Women Who Built the Berkeley Campus: a Virtual Tour

It is a short walk south and west to Haviland Hall, dedicated in 1925 and endowed by Hannah Stoddard Haviland. The Cornwall Historical Society in Cornwall, Connecticut, compiled a list of eight women whom it designated as “Cornwall Women of this Era.” The era referred to was 1818 to 1867, and the criteria for selection were community residents who had moved west, successfully handled the ruggedness of frontier life, and “established themselves in new lands while staying in close contact with family who remained here.” Included in the list were Hannah Stoddard and her sister Elizabeth.

Hannah Stoddard was born in 1826. As a young woman she traveled west to Sacramento to reunite with her sister who had married Collis Huntington.  Soon after her arrival in 1851, Hannah married Daniel Hammond, Collis Huntington’s partner in the San Francisco hardware business of Huntington, Hammond, & Co. The partnership was dissolved after several years and Huntington then teamed up with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins to found the Central Pacific Railroad connecting the east and west coasts of the country. Hannah’s husband, Daniel Hammond, was an active participant in this enterprise. He passed away in 1868 leaving his entire estate to his wife.

 In 1872, Hannah married John Haviland, a prominent San Francisco merchant. The Pine Street firm of Haviland, Hooper, and Co. was importers and retailers of crockery, glassware, and cutlery. John Haviland was also active in the banking community of the city.

Hannah Haviland died in 1919 at the age of 94 with no direct heirs. Her only child had drowned at the age of 16 at the site of one of Huntington’s railroad projects.   In her will Haviland bequeathed $250,000 to the University of California for the construction of a building to house the School of Education. Haviland Hall, named for Mrs. Haviland, was formally dedicated in 1925 with speeches by University president Campbell, the state superintendent of public instruction, and leaders of the local education community. It was one of the final buildings designed by John Galen Howard on the Berkeley campus. Since 1963 Haviland Hall has been occupied by the School of Social Welfare.