Riverside County CA Archives History - Books .....The Riverside Schools 1912 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 5:54 am Book Title: History Of Riverside County California CHAPTER IX. THE RIVERSIDE SCHOOLS By E. W. Holmes Reference has been made in the story of the Colony Days to the first schools established, when a score or so of pupils represented the school population of all the territory between Colton and the Temescal wash. The next stage in the growth of the schools was when a second house was built alongside the first on the Sixth street grounds, and these put in charge of Miss Belle Hardenburg (Mrs. F. A. Miller) and Miss Lillian Putnam (Mrs. P. T. Binckley). But these were soon overflowing. The trustees then in charge—Dr. Jacob Allen, P. S. Russell and James H. Roe—called an election, asking the voting of bonds for an eight-room building to take the place of those in use. The proposition was voted down—the only case in the history of the valley when a liberal school policy was defeated—and Dr. Allen, indignant over the refusal to support a project he had much at heart, resigned his position, and E. "W. Holmes was chosen in his place. The latter held the position of clerk or president of the board for the fifteen years ensuing. A four-room building was immediately erected, instead of the larger one first planned, this being the rear half of the present Lincoln school house. But as the board had foreseen, it was overflowing almost as soon as completed, and in spite of the building of a school for the lower grades on Bandini avenue, they were compelled for years to lease private rooms to care for the increase. In 1880 some relief was gained by the organization of the Sunnyside district out of all the territory south of Jurupa avenue, its first trustees being A. J. Twogood, M. F. Bixler and T. W. Cover. In 1883 the Sunnyside district was divided and its name changed to Arlington, while the new district was called Magnolia, and elected as its first trustees C. A. Crosby, D. H. Burnham and N. A. Stiffler. Several years later the growth of the Arlington Heights section compelled a further subdivision, and the building of the beautiful Victoria school house on the avenue of that name; but when the new city charter was adopted and all these districts were united again under the control of the city board of education and new names given to the various schools, Magnolia very properly became Arlington in name as well as in fact. There was for a time a school district down the river called the Sierra, where Mrs. Jose Jensen taught, and where one who in 1912 is the state superintendent of schools, Edward Hyatt, obtained his first experience as a teacher. It was in these early years that many teachers came to become permanent citizens, the most prominent of whom were: Miss M. C. Call, Miss Kate Candee, Miss Lulu Chance, Mrs. O. L. Mason, Mrs. J. E. Cutter and Miss M. H. Harris. The regular state and county apportionments were insufficient to antipicate [sic] the annual increase of scholars and teachers, and every spring the trustees were compelled to ask the voting of a special tax, which request was never denied. But a new problem confronted the board when an increasing number of graduates from the grammar grades needed to be given a higher education at home than had been provided for. The constitution of the state established a state university and primary and grammar schools, but made no provision whatever for the preparatory schools in which to fit the youth for college. The only high schools in the state were those established under special city charters, or those supported by private effort in the populous centers. Only the children of the wealthy could afford to have the advantage of such schools. The only practical solution of the problem confronting the trustees was to add to the teaching force those qualified to teach the higher branches, and provide for the expense by asking the people to vote an annual levy "for additional school facilities," the only section of the school law which made such action legal. Prof. N. C. Twining and his assistants were employed to change the curriculum in this respect, and in 1890 the first high school class was graduated. But the remarkable growth of the city embarrassed the officials in charge, and forced them to advise the voting of $50,000 bonds to provide for the erection of a suitable building in which the high school, as well as the lower grades, could be accommodated. The people generously responded, and in 1887 six acres of land was purchased at the corner of Fourteenth and Walnut streets, at a cost of $7,500, and in 1889 what is now known as the Grant building was completed at a cost of $64,295. But this splendid building was hardly more than completed when additional buildings had to be built on Thirteenth and Seventh streets, and the old Sixth street house enlarged, to provide for the increased attendance. The first principal of the high school to give exclusive service to that work was Miss Henrietta Bancroft, who was succeeded by Prof. David A. Givens, and he by Miss Eugenie Fuller. The remaining members of the faculty during these years were Miss M. H. J. Lampe, Miss Sara L. Dole and Mrs. F. G. N. Van Slyck, the latter being still in charge of the English department in 1912. The increase of the teaching force made necessary an acting superintendent of schools, although such an official had no legal existence in the organization of an ordinary school district. Prof. C. H. Keyes was given this position in 1891, and to his special gifts as an organizer are largely due the systematic methods which have resulted in the success of the school. But the awkward machinery which the district government afforded was felt to be a handicap not longer to be endured, since the support of such a high school could not safely be dependent upon the action of voters who might, through whim or prejudice, refuse the large necessary annual appropriation. Studying to provide a way of legalizing the action taken, the clerk prepared a bill to present to the legislature which he believed would remedy the conditions. This measure meeting the approval of his colleagues, Dr. Deere and D. L. Wilbur, the board instructed Professor Keyes to submit it to the next state convention of superintendents. It was not enthusiastically approved by that body, but our representative succeeded in having it made the duty of the convention secretary to present the bill to the next legislature. Weeks after the session opened no notice of its introduction had been given, and Mr. Holmes went to Sacramento to hasten action. The document was in the secretary's desk, and a vigorous effort of a prominent legislator ^n behalf of a law permitting a county to organize a single high school at the county seat had been given the right of way. The Riverside bill was promptly introduced by Assemblyman Barker and Senator Bowers, representing the district, and the bill so modified in committee as not