Redwood City almost became a college town

Horace Hawes, a millionaire when the term really meant something, wanted to build Mount Eagle University on land that was part of his Redwood Farm in Redwood City. Hawes died in 1871 shortly after he published a deed of trust for the university, which would have been located on the site of today’s John Gill Elementary School. Not surprisingly, the John Gill School was built on a hill known as Mount Eagle. One condition of the deed was that the state or other parties would have to come forward with $6.1 million to assure maintenance of the university.

Unfortunately, Hawes’ widow brought suit to break her husband’s will and gain the property for herself and her children. The challenge was interesting enough for the New York Times of March 25, 1871, to publish the story under the headline “Horace Hawes’ Will Title to the Mount Eagle University Ground to be Contested.” The widow won, but the suit dragged through the courts for many years, costing Mrs. Hawes, who died in 1895, most of her huge fortune.

Mount Eagle University would have been a full university “for men, educating them in law, medicine and science,” according to the Redwood City Democrat, which printed the terms of the will. Hawes envisioned homes of 3 acres each for faculty members. The president would receive 15 acres. If Mount Eagle University had become reality, Hawes’ choice for president would have been Edward Evans, a former Michigan State professor.

“If Horace Hawes had had his way with his property, Redwood City would have long since had a state university,” Redwood City Tribune columnist Ray Spangler wrote in 1958. He was commenting on a letter from a reader who wondered why there was no state college on the Peninsula.

“Redwood City is approximately located an equal distance between San Francisco and San Jose, in which cities colleges are already located,” the writer said, adding that Redwood City should “become a college town with all of the ensuing ‘class’ the name ‘college town’ implies.”

The letter was in response to an earlier Spangler column about state colleges.

“Somehow, when the state undertook a joint study of state colleges and branches of the University of California, San Mateo County’s figures were misrepresented and lost,” Spangler reported.

Even without Mount Eagle University, Redwood City owes a great deal to Horace Hawes. For one thing, he gave the city the right-of-way for the railroad to pass through town. In 1863 he donated land for the first large public school in town. When the school was built, however, the trustees had a tough time raising the money for the structure. Hawes donated the amount needed to finish the job. He later gave Redwood City the land that would eventually became the site of the city’s main fire station on Middlefield Road, a distinctive structure destined to become Redwood City’s Main Library 68 years later in 1988.

Not only is Redwood City indebted to Hawes, so is San Mateo County. At one time, the land that is now known as the Peninsula was part of San Francisco. Hawes, who was elected to the state Assembly in 1856, introduced the Consolidation Act that created the City and County of San Francisco. San Mateo County was established with the remaining land.

Hawes’ name lives on in the Hawes’ Park baseball and soccer field in Redwood City. The sporting venues opened in 1934, but in 1955 the city turned over a large part of the park to the school district. The decision led to the birth of Hawes Elementary School, which was among four schools that recently closed.

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CORRECTION to the Sept. 9 column about the Pulgas Water Temple: The Spring Valley Water Company, not the Crystal Springs Water Company, developed the Crystal Springs reservoir.

The Rear View Mirror by history columnist Jim Clifford appears in the Daily Journal every other Monday. Objects in The Mirror are closer than they appear.