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W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch Records
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Title: W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch Records
Creator:
Kellogg, W.K. (Will Keith), 1860-1951
Creator:
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch
Identifier/Call Number: 0019
Contributing Institution:
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Special Collections and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
84.53 Linear Feet
(102 boxes and 6 drawings)
Date (inclusive): 1910-1949
Language of Material: English
Abstract: The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch was established in 1925 in Pomona, California by cereal magnate W.K. Kellogg to fulfill
his long-held dream of breeding Arabian horses. The ranch served as Kellogg's winter home until 1932, when he donated the
horses and property to the University of California. The University operated the ranch as the W.K. Kellogg Institute of Animal
Husbandry until 1943 when the ranch was transferred to the United States government for use by the United State Army Remount
Service. The Army operated the ranch as the Pomona Quartermaster Depot (Remount) and bred horses for the cavalry. In 1949,
the ranch was transferred a final time to the California state Department of Education and ultimately became the campus of
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The university has continued the Arabian breeding program to the present
day. The collection includes correspondence, financial records, guestbooks, scrapbooks, legal agreements, ephemera, and realia
documenting the operation of the ranch as Kellogg's private home and its subsequent transfer to various institutions.
The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Advance notice required for access.
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository
and the copyright holder.
[Box/folder# or item name], W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch Records, Collection no. 0019, W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library,
Special Collections and Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
W.K. (Will Keith) Kellogg was born in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1860. When he was twenty years old, he went to work for his
brother Dr. John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he would remain for the next 25 years. W.K. wore many
hats while running the growing Sanitarium, including developing foods for the Sanitarium patients. One of the Kelloggs' inventions,
flaked cereal, proved to be wildly popular and the Kellogg brothers began to sell it to customers outside the Sanitarium by
mail order. W.K. wanted to capitalize on the product but his brother felt that becoming too involved in the business would
harm his professional reputation. In 1905 W.K. bought out his brother's interest, left the Sanitarium, and launched what would
become known as the Kellogg Company. Kellogg was 45 years old at this point and he threw himself into the business, advertising
its products aggressively and pioneering marketing strategies like free samples. By the 1920s, Kellogg was a multi-millionaire.
In late 1924, Kellogg traveled to Palm Springs with a friend to take in the California sun. While there, they made a day
trip to Indio to inspect Chauncey Clarke's Arabian horse ranch. According to his biographer, Horace Powell, Kellogg's fascination
with the Arabian breed dated back to his childhood when he and his siblings had a pony named Old Spot.
Whether or not Old Spot had any Arabian blood in unknown; the term "Arabian" was used as a shorthand at the time to impart
an aura of glamour to a horse regardless of its pedigree. In any case, Kellogg decided at the age of 64 that it was time to
fulfill his dream and he purchased eleven horses from Clarke in March 1925. Realizing he needed a place to keep them, he began
making plans to build a ranch in California which would also serve as his winter home. In May 1925, Kellogg purchased 377
acres near Pomona from Spadra rancher Frank Cecil George for $250,000. He then hired Los Angeles architect Myron Hunt to design
stables, a mansion, and other buildings on the Ranch. The horses were boarded at the nearby Los Angeles County Fairgrounds
until temporary stables were constructed. While construction was still underway, Kellogg bought ten more Arabians from F.E.
Lewis in nearby Diamond Bar and twelve from Crabbet Park Stud in England. The permanent stables were completed in July 1926
and the Kellogg Mansion in early 1927.
Kellogg briefly hired Carl Raswan, then known as Carl Schmidt, away from the Chauncey ranch to act as an agent to obtain
horses from Crabbet Stud. H.H. (Herbert Harshman) Reese was hired to manage the Ranch and Kellogg's son Dr. Karl Kellogg lived
at the ranch with his wife and children to supervise operations and construction in his father's absence. Kellogg's daughter,
Elizabeth K. Williamson, would also come to live at the ranch with her family.
The Kellogg Arabians had garnered public interest from the beginning. Kellogg's purchases were covered in the newspapers
and people visited the ranch while it was still under construction to admire the horses. Kellogg embraced this attention and
saw it as an opportunity to promote Kellogg Company products as well as the Arabian breed. He began offering free horse shows
to the public on the first Sunday of the month and installed large sign advertising the Kellogg Company on the west wall of
the stables, well within view of the crowd. Kellogg horses were also on display in the Tournament of Roses parade, further
raising their profile and by extension, that of the Kellogg Company. Sunday show attendance grew steadily and by 1930, 85,000
visitors had come to the ranch in total.
Kellogg hired advertisers and marketers, including Spide Rathbun, to encourage attention from Hollywood and thereby, more
publicity. Movie stars of the day were frequent guests at the Ranch and posed for publicity photos with the famous Arabians.
The horses also appeared in several films. Most notably, the stallion Jadaan co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in his last
film
Son of the Sheik.
Kellogg loved aviation as much as he did horses and had an emergency airstrip built at the ranch in hopes that aviator Charles
Lindbergh would stop there while en route from Los Angeles to San Diego in September 1927. Lindbergh declined to make a landing,
but he did circle over the crowd that had gathered at the ranch. The airstrip was enhanced and dedicated as the W.K. Kellogg
Airport in 1928. It would not last long—it was converted to alfalfa fields in 1933.
