USA > California > Los Angeles County > Pasadena > History of Pasadena, comprising an account of the native Indian, the early Spanish, the Mexican, the American, the colony, and the incorporated city, occupancies of the Rancho San Pasqual, and its adjacent mountains, canyons, waterfalls and other objects of interest: being a complete and comprehensive histo-cyclopedia of all matters pertaining to this region > Part 23
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Meanwhile the settlement had grown so rapidly that the old school- house was entirely inadequate for its purpose ; and on March 30, 1878, a proposition to levy a special tax on the property of the district for $3,500 to erect a new and larger school building was submitted to a popular vote, and was carried almost unanimously, 44 for and only 3 against. Yet it was plain that the tax levy would not provide enough funds to put up a building of size and style and character of rooms suitable for a place that was growing so rapidly in population, and also in outside repute as a place of superior intelligence, culture and good taste. To meet this emergency, a subscrip- tion paper was started for voluntary increase of resources at command of the school board ; and here is a copy which I made from the original paper as still preserved by S. Washburn :
The undersigned hereby agree to pay to the Trustees of the San Pas- qual School District, within sixty days after date, the sum set opposite our names, for the purpose of building a more commodious school-house than can be built by the tax levied.
Dated Pasadena, California, June 10th, 1878.
S. Washburn Cash $100.00
M. H. Weight Labor 25.00
J. F. Crank ... Will raise tax to. 100.00
J. Smith ... I will make my tax up to 100.00
J. Banbury ... In work $30, or cash.
20.00
H. T. Hollingsworth.
25.00
Charles Legge ... In work
25.00
Mills Bros ... Will raise tax to. (Labor) 20.00
David Townsend 25.00
L. D. Hollingsworth 15.00
P. W. Hollingsworth Work 15.00
J. H. Baker 10.00
T. Banbury ... Raise tax to 20.00
S. E. Locke. Work 20.00
F. Lowe Labor
20.00
O. H. Conger ... Will raise tax to. 50.00
P. G. Wooster. Work
15.00
171
DIVISION THREE - BRAINS.
A. K. McQuilling
10.00
E. Turner
Labor or money. 10.00
Jos. Nelson
10.00
Newell Matthews
Cash $25, Bills $5 ...
30.00
E. Millard.
Labor
10.00
Newell Matthews
Cash.
20.00
R. Williams.
Labor
10.00
F. M. Lippincott
Labor
10.00
Geo. Miller
Labor 10.00
Frank Heydenreich.
Labor
10.00
D. Printz .
10.00
Capt. S. Jones
10.00
James Blattenberg
Labor
10.00
Geo. P. Clark
Labor
15.00
Arthur A. Knox
Labor
5.00
J. R. Giddings
Labor
5.00
C. W. Bell
Labor
5.00
J. Beebe.
Labor
5.00
Joseph Wallace
Labor
15.00
The good work went forward, and by the end of the year a handsome two-story building with rooms separate for different grades, and crowned with a suitable bell, was ready for, use. And Mr. Matthews and Miss Royce had the honor of inaugurating the new temple of learning .* The historic little old original school-house was sold and moved off the grounds ; it served various uses till finally most of it was incorporated in a cottage built by R. Williams on South Fair Oaks avenue-and in the " boom time," [1886], this cottage was sold and moved to a lot on Adella Avenue, where it still stands as No. 407-the residence of Joseph Yates, in 1894. But another portion of it forms the main body of a cheap cottage, now No. 20, on Mills street. +
Meanwhile, during the fall of 1877, the people at the south end of Pasadena, thinking the San Pasqual School at too great a distance, and de- siring to have more immediate control in their own school matters, began to agitate the question of having a new district. The movement succeeded, and in January, 1878, the "Pasadena School District " was formed, includ- ing that portion of the settlement south of California street and west of Fair Oaks Avenue, to the north line of Los Angeles city. On March 5, 1878, the first school was opened in a building owned by C. B. Ripley, and standing at the summit of the grade, or hill on west Columbia street, now the Charles Foote place. A five-acre lot at the corner of Sylvan Avenue and Columbia street was soon purchased of A. O. Porter, for school pur- poses.
