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/.. or they would include a twenty-seven acre tract they owned in the vicinity of Rosecrans and Avalon Boulevard in the southern section of Los Angeles, as a part of the payment. The oil Company fia-d-·o-;;,;n-ed-- t -his land for many yean . and no longer needed it, and to sell . it outright at current prices would mean they would have to pay a heavy appreciation tax on it. Since Biola was a non-profit organization, they were willing to let them take advantage of the profit. Following investigation of this offer,the Board accepted it. Within two years the property was sub-divided and sold for a net profit of $158,000.00 in addition to the original price that was allowed by the Oil Company. Althgether, Biola had realized a net profit of $443,000.00, on the "postage stamp" lot, which meant they now had a seventy-five acre campus site and a net balance of $105,000.00, with which to begin construction of the campus buildings, all from the little lot on Hope Street. God had finally brought Biola through its wilderness wanderings to its Jordan River. Before it lay the Promised Land. Would they trust God, Who had delivered them from Egypt? Obviously, the Board and Administration had great faith and courage even though they may have felt like "grasshoppers' in the sight of the giants of the land they must overcome. Wisely, they trusted God for the occupation of the land. The contract for the grading of the campus site was let in January, 1957. Soon the land was literally crawling with grading equipment, and when the campus roads were laid out and the pads for the various buildings were leveled, a special "Ground Breaking Ceremony" was held on Sunday afternoon, may 26, 1957. This was a gala affair, quite different from the ''Ground Breaking Cermony" in June, 1912, at the old Sixth Street site. Among the large crowd gathered on the site were many prominent persons participating, including Mrs. Lyman Stewart, Dr. Sutherland, and Dr. Myers. The "Golden Shovel" was used to turn a shovel full of earth symbolizing Biola's taking possession of the land.
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