USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 62
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Although the jitneys have been in operation only a few months, they have multiplied to such an extent as to decrease the revenue of some of the street car lines so that part of the cars have been taken off these routes and employes discharged. Another effect of this innovation lias been to congest travel on the business streets and endanger life. Unlike most innova- tions. the jitney originated on the Pacific coast and has traveled eastward, but in what city or town it came to the front first is un- certain, and the origin of the outlandish name is unknown. Whether the "jitney" has come to stay or is only transitory is an unsolved problem at this time.
The public schools of the city have kept pace with the growth of the city. The total enroll- ment in 1900 was 20,497. Total amount ex- pended on the schools was $451,438. Paid for teachers' salaries, $367,886. The number of teachers employed was 501. There were at that time but five school houses outside of the orig- inal city limits. These had been brought into the city by annexation of adjacent territory in 1895- 96-97. There was but one high school in 1900, the Los Angeles High. The Polytechnic High was opened in 1905, the Manual Arts in 1909. By annexation and consolidation in 1909-10-12 the Los Angeles city school district gained a High School in each of the following named towns : San Pedro, Wilmington, Gardena and Holly- wood. The enlargement of the area of the district, also, brought in forty district schools. Some of these were outside of the city limits but within the High School districts annexed.
The total number of elementary schools in the district is 152. Of these ten are classed as special and ten as intermediate. The total en- rollment in all the schools for the school year ending June 30, 1914, was 87,309. The total
expenditure for all the schools was $3,931,865. Amount paid for teachers' salaries was $2,941,- 674. The total number of teachers employed was 2380. The members of the Board of Educa- tion at that time were Mrs. R. L. Craig, J. H. Bean, R. E. Blight. H. W. Frank, J. M. Guinn. Joseph Scott and J. J. Steadman ; of these Joseph Scott, H. W. Frank and J. M. Guinn served ten consecutive years. The superintend- ents at that time were: J. H. Francis, superin- tendent ; J. B. Monlux, deputy superintendent ; M. C. Bettinger, first assistant ; Melville Dozier, second assistant ; Grant Karr, third assistant, and Mrs. Susan M. Dorsey, fourth assistant.
SAN DIEGO PANAMA CALIFORNIA EXPOSITION
The two events occurring this year (1915) that will stand out most prominently in the future history of California are the Panama- California Exposition at San Diego and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco. The first opened with the ring- ing in of the New Year at midnight January 1, 1915, when President Wilson at Washington touched the electric button turning on all the lights of the Exposition. This was accom- panied by the ringing of bells, the tooting of horns and the booming of cannon, ushering in at the same time the year 1915 and the Exposi- tion, which will continue throughout the year.
One of the most attractive features of the midnight display was an electric piece repre- senting the mingling of the waters of the At- lantic and the Pacific Oceans in the Panama Canal. President Wilson was represented at the opening of the Exposition by his son-in- law, Hon. William G. McAdoo and Mrs. Mc- Adoo. The buildings are of the Mission type of architecture and busts of distinguished per- sons of the Spanish era are set in the facade of the California building.
One of the peculiar features of the San Diego Exposition is the "Painted Desert." It is a reproduction of an Indian village in the South- west. Indian houses built of native material brought from Arizona and New Mexico repre- sent Indian architecture of centuries past ; and a colony of Indians from New Mexico illus- trates life in their pueblos present and past.
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THE PANAMA PACIFIC EXPOSITION AT SAN FRANCISCO
The Panama Pacific International Exposition was opened at San Francisco at noon, February 20, 1915. The day had been declared a legal holiday by Governor Johnson. For five years the people of San Francisco had been looking forward to this great event, and as the time approached for its opening their enthusiasm grew intense. The morning of the opening day was ushered in by every imaginable variety of noise-toots, whoops, booms and roars. At six o'clock in the morning horns, sirens, whistles, bells, telephones-everything that could add to the din was turned loose.
To provide conveyance for all to the Exposi- tion grounds was impossible, so it was decided that all who were physically able would walk. By nine o'clock the greatest crowd that
ever assembled in the history of the city had gathered in Van Ness avenue. This avenue along which the people marched to the exposi- tion grounds was decked with the Exposition colors and American flags. The open spaces of the Exposition grounds were jammed with people when President Wilson, at Washington, touched the electric button and promptly at noon, February 20, 1915, the great Exposition opened. Then the big guns of the forts boomed ; the water in the fountains flowed ; the engines in the Palace of Machinery began to move, and three hundred thousand waiting people with bared heads sang "The Star Spangled Banner." The great Exposition was formally opened.
