Westmont College history

In 1940, it became a liberal arts college and Doctor Wallace Emerson was its first president.

By 1944, Westmont College had outgrown its facilities in Los Angeles.

Westmont purchased this property and moved to the Santa Barbara area in the fall of 1945.

Spring Sing (a student tradition since 1961)

The Coyote Fire began on September 22, 1964 in a canyon near Westmont's campus.

The Sycamore Canyon Fire began on July 26, 1977 when a kite blew into power lines.

Otterbein Towers Winter/Spring 2005

In 2006, Westmont received a gift pledge of $75 million from an anonymous donor, the second largest gift ever to a national liberal arts college at the time.

David Winter returned as chancellor and interim president for a year until Gayle D. Beebe became the eighth president in July 2007.

On November 13, 2008, the steep and wooded Westmont campus was heavily damaged in the Tea Fire, which started in the hills near Montecito.

In September 2009 Westmont was informed that the donor withdrew the pledged $75 million gift, which caused the college to put off construction of two new buildings.

No campus buildings were destroyed, and students returned to start the spring semester as scheduled on January 8, 2018, only to evacuate again on January 10 because of the threat of mudslides following the fire.