhis Unit, and the university mascot "Bronco" was adopted in 1940, an alteration of "Junior Mustang" first named after the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's "Mustang."

Al and Elaine Cavaletto and Earl Carlisle reminisce as they look over old yearbooks in the Voorhis library.

University traditions were also started at the Voorhis Unit. In the fall of 1948, a group of students received an invitation to construct a float for the 1949 Rose Parade, and Voorhis students worked to build the "Rocking Horse" float, which received an Award of Merit that year. The tradition continues today, with the 2004 float marking the 56th consecutive Cal Poly Universities float entry.

In addition, Voorhis students became involved with the annual Los Angeles County Fair where they displayed ornamental horticulture exhibits and livestock including Kellogg Arabian horses. During the later years, Cal Poly Day at the Fair was instituted, as well as a Cal Poly handicap horse race. To this day, Cal Poly Pomona remains involved in displaying exhibits at the fairgrounds.

Betty House shares memories with Reginald "Red" Sutherland and fellow Voorhis alum.

The Voorhis student body outgrew the San Dimas facility less than two decades after its doors opened. In 1956, 550 students and 30 faculty members moved one mile away to the Kellogg campus, an 813-acre horse ranch donated in 1949 by breakfast cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg.

"Eventually it was the successful experience of operating the Voorhis campus over that next 10 years convinced Mr. Kellogg to donate his Arabian horse ranch to Cal Poly for yet an even larger expansion," says Simons. "The rest is, as we say, 'history'."

In 1997, Voorhis Park was established on campus featuring "Voorhis Rock," a large boulder originally located at the San Dimas campus that was moved to Cal Poly Pomona. The park serves as a reminder of the 1938 gift of the Voorhis School for Boys, the beginning of what is now an educational institution serving nearly 20,000 students and more than 2,600 faculty and staff.

Karl Bakken and Joe Randolph look for former classmates in the old yearbooks.

Last November, Carlson gathered with more than 50 other Voorhis alumni at a reunion to celebrate the university's original campus community. The group looked over old yearbooks and talked about how far the university has come since its early days at the San Dimas location.

"It was so beautiful there. It was an honor to serve and be involved at the Voorhis campus where it all began," says Carlson, now 85 years old.

Historical information in this article was found in Donald H. Pflueger's "California State Polytechnic University, Pomona: A Legacy and a Mission 1938-1989."