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Amid the ivy-covered brick buildings and towering palm trees that dot the USC campus sits an unassuming two-story, 120-year-old, white clapboard building that is a direct link, not only to the school's founder, but also to Los Angeles' colorful past.
Built in 1880, Widney Alumni House, fondly known as Widney Hall, was USC's first building and has survived several moves on the campus.
It was built by one of 19th century Los Angeles' unique characters, a land promoter, attorney and judge who just happened-- as it fortunately turned out--to be a deadly pistol shot and "father" of the university.
Robert Maclay Widney was born a poor Ohio farm boy and left home at 16 with an ax, knapsack and rifle. Eventually, he hooked up with a wagon train--led by his future father-in-law--which arrived in Northern California in 1857. After working at odd jobs and graduating from Santa Clara's College of the Pacific, he taught math and geology while studying law and courting the wagon master's daughter, Mary Barnes.
In February 1868, Widney arrived in Los Angeles with $100 in his pocket, a small trunk and his new bride on his arm. When the couple's buggy pulled up to the two-story Bella Union Hotel on Main Street, Mary was dirty and still seasick after the harrowing ride up from Wilmington, where they had arrived by ship.
Her tall, bewhiskered husband, by contrast, cut a poised figure, well turned out in a suit and tie. The newlyweds not...