College City, as a town, spring into being when a school was built with the money from the sale of property left by the will of Andrew Pierce, who died on or about April 25, 1871. The settlement was located on a gravel ridge sixteen miles south of the town of Colusa, nine miles west of the Sacramento River, about five miles east of the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Arbuckle now being the nearest place.

            Peirce was a shoemaker by trade, and in 1849 he came to California from Massachusetts, his birthplace. He engaged in ox-team freighting between Sacramento and Shasta, California. On one of his freighting trips, while he and his companions were seated around the campfire, they were surprised by an Indian attack and Peirce was shot in the back. His recovery was slow.

            In 1851, while out cutting wild oats for hay, he and his wagon and horses were caught by a prairie fire. The blaze advances to rapidly that he was enveloped in flames. His face was horribly burned, and his hands were burned almost to a crisp. He bore the scars to his grave.

            After this accident, he went to his home in the East, but returned again to California. In 1855 he settled on the edge of the tules in College City on the land granted to him by patent from President Andrew Johnson and began raising sheep. He gained a reputation selling purebred breeding rams. By being thrifty and frugal Peirce was able to enlarge his lands and flocks. He died at the age of forty-eight from consumption. His dwelling was a small, rough cabin to the back of Barney Beeman’s according to Judge U. W. Brown’s son. Barney has dug up bricks and sandstone slabs in his backyard. Also, he found an old well to the south of his house.

            There is a difference of opinion as to where Andrew Peirce was first buried. Several old timers say that Andrew Peirce was first buried out on the forty acres of Gregory property (purchased by Gregory for $200 from Peirce’s estate) located south of College City. A picket fence surrounded the burial plat. Later, the body was dug up and reburied by one of the Traynhams. The Leroy Traynham, Sr., family knows nothing about it.

            Another person says the grave south of College City, out in the field, but marked with a picket fence, was that of a man named Peirce, but no relation to Andrew. Wilson Rankin says Pierson was buried on the Gregory land, and that years ago he was there when John Megonigal dug up the body and packed the remains in a cracker box. Some believe Andrew Peirce was buried, as he wished, where his grave would rest in the shadow of the first Christian Church his money would build. The chapel was constructed in the College City Cemetery, and local brick was used. The drawing of this first chapel shows a tombstone to the west of it, and it does suggest Peirce’s.

            Huge cracks appeared in the chapel walls, and it was deemed unsafe. In 1891 the building was torn down. Some of the old bricks were used for the foundation of the present church. Others were used elsewhere in College City. Remnants of the old brick foundation can still be seen in the cemetery. Andrew Peirce’s tombstone faces the main road. It stands tall, and on it can be seen:

Andrew Peirce
Native of Mass.
Died
Apr. 25, 1871
Aged 48 years
Be ye also ready for in such
 an hour as ye think not the
son of man cometh.

            His stone is marked “Andrew Peirce,” not “Pierce” as we know it today. Eighty-five pages of legal documents, including his will, all on file in the Colusa Courthouse, spell his name at all times “Pierce.” It was not until three years after his death in 1871, the year 1874 to be exact, that the spelling becomes “Pierce.”

            Peirce had become a supporter of the Christian Church, so it is not surprising that he left the remainder of his estate for a “Church House” and “such purposes as the Trustees of said Church may think proper,” after his debts had been paid and specified sums in “Gold Coin” given his father and other relations.

            Permission to use Peirce money for a college was given in “such purposes as the Trustees of said Church may think proper.” Some lands were held in trust for the school; others were sold to provide building funds.

            Property not sold were twenty-five acres to the Christian Church, and twenty-one acres of College City, Section 5 and 6, Township 13, N. range 1, West, Blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 of the addition of College City and Blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Eastern Extension of said College City as per Map of said Extension.

            As soon as the church was started, and stores and houses were needed, sale of town lots began.

            Eleven trustees were chosen by the Churches of Christ in Colusa, Sutter, Lake, Butte, and Tehama Counties.

            A school board was selected and a charted obtained from the state legislature in 1874. No intoxicating beverages were to be sold on the estate and by the act of state legislature; this clause was written into all deeds in College City. The act has been rescinded since then.

            The new board met June 9, 1874. Mr. W. J. Carpenter of College City presented the by-laws and they were approved by the board. Mr. Carpenter was elected president of the board for the first year. Other officers were I. N. Cain, secretary; Jackson McElroy, treasurer; and J. McElroy and I. N. Cain, executive committee. Carpenter, McElroy, and John Bashore of College City, were appointed to procure tow teacher, and A. W. Dewitt and Carpenter were appointed agents to travel and solicit funds to build a college. They were paid five dollars a day for this job. The executive committee was authorized to issue and sell tuition script for purposes of securing money for building a college, and to receive donations for the school. All proceeds to the college were to be published and made public.

College City surveyed and platted by W. J. Carpenter, J Mcelroy and Foreman Bashore, Blocks 16 Rods square, lots 4 rods wide. Business 2 streets, 5 alleys, 1 block 8 Plaza on 8, Sec. 13 NR 1 W Co. Recorded Jan. 10, 1873.

PIERCE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE - COLUSA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

             THE FIRST TERM OF THIS SCHOOL WILL OPEN SEPTEMBER 14, 1874 AND CONTINUE 8 MONTHS; OPEN TO MALE AND FEMALE. THE COURSE OF STUDY WILL EMBRACE ALL BRANCES USUALLY TAUGHT IN SUCH INSTITUTIONS.

LOCATION

            PIERCE CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IS SITUATED IN COLLEGE CITY, COLUSA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, IN A MORAL AND INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY. THERE IS NOT A DRINKNING OR GAMBLIN SALOON IN THE VILLAGE, NEIGHER IS ONE ALLOWED TO BE ERECTED.

 TERMS

            TUITION PER SESSION, FOUR MONTHS-PRIMARY $5.00 PREPARATORY $8.00 TO $10.00; COLLEGIATE, $12.00.

            GOOD BOARD IN PRIVATE FAMILIES AT $4.50 TO $5.00 PER WEEK.

            THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL WILL BE MILD BUT FIRM. IT IS DESIRABLE THAT ALL STUDENTS BE IN ATTENDANCE AT THE FIRST OF THE SESSION.

            NO PAINS OR EXPENSE WLL BE SPARED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN SECURING COMPETENT AND EXPERIENCED TEACHERS, AND IN MAKING THE SCHOOL WORTHY OF PUBLIC CONFIDENCE.