Page "University of California" Paragraph 16

Meanwhile, Congregational minister Henry Durant, an alumnus of Yale, had established the private Contra Costa Academy, on June 20, 1853 in Oakland, California.

The initial site was bounded by Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets and Harrison and Franklin Streets in downtown Oakland.

In turn, the Trustees of the Contra Costa Academy were granted a charter on April 13, 1855 for a College of California.

State Historical Plaque No. 45 marks the site of the College of California at the northeast corner of Thirteenth and Franklin Streets in Oakland.

Hoping both to expand and raise funds, the College of California's trustees formed the College Homestead Association and purchased 160 acres ( 650, 000 m² ) of land in what is now Berkeley in 1866.

But sales of new homesteads fell short.