Mills College was originally founded in 1852 as a young ladies’ seminary. It was the first women’s college west of the Rockies.
Aurelia Reinhardt, PhD, was born in 1877 and served as President of Mills College in Oakland, California, from 1916-1943. My grandmother was born in 1886. Somehow or other, my grandmother knew somebody who knew Aurelia Reinhardt. When she learned that I was going to Mills College she gave me a photograph album. Here are the photos. Some of these places are still there today and some are not. Mills made headline news in the 1990’s when economic troubles threatened to force it to go coed. The students and alumni rallied, protested, and raised enough money to keep it all women.