Franklin La Du Ferguson

Franklin La Du Ferguson (June 21, 1861May 27, 1944) was a minister in the Congregational church and the second president of Pomona College in Claremont, California. He served from 1897 to 1901, the briefest tenure of any Pomona president to date. Early life Franklin La Du Ferguson was born at Tamworth, Ontario, Canada, in 1861 to John and Matilda Pomeroy Ferguson. His father was of Scotch-Irish descent, and his mother was descended from Mayflower Pilgrims. He studied for the ministry at Albert College and then at Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1888. He served as a pastor in Milford, Connecticut, and directed the Chadron Academy in Chadron, Nebraska. Pomona presidency Ferguson was selected as Pomona College's second president in 1897 by the college's board of trustees, who knew him as a representative of the Congregational Education Society who had successfully sought donors on the college's behalf. He succeeded Cyrus G. Baldwin, who the board had asked to resign that July amid a period of financial panic for the fledgling school. During his tenure, he focused on raising funds and oversaw the construction of Pearsons Hall, the President's House, and the first Renwick Gymnasium. The President's House has been home to eight Pomona presidents and is the oldest presidential residence still in use at any college or university in California.