*May 21, 1894, J. W. Vandevort presented the City Council with a photograph of our First City Hall (the old Central School building), and S. Washburn presented the original subscription list which enabled that building to be erected, in 1876. The relics were properly cased and hung on the wall of the Council room.
.
+After this chapter was written, J. A. De Hay bought this part of the old colony school-house and moved it down to his home place on Waverly Drive.
I72
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
The first term of the school was taught by Miss Bessie Harris, of San Jose. The next term by Miss Fannie Carroll, of Pasadena. During the summer of 1879 a small building was erected near the above lot, as a tem- porary school-house. Miss Lucy Newell, of Santa Clara, taught that year. In the fall of 1880 Miss Minnie Joslyn, of Orange, began the term, Mr. C. H. Case, of Pasadena, continuing it till Christmas, when Mr. R. B. Warren, of Orange, took the school for the remainder of the year. He was suc- ceeded again by Mr. Case. [For further history of this school, see Chapter 35.]
On the Ist of January, 1883, a new postoffice called Hermosa was granted to these South Orange Grove people, with F. M. Glover as post- master-the office being located at northeast corner of the school lot ; and in 1884 Mr. Glover was succeeded by C. H. Case as postmaster. [See Chapter 35.]
In 1883-84 a large, fine school building was erected on the summit of their school lot, now known as "Columbia Hill," at a cost of about $4,000. In 1885 this building and its magnificent grounds were given by the district to the "Sierra Madre College," the people hoping thereby to secure per- manently in their midst a higher institution of learning. The college struggled along in hard straits for two years and finally failed, with heavy debts encumbering all its property, and to pay which it was at last sold. The place was bought, and building altered, enlarged and reconstructed by its present owner, making the fine and sightly residence of Chas. D. Dag- gett, Esq., on Columbia Hill.
In 1884 the population had increased to such numbers that two new school-houses were built at a cost of $4,300 for the two-one at Monks Hill, and the other on East Colorado street, corner of Hill Avenue. An article in the Valley Union of March 8, 1884, said : "The school census of Pasa- dena for 1883 showed an increase of over fifty per cent on the census of 1882, and the attendance for this school year (1883-84) shows the same in- crease over last year, so that we have in October, when our schools are fairly commenced, about one-fourth more pupils than we have funds provided for, and at the close of the school year we have three pupils to provide for with the funds designed for two."* To meet these necessities for the time, a special tax was voted by the district. School grounds at Monks Hill were donated by Painter & Ball, and a small building was erected thereon. These grounds were afterward exchanged for the present more suitable location, where the nine-room "Washington School " now stands. But a lot for the Colorado street school had to be bought outright, and cost $175. Each building was planned to accomodate about eighty pupils, from first to sixth grade, although seats for only half that number were put in at first.
*An official report showed 222 pupils in school during the year, with 160 as the average attendance per month.
I73
DIVISION THREE - BRAINS.
Miss Elma Ball [now Mrs. H. I. Stuart of Pasadena] was teacher at Color- ado street, and Miss Hannah Ball [now Mrs. F. R. Harris of Pasadena] at the Monks Hill school. These two houses were designed and built by Ridgway & Ripley, and were first occupied in January, 1885, after the holi- day vacation, the schools having been opened a few months previously in temporary rooms.