California is prepared to exhibit to the world the achievements of years of work, of energy, of push and of enterprise. The Exposition does not belong to San Francisco, but to the whole state.
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CHAPTER LIV.
THE SCHOOLS OF LOS ANGELES CITY AND COUNTY.
During the forty years that Los Angeles was under the rule of Spain, if the records are cor- rect, there were but two years that she enjoyed school facilities. In 1817-18 Maximo Piña, an invalid soldier, taught the pueblo school. His salary was $140 a year.
The first school in Los Angeles during the Mexican régime of which there is a record was taught by Luciano Valdez. beginning in 1827. His school was kept open at varying intervals to the close of 1831. He seems not to have been a success in his chosen profession. In the pro- ceedings of the ayuntamiento for January 19, 1832, is this record: "The most Illustrious Ayuntamiento dwelt on the lack of improvement in the public school of the pueblo, and on ac- count of the necessity of civilizing and morally training the children, it was thought wise to place citizen Vicente Morago in charge of said school from this date, recognizing in him the neces- sary qualifications for discharge of said duties, allowing him $15 monthly, the same as was paid the retiring citizen, Luciano Valdez."
Schoolmaster Morago, February 12, 1833, was appointed secretary of the ayuntamiento at a sal- ary of $30 per month and resigned his position as teacher. The same date Francisco Pantoja was appointed preceptor of the public school. Pan- toja wielded the birch or plied the ferule for a year and then asked for his salary to be increased to $20 per month. The ayuntamiento refused to increase it, "and at the same time, seeing certain negligence and indolence in his manner of ad- vancing the children, it was determined to pro- cure some other person to take charge of the school." Pantoja demanded that he be relieved at once, and the ayuntamiento decided "that in view of the irregularities in the discharge of his duties, he be released and that citizen Cristo- val Aguilar be appointed to the position at $15 per month."
The ayuntamiento proceedings of January 8, 1835, tell the fate of Aguilar: "Schoolmaster Cristoval Aguilar asked an increase of salary. After discussion it was decided that as his fitness for the position was inefficient, his petition could not be granted." So Aguilar quit the profes- sion. Then Enriqui Sepulveda essayed to lead the youth of Angeles into the paths of knowl- edge; of his fate the records are silent. The salary question may have severed him from his pupils and his profession.
Vicente Morago, who had been successively secretary of the ayuntamiento and syndic (treas- urer), returned to his former profession, teach- ing, in 1835. He was satisfied with $15 a month, and that seemed to be the chief qualification of a teacher in those days. There is no record of a school in 1836. During 1837 the Civil war be- tween Monterey and Los Angeles was raging, and there was no time to devote to education. All the big boys were needed for soldiers; be- sides, the municipal funds were so demoralized that fines and taxes had to be paid in hides and horses.
Don Ygnacio Coronel took charge of the pub- lic school July 3, 1838, "he having the necessary qualifications." "He shall be paid $15 per month from the municipal funds, and every parent having a child shall be made to pay a certain amount according to his means. The $15 per month paid from the municipal fund is paid so that this body (the ayuntamiento) may have supervision over said school." Coronel taught at various times between 1838 and 1844, the length of the school sessions depending on the condition of the municipal funds and the liber- ality of parents. Don Ygnacio's educational meth- ods were a great improvement on those of the old soldier schoolmaster. There was less of "lickin' " and more of "larnin'." His daughter, Soledad, assisted him, and when a class had com- pleted a book or performed some other merito-
High School on the Site of the Present Court-house in 1884
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rious educational feat, as a reward of merit a dance was improvised in the schoolroom and Señorita Soledad played upon the harp. She was the first teacher to introduce music into the schools of Los Angeles.
The most active and earnest friend of the pub- lic school among the Mexican governors was the much abused Micheltorena. He made a strenn- ous effort to establish a public school system in the territory. Through his efforts schools were established in all the principal towns, and a guar- antee of $500 from the territorial funds was promised to each school.