From the beginning, Kellogg wanted his ranch to prove a lasting legacy. As early as 1926, he had been in conversation with
the University of California about the possibility of arranging a transfer so that the breeding program would continue. A
trust agreement was drafted in 1931 and was approved by then governor James Rolph, Jr. in spring of 1932. The agreement stipulated
that the state continue the breeding program, the Sunday shows, and that Kellogg would be consulted on important matters.
The ranch was formally presented to the state on May 17, 1932. Actor and humorist Will Rogers served as Master of Ceremonies
and 22,000 people attended.
The ranch was operated by the University of California's College of Agriculture as the W.K. Kellogg Institute of Animal Husbandry
from 1932 until 1943. The University continued to breed and sell Arabian horses, put on Sunday shows, and welcome celebrity
guests. However, Kellogg would visit periodically and was not satisfied with how his gift was being used. Facilities were
falling into disrepair and the University began charging admission to the previously free shows. Distressed, Kellogg began
exploring different ways to regain control of the ranch so that it could be transferred to a different institution. The University
of California's Board of Regents blocked his attempts and the situation was at a stalemate for several years.
The United States' entry into World War II presented an opportunity for Kellogg. He lobbied to have the ranch turned over
to the Army Remount Service to support the war effort. After two years of negotiations, the ranch was officially transferred
to the Army in October 1943 and operated as the Pomona Quartermaster Depot (Remount). The Remount continued operations for
two years following the end of the war in 1945. In 1947, the Army announced that it was abandoning its horse breeding program
and that entire Remount, including the Pomona depot, was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in April 1948.
The Department of Agriculture's decision proved to be unpopular with the public and deeply troubling to W.K. Kellogg, who
was by that time 88 years old. The planned sale was cancelled under increasing public and political pressure. The ranch was
finally transferred to the California State Department of Education via the Kellogg Foundation in 1949 and became part of
the southern branch of California Polytechnic College in San Luis Obispo. Kellogg passed away in 1951 at the age of 91, reassured
that his gift to the state was being used for educational purposes.
The ranch became known as the Kellogg Unit of California State Polytechnic College (Cal Poly) and it operated in conjunction
with the Voorhis Unit of Cal Poly in nearby San Dimas. The Voorhis Unit had been established in 1938 as the southern satellite
campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and offered classes in agriculture. After World War II, the school outgrew the smaller
Voorhis campus and by the 1950s plans were made to move all instruction to the Kellogg Unit. By 1956 the move was complete
and the campus renamed Kellogg-Voorhis. The campus formally separated from San Luis Obispo in 1966 and became known as California
State Polytechnic College, Pomona. In 1972, the school was granted university status and renamed California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona.
The Kellogg Arabians remained at the original stables in the center of campus until 1974, when they were moved to the new
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center on the far east end of campus. The stables were then converted to office spaces and today
houses various student groups. The site of the original show ring to the west of the stables was replaced with the Bronco
Student Center. However, the Sunday shows continue at a new ring at the Horse Center, as does the breeding program, all in
support of the College of Agriculture curriculum, in accordance with Kellogg's wish that his gift prove a lasting legacy in
support of education and the Arabian breed.
The collection includes W.K. Kelloggs' correspondence regarding the construction and operation of his W.K. Kellogg Arabian
Horse Ranch; financial records of the ranch; guestbooks signed by visitors to the ranch and scrapbooks of clippings about
the ranch; photocopies of files concerning the ranch that were sent to and from W.K. Kellogg while in Battle Creek, Michigan;
contracts, deeds, and legal agreements documenting the construction and ownership of the ranch, including the transfers of
the property to the University of California, the United State Army, and the California State Department of Education; architectural
drawings of the W.K. Kellogg Residence, also known as the Kellogg Mansion, at the ranch; and ephemera, realia, and photographs
related to the ranch.
The collection is organized into the following series: 1. Correspondence; 2. Financial Records; 3. Guestbooks and Scrapbooks;
4. Battle Creek Papers; 5. Contracts, Deeds, and Legal Agreements; 6. Architectural Drawings; 5. Ephemera, Realia, and Photographs.
Parkinson, Mary Jane.
The Kellogg Arabian Ranch: The First Sixty Years: A Chronicle of Events, 1925-1985. Pomona, CA: Cal Poly Kellogg Unit Foundation, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 1984.
Parkinson, Mary Jane.
The Romance of the Kellogg Ranch: A Celebration of the Kellogg/Cal Poly Pomona Arabian Horses, 1925-2000. Pomona, CA: W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 2000.
Powell, Horace B.
The Original Has This Signature--W.K. Kellogg. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1956.
Reese, Herbert H. (Herbert Harshman).
The Kellogg Arabians: Their Background and Influence. Los Angeles: Borden Pub. Co., 1958.
The Romance of Pomona Ranch. Pomona, CA: W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch, 1932.
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center Records, Collection no. 0062, W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library, Special Collections and
Archives, University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library Photograph Collection, Collection no. 0018, W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Libary, Special
Collections and Archives, University Libary, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch. Pomona, CA: W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch, 1930.
The collection was processed by Alexis Adkins, Lissa Lopez, and Neelam Patel in 2018 and 2019.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Kellogg, W. K. (Will Keith), 1860-1951
Hunt, Myron, 1868-1952
Reese, Herbert H. (Herbert Harshman)
Wentworth, Lady, 1873-
Crabbet Arabian Stud
Pomona Quartermaster Depot (Remount)
University of California (1868-1952). College of Agriculture
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center
W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch
Arabian horse
Architectural drawings