In 1853, Henry Durant, a Congregational minister and Yale graduate, left New England and set out west to California, saying he had “college on the brain.”

Ever since California was admitted into the Union in 1850, Durant had dreamed of pioneering education in the new land. His decision to move in 1853 was also likely influenced by the recent death of his young daughter.

Soon after arriving he met a fellow Reverend and New Englander, Samuel Willey. Willey had been sent by the American Missionary Society to bring Christianity to the miners.

He, too, dreamed of opening a school. Durant and Willey joined forces and opened Contra Costa Academy in Oakland as a college preparatory school for boys, where they initially taught just three pupils.

Henry Durant eventually scraped together the funds to buy land between 12th and 14th Streets and Franklin and Harrison, and then more funds to pay for construction.

Durant slept in the unfinished building with an axe by his side, scared the contractor would try to repossess the building due to Durant's low funds.

Unfortunately, the site has since been paved over for a parking structure. There is a very nice plaque, though, that marks it as California Historical Landmark #45.

In 1855, Henry Durant's school was granted a charter for the College of California, and five years later the College of California was fully operating.

Durant taught Greek and Latin at pre-college and college levels. A few years later, the college trustees purchased a nice piece of land along the banks of Strawberry Creek for a more rural location.

On April 16th, 1860, the trustees gathered at the location of Founders' Rock to dedicate their new campus. Founders' Rock is at the corner of Hearst and Gayley, where a plaque memorializes their gathering.

This is also said to be the location where the city of Berkeley was named, when in 1886 Frederick H. Billings recalled Bishop Berkeley's verse: “Westward the course of empire takes its way.”

The school still had financial problems, but their prayers were soon answered: in response to the Industrial Revolution, Congress passed the Morrill Act to grant land to establish agricultural, mining and mechanical arts colleges (A&M).

With the help of the Morrill Act, College of California merged with the new Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Arts College to form the University of California in 1868.

When the university opened, there were just 10 faculty members and 40 students. John LeConte was briefly acting president, until Henry Durant became the first official president; he only held the position for a couple of years, though, resigning due to his old age.

Classes were still held in Oakland while the new Berkeley campus was being built. With the completion of North and South Halls in 1873, the university relocated to its Berkeley location.

South Hall is currently the oldest building on the Berkeley campus. It is located in the heart of campus, near the Doe Library and the Campanile (Sather Tower).

After Henry Durant resigned from the university, he was elected mayor of Oakland in the two years leading up to his death in 1975. Today, he is memorialized in a street name, a hotel, and a bar.

The Boalt Memorial Hall of Law was renamed for Henry Durant after the law school moved in 1951.

In 2010, after a renovation, Durant Hall reopened as the new home for the offices of the deans of the UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science. The building was designed by campus architect John Galen Howard and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Located at 2600 Durant Avenue, the Hotel Durant (now the Graduate by Hilton Berkeley) was built, in the Spanish Colonial style, in 1928. It was named for Henry Durant. The bar, Henry's, is also a tribute to him.

When the hotel opened it was described as a “modern luxury hotel.” President Harry Truman stayed at the hotel once.