Juxtapositions: “Wow, There Have Been a lot of Changes Since We Graduated!”
While photographing the construction site from the south Loma Linda Hills the other day, I ran into a Texas couple. He was an alumnus from the School of Medicine and she was a graduate from the School of Allied Health. Both marveled at the changes that had taken place, in around the campus, since they had graduated. They were astonished by the height of the hospital towers rising like sentinels overlooking the campus and the valley around. The comments about the growth of the campus gave me pause as I thought of the pioneers who founded the campus and what their reaction might be if they stood on the hill overlooking the campus below. Gone is the rural community, gone are the fruit trees, gone are the gardens, gone are the farm animals: chickens, goats, and cows, gone are the horses and buggies, gone is the Sanitarium on the hill, and gone are the dirt roads, And so this post is dedicated to them and to those who were acquaited
looking out over the valley floor with the The Mound or the Hill Beautiful dominated the campus for 113-years. It was in mid December 2018, that the steel structure of the Loma Linda University Adult Hospital tower exceeded the height of the mound.
Photo credit: The black and white period images in this post are used courtesy of the Loma Linda University Heritage Room.
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