January 3, 1844, a primary school was opened in Los Angeles under the tutorship of Ensign Guadalupe Medina, an officer in Micheltorena's army, permission having been obtained from the governor for the lieutenant to lay down the sword to take up the pedagogical birch. Medina was an educated man and taught an ex- cellent school. His school attained an en- rollment of 103 pupils. It was conducted on the Lancasterian plan, which was an educational fad recently imported from Europe, via Mexico, to California. This fad, once very popular, has been dead for half a century. The gist of the system was that the nearer the teacher was in education to the level of the pupil the more successful would he be in imparting instruc- tion. So the preceptor taught the more advanced pupils ; these taught the next lower grades, and so down the scale to the lowest class. Through this system it was possible for one teacher to instruct or manage two or three hundred pupils.
Don Manuel Requena, in an address to the outgoing ayuntamiento, speaking of Medina's school, said: "One hundred and three youths of this vicinity made rapid progress under the care of the honorable preceptor, and showed a sublime spectacle, announcing a happy future." The "happy future" of the school was clouded by the shadow of shortage of funds. The superior government notified the ayuntamiento that it had remitted the $500 promised and great was the gratitude of the regidores thereat ; but when the remittance reached the pueblo it was found to be merchandise instead of money. The school board (regidores) filed an indignant protest, but
it was merchandise or nothing, so, after much dickering, the preceptor agreed to take the goods at a heavy discount, the ayuntamiento to make up the deficit.
After a very successful school term of nearly half a year the lieutenant was ordered to Monte- rey to aid in suppressing a revolution that Castro and Alvarado were supposed to be incubating. He returned to Los Angeles in November and again took up the pedagogical birch, but laid it down in a few months to take up the sword. Los Angeles was in the throes of one of its periodical revolutions. The schoolhouse was needed by Pico and Castro for military head- quarters. So the pupils were given a vacation- a vacation, by the way, that lasted five years. The next year (1846) the gringos conquered Califor- nia, and when school took up the country was under a new government.
All the schools I have named were boys' schools; but very few of the girls received any education. They were taught to embroider, to cook, to make and mend the clothes of the family and their own, and these accomplishments were deemed sufficient for a woman.
Governor Micheltorena undertook to establish schools for girls in the towns of the department. He requested of the ayuntamiento of Los Angeles the names of three ladies for teachers, one of whom was to be selected to take charge of the girls' school when established. The alcalde named Mrs. Luisa Arguello, Dolores Lopez and Maria Ygnacio Alvarado. The governor ap- pointed Mrs. Luisa Arguello teacher of the school which was to open July 1, 1844. Evidently the school did not open on time, for at the meeting of the ayuntamiento, January 7, 1845, the al- calde requested that Mrs. Luisa Arguello be asked whether she would fill the position of teacher to which she had been appointed by the governor. There is no record that she ever taught school or that there ever was a girls' school in Los Angeles before the American conquest.
The last school taught under the supervision of the ayuntamiento of 'Los Angeles was at San Gabriel, in 1846, and that faithful old pedagogue, Vicente Morago, was the teacher, his salary the same old figure, $15 per month. From an in-
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ventory made by Lieutenant Medina we ascer- tain the amount of school books and furniture it took to supply a school of one hundred pupils sixty years ago: Primers, thirty-six; second readers, eleven ; Fray Ripalde's Catechisms, four- teen ; table (without carpet or joint) to write upon, one: benches, six: blackboard, one: large table for children, one. School supplies were few and inexpensive in early days. Here is an ac- count of the expenses, made from the public school from February to December, 1834: Prim- ers, $1 : blackboard, $2; earthen jar for water, $2.50; ink, $1 ; string for ruling the blackboard, fifty cents; ink well, thirty-seven cents. Total, $7.37. Church incidentals for same length of time were $96. The city owned no schoolhouse. The priests' house was used for a schoolroom when it was vacant, otherwise the teacher or the ayuntamiento rented a room. At one time a fine of $1 was imposed on parents who failed to send their children to school, but the fines were never collected.
There is no record of any school in Los An- geles during the years 1846 and 1847. The war of the Conquest was in progress part of the time, and the big boys and the schoolmaster as well were needed for soldiers. In 1848 and 1849 the gold rush to the northern mines carried away most of the male population. In the flush days of '49 the paltry pay of $15 per month was not sufficient to induce even faithful old Vicente Morago to wield the pedagogical birch.
At the first session of the ayuntamiento, in January, 1850, Syndic Figueroa and Regidor Garfias were appointed school committeemen to establish a public school. At the end of three months the syndic reported that he had been unable to find a house wherein to locate the school. Nor had he succeeded in securing a teacher. An individual, however, had just pre- sented himself, who, although he did not speak English, yet he could teach the children many useful things; and, besides, the same person had managed to get the refusal of Mrs. Pollerena's house for school purposes. At the next meeting of the council the syndic reported that he had been unable to start the school-the individual who had offered to teach had left for the mines
and the school committee could neither find a schoolmaster nor a schoolhouse.
