March 22, 1924, was Charter Day at UC Berkeley. Elaborately celebrated each year up through that era, the 56th annual ceremony in 1924 featured the inauguration of William Wallace Campbell as the University of California’s president, according to the Berkeley Daily Gazette.
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Campbell had begun work in 1923, but delaying a UC president’s formal inauguration to a significant university occasion was traditional. Some 5,000 people gathered in UC’s Greek Theatre for the ceremony.
Among them were 200 delegates from other academic institutions around the world, a traditional way of honoring a major university’s new leader. California’s governor was on hand, the Gazette reported, and 10 “world-famous scholars and leaders in American industry were honored with the degree of doctor of laws” at the celebration.
Though the ceremonies began in the Greek Theatre, they were relocated midway to Harmon Gymnasium when rain began to fall. Charter Day annually commemorates the day in 1868 on which the then-governor of California signed the “Organic Act to Create and Organize the University of California.”
Buildings dedicated: On March 24, 1924, the university dedicated the new Le Conte Hall (now simply called the physics building) on the Berkeley campus.
Completed in 1923, the Gazette reported that “Le Conte Hall is one of the best designed laboratories for physics in the country, according to leading physicists who have visited and inspected it and is completely equipped for the study of physics and the carrying on of physical research. It is dedicated to the memory of John and Joseph Le Conte, former professors of the university.”
The next day, the campus held a dedication ceremony for Haviland Hall, the new home of the School of Education. The Haviland ceremony was supposed to be accompanied by the dedication of a marble chair in the Greek Theatre to Dr. Alexis F. Lange, the School of Education’s former dean, but rain delayed that part of it.
School bonds: A few days after the campus dedication ceremonies, the city of Berkeley’s school board discussed the need for a bond issue to facilitate construction of new public school facilities in town. The board was told that about $2.5 million needed to be raised for school renovation and new construction.
Among the projects was the construction of a new Hillside School, to replace the one destroyed by Berkeley’s September 1923 fire.
Couple passes: On March 17, 1924, Dr. Frederick I. Kingsbury and his wife of 47 years, Leulla, died a few hours apart from each other in the Berkeley home of their daughter at 7 Shasta Road.
She died first, and he died shortly after. The Gazette reported that they were “New England people” but had been living in Berkeley for two years.
Election approaching: On March 22, 1924, the Gazette called on readers to register to vote in Berkeley’s May 6 election. Key measures would be on the ballot, including the proposed repeal of the city ordinance that banned wood shingles.
Kite festival: That same day, 100 Berkeley schoolboys turned out for a “kite-flying contest” at the former Garfield School. Ribbons were awarded for “strongest pull,” “best design” and “best construction.”
Rabies outbreak: West Berkeley had a rabies outbreak in late March 1924. On the afternoon of March 26, nine people in the area were bitten by dogs and “four animals believed to be suffering from the disease (were) locked up at the city pound.”
The most seriously injured was a girl bitten on the thigh; almost all of those bitten were children ages 2 to 7.
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.