“Education offers the greatest opportunity for really improving one generation over

another.”--  W. K. Kellogg

Overview

   Before there was California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, there was the Voorhis School for Boys.  Originally located in San Dimas, Charles Voorhis designed the school to serve deserving but underprivileged boys.  The school opened in 1928 and included both learning and housing units for the students. The school’s curriculum focused on hand-on learning and agriculture.  Charles Voorhis’ son, Jerry Voorhis, served as the school’s Headmaster from 1928 until 1938, at which point Jerry Voorhis was elected to Congress.

    Unfortunately, the Great Depression forced the school to close its doors.  But Charles Voorhis refused to allow the students to be forced back into poverty.  The school and land were deeded to the State of California and the school re-opened as the Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, Voorhis Campus.

   The campus would eventually move from San Dimas to W.K. Kellogg’s horse ranch in Pomona.  In 1938 what would eventually become California State Polytechnic College, Pomona, was founded.  The school continued its hands-on approach to learning

     The students of the school began a school newspaper titled The Poly Post where they kept other students up to date on the latest gossip around campus and on world events.  Much of what we know about the World War II era on campus is drawn from the pages of the Poly Post.

WW2 and CPP

   Beginning in 1941, when the United States entered World war II, many of the senior students volunteered their services to their country.  As an agricultural school, many of the students who entered military service during World War II did not pursue assignment in the field but opted to work in other combat related fields. 

  The students who were left behind took on the task of publishing the school newspaper. 
The Poly Post regularly reported on the names and branches of service that the senior class students
were enlisted in.   It even occasionally published papers letters from the deployed students to their fellow classmen, with enlisted personnel telling old friends that they were okay. 

   During World War II approximately ninety six students who had attended Cal Poly Pomona and/or the Voorhis School for Boys served.   According to the last Poly Post published during World War II,
five students from Cal Poly Pomona and/or the Voorhis School for Boys had been killed in action.  Chris Wain, an alumnus of the Voorhis School for Boys later wrote that, “Many homeless and orphaned boys of all races were cared for at the Voorhis School during the ten-year period it operated. They went on to distinguish themselves in the armed forces during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as in their professions and ongoing community service.”[1]

   Even W.K. Kellogg himself played his part in the war effort.[2]  Kellogg was a generous man and felt that he did not deserve many luxuries in a time of war while others were in need and going off to fight.[3]   After regaining control of his land after long negotiations with the California State University system, Kellogg sold the Arabian Horse Ranch to the United States Army for one dollar.  The United States Cavalry took over the Horse Ranch July 1, 1943, and designated it as part of their Remount Services.  On October 28, 1943, the United States Army officially took control of the Horse Ranch, using the seven hundred and fifty acres of land to set up their headquarters for remount services, and designating the post the W.K. Kellogg Quartermaster Depot.[4]     W.K. Kellogg’s former residence on campus, the 8,777 square foot Kellogg House, served as a housing unit for the military during World War II.  The US Army put German and Italian prisoners of war to work improving the property.  After being under United States Government control for five years, the government deemed the depot as “surplus” and began seeking offers on the land, the horses, and other animals and equipment found on it.[5] 

After the War

   After the war ended, the campus returned to its pre-war task of education.  Enough students were now older, married veterans that the campus created a “Veteran’s Village.”  Consisting of seventy-five moveable houses and two hundred and thirty eight trailers, the Village had central wash rooms with electric washing machines. Residents were able to buy milk, poultry, and fresh fruits and vegetables grown on campus.  For faculty, the campus also created five four-unit apartments units in 1946 that housed twenty faculty families.

   Although women were not yet able to enroll as students, the California State Polytechnic Women’s Club, made up primarily of the wives of male faculty and students, operated a short-term Veterans Load Fund to assist needy veteran students. The university also created special programs designed to help students whose educations had been disrupted by World War II complete their degrees, and the college offered varying levels of elective credit for military service.[6]

     Much remains to be discovered about the scope of wartime efforts and the impact of World War II at what is today Cal Poly Pomona.