Dec 01, 2004 - Claremont, Calif. -

Founding President Joe Platt and his wife Jean

Harvey Mudd College founding President Joe Platt and first lady Jean Platt were honored with a special surprise in November -- the section of the street they helped "redesign" when the college was created in the mid-1950s has been renamed from Twelfth Street to Platt Boulevard.

The announcement was made at the annual retreat of the college's board of trustees in Palm Springs. HMC President Jon Strauss said, in making the announcement, "We owe a great debt of gratitude to Joe and Jean Platt, our founding presidential couple, who put in place so many of the programs and initiatives to which we owe so much of our current success."

Platt Boulevard includes the portion of what was Twelfth Street between Dartmouth Avenue and Mills Avenue. The street will remain named Twelfth Street west of Dartmouth. Addresses affected by the change are: 240, 241, 250, 260, 301, 324, 325, 385, 400, 402, 404, 406, 425, 445 and 495.

Joe Platt described the early evolution of Twelfth Street (now Platt Boulevard) in his book "Harvey Mudd College: The First 20 Years." The following describes the evolution of the HMC campus in 1956:

The initial campus was less than ideal because the laboratories our students would be using were on the opposite side of the Scripps College campus.... These problems could be resolved if Harvey Mudd College were to exchange about half its acreage for an equivalent area then used for the athletic field of Scripps College. The result would be to transform the Scripps College campus from oblong to more nearly square, and to conver the Harvey Mudd campus from a long north-south axis to a long east-west axis; our dormitories and the present and proposed laboratories would be accessible without crossing Scripps campus, and the newly created extension of Twelfth Street between campuses would give internal vehicular access.... Land would be exchanged square foot for square foot, and the new portion of Twelfth Street separating the campuses would be curved to make the trade even.

The college's new mailing address, 301 Platt Boulevard, is effective immediately. New stationery and other printed materials will be phased in over the course of the next year. A ceremony recognizing the Platts and the new street name will be part of Alumni Weekend April 30-May 2, 2005.

 

Don Davidson, Director of Public Relations
don_davidson@hmc.edu
(909) 607-7924, Cell (909) 936-8201