All through this year, and for two years following, the teachers were embarrassed with difficulties of a peculiar nature ; for in addition to the rapid increase of population, there was a large contingent of winter visitor pupils. And the new-comers, both permanent and transient, were of all sorts and grades, from all sorts of schools-ranging in quality from the poorest of re- mote country districts in the mountains or in the South, up to the highest type of graded schools in the great eastern cities ; and thus it was extremely
H.S. CROCKER & OS
WASHINGTON SCHOOL. Architecture, American. Erected 1888. Cost $25,000 ; 9 rooms; 450 seats.
hard to grade them satisfactorily to pupils or parents. Also, the rooms were overcrowded, the teachers overworked, the apparatus and supplies, such as globes, wall-maps, blackboards, reference books, charts, etc., greatly short of what were daily needed. Such were some of the difficulties which E. T. Pierce had to struggle with continually during the last three years of his arduous administration ; yet he laid the foundations good and firm for better things in after years, the credit of which has often been mis- takenly given to others. In May, 1884, he published a statement showing
174
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
what the school law called for that was impossible for him and his co- teachers to fulfill, and made this appeal : "We must, however, have more than eight months in which to accomplish the work that is given for ten months."
In 1885 Chas. Turner and Maria Vischer gained the highest percentage in scholarship of any pupils in Los Angeles county. And in 1886 Ernest Byram gained first, and Agnes Elliott second, rank in the county.
In May, 1885, Edward S. Mosher took the school census of the district, and reported as follows : Number of white children between five and seven- teen years of age, 459 ; number of census children, 460 ; number under five years of age, 147 ; number attending private school, 23 ; not attending any school 146 ; native born children (all ages), 559 ; births during the year, 13 ; foreign born children, 27 ; negro children, I.
July 9, 1886, principal Pierce published in the Valley Union a school report, giving grade and class rank of each pupil in the several schools.
During this year the matter of removing the school building to some point less exposed to the stir and confusion of a business center was decided upon. And besides, the original school grounds donated by Hon. B. D. Wilson, had become so valuable for business lots that their sale would cer- tainly yield funds to buy a more eligible site and erect a much larger and better arranged building. It was necessary, however, to get written consent from the heirs of Mr. Wilson, before any sale of these lands could be made with good title, as they had been given to the district specifically "for school purposes." This consent was readily obtained ; and the district agreed that the large new school building to be erected from proceeds of the sale should be named the "Wilson School," as a perpetual memorial to the original donor of the lands. This matter being settled, the school-house was moved eastward a few hundred feet to a west frontage on Raymond Avenue; * the grounds surveyed and staked off into 35 business lots, with convenient alley- ways running through, and arrangement made for a public sale of the lots on March 12, 1886. The following table shows the buyers of lots and the price paid for each, at this great sale :
AUCTION SALE OF SCHOOL LOTS, MARCH 12, 1886.
LOT NO. PURCHASER.
PRICE PER FT. TOTAL.
I-M. H. Weight.
$148 00
$3,700 00
2-Will C. Defriez
101 00
2,525 00
3-John Burns
100 00. 2,500 00
4-E. S. Frost.
87 00. 2,175 00
5-E. S. Frost
83 00. 2,075 00
*This building was still used for school purposes until the new "Wilson School" was ready. But the Union of Aug. 26, 1886, said : " School opening is delayed till the 20th of September by the moving of the building." It was afterward leased by the city as a City Hall for a term of years. Its next use was as a colored people's church. Then it was leased and fitted up for a gymnasium by the Athletic Club. But in 1894 it was sold to Thomas Banbury and moved away to make room for a fine brick block ; and it now stands at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Glendale street, where it has been shorn of its bell tower and made over into a nice dwelling-house.
175
DIVISION THREE- BRAINS.
LOT NO. PURCHASER.
PRICE PER FT.
TOTAL.
6-M. Fish
80 00
$2,000 00
7-M, Fish
70 00.
1,750 00
8-J. Hisey
66 00
1,650 00
9-D. Parker
55 00. 1,375 00
IO-Adam Becker
51 00 1,275 00
II-C. A. Gardner
51 50. 1,287 50
12-W. W. Mills
50 00 1,250 00
13-W. G. McCaldin
49 00. 1,225 00
14-J. W. Vandevort.
