From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 -- "Westerward the course of empire takes it way" -- and thus inspired the name of the new city. A plaque was put on this spot on Charter Day in
1896.
