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45-397: The company was organized on 10 May 1866 by an august group of investors that included D. O. Mills , William Alvord , and James G. Fair . Other large stockholders included Leland Stanford , James Flood , Alvinza Hayward , and William Ralston . Also among the men associated with this pioneering venture was Patrick Noble who started as a clerk in 1868 and eventually served as an officer of

90-521: A further, but unsuccessful, petition for assistance was made to the Legislature in which the following dignified and illuminating language was used: - "Your petitioners have, for a number of years past, been assiduously engaged in rearing and maintaining a literary institution that might essentially aid the cause of Literature and Science in our favored country. Under the smiles of Providence, their academy has been rising and its pupils multiplying until

135-497: A member of the prominent Ogden family of New York and New Jersey. He was educated at North Salem Academy and Mt. Pleasant Academy . Shortly after his father's death in 1841, he began working as a clerk in a small general store in New York City at the age of 15. At age 21, he moved to Buffalo, New York , at the invitation of his cousin, Elihu J. Townsend (the son of Malinda Ogden Townsend, his mother's sister), and became

180-664: A mineral spring in Saratoga, California the chemical content of which was almost identical to Saratoga Springs, New York for a reported $ 2,000. In 1866, they opened the 14-room Congress Hall to great local acclaim, and in 1872 sold the property to Lewis P Sage and son for approximately $ 25,000. Also in 1864, with other investors, he founded the Bank of California , which grew large in the 1860s and 1870s, but collapsed due to financial irregularities involving its chief cashier, William Chapman Ralston . Mills used his personal fortune to revive

225-485: Is a former military school established in 1814 to provide in Ossining, New York , a school of the first order, where young men might be prepared for college, or for active business life, and where the influences thrown around the students should be such as to develop courteous and manly men. The academy closed sometime in the 1920s. Money for the establishment of the school was raised through voluntary contributions from

270-539: Is associated with the advent of steel frame buildings at the turn of the century and the increased popularity of this building method following the Great Fire of 1906. The infrastructure projects for San Francisco and California undertaken in the teens, 20s and 30s, and the build-up of the Bay Area's industrial capacity for the war effort in the 1940s are important not only to Potrero Hill and San Francisco, but also to

315-409: Is scant record of the conduct of the school from 1814 to 1820, but on March 24 of that year an act was passed in the Legislature of New York, incorporating Mount Pleasant Academy and from that time on have been preserved full and complete records of the school. The worthy aims of the school are quaintly set forth in an advertisement printed in the "New York Commercial Advertiser" for April 28, 1823, over

360-459: Is unique and is one of which any school might be proud. In 1833 the stone building, now known as Junior Hall, was erected, and it is interesting to know that the money for this building was loaned to the school by the Hon. William Jay, son of Chief Justice Jay, himself, as well, a great jurist, a public spirited citizen and one of the best known and most highly respected men of his day. About this time

405-430: The 1950s, and even the late 1960s. The four buildings at the 17th & Mississippi Streets site that constitute the last extant structures associated with this steel producer were part of a remarkable and unique story in which outstanding contributions to the history and culture of both San Francisco and California (indeed, the entire Western region) were made. The Pacific Rolling Mill, which began incrementally constructing

450-487: The Associate Principalship of Messrs. Benjamin and Allen began, to continue until the death of the former in 1883. Major Benjamin was a graduate of Norwich University and he proved himself to be an able disciplinarian and a successful man of business. Mr. Allen graduated from Middlebury , was a man of scholarly attainments and of natural aptitude as a teacher. He had, too, the ability to win and hold

495-717: The Bank and returned to Sacramento , where he founded his own bank, the " Gold Bank of D. O. Mills & Co. " This was helped significantly by a cousin from the English branch of the Mills family, Charles Mills, 1st Baron Hillingdon , who ran the Glyn, Mills & Co. bank in London . He never invested in gold mining or silver mining directly, as he considered mining to be too speculative. He rather started ancillary businesses that supported

