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buildings. Why Mira
Hershey chose to make such a large gift to the young campus is a matter of speculation. However, Hershey’s lawyer knew UC Regent Edward Dickson, and visited his office in the late 1920s during early construction on the Westwood campus. It is not known whether Regent Dickson formally proposed the idea of Hershey’s supporting the new campus, but given Hershey’s unusual standing as a woman with a college education, combined with her activities as a property developer and philanthropist, the fit was a natural one. It is also the case that Mira Hershey lived in proximity to UCLA's two educational antecedents: (1) the Los Angeles Branch of the California State Normal School founded in 1881 and lasting until 1919; and (2) the Southern Branch of the University of California, which operated from 1919 until 1927, when the school was renamed The University of California at Los Angeles. Mira Hershey's first home on Bunker Hill was a block from the Normal School. Her second home at the Hotel Hollywood was about 5 miles from the Southern Branch.
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Northridge earthquake of 1994 caused considerable damage to the West Wing
Addition and it was deemed unsafe for residential use. In 1998, Hershey Hall was converted from residential to academic uses, providing offices and classrooms. In 2006, the West Wing was demolished and, in its place, two towers of the Terasaki Life Sciences Building were built, opening in 2012. Following seismic reinforcement, repairs, and upgrades, Mira Hershey Hall reopened for administrative uses in the Life Sciences in 2012.
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211:. She was so impressed with the new hotel she decided to buy it. It turned out to be a great asset because the fledgling movie industry was developing quickly and the Hotel Hollywood became the temporary residence of almost all the top actors and movie moguls. It was so successful that Mira Hershey had the hotel extended so that it took up the complete block on the north side of
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A year before her death in 1930, Mira
Hershey added to her will a bequest of $ 300,000 to UCLA to support the construction of Hershey Hall, a residence for women students, the university's first on-campus dormitory. The Westwood campus had opened the year before, in 1929, and consisted of only four
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opened in
October of 1931 for 137 residents. In 1959, the "West Wing Addition" opened for male students. Together, the two wings housed 327 residents. In 1969, Mira Hershey hall became coed housing for graduate students, though only women were ever allowed to live in the original 1931 building. The
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Mira
Hershey attended Pennsylvania Female College, located near Philadelphia in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Assuming Mira Hershey went to college in her late teens or early 20s, she would have been at the college in the mid- to late-1860s, that is, during the Civil War. It is not known if Hershey
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Mira
Hershey died on March 6, 1930, having suffered a stroke a few days earlier. A funeral service was held at Hollywood Cemetery Chapel under the auspices of the Humanist Society, of which Mira Hershey was a member. She was cremated and her ashes were taken to Muscatine, Iowa, for burial in the
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Opened in 1853, Pennsylvania Female
College is said to have been the first regularly chartered non-denominational college for women in the United States with degree-conferring powers. (Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr were all established later, and older women’s colleges tended to be
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character.” These “solid branches” consisted of Greek and Latin, mathematics, astronomy, natural history, chemistry, anatomy/physiology, philosophy, and logic. The college also made provision for “the ornamental branches” of education that were the standard fare of women’s schools of the
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Mira
Hershey made numerous gifts during her lifetime to institutions in Los Angeles most significantly Good Hope Hospital Association, later the Good Hope Medical Foundation, incorporated in 1925 with a founding gift of around $ 1,000,000
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After completing her studies abroad, Mira
Hershey worked for her father in the family lumber business from the 1870s until her father's death in 1893. Mira was left a substantial legacy by her father when he died.
149:(1813–1893), a lumber and farming magnate. She was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but her family moved to Muscatine, Iowa, in 1853. Her sisters were Mary Amanda, Elizabeth, and
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in 1894. She purchased real estate on Bunker Hill and commissioned the building of a
European-style mansion at 4th Street and Grand Avenue, which she occupied for ten years.
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seminaries connected with religious institutions.) According to the college’s 1868 catalogue, “The first importance is given to the solid branches, and studies of an
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between Highland and Orchid Avenues. She added beautiful gardens to the frontage and inner courtyard. The hotel became a favorite tourist attraction on the
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137:(November 14, 1843 – March 6, 1930) was a civic leader, businesswoman, property developer, Hollywood hotel proprietor, and philanthropist.
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230:, called the Naples Hotel. She sold this hotel just before the great financial crash of 1929 before any guests had stayed there.
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In the early 1920s, Mira Hershey served on the Advisory Board of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Los Angeles, founded by
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In Mira Hershey's estate, whose total value was around $ 6,000,000, she made the following bequests:
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trolley car service. Sometime in the 1920s, the name of the hotel changed to the Hollywood Hotel.
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was the first hotel built on this important street. She also built a hotel in the Naples area of
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https://web.archive.org/web/20090418175321/http://www.myancestralfile.com/hershey/pafg01.htm
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Mira Hershey never married. She spent her later years at the Hotel Hollywood with friends.
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Mira Hershey Hall at UCLA on Hilgard Avenue in Westwood, Los Angeles, California
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Mira Hershey made several gifts to her hometown of Muscatine, Iowa, including:
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time—subjects like modern languages, music, art, needlework, and singing.
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285:$ 100,000 for the establishment of a loan fund for needy students at UCLA
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Mira Hershey went on to build two more hotels. The Hershey Arms Hotel on
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Almira, better known as Mira, was the fourth and youngest daughter of
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Lutheran Home for the Aged and Orphaned Children (gift made in 1895)
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An historical account of Pennsylvania female college, 1853-1880
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282:$ 300,000 for the construction of a women's dormitory at UCLA
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The Benjamin Hershey Memorial Hospital (opened June 26, 1902)
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History of the Lumber and Forest Industry of the Northwest
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Early Hollywood by Marc Wanamaker and Robert W. Nudelman.
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Sometime around 1906 she took a horse and buggy ride to
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American businesswoman and philanthropist (1843–1930)
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312:$ 5000 to the Young Women's Christian Association
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370:The Story of Hollywood by Gregory Paul Williams.
424:. Collegeville, Pa.: The Glenwood association.
332:, who deeded his purpose-built library, the
300:$ 25,000 for the Los Angeles Orphan Asylum
294:$ 25,000 for the Los Angeles County Museum
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122:Learn how and when to remove this message
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288:$ 50,000 for the McKinley home for Boys
527:American businesspeople in real estate
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334:William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
303:$ 10,000 for the Orthopedic Foundation
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306:$ 10,000 for the Children's Hospital
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60:adding citations to reliable sources
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435:Hotchkiss, George Woodward (1898).
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453:"Will Gives Fortune to University"
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297:$ 25,000 for the Maternity Cottage
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315:$ 5000 to the Academy of Science
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27:UCLA University Archives
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309:$ 10,000 for Resthaven
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