Founders' Rock is a historical site located on the corner of Hearst Avenue and Gayley Road, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, U.S.. The spot, according to college lore, where the 12

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

s of the College of California, the nascent

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, stood on April 16, 1860, to dedicate the property they had just purchased. This is, supposedly, the same spot where Frederick H. Billings stood in 1866 when he remembered

Bishop Berkeley George Berkeley ( ; 12 March 168514 January 1753), known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, writer, and clergyman who is regarded as the founder of "immaterialism", a philos ...

'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, by the graduating class. It is listed as one of the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since March 25, 1982; listed as a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

since March 25, 1982; and a Berkeley Landmark since February 25, 1991.

References

University of California, Berkeley National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places California Historical Landmarks Berkeley landmarks in Berkeley, California {{AlamedaCountyCA-NRHP-stub