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540-523: The Mills Estate housing subdivision , San Francisco's Mills Building , and Mills High School . The city of Millbrae , California , is named after his estate. The San Francisco airport was formerly named Mills Field, after him. The California State Capitol rotunda houses a statue donated by Mills that depicts Queen Isabella financing Christopher Columbus's initial voyage . Mt. Pleasant Military Academy Mt. Pleasant Military Academy

585-520: The New York banks refused to lend money on the security of the U.S. Treasury notes without his endorsement. He advanced the means to maintain the military school at West Point, to continue the recruiting service in Connecticut, and to pay the workmen that were employed in the manufacture of arms at Springfield". But he did not overlook the movement for better education in his native county. There

630-560: The Pacific Rolling Mill Company was the genesis of a profound and remarkable pioneering steel-making operation whose work, heritage, and impact journeyed well into the 1950s: This was the small but not humble beginning of a corporation that in the next three quarters of a century was to be one of the great builders of the West, constructing both the tools of peace and the engines of war, the wheels of transportation and

675-468: The State and is subject to the supervision of that department. The Principal is responsible to a board of trustees. By 1830 the school had outgrown its accommodations and the trustees began to plan for greater things. The old school property was sold and the land on which the school is now located was purchased. Again subscriptions were called for and this time the sum of $ 3,356.10 was pledged by friends of

720-616: The State of New York, New York University , Stevens Institute of Technology , Columbia Teachers College, University of Wisconsin , Yale University , William H. Taft, Office of the Mayor of New York City, and the Adjutant General of the State of New York." Mount Pleasant Hall , or Mr. Brusie's School for Young Boys, adjoined the Mount Pleasant Academy grounds on the north for some number of years. The property

765-618: The United States from 1817 to 1825. It was characteristic of the man that in the midst of his herculean tasks as defender of the State during the second war with England, he could find time to devote some attention to the little school at Mount Pleasant. It is said of Tompkins that he "did more than the Federal Government for the success of the operations on the Canada–US border, pledging his personal and official credit when

810-575: The bank, along with Sharon, and attract new investment, and within three years, the bank was again strong. In 1880, two years after resigning from his second term as the president of the Bank of California, Mills returned to New York, where he participated in the development of a number of buildings in Manhattan, including 160 Bleecker Street, or " Mills House No. 1 ". He also invested in the Niagara Falls Power Company , one of

855-549: The buildings at the turn of the 20th century, was a pioneering steel fabrication company led by the visionary Noble family. Patrick Noble and his senior executives created their business from the predecessor Pacific Rolling Mill located at Potrero Point and their legacy at the reorganized Pacific Rolling Mill in lower Potrero Hill continued in successive mergers of the company over an 80-year period. Founder Patrick Noble died in October 1920. His son, Edward B. Noble, continued leading

900-414: The buildings heretofore occupied by the institution have become wholly inadequate to their comfortable accommodation." So the school went on with varying fortune until, with the entrance of Mr. C.F. Maurice as Principal in 1845, it came to its own. Mr. Maurice evidently was a rare man and he gave to the school a distinctive atmosphere that it retains to this day. On March 1, 1860 Mr. Maurice withdrew, but

945-517: The bulk of the land going to the Paul W. Trousdale Construction Company in 1953 and eventually becoming Mills High School , Spring Valley Elementary School, and Peninsula Hospital. The 150 acres (0.6 km ) of the original estate bordering San Francisco Bay were leased by his grandson Ogden L. Mills to be used for Mills Field, now known as San Francisco International Airport . On September 5, 1854, he married Jane Templeton Cunningham (1832–1888),

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990-651: The cashier of the Merchants' Bank of Erie County, and later a one third owner. In December 1848, he took an exploratory trip to California, through the Isthmus of Panama , where he joined the California Gold Rush , following two of his brothers, James and Edgar Mills. By November 1849, he had made $ 40,000 (~$ 1.16 million in 2023) and decided to make California his permanent home. Therefore, in 1850, he returned to Buffalo where he sold his interest in

1035-403: The city, either by land or water; good medical advice, and the use of several churches." Even today we need add little to these quaint words except possibly to say that daily communication with the city has been replaced by an hourly train service. But the village boat still leaves its dock in the early morning, returning from the city with the lengthening shadows of evening. In 1824 application