to antagonize the other proposition, became a law. By its provisions a single district, or any number of districts, may now organize as a Union high school district, and as a result of the adoption of this law this county alone now has nine high schools, where formerly there were none, and hundreds of such preparatory schools now exist all over the thinly-settled sections of the state. Since this statute was peculiarly a Riverside-made law, and made to serve its own particular needs, this detailed reference in these pages seems justified. The Riverside high school district was organized originally, out of the city district alone, in 1893, with Dr. George H. Deere, D. L. Wilbur and E. W. Holmes in charge. The high school grew under the more favoring conditions, and in spite of the use of the large assembly room the Grant building soon became too small and a new building, designed exclusively for high school use, was built for its accommodation on Ninth street, which in turn is now outgrown. The other gentlemen who have served most acceptably upon the school board until the reorganization of the city government placed its school affairs in charge of a regular board of education have been A. H. Naftzger, W. A. Correll, Samuel C. Evans, Lyman Evans and W. A. Purrington. Their reward for the uniformly excellent service -they have rendered has been in seeing, year after year, the graduation of a class, from among whose ranks have come many whose success in life has brought honor to the city that educated them. They have had in their employ for years a most efficient superintendent of schools in the person of Prof. A. N. Wheelock, whose splendid service is continued under the new city government. SCHOOLS UNDER CITY GOVERNMENT When the charter was adopted by the city in 1907 the four school districts—Riverside, Palm avenue, Arlington and Victoria— were incorporated as the Riverside city school district, and the Riverside high school district was made identical with the Riverside city school district. The following table shows the school buildings, teaching force and enrollment of the schools at the close of the school year in 1907. Teaching School— Force Enrollment High 10 371 Grant 11 450 Lincoln 8 366 Longfellow 9 382 Irving 6 228 Washington 2 91 Brockton 1 30 Palm Avenue (two buildings) 6 218 Arlington 4 166 Alvord 1 22 Victoria 1 30 Kindergarten 2 76 Special teachers 4 The need of additional schoolrooms and a suitable building for manual training and domestic science led the board of education early in 1908, to call a bond election for $40,000. The bonds were voted with practically no opposition, and with the funds obtained, extensive repairs were made and two rooms added to the Arlington school; four rooms added to the Longfellow school; a fine modern school building of four rooms and auditorium was erected on Fourth street, to be called the Bryant school. The city also built a large and commodious manual training building on Twelfth street. The latter building, with its complete equipment for wood-working, cooking and sewing, gave great impetus to the manual training idea in the schools. While primarily not a vocational school it does give a technical skill in the lines of work offered that make an excellent equipment for earning a livelihood. But there was another call for more room and a larger field of educational effort. The high school had quite outgrown its quarters. The numbers enrolled had steadily climbed up until in 1909 the enrollment was nearly 500, too many for effective work in the Ninth street building. The board of education met the problem by calling a bond election for $250,000. The election was held in July, 1910, and the bonds carried by a handsome majority. A site of sixteen acres of mesa and arroyo land on the south side of Turquisquite arroyo was purchased, and a group of buildings erected in 1911 at a cost of site and buildings, aside from the furnishing and equipment, of $200,000. The buildings consist of the hall of classics, containing the offices, teachers' room, auditorium, study rooms and fourteen classrooms; the science hall, containing laboratories for agriculture, botany, biology, chemistry, physics, with lecture rooms, offices and recitation rooms; the mechanics' building, containing shops for wood-working, forging, foundry, machine work and mechanical drawing. The school was planned and equipped as a boys' school, the board being of -the opinion that better conditions for school work would obtain by the segregation of the boys and girls. As the buildings were not completed at the opening of the school year, ending in 1912, the boys were cared for in the Ninth street building in the mornings, while the girls had possession in the afternoons, this arrangement continuing through the year. J. E. McKown of the Lincoln high school of Seattle, Wash., was made principal of the boys' school, and Miss Eugenie Fuller the principal of the girls' school. Miss Fuller, however, closed her relations with the school at the end of the year, the nineteenth of her service as principal. Three hundred and twenty-one men and three hundred and fifty-three women had graduated from the school, up to and including the class of 1911, and the appreciation which the body of the alumni has given Miss Fuller is the best evidence of the worth of her work and management. The courses of study and the instruction in these two high schools are designed to be practical enough to fit men and women to gain a livelihood and scholastic enough to prepare for the universities those to whom such a course is open. Courses are offered in agriculture, manual training, science, commerce, history, Latin, modern languages, domestic science, art. Besides the boys' high school buildings above described, there was also built in the same year a substantial brick building on Victoria avenue, having four rooms and an auditorium, at a cost of $28,000, and also a three-room building on the Bryant school grounds. The following table shows the school system in October, 1912, and a comparison with the preceding table will indicate the growth since 1907: Valuation, Teaching Enroll- Bldgs. and School— Force ment Site Boys' High 15 328 $200,000 Girls' High 15 307 50,000 Grant 13 437 65,000 Washington 2 72 5,000 Manual Training 5 23,000 Bryant 6 187 30,000 Bryant Kindergarten 2 25 Lincoln 9 233 32,000 Lincoln Kindergarten 2 37 Longfellow 13 416 29,000 Irving 6 178 10,000 Lowell 4 94 28,000 Brockton 1 34 1,500 Palm Avenue 6 204 10,000 Arlington 7 208 7,000 Victoria 3 69 6,000 Special teachers 3 112 2.829 496,500 Furniture and equipment 30,000 $526,500 Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF Riverside County CALIFORNIA WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY ELMER WALLACE HOLMES AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 1912 File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/riverside/history/1912/historyo/riversid150gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/ File size: 16.1 Kb