Henry - A History of Biola University Since 1908

177 Then came the buildings. The first one was the Ethel Lee Memorial Building, which houses Sutherland Hall, with an auditorium seating eight #.-~~- ------- - hundred. As soon as this auditorium=-was completed, Sunday afternoon Rallies were held, featuring prominent speakers, serving as a means of acquainting Biola's friends with the new campus and generating interest and enthusasim for the campus project. Other buildings including the Library, the ground floor of the Science Building, the Dining Hall, two women's dormitories, and a number of appartment-type buildings on the lower campus, were completec With these facilities available, the move to the new campus took place in the summer of 1959, a bit delayed for September registration. The fac- ulty and students had reached Biola's Promised Land. It was a bit shocking in many ways, because there was an absolute minimum of facilities to accom- modate classes, and many of the students still being housed in the downtown dormitories were bused back and forth. Instead of the private offices the faculty had enjoyed at the old location, a desk and a file cabinet in the corner of a class room constituted the typical office on the new location. A lack of funds had prevented any landscaping of the new campus, and everything was heavily coated with dust. The conditions, however, did not daunt the Administration, faculty, and students. All the Biola community simply rolled up their sleeves and went to work. A "workday" was announced early in the first semester, and classes were dismissed for the day. StudentE and faculty donned their work clothes, gathered tools, and began cleaning, with shining results. The first priority was more housing and equipment. Consequently, all the landscaping around the original buildings, the entr- ance to the campus, and around the circle in which the Seminary chapel is located was done by the faculty and students with funds from voluntary of- ferings. This was God's way of providing for the La Mirada Campus, Biola's "Promised Land."

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