1080-402: The company through successive mergers until retirement in 1945. Landmark buildings and structures that Pacific Rolling Mill Co. and its successor companies helped build include: Pacific Rolling Mills has also produced steel that was used in the construction of a number of famous battleships, including: Darius Ogden Mills Darius Ogden Mills (September 25, 1825 – January 3, 1910)

1125-564: The company. After the Pacific Rolling Mill's original operation closed at Potrero Point , Patrick Noble reorganized and carried on the company at the foot of Potrero Hill, at 17th and Mississippi Streets. Noble's successor enterprise retained the same name as the original company and utilized much of the very same equipment that was first installed at Potrero Point. As documented in the book, A Romance of Steel in California ,

1170-575: The confidence of boys. The association, therefore, of these two men was a happy one for the school and under them Mount Pleasant continued to prosper. From 1883 to 1894 Mr. Allen was sole principal, rounding out in 1894 a period of service extending over thirty-two years and covering a most prosperous period of the school's history. From 1894 to 1895 Mr. Elijah Cook was the principal with Mr. Charles F. Brusie, formerly Professor of English in Kenyon College, as Associate. In 1895 Mr. Brusie assumed

1215-622: The cordial spirit in which the colleges and universities co-operated with Mount Pleasant in its Centennial Celebration a few of the letters received [have been listed] below: Armour Institute of Technology, Brown University , Colorado College , Columbia University , Johns Hopkins University , Cornell University , Dartmouth College , Harvard University , State University of Iowa , Lehigh University , Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Northwestern University , Oberlin College , University of Pennsylvania , Princeton University , University of

1260-713: The daughter of Elizabeth Griffiths (1809–1869) and Scottish born James C. Cunningham (1801–1870), who was a pioneer and shipowner. Together, they had a son and a daughter: He died of a heart attack in 1910 at his Millbrae home, leaving an estate worth $ 36,227,391 (~$ 857 million in 2023). His remains were returned to the East Coast for burial in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York . A number of local institutions are named for him, include Isabella I of Castile Mills Hospital,

1305-621: The entire state of California, and indeed the nation. The (partial) list of buildings, vessels, and structures listed below spanned decades of production by the Pacific Rolling Mill and its successor companies, the Judson-Pacific Company and the Judson Pacific-Murphy Corporation. The heritage of the Pacific Rolling Mill Company carried on in the executives, workers, and skilled expertise of each subsequent merged company. This legacy lasted well into

1350-508: The first large power companies organized in the United States. His devotion to philanthropy involved sitting on the boards of a number of charitable and cultural institutions. He was a trustee of the Carnegie Institution from 1902 to 1909. Mills bought part of Rancho Buri Buri from José de la Cruz Sánchez and built an estate named Millbrae (also known as the Mills estate and the Mills mansion), which gave its name to

1395-563: The great members of bridges and office buildings and factories. (Source: A Romance of Steel in California, p. 9) While its predecessor plant at Potrero Point on the San Francisco Central Waterfront was clearly instrumental in the growth and industrial rise of the Bay Area and California in the period following the Civil War, the successor Pacific Rolling Mill firm in its nearby location in lower Potrero Hill

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1440-574: The higher classics, sufficient to qualify them for admission into any of the American colleges, and more particularly for Columbia College, in the City of New York; or prepare them for the various stages of life. The Academy is pleasantly situated on the banks of the Hudson, within 33 miles of the City of New York, in a healthy village, possessing many local advantages, among others a daily communication with

1485-441: The keynote of its teaching is "service". What the educational world and the public generally think of Mount Pleasant's past and its outlook into the future can best be judged from the list of colleges and universities that thought it worth their while to be represented at this celebration, by the letters and telegrams received from men of culture and influence and by their expressions of approval printed on these pages. Just to show

1530-431: The laboratory of the university rather than to the secondary school where boys are trained to be men. In material equipment Mount Pleasant has successfully met the demands of the times, providing all that is necessary to the comfort, safety and happiness of the growing boy, but teaching always simplicity of life and living. Honesty, thoroughness, graciousness, real manliness are the watchwords at Mount Pleasant Academy, and

