Golden Gate University - History

History

The university evolved out of the literary reading groups of the San Francisco Central YMCA at a time when, according to one contemporary estimate only one of every two thousand men had a college education. GGU shares its YMCA roots with a number of other U.S. universities, including Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts), Roosevelt University, Youngstown State University, and Michigan State University College of Law. On November 1, 1881 at the YMCA building at 232 Sutter Street, which the organization had occupied since 1868, the YMCA Night School was established. Classes were offered in bookkeeping, mathematics, stenography, elocution, Spanish and gymnastics. Successful completion of these courses led to a certificate that was recognized by more than 100 colleges and trade schools. Other offerings of the association would include a common school for boys. In April 1894 the YMCA moved to a new five-story building at the northeast corner of Mason and Ellis Streets.

The night school was renamed the Evening College on October 1, 1896 and became a full-fledged operation in 1901 with the creation of a law school. The law school was the first of the Y's educational departments to offer a full degree-level course, and thus the University traces its founding to the law school's establishment. Courses in Accountancy and Business Administration leading to the degree of Bachelor of Commercial Science began in 1908. Later, courses in foreign trade were added. The YMCA building was destroyed in the fire that followed the 1906 Earthquake. Following the earthquake, the school was conducted out of tents, and later leased space at 1220 Geary St. (now Geary Boulevard near Franklin Street in the Western Addition). In November 1910 the school moved into the YMCA's new building (closed in 2009) at 220 Golden Gate Avenue at Leavenworth Street, also in the Tenderloin.

A student contest resulted in the adoption of the new name Golden Gate. originally suggested by law student Charles H. Pool, Jr. (1895–1977) (LLB 1925) because contest judges thought it symbolized "romantic California." The institution was separately incorporated from the Central YMCA on May 18, 1923 as Golden Gate College with the power to confer degrees as California law then provided. The college became fully independent of the YMCA in 1962; however, the "Y" contributed members to the school's Board of Trustees for some time thereafter.

The college continued to share the YMCAs building until June 1968, when it moved into the Allyne Building, a warehouse at 536 Mission Street originally built in 1924 as the showroom and wholesale department of Sherman, Clay & Company, a large retailer of pianos, records, record players, and other musical instruments. The College had purchased the building at auction in April 1964, and the Law School had occupied the first two floors since December 1964.

In 1972, the College expanded and elevated itself to university status. In 1979, a new "west wing" of the university was completed, where most of the classroom space is located today.