History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 39

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934

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The science lecture hall, the four science class rooms, the large assembly hall and the class rooms for history and English literature are all equipped with currents for lantern use ; the windows of these rooms are darkened with opaque black shades.

In the principal's outer office is located the central office of a modern telephone exchange which connects with all rooms of the five buildings and was the gift of the architect. There are also intercommunicating phones be- tween the science department, stage and boiler room, that can be used when the central ex- change is closed.

The electric plant which supplies lights and the different kinds of power for pumps, fans, air compressor and experimental work at the instructors' and students' tables in the eight science laboratories and science lecture hall, is believed to be one of the most complete of its kind ever built. The power is obtained from a 2300-volt alternating three-phase cur- rent and runs from the street through an un- derground iron conduit to a strictly fireproof transformer room adjoining the boiler room. Here it passes through three large transform- ers and enters the house as 110 and 220-