1575-434: The management of these two gentlemen the school starts out on the second century of its existence. During its hundred years of service Mount Pleasant Academy has kept pace with the advance of education, standing always for that which is permanent and substantial and opposed to the element in the educational world that is every crying for change, evidently thinking that all change must be progress. Mount Pleasant has adhered to

1620-675: The mining industry, such as banks and railroads. He was a part owner of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad , which was the only link from the Comstock Lode to the Central Pacific Railroad . The major shareholder in the railroad was William Sharon , whom William Ralston had sent to Virginia City as representative of the Bank of California. In August 1884, Mills, Alvinza Hayward , a San Francisco mining tycoon, and several other investors purchased 720 acres encompassing

1665-441: The old principle that true education, particularly for the secondary school, is about synonymous with mental development, and, therefore, for a boys' boarding school the question is not so much "what?" as "how". In these days Mount Pleasant would probably qualify as a conservative progressive, holding on to the best of yesterday and not too eager to experiment with the possibilities of tomorrow, holding that these experiments belong to

1710-426: The people of Westchester County, New York , and elsewhere. The first contribution was made on November 13, 1813, and up to August, 1831, the sum of $ 1,083.81 had been contributed. It would seem, therefore, that almost from the start the school had been self-sustaining. The first name on the list of contributors is that of Daniel D. Tompkins , Governor of the State of New York from 1807 to 1817 and Vice President of

1755-475: The present town that grew up around it. The estate took three years to build and was an imposing three-story structure featuring 42 rooms, a conservatory , a carriage house , a gatekeepers house, three artificial lakes, a dairy farm, 37,000 acres of land (at its peak), and various manicured gardens. Due to a large fire, the estate burned down in June 1954. After the fire the estate was subdivided and sold, with

1800-472: The principalship, associating with him Mr. A.T. Emory, a former teacher at Mount Pleasant. In 1902 Mr. Emory withdrew and since that time Mr. Brusie has been at the head of the school completing in June, 1914 a service of twenty years at Mount Pleasant Academy. In 1913 Mr. Brusie associated with him Dr. Edward D. Graber who for six years had been principal of the High School at Greenwich, Conn., and under

1845-418: The school. In all, then, there was raised for the school, by voluntary contributions, $ 4,439.91, during the ninety-six years of its existence, and there was approved by the Legislature $ 1,200. All other funds for improvement and development have been derived from the legitimate revenues resulting from the careful and businesslike management of the school throughout its existence of almost a century. This record

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1890-460: The signature of General Aaron Ward, Secretary of the Board of Trustees and one of the original incorporators of the academy. General Ward says in part: "In this Seminary the academic year will commence the 1st of May next. The Trustees, therefore, respectfully beg leave to recommend it to the public, as an institution where youth are taught, by easy graduation, from the first rudiments of knowledge to

1935-550: Was a prominent American banker and philanthropist . For a time, he was California's wealthiest citizen. Mills was born in North Salem , in Westchester County, New York , the fifth son of Hannah Ogden (1791–1850) and James Mills (1788–1841), a supervisor, postmaster and justice of the peace for the town of North Salem. His maternal grandfather was William Ogden (1767–1815), who was from Dutchess County and

1980-638: Was made to the Legislature for financing aid for the academy and an act was passed on the 17th of November of that year providing a fund which ultimately netted the school about $ 1,200. On the 3rd day of April, 1827, a new charter was granted to the Academy by the Regents of the University of the State of New York and under that charter the school is directly responsible to the Department of Education of

2025-467: Was soon after elected a member of the board of trustees where he continued to serve the school faithfully and well for many years. In 1860 Messrs. Benjamin and Phelps were chosen principals, the latter retiring in 1864. In October 1867 we find the names of Stephen Gilman and J. Howe Allen associated with that of Major W.W. Benjamin as principals of the school. Mr. Gilman was graduate of Harvard College, but his connection with Mount Pleasant ended in 1869 and

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