50 00 1,250 00
15-J. G. Miller
50 00. 1,250 00
16-J. G. Miller
61 50
1,537 50
17-J. G. Miller.
67 00. 1,675 00
18-E. C. Webster
55 00. 1,375 00
19-S. Washburn
50 00.
1,250 00
20-Fred Swift.
44 00 1,100 00
21-C. A. Steele
43 00. 1,075 00
22-C. A. Steele,
37 00.
937 00
23-E. C. Webster
33 00.
825 00
24-E. C. Webster
26 00. 650 00
25-A. Tower.
24 50
612 50
26-A. Tower.
24 50
612 50
27-A. Tower.
24 50.
612 50
28-A. Tower.
24 50.
612 50
29-Edwin Ward
25 00.
625 00
30-Tom Hoag
61 50
1,537 50
31-Tom Hoag.
46 50.
1, 162 50
32-Tom Hoag.
45 00
1,125 00
33 ) Reserved for Town Hall purposes, and the
34 \ school-house was moved onto them.
35-Free Library (by Abbot Kinney, presi- dent ; this was where the original Library building then stood)
170 00
Total $44,772 00
This was a great historic day in our school history. Among these lots was the entire frontage on the south side of Colorado street from Fair Oaks to the Santa Fe railroad, and on both sides of Raymond Avenue as far south as the north line of the present postoffice building-lots where some of the best business blocks of the city now stand.
The school trustees at this time were H. W. Magee, A. O. Bristol and S. Washburn, with E. T. Pierce as school principal and superintendent and clerk of the board ; and these changes of school site, choice of new grounds, planning for new buildings, etc., imposed an immense amount of labor and care upon them. In a few weeks they called for competitive plans and specifications for the new Wilson school building. Nine different architects sent in plans under fictitious names, with their real names in sealed en- velopes. These different plans were all exposed for public inspection and opinion two days (May 4-5, 1886) in a large vacant room over the Valley
176
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
Union printing office-the frame building on alley opposite rear of the Natural History store, and famed in later years as the "Cheap John res- taurant," or "blind pig," with illicit whisky kept hidden under the floor, etc. The estimated cost by the competitors varied from $15,000 to $30,000. When the trustees came to vote on their preference among the nine different plans submitted, Magee and Bristol favored the one signed "Justitia," which proved afterward to be Harry Ridgway of Pasadena, but Washburn preferred the one signed " A point within a circle," which on opening the
-
WILSON HIGH SCHOOL.
Architecture, Italian. Erected 1887. Cost $30,000 ; 10 rooms ; 425 seats.
sealed envelopes proved to be J. M. Stewart of San Diego. How- ever, no action could be final in the matter until approved by the county superintendent, who was at this time J. W. Hinton. He examined the plans carefully in detail, and decided that as a whole-for size and style of building, size and placing of rooms, arrangement for ventilation and light, for egress in case of fire, the chaste and elegant external appearance, etc .- the plan by Mr. Stewart was the preferable one: The trustees finally con- curred in this view, and steps were taken at once to erect such a building- the one now known as the Wilson High School.
I77
DIVISION THREE - BRAINS.
It will be seen from the foregoing narrative that the years 1886-87 were crowded with difficulties, transitions and changes in the school interests of Pasadena. In the autumn of 1887 the fine, new Wilson School building was first occupied. At the close of the school year 1887-88, the trustees, for the first time in Pasadena, ventured to authorize the expense of a full printed report, in pamphlet form, on the school work and business of the year. This report is signed, H. H. Markham, president ; A. O. Bristol, clerk ; Z. Decker,-school trustees ; and E. T. Pierce, city superintendent. And from it I here quote some passages of permanent historic interest :
"The past year, that of 1887-8, has doubtless been the most trying in the history of our schools. At the opening of the fall term it was evi- dent that our school facilities, though much more ample than ever before,
-
GARFIELD SCHOOL. Architecture, Anglo-Teutonic. Erected, 1888 ; cost $22,000; 7 rooms ; 375 seats.