In June of the same year (1850) a contract was made with Francisco Bustamente, an ex- soldier, who had come to the territory with Gov- ernor Micheltorena, "to teach the children first, second and third lessons and likewise to read script, to write and count and so much as I may be competent, to teach them orthography and good morals." Bustamente taught to the close of the year, receiving $60 per month and $20 a month rent for a house in which the school was kept.
In July, 1850, the ayuntamiento was merged into the common council. Part of the council's duties was to act as a school board. Two appli- cations were received during the first month from would-be teachers. Hugo Overns offered to give primary instruction in English. Spanish and French ; George Wormald asked permission to establish "a Los Angeles lyceum, in which the following classes shall be taught: Reading, pen- manship, arithmetic, geography, Spanish gram- mar, double-entry bookkeeping, religion, history and the English and French languages." The applications were referred to Councilman Mor- ris L. Goodman. He reported in favor of grant- ing "Hugo Overns $50 per month to establish a school in which shall be taught the rudiments of English, French and Spanish. In consideration of the subsidy paid from the public funds, the council to have the privilege of sending to the school, free of charge, six orphan boys or others whose parents are poor." The proposition was approved.
In November, 1850, the Rev. Henry Weeks proposed to organize a school (he to have charge of the boys and his wife of the girls) for the compensation of $150 per month. Two months later the school committee reported that no bet- ier proposition had been received. Weeks and his wife opened school January 4, 1851. Weeks paid the rent of the schoolroom.
In June, 1853, the council passed a resolu- tion to divide $100 between the two preceptors of the boys' school and the preceptress of the girls' school on condition that each teach ten poor children free.
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The city council, March 8, 1851, granted Bishop Alameny blocks 41 and 42, Ord's survey, for a college site, together with the flow of water from what was formerly known as the College Spring. A conditional grant of the same land had been made in 1849 to Padres Branche and Sanchez for a college site. (These blocks lie west of Buena Vista street and north of College street.)
The early schools seem to have been run on the go-as-you-please principle. The school com- mittee reported "having visited the school twice without finding the children assembled. The cominittee, however, had arranged with the preceptor for a full attendance next Friday, of which the council took due notice." Which of the three schools was so lax in attendance the committee does not state.
The first school ordinance was adopted by the council July 9, 1851. Article 1 provided that a sum not exceeding $50 per month shall be applied towards the support of any educational institution in the city, provided that all the rudi- ments of the English and Spanish languages be taught therein.
Article 2 provided that should pupils receive instruction in any higher branches the parents must make an agreement with the "owner or owners of the school." August 13, 1852, an ordinance was passed by the council setting apart a levy of ten cents on the $100 of the municipal taxes for the support of the schools. This was the first tax levy ever made in the city for the support of schools. Previous to this the school fund was derived from licenses, fines, etc. At the same meeting of the council Padre Anacleto Lestraode was granted two lots for a seminary. The location of the lots is not given. A. S. Breed opened a school for instruction in the English language in December, 1852. He was allowed $33 public funds on the usual terms. Breed was elected city marshal at the election the following May. He embezzled public funds and was turned out of office.
The school committee of the council, Downey and Del Valle, reported, January 17, 1853, hav- ing visited the "two schools in charge of pre-
ceptors Lestraode and Coronel (Ygnacio), found them well attended; twenty children in the former and ten in the latter, besides five taught gratis." The council expressed great satisfac- tion, and requested the committee at its next visit to express to the preceptors its (the coun- cil's) appreciation of their good work. The report is not very definite in regard to the attend- ance. If the total number in the two schools was only thirty-five, it would seem as if the council was thankful for small favors. June 11, 1853, Mrs. A. Bland, wife of the Rev. Adam Bland, a Methodist minister, having established a school for girls, was allowed $33.33 1-3 from the pub- lic funds for teaching ten poor girls. The mayor was instructed by the council to find out whether the seats the city pays for in the various schools are filled, and if those occupying them are deserving.
