BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH I N 1906 a young men's Bibl e class was organi zed in the Immanuel Presbyteria n Church by Rev. T. C . Horton, Bible teacher of the C hurch. Thi s cl ass soon took on larger proportions and was named "The Fish ermen 's Club. " A short time late r Mr. D. H. Stee le, a n elder of t he same ch urch and manage r of a depa rtment store, requested Mrs. Horton to ope n a Bible class fo r the young women of hi s store, offe r ing a large room for the purpose . The class g rew to large numbers by t he com ing in of young wome n from ot he r sto res and was named "The Lyceum Club. " F rom such young people the first stude nts of the Bibl e Inst itute we re rec ruited. In the Fall of 1907 Mr. Horton secured the co-operation of Rev. A. B. Pritchard, pasto r of Central Presbyte rian Church, a nd some day classes were held in the lecture room of that church. It soon became cl ear that a bui ld ing was needed , and seve ral weeks we re spe nt in sea rch of proper quarters. A loca tion was secured on South Main Street, not an ideal loca ti on, but the best then offe red. O n Februa ry 25, 1908, a meet ing was ca lled to effect a pe rman en t organi za tion. At t h is meeting the following persons we re elected as office rs : Lyman Stewa rt , Pres i dent ; A. B. Pritcha rd , Vice-Pres id ent ; T. C. Horton , Supe rinte nde nt ; R. A. Hadden , Assoc iate Superintende nt ; B. C. Atte rbury, Sec reta ry, and L eon V. Shaw, Treas urer. There was a rapid deve lopme nt of the school. Mess rs. Horton , Hadden and Pritchard formed t he Faculty a nd took up the teaching wo rk. From the begi nning t he school was eva ngeli stic in character. Shop meetings were take n ove r and con ducted, Bible Women 's wo rk was organ ized, a work among Jews was commenced, as was also Span ish Mi ssion wo rk , and wo rk among the men of the oil fields, and Exte nsion classes were orga ni zed in the city a nd surrounding towns . In 1911 the Boa rd of Directors decided upon a n ad vance movement and ca ll ed Dr. R. A. Torrey as Dean. Dr. Torrey entered upon his d uti es in Ja nua ry, 1912. In order to mee t the enlarg ing needs and to pro vide a more suitabl e and pe rma nent home fo r the school, a n ew site was purchased at Sixth a nd Hope Stree ts and a building was put up, g rou nd for whi ch was broken on June 22, 1912, and the bui lding was dedicated th e fo ll owin g year. Dr. Torrey co ntinued as Dean until 1924, whe n he again e nte red t he eva ngelisti c fi eld . Ea rl y in the yea r of 1925, Dr. John M . Maclnni s e ntered upon hi s duties as Dean of the Inst itute, in which capacity he served un til the close of 1928. l n the spri ng of I929 Dr. Wi ll iam P. White was elected Pres ident of the In st itute, and Dr. E lbe rt L. McCree ry was appointed Dean of th e Faculty. O n the resig nation of Dr. W h ite in the Fa ll of 1932, Dr. Louis T. T albot, pastor of the Church of th e Open Door, was elected as Pres ident and se rved un ti l th e com ing of Dr. Paul W. Rood , who was install ed as Pres id ent in Se ptembe r, 1935. Legal ly known now as The Bible In stitute of Los Angeles, In co rporated, thi s inst itution-wit h a true pionee r spi rit- has take n a forward step in th e fi eld of Chri s tia n educa tion. First, it has stre ngthened its courses mate ri all y; and, in the second place, the Insti tute has app lied for and has rece ived State authori za tion for t he con ferring of ce rtain degrees. At t he present time, courses are offe red which lead to the degrees of Bachelor of Theology and Bachelor of C hri stian Educa t ion . Rece ntl y, a four-yea r music course has been pla nned a nd authorized, and thi s course will lead to the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Mu sic. Thi s forward step does not mea n any depart ure from the theolog ical and spi ritual standard s of this institution. We adhere ri gidly to our statement of fa ith in eve ry detail.
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