were entirely insufficient to accommodate the great increase in attendance incident to our rapid growth as a city .* A vacant store on South Fair Oaks Avenue was rented and two teachers were employed to take charge of the primary pupils living in that vicinity. The corps of teachers at Monks Hill was doubled, and thirty-six more seats were placed in the main room of the Wilson School. Thus all the available space at the command of the school officers was utilized. Nevertheless, after the winter holidays, it was found necessary to hold 'double sessions ' in no less than ten departments."- School Report, page 3.
"At the close of last year it became evident that, in view of our rapid growth, to be Superintendent of Schools, act as Principal of the largest
*When the Wilson school building, with 10 rooms, and to cost $30,000, was being planned for, some citizens talked vehemently against it as a piece of extravagance and folly-and said, "We won't need so big a school house for ten years yet."
12
178
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
building, visit the teachers in their rooms and direct their work, teach the graduating class, receive parents and visitors, examine and grade the large number of new pupils, act as Clerk of the School Board, and perform such other duties as that Board might direct, exceeded the powers of any one man. It was therefore thought by the board wiser and more economical to employ a Principal for the Wilson School, and leave the Superintendent free to attend to the many duties incident to his office. Mr. Herbert Pinck- ney was the Principal employed."-School Report, page 4.
" By the completion of handsome and commodious buildings in the northern and southern parts of our city, each of which will be thoroughly graded, and managed by an experienced Principal, with an able corps of teachers, our schools will assume the character properly befitting a well organized city system."-School Report, page 9.
[This refers to the " Washington School " in North Pasadena, and the " Garfield School" on California street.]
Some of the statistics of that year I thought worthy of preservation here for future reference and comparison :
SUMMARY.
I Enrollment for the year Boys 698
Girls
656
2 Total Enrollment.
1,354
3 Number of days Taught. 175
4 Number of days Attendance
5 Number of days Absence. 148,472
6 Number of days Tardinesses 10,667
2,960
7 Average Number Belonging
909
S Average Daily Attendance
849
9 Percentage of Attendance on Average Enrollment.
93
IO Average Number of Pupils Enrolled by each Teacher. 85
II Average Daily Attendance per Teacher. 53
SOME COMPARISONS WITH LAST YEAR.
School Census, May, 1887 830 } Increase in one year 1,200
Total Enrollment, 1886-7. 1888 2,030
703 2
Increase in one year 651
Average Daily Attendance, 1886-7 ... 1887-8 ... 849
446 }
Increase in one year 403
9
Total
1887-8 18
Number of Teachers holding Double Sessions
5
The total amount of funds in control of the school board that year was $118,234.04. Their total expenditures, including new buildings, etc., were $63,965.48 ; leaving on hand a balance of $54,268.56. Five pages of item- ized details are given, to show how the money was used ; and a comparative summary of the regular school service expenses is given, thus :
Amount paid for Teaching, 1886-7 $ 5,938.00 Amount paid for Teaching and Superintendence, 1887-8 12,696.09
Amount paid for Janitors, Fuel, Supplies, and Incidental Expenses,
1886-7. 1,300.00 Amount paid for Janitors, Fuel, Supplies, and Incidental Expenses,
1887-8 2,026 99
1887-8 1,354
Average Number of Teachers employed, 1886-7 66
1 887-8. 16
179
DIVISION THREE - BRAINS.
This showed an increase of $7,481.08 for running expenses in one year ; and hence parties who took little pains to investigate the matter accused the school board and superintendent of folly, extravagance, peculation and mis- management. These accusers even went so far the next year as to circulate a paper demanding an investigation, naming a committee to conduct the same, and agreeing to contribute $100 for expenses thereof. But only three signatures were obtained to it, and the whole thing fell flat, although the much talk about it at the time did a good deal of mischief. [See school report for 1889-90, pages 18 and 19, for further particulars in this matter.] In view of these things, the school board published a table showing that Pasadena's school expense per pupil in attendance was only $10.50, while in ten other cities named it averaged $27.83 per pupil. And many facts about increase of district, with new buildings required, etc., were given, to show how and why the expense account had to be rapidly increased.