At the session of the council. July 25, 1853, John T. Jones submitted an ordinance for the establishment and government of the city's pub- lic schools. It provided for the appointment by the council, with the approval of the mayor, of three commissioners of public schools, "who shall serve as a board of education for one year, the chairman to be superintendent of schools, and commissioners to have all the powers vested in a board of education by the act of the state legis- lature, 'entitled, an act to establish a common school system, approved May 3, 1852.'" The board had power to examine, employ and dis- miss teachers and appoint a marshal to take a census of all children between the ages of five and eighteen years. The ordinance was ap- proved, and J. Lancaster Brent, Lewis Granger and Stephen C. Foster appointed a board of edu- cation, J. Lancaster Brent becoming ex-officio the city school superintendent. The council hav- ing established a public school system, by a reso- lution suspended the payment of subsidies to private schools ; the resolution took effect August 14, 1853.
In May, 1854, Hon. Stephen C. Foster, on as- suming the office of mayor, in his inaugural mes- sage urged the necessity of increased school facilities. He said: "Our last census shows more than 500 children within the corporate
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limits, of the age to attend school, three-fourths of whom have no means of education save that afforded by the public schools. Our city has now a school fund of $3,000." He urged the build- ing of two school houses, the appointment of a school superintendent and a board of education. At the next meeting of the council an ordinance was passed providing for the appointment by the council, on the first Monday of June each year, of three school commissioners or trustees, a superintendent and a school marshal.
At a meeting of the council held May 20, 1854, Lewis Granger moved that Stephen C. Foster be appointed city superintendent of common schools ; Manuel Requena, Francis Mellus and W. T. B. Sanford, trustees; and G. W. Cole, school mar- shal. The nominations were confirmed. Thus the mayor of the city became its first school superintendent, and three of the seven members of the council constituted the board of education. The duties of the superintendent were to ex- amine teachers, grant certificates and hold annual examinations of the schools.
The board of education and the superintendent set vigorously to work, and before the close of the school year school house No. 1, located on the northwest corner of Spring and Second streets, on the lot now occupied by the Bryson block and the old City Hall building, was com- pleted. It was a two-story brick building, cost- ing about $6,000. It was well out in the suburbs then, the center of population at that time being in the neighborhood of the Plaza. School was opened in it March 19, 1855, William A. Wallace in charge of the boys' department, and Miss Louisa Hayes principal of the girls' department. Co-education then, and for many years after, was not tolerated in the public schools of Los An- geles. Previous to the completion of the build- ing, in the fall of 1854, T. J. Scully taught a public school in a rented building, and Ygnacio Coronel taught a school in his own building on the corner of Los Angeles and Arcadia streets. Mrs. M. A. Hoyt and son taught a public school in a rented building north of the Plaza in 1854- 55-56.
School house No. 2, located on Bath street, now North Main street, was built in 1856. It
was a two-story, two-room brick building. It was demolished when the street was widened and extended.
Wallace, after a few months' teaching, laid down the birch and mounted the editorial tripod. He became editor and publisher of the Los An- geles Star, but the tripod proved an uncom- fortable seat, and he soon descended from it. William McKee, an educated young Irishman, succeeded him in the school. McKee was a suc- cessful teacher. The Los Angeles Star of March 17, 1855, in an able editorial urged the planting of shade trees upon the school lot. "When the feasibility of growing trees upon the naked plain is fairly tested the owners of lots in the neighborhood will imitate the good ex- ample," said the Star. To test the feasibility the trustees bought twelve black locusts at $1 apiece and planted them on the school lot. The shade trees grew, but when the green feed on the "naked plains" around the school house dried up the innumerable ground squirrels that in- fested the mesa made a raid on the trees, ate the leaves and girdled the branches. McKee, to protect the trees, procured a shotgun, and when he was not teaching the young ideas how to shoot he was shooting squirrels. There was no water system then in the city, and water for domestic purposes was supplied by carriers from carts. McKee used water from the school barrel to water the trees. The "hombre" who supplied the water reported to the trustees that that gringo "maestro de escula" (schoolmaster) was wasting the public water trying to grow trees on the mesa where "any fool might know they wouldn't grow." The trees did survive the squirrels' attacks and waterman's wrath. They were cut down in 1884, when the lot was sold to the city for a city hall site. From 1853 to 1866 the common council appointed the members of the board of education and the school superin- tendents. From 1866 to 1870 the school boards and the superintendents were elected by popular vote at the city elections. In 1870 it was discov- ered that there was no law authorizing the elec- tion of a superintendent; the city in school affairs being governed by three trustees the same
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