Founders' Rock facts for kids

Founders' Rock
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Founders' Rock
Founders' Rock Location in Oakland, California Show map of Oakland, California Founders' Rock Location in California Show map of California Founders' Rock Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Berkeley, California
MPS	University of California, Berkeley MRA
NRHP reference No.	82004642
Quick facts for kids Significant dates
Added to NRHP	March 25, 1982

On the corner of Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, in Berkeley, California, lies the Founders' Rock, the spot, according to college lore, where the 12 trustees of the College of California, the nascent University of California, Berkeley, stood on April 16, 1860, to dedicate the property they had just purchased. This is, supposedly, the same spot where Frederick Billings stood in 1866 when he remembered Bishop Berkeley's verse — "Westward the course of empire takes its way" — and thus inspired the name of the new city. A plaque was put on this spot on Charter Day in 1896.