Stewart-Cleland Hall opened in 1953 as a residence for 144 men, with tribute in its naming to two families recognized for their contribution to Occidental College in their respective ways.

Lyman Stewart was a founding trustee of Occidental in 1887. A native of Titusville, Pennsylvania, site of the first American oil well, he was a pioneer in the development of the Union Oil Company of California, of which he became president. He was a generous benefactor of the College, support for the chair of Biblical instruction being a major interest.

Milton Stewart, older brother of Lyman, was a major stockholder in Union Oil Company and held interests in oil properties in many parts of the country. Beyond his oil interests, he devoted his life and benefaction to religious causes. Foreign mission service was a special interest that he espoused. As with his brother, Biblical instruction at Occidental was another object of his financial support. Milton Stewart maintained his residence in Titusville, Pennsylvania, until 1917 when he and his wife, Mary, moved to California, settling in Pasadena.

After her husband's death in 1923, Mary Stewart continued the interest in Occidental, developing friendships with its personnel and giving generously to endowment, current expenses, and scholarship funds. At her death in 1950, the College received approximately $800,000 from her estate as an unrestricted bequest, a portion of which was directed to the residence hall bearing the Stewart name.

Robert Glass Cleland was a part of Occidental College from the time he entered Occidental Academy, the preparatory school, in 1900 until his death in 1957. After graduating from the College in 1907, he earned a doctor of philosophy degree at Princeton University, and then returned to Occidental in 1912 as a member of the history department faculty. He progressed through faculty ranks to professor and simultaneously served as vice president and dean of the faculty. After 1943, he narrowed his teaching to part time in order to serve as a member of the permanent research staff of the Huntington Library and continue his historical writings of the American West and California, resulting in authorship of a number of books. He was elected to the Occidental Board of Trustees in 1945 and served a year as president, I 946-47. In addition to all that Dr. Cleland gave as a scholar, teacher, and administrator was the profound impact that he had upon the lives of the hundreds touched as he so ably performed his life's work. He was said to be "a builder of mental and moral values at their best."

Dr. Cleland and his wife, Muriel Stewart Cleland, who died in 1943, had two sons, both graduating from Occidental. Robert S. '35 became a medical doctor, and George H. '42, was a professor of chemistry at Occidental for many years.

The Reverend Robert W. Cleland and his wife, Sallie Glass Cleland, parents of Robert Glass Cleland, came to Southern California in 1885 after Presbyterian pastorates in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and Nebraska. A member of the Presbytery of Los Angeles, the Reverend Mr. Cleland held pastorates and served in various church capacities until his death in 1919. When Occidental was located in Highland Park ( 1898-1914 ), the Clelands had a home near the campus where they welcomed student boarders and became close friends and confidants to Occidental men and women. Mrs. Cleland in her own right became a devoted worker in the Los Angeles Presbytery and a tower of strength in the church until her death in 1932.

Another member of the Cleland family honored in the naming of the hall was Thomas Horace, older brother of Robert Glass ,who graduated from Occidental in 1903 and met an untimely death in 1907, soon after completing theological studies at Princeton University.

By Jean Paule