In 1943, Franklin and Sherifa Merrell-Wolff and several of the Assembly of Man members purchased a 450-acre ranch at the base of Lone Pine Mountain near Tuttle Creek Canyon outside of Lone Pine, California. In the early 1960’s, Dr. Wolff and his second wife, Gertrude, themselves built a house on this ranch (Dr. Wolff was seventy-eight years old and Gertrude was in her sixties!). Dr. Wolff lived on this property, which included the original ranch house as a guesthouse, from this time until his death in 1985.

The ranch was first named “The Assembly of Man Ranch” by Sherifa, after the school she and Franklin had organized and devoted to spiritual education. Franklin and Gertrude began holding annual August conventions on the property in 1961, and they changed the name of the educational center to the “Friends of the Wisdom Religion” in the late 1960’s.

After Dr. Wolff’s death in 1985, this property was inherited by his grandchildren, who continued the tradition of using it as an educational center.  At this time, the ranch became known as “The Franklin Merrell-Wolff Center,” or simply “The Center.”  In 1986, attendees of the August convention, along with readers of the October Sangha, were asked to suggest a new name for the Center.  At the August convention in 1987, the ranch was renamed “The Great Space Center,” reflecting a term that Merrell-Wolff used in his “Aphorisms on Consciousness-Without-An-Object.”

Doroethy Leonard, Dr. Wolff’s granddaughter, is now the owner of this property. She and her family welcome spiritual activities on their exquisite property.

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