The year 1888-89 was a sort of breaking-up and transitional period. Z. Decker, R. Williams and C. W. Buchanan were the trustees. The city of Pasadena became incorporated in 1886, and there was an undecided question of law as to whether the territory included within the city limits must be regarded and administered as a new and separate school district, or whether there was still only one district the same as before. Heavy school expenditures were necessarily going on both inside and outside of city limits, the validity of which was called in question ; and also an unfortun- ate public strife grew up over the retention of certain principal teachers. These things together made this really the most trying and worrying year, to those in charge of the school, of any one year in our school history ; and personal animosities were engendered which have in some cases hardly worn away yet. The streets were filled with rumors and accusations of bad management or wrong-doing by the school officers; and yet, in every in- stance where such charges were made specific enough to be met, they were shown to be based upon the most frivolous and sometimes ridiculous mis- apprehension of what had been done or what had not been done, and the reasons therefor in either case. There was no printed pamphlet report this year. Prof. Pierce had engaged to take the principalship of the State Nor- mal school at Chico the succeeding year, and would therefore retire from the Pasadena work at the close of this school year ; and with the many cares and special difficulties of the situation at this time, he found it wholly impossible to do the clerical and literary and press-overseeing work neces- sary for such a publication. I mention this, because he has been misjudged and unjustly blamed in the matter. His successor, Will S. Monroe, bore this testimony : "When I took charge of the schools one year ago, I found them in good condition. Efficient work had been done by my pre- decessor, and the foundation had been laid on a broad, practical basis."
The Annual School Report for year 1889-90 gives some account of the double-district case, thus :
180
HISTORY OF PASADENA.
PASADENA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT.
This district was originally a part of the San Pasqual school district, which covered the city of Pasadena and left outside of the city limits the remainder of the San Pasqual district. When the city was incorporated in 1886, that part of the territory which comprised the city should have been set off as a separate school district, as provided by law ; but no steps were taken in that direction. In 1889, when it was discovered that a mistake had been made and that two districts had been voting for one set of trustees, the District Attorney and the Attorney-General decided that a set of trustees must be appointed for each district. These two boards of trustees met in joint session and conducted the school business so that no trouble was experienced. Special teachers were employed by both districts, and their salaries equitably divided between the two; and thus affairs went on until the San Pasqual district was added to the Pasadena city district, which was the only legal consolidation that could take place. The school district is now identical with the old San Pasqual district, but called the Pasadena City School District.
From various parts of the same document I gather a few items. It is mentioned that 101 visits to class-rooms were made by trustees during this year, whereas a total of only 131 similar visits had been made during the preceding fifteen school years. In regard to the State law which requires school children to be vaccinated the report says : four physicians of the city donated their service as inspectors, and reported 426 pupils examined by them who bore evidence of previous successful vaccination ; 727 pupils presented lawful certificates of vaccination ; 43 presented physicians' cer- tificates stating that after due effort it was found that successful vaccination could not be produced ; and two or three pupils whose parents opposed vaccination were withdrawn from school because it was required, The school census of 1890 showed a decrease of 387 from that of 1889 [the "boom " had collapsed]; and the total number enrolled was only thirty- nine less than the full census report. "The average daily attendance of pupils for the year ending June 30th, 1889, was 1136, and the total expend- itures the past year, $32,507.00, thus making the cost of educating each pupil $31.371/2." The financial report of this year for the first and only time, gave the accounts of the Pasadena City District and the San Pasqual District separately. Geo. F. Kernaghan served as clerk or secretary and made up the reports this year.
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