USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume I > Part 18
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CHAPTER XI
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE COUNTY
Under Spanish and Mexican rule there were no collegiate institutions of learning nor any parochial schools founded by the dominant church of Los Angeles. What little was accomplished in the way of education was done through the public schools, supported by municipal funds. But a change came when the United States acquired California, for the archives show that the Catholic clergy petitioned for tracts of land on which to build church schools. In June, 1849, a petition was received from the bishops of California, and the ayuntamiento resolved "That the Holy See of Cali- fornia be granted from amongst the municipal lands of this city and adjoin- ing the canada which leads to the San Francisco road, a square lot measuring 150 varas on each of its sides ;" the only condition being that such land should have erected thereon a suitable building in which public instruction should be given. This was sought, and carried out, "that the youth of the community might be properly taught the duties of Catholicism, and become good, true and loyal citizens."
ST. VINCENTS COLLEGE
The cornerstone of the first collegiate institution in Los Angeles, that of St. Vincent's, was laid in August, 1866, on the block bounded by Sixth, Seventh, Fort and Hill streets. The structure was completed in 1867 and it was forty by eighty feet in size and two stories high. The curriculum included not only scientific and classical courses of study, but also a complete commercial course. The first executive officers were Father McGill, president ; Father Flynn, vice president, and Father Richardson, treasurer. The building was added to and repaired in 1884, and when the boom struck the city the property was sold for business purposes for $100,000 and a new site purchased on Washington Street and Grand Avenue. Military instruc- tion was added, and today the institution is in a highly prosperous condition.
WHITTIER COLLEGE
Whittier points with a just pride to the fact that here may be found a city which glories in the fact that culture and refinement are evident to those who elect to make their home on the slopes of the Whittier Hills. From a cultural standpoint Whittier College is one of the city's greatest assets. While this college is founded and largely supported by the Society of Friends, yet there is no denominationalism taught within its walls. One now finds fourteen different departments, aside from music. The college library has been well selected and carefully kept up-to-date. The laboratories for biology, chemistry and physics are splendidly equipped.
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The athletic grounds, popularly known as Hadley field, is one of the best in this part of the country. When the "Greater Whittier College" plans are fully realized, the institution will have an equipment which will be worthy of the magnificent work it is doing. The campus is centrally located, and when the new group of buildings are completed the property will be almost ideal for educational purposes. The Rockerfeller Founda- tion gave the college financial aid amounting to $66,000. The citizens also headed the list for money-raising to a goodly amount and have never begrudged a cent thus spent.
The beginning of this institution was on September 27, 1891, when the Whittier Educational Association established the Whittier Academy. It commenced in a store building of the Pickering Land & Water Com- pany, which corporation three years later donated the beautiful site now occupied, and the sum of $8,000 was subscribed and paid by citizens and members of the Friends' churches in California. With this means the present building was originally constructed. The College was incorporated in 1901, the first class graduating in 1904. To those interested in the college these basic dates will be valuable for reference.
HARVARD SCHOOL -- MILITARY
This institution which aims at military training, with a high standard of scholarship, is unique in its character. It was founded by Grenville C. Emery, A. M., in 1900, and is located at Los Angeles City. The first school opened September 25, 1900, with forty pupils. Six years later, the number of pupils had increased to 250. In 1914 the value of all the build- ings about the campus was more than $100,000. A fully equipped rifle range (indoors) eighty feet in distance, underneath Arnold Hall, permits instruction to cadets in rifle shooting. A fine cadet band was early organ- ized and the instruments are owned by the college itself.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The University is the oldest among the Protestant educational institu- tions of Southern California. Judge R. M. Widney was the originator of the great school for higher learning. With the cooperation of Rev. A. M. Hough, E. F. Spence, Dr. J. P. Widney, Rev. M. M. Bovard and G. D. Compton, it was decided to build a Methodist college or university, in or near Los Angeles. In July, 1879, three hundred and eight lots were deeded to Messrs. Hough, Widney, Spence, Bovard, Compton, and R. M. Widney in West Los Angeles, in trust as an endowment fund for the University of Southern California. Forty acres of land were also donated by the owners of adjacent tracts. The buildings were erected on Wesley Avenue, near Jefferson Street. When the institution was opened, the land where the campus was later laid out was covered with wild mustard stalks, the streets were undefined, save by stakes, and there were no houses in the vicinity. The first president was Rev. M. M. Bovard. In 1886 the four story college building was erected and the school moved into it.
In 1882 the founders of the Ontario Colony, George and William B.
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Chaffey, tendered a large tract of land for a Chaffey College of Agriculture, as a department of the university. The corner-stone of a brick building at Ontario, San Bernardino County, was laid in March, 1883, and two years later the school opened therein, as a branch of the University of Southern California.
The College of Medicine of the University was founded in 1885, by Dr. J. P. Widney. It was conducted on Aliso Street until 1897; then moved to a building on the west side of Buena Vista. The building is imposing and is fine, both interior and exterior. In 1906, a library building, the gift of Dr. W. Jarvis Barlow, member of the faculty, was erected on Buena Vista Street opposite the central building of the medical school. The glass dome affords ample light and is an ornament.
The Maclay College of Theology was established in 1885, at San Fernando. Hon. Charles Maclay gave lands valued at $150,000 as an endowment and erected a building for its use. The school was closed at San Fernando in 1893 and opened at the University in West Los Angeles, in October, 1894.
The University includes the following colleges, each having a distinct faculty of instruction : College of Liberal Arts, College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Dentistry, College of Law, College of Music, College of Oratory, College of Fine Arts at Garvanza. The Uni- versity is endowed for about a half million dollars and has assets of about $800,000. While it is non-sectarian, it is partly under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
POMONA COLLEGE
Claremont, near the city of Pomona, is the home of Pomona College. The institution was founded by the General Association of the Congrega- tional Churches of Southern California. It was incorporated October 14, 1887. Rev. C. B. Sumner was appointed financial secretary. The first term of school was opened in September, 1888, in a leased house at Pomona. Messrs. Fullerton, Kingman and F. A. Miller, of Riverside and Pomona, presented a hall to the college with a number of valuable town lots in Claremont, four miles out of Pomona city to the northeast. The college had for its first president, Rev. Cyrus C. Baldwin. Pearsons Hall of Science was donated by Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago. It is a building sixty by ninety feet, two stories high, with a deep basement. This fine structure was dedicated in January, 1899. Sumner Hall is devoted to the use of young lady students as a dormitory. Among later presidents are readily recalled Rev. Frank L. Ferguson, who in turn was succeeded by George A. Gates, D. D., LL. D. The first class was graduated in 1894. In order to widen the scope of usefulness, the trustees of Pomona College, in 1905, offered to receive the Baptists and Disciples of Southern California to unite with them in college affairs, as they had no colleges in this section of the state. This kind offer was soon accepted on the part of the two denominations. With the passing years, changes for the better have come to Pomona College. In 1915 one might have seen a fine group of buildings, located on spacious grounds, with a student body of near five hundred. Besides this, Claremont had, at that time, a splendid group of fire-proof
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high and grammar school buildings, housing 829 pupils and sixty-one instructors.
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE
This college was founded, in 1887, by an association of ministers repre- senting the Presbyterian churches of Los Angeles and its environs. It was at first situated to the east of the city, between First and Second streets. A number of town lots and a small acreage had been donated to the project. In 1888 a fine three story structure was erected thereon for the main college building. School was opened in 1888, Rev. S. H. Weller being the first president. He was followed by Prof. J. M. McPherron and Rev. E. N. Condit. In 1896 the building and its entire contents were burned. Then the school was carried on in the Boyle Heights Presbyterian church, and moved next to the old St. Vincent College building on Hill Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets. For two years it remained in that location. Then after some delay the institution was moved to Highland Park, midway between Los Angeles and Pasadena. There, in 1898, a very attractive building was erected and the classes transferred to it in September, 1898. At the time Rev. Guy W. Wadsworth was president of the college. The Hall of Letters-the principal college building-was built in 1904. It is a three story brick structure and has a basement beneath it. The size is 100 by 180 feet. The cost when completed was $57,000.
The Stimson Library was completed and in use early in 1905. It was the gift of Charles M. Stimson of Los Angeles and its cost was $20,000. It is looked upon as among the finest library buildings on the Pacific coast. Ten years ago there were over 5,000 volumes in the library. The campaign of 1905 to endow the institution with $200,000 proved successful, and the committee reported that there were at the end of that campaign productive funds equivalent to $360,000. At the present time the Occidental College is fast forging to the front.
SANTA MONICA PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY CHARLES S. WARREN
Santa Monica began to make history with its schools in April of 1875, and if any one word, that more than any other denotes the character and the uppermost public interests of Santa Monica were selected, the choice would fall on schools. In April of 1875, the first shelter for men employed in building the Santa Monica wharf was erected. The first home sites in the new town were sold in July of that year, and the first outstanding public move was to formulate a plan for a school district. A meeting of citizens, November 3rd, in the dining room of the Hotel Santa Monica, took the initial step in an application to the board of county supervisors to organize a school district. It included a wide range of territory in and about Santa Monica, the San Vicente, Santa Monica, and Malibu ranchos, a tract of land belonging to Mrs. Lucas and a part of the Ballon grant.
There was no delay in calling an election for school trustees. It was held December 3rd, and the honor of serving as the first school trustees of Santa Monica fell to John Freeman, L. T. Fisher and J. W. Scott. Their
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opportunity for service lay in the fact that seventy-two children of school age lived in the district.
The founder of Santa Monica, United States Senator John P. Jones and his business associate, Col. Frank S. Baker, had a high appreciation of the basic value of the public schools in community development. They manifested their public spirit by giving two lots on Sixth Street, where the Jefferson school stands, as a school site. Here, in 1876, an attractive build- ing was erected in time for the opening of the fall term.
The first tax assessment of the new school district found a total valua- tion of $1,035,580. A special tax of $5,000 was voted for the first school building which was in two stories.
Until this building was ready for occupancy, the pupils of the school attended daily sessions in the Presbyterian Church, the old wooden chapel at the corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue, recently removed, to give place to a new theater. On the first attendance roll of the school are the names of George, Henry, and Eugene Boehme, Julia, May and George Suits, Claude Sheckles and Mary Collins, all members of families active in Santa Monica development for years. The first roll was called by H. P. McCusick, whose school rapidly grew in numbers and required the services of a second teacher, Miss Lucy Whiten, when the first building was occupied in September.
Records of the years from this first school through the next decade and later show much growth and expansion, and also that Santa Monica voters lost none of their interest in schools because it cost money to maintain them. The people voted numerous bond issues and special school tax levies in these pioneer years.
In 1891 a high school was organized. Leroy D. Brown was the first principal, of this school, and its first graduating class was composed of five members : Roy A. Sulliger, Florence C. Rubicam, George G. Bundy, Hilda H. Hasse, and Delia Sweetzer.
The voters continued to be responsive to school needs and voted money for the Lincoln building, at Tenth Street and Oregon Avenue, which the high school began to occupy in 1898, and where it remained until moved to the present buildings in 1912.
No less than twelve times, the citizens of Santa Monica have sanctioned with their votes the outlay of money raised by a special tax or bond issues for the improvement of the schools of Santa Monica. As a result of this generous public policy, the public school system of Santa Monica is today recognized in educational circles throughout the United States as being among the best of cities in the same class.
The greatest progress has been made since 1907 when Horace M. Rebok became Superintendent of Schools. Under his supervision, the movement for the present high school establishment was begun. September 14, 1910, the Board of Education met with representatives from the City Council, Santa Monica Bay Chamber of Commerce and Santa Monica Board of Trade. There were present : George D. Snyder, Carl F. Schrader, John A. Morton, Frank Stewart, J. J. Seymour, Roy Jones, Charles Tegner, W. I. Hull, Mrs. D. G. Stephens, Mrs. J. J. Seymour, Robert White, E. J. Vawter, Jr., Waldo K. Cowan, Horace M. Rebok. An advisory committee to repre- sent the city in co-operation with the Board of Education was appointed,
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consisting of Roy Jones, Chairman, Carl F. Schader, Robert White, Horace M. Rebok, George D. Snyder, Secretary. This committee was later in- creased to fifty. The initial bond of $200,000.00 for the high school group was carried by a vote of seven to one. The citizens responsible as members of the board for carrying out this new high school enterprise were Mrs. D. G. Stephens, President, Mrs. J. J. Seymour, Robert White, E. J. Vawter, Jr., Waldo K. Cowan. Mrs. Stephens was later succeeded by Dr. C. M. Lindsey, Mr. Cowan was succeeded by L. C. Badgely, and Mr. White was succeeded by J. B. Lorbeer, but later returned to the Board.
The corner stone for the main building was laid April 11, 1912, by Dana Wheller, Past Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Cali- fornia, and the address of the day was delivered by Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California. Many of the public school officials of California were present. The buildings were occupied for school purposes February 1913. The dedication exercises occurred February 23, at which Dr. James B. Scherer, President Throop Institute, delivered the dedication address.
The Santa Monica High School occupies a campus of fourteen acres, bound by Fourth Street on the west, Seventh Street on the east, Michigan Avenue on the north, Pico Boulevard on the south. The main group of three buildings occupies the crown of the hill at an elevation of 120 feet above sea level and a distance of 1,000 feet from shore line. There are two gymnasiums, one for boys and one for girls, at the edge of the athletic field. The completion of this school plant, and the addition two years ago of an open air theater, as a memorial to Santa Monica's sons in the World war, brought new distinctions to the Santa Monica school system in the form of national attention in architectural and educational journals, for beauty of buildings and their ideal site overlooking the Santa Monica Bay, and commanding a far reaching prospect of mountains at the north and rich and populous valleys at the east. The school plant has a present valuation of $650,000.00.
As typical of the distinction that has been given the Santa Monica High School, I quote the following :
"Early Italian architecture. Fourteen acres, including boys' and girls' gymnasiums, large athletic field and open-air theater, seating 3,000. Anyone and everyone will put the creation at Santa Monica among the best com- binations of buildings and grounds in America."-Editor Journal of Education, Boston.
"The Board of Education received a cash prize of two hundred dollars from the Los Angeles County committee on beautification of school grounds, and a special honor certificate from the Southern California Chapter American Institute of Architects for co-operation in creating buildings and grounds. On the whole, the jury feels that this is probably the most successful high school group in the West, and any city should be proud to have attained it. Surely such a magnificent environment must have a per- petual influence on the youth who for four of the most formative years of their lives must spend the principal part of each day in it."-Architect and Engineer.
One of the historic days in Santa Monica was May 30, 1921, the occasion being the dedication of the Memorial Open Air Theater on the
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high school grounds to the soldiers, sailors, and marines of the World war. The program of that day follows :
Dedication of Memorial Open Air Theater 10:30 A. M. H. J. ENGELBRECHT President Santa Monica City Board of Education, Presiding
Hugo Kirchhofer, Director Community Chorus Music
(a) Columbia
(b) Brabanconne
(c) Britannia. Solo by Lieut. Harry Whitfield Lait
14th Battalion, First Canadian Division
(d) Italia
(e) The Marseillaise Horace M. Rebok
Presentation Address. Response Mayor of Santa Monica City Superintendent of Schools Samuel L. Berkley THE NAVY-"What It Did in the World War" .J. S. McKean Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy, Commanding Division Six, Battleship Forces, U. S. Pacific Fleet
THE ARMY-"Lessons from the World War". Col. H. J. Hatch
Commanding Military Corps, U. S. A., Fort MacArthur
Bass Solo-"My Own United States' Anthony Carlson
DEDICATION ADDRESS. Frederick Warde
Unveiling of Memorial Tablet
(a) Santa Monica Bay Cities Post No. 123, American Legion, at Attention Lieut. Roland R. Speers, Commander
(b) Taps: Volley. Naval Firing Squad
(c) Unveiling of Tablet Processional
(d) Tribute of Allied Nations Community Chorus and Audience "America".
"The Star Spangled Banner" . Bands
The Santa Monica school system in 1922-23 comprises six kinder- gartens enrolling 425 pupils; seven elementary schools of the first six grades, enrolling 3,100 pupils ; two junior high schools, comprising seventh, eighth and ninth grades and enrolling 750 pupils; the Santa Monica High School with an enrollment of 850 in tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Besides these regular day schools, special day and evening classes are organized for adults over sixteen years of age which last year enrolled 789 pupils. The total number of persons enrolling during the school year in all departments of the public schools of Santa Monica equals about twenty- five per cent of the total population of the city.
The school department of Santa Monica has nine elementary play grounds, totaling 33.2 acres, or an average of 3.8 acres. The largest con- tains 6.36 acres and the smallest 1.72 acres. In the high school department, there are three sites, John Adams Junior High School with 5.7 acres,
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Lincoln Junior High School with 9.8 acres, and the Santa Monica High School with campus and athletic field of 14 acres.
The Santa Monica schools are using 62.77 acres of the city's area in school sites and playgrounds. In buildings, equipment, playgrounds, and methods of instruction, the Santa Monica schools are rated among the best. Three large modern buildings are now under construction and another bond issue of a half-million dollars is proposed to provide for the increase of school population during the next five years.
THE THROOP POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
This is a Pasadena institution founded by Hon. Amos G. Throop in 1891. At first it was called the Throop University. It carried a full uni- versity course. "Father" (as he was called) Throop endowed the univer- sity with $200,000 and all of his great energy was applied toward giving life to his new institution. It was incorporated in 1891. The first board of trustees consisted of the following gentlemen: H. H. Markham, H. W. Magee, J. C. Michener, W. U. Masters, J. S. Hodge, George H. Bonebrake, Delos Arnold, T. P. Lukens, E. F. Hurlburt, T. S. C. Lowe, P. M. Green, F. C. Howes, Milton D. Painter, A. G. Throop, and L. A. Sheldon. Hon. A. G. Throop was elected president; L. W. Andrews secretary. The school opened at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Kansas Street. The name was changed, in 1892, to Throop Polytechnic Institute. In 1892, a tract of land was secured at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Chestnut Street. There the Hall was erected and to that site the former shops and equipments were transferred. The school was popular from the start, and more room had to be provided. The addition, called East Hall, cost $40,000. In 1904 other enlargements were necessary. Numerous buildings have since been added and large endowment funds have come to aid in sustaining a great institution. The Institute embraces five departments- the college, normal school, the academy, the commercial school and the ele- mentary school-and the influence going forth from it can hardly be over- estimated.
*PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
With the exception of 1817-18, for forty years or during the period that Los Angeles was under Spanish rule, there were no schools in the county. During the two years named, Maximo Pina, an invalid soldier, taught the Pueblo School at a salary of $140 per year. Again in 1835, Vicente Morago, who had been successively secretary of the ayuntamiento, returned to his former profession as teacher and was satisfied with his $15 monthly wages. During 1837, the Civil war raged between Monterey and Los Angeles, and there was no time to devote to education. As the "big boys" were needed for soldiers, as in the last World war (1914-18), so the attendance was necessarily small and funds were low for sustaining schools .. In 1838, "having the necessary qualifications," Don Ygnacio Coronel took charge of the public schools here. His salary was also $15 a month. He gave less "lickin" and more "larnin" the records show. It is said that his
*See Chapter XXIV, especially for Schools of Los Angeles.
NEW BURBANK GRAMMAR SCHOOL
ORANGE AVENUE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, MONROVIA
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daughter, Soledad, assisted him and was the first to teach music in the county. She was an expert in the fingering of a harp. In 1844, a primary school was taught in Los Angeles under the tutorship of Ensign Guadalupe Medina, an army officer who was given the "rod" instead of the sword. He was a highly educated man and taught a good school. It was taught on the Lancasterian plan. So far all the schools mentioned were only attended by boys and young men, for it was not deemed necessary for girls to receive an education other than to embroider, to cook, and make and mend the clothes of the family and their own.
From Guinn's history of Los Angeles County, compiled several years ago, we extract the following : "The last school taught under the supervision of the Ayuntamiento of Los Angeles was at San Gabriel, in 1846, and the teacher was that faithful old pedagogue, Vicente Morago-his salary the same old figure of $15 per month. From an inventory made by Lieutenant Medina, we ascertain 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 Catechism, fourteen; 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 those days. Here is an account from February to December, 1834: Primers, $1.00 ; blackboard, $2.00; earthen jar for water, $2.50; ink, $1.00; string for ruling the blackboard, fifty cents; ink-well, thirty-seven cents ; total, $7.37. Church incidentals for the same time was $96.00. The city owned no schoolhouse. The priest's house was used for a school room when it was vacant. Children were fined a dollar each day they failed to attend school, but fines were seldom if ever collected. There was no school in 1846-47, for that was the War with Mexico period. Again in 1848 and 1849, the gold seekers rush and excitement took away many of the youths from this county ; hence schools were not had to any considerable extent."
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