How Biola Was Founded K t the turn of- the century California was a land of great expectations and little more. The gold boom was peter ing out and the demand for oil was Bible Institute of Los Angeles. The first class (see cover & pages 46-49) was drawn largely from the Fishermen’s and Lyceum Clubs and met upstairs over a poolhall.
A few years later Lyman Stewart and his brother Milton gave over a million dollars to build the present B iola buildings. When Lyman Stewart died in 1923 co-founder Horton in a very simple and direct way summed up the life of this great Christian businessman. Said Horton: “Mr. Stewart was a man of one Book—the Bible. He believed it. He was never moved by the opinions of men concerning it. He had tasted its sweetness. He had tested its strength. He had triumphed in its sovereignty. He found in it the supply for every need of life, the solution for every problem.” Over the years B iola has expanded its pro gram (see chart on opposite page) to keep pace with the tremendous population of the Far West. Today this school that has graduat ed men like Percy Crawford, Charles E. Fuller, Dick and Don Hillis and Irwin Moon is once more expanding. To provide room for a larger student body B iola is in the process of build ing a brand new $3 million, 50-acre campus just outside the downtown congested area. And it’s the kind of move, old timers say, that would have pleased T. C. Horton and Lyman Stewart. This team of a warm-hearted Bible teacher and a dedicated Christian businessman had that precious ability of seeing a future need and doing something about it.
yet only a mere trickle. Even the most opti mistic businessman could hardly have foretold that in another 50 years the population center of America would be shifting to the Far West. One of the optimistic businessmen of that era was Lyman Stewart, founder of the Union Oil Company. Stewart was a devout Presby terian who had some pretty definite ideas about using his money where it could do the most good. The first step of his plan was to start a small Bible institute in a downtown Los Angeles church. From this his interest turned to the Philippines that had only recently come under U.S. control. The institute idea was given up and the Bible House of Los Angeles was founded to provide Spanish New Testa ments and other gospel literature in the Philip pines and other Spanish-speaking countries. Just as this new work was getting a good start Stewart recommended and brought to Los Angeles Rev. T. C. Horton to become Associate Pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church. In addition to his other duties Horton organized the Fishermen’s Club for young men in 1906 and the next year the Lyceum Club for young women was started by Mrs. Horton. By this time Stewart’s first love of starting a Bible institute cropped up again and together he and Horton planned and formed the present
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O C TO B ER , 1955
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