Benicia Seminary

Three plaques on one monument trace a college back to Benicia, and the college they trace no longer stands on its own. The Young Ladies' Seminary opened here in 1852; Cyrus and Susan Mills bought it from Mary Atkins in 1865 and moved it to Oakland in 1871. The Old Timers' bronze of 1937 honors the pioneers, teachers and students of the early capital, and the state bronze and a parlor-and-alumnae plate followed in 1965. In July 2022, after an alumnae lawsuit, Mills merged into Boston's Northeastern University and stopped being a women's college.

What the plaque says

To remember the pioneers who believed in education and supported it: the teachers who dedicated themselves to learning and nourished it: the students who came for knowledge and grew to citizenship in the early capital of California Mills College Founded in Benicia 1852 Erected by Benicia Old Timers Committee A·D·1937 Site of Benicia Seminary The birthplace of Mills College. Founded in 1852 as the Young Ladies' Seminary of Benicia. Acquired from Mary Atkins by Cyrus and Susan Mills in 1865, it was moved to its present site in Oakland in 1871 and chartered as a college by the State of California in 1885. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 795 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Alumnae Association of Mills College, May 2, 1965. Erected by Benicia Parlor 89. N. S. G. W. Mills College Alumnae Assn. May 2, 1965

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Site of First Protestant Church — steps away
• First Building Erected in California by Masonic Lodge for Use as a Hall — steps away
• Saint Paul's Episcopal Church — steps away
• Fischer-Hanlon House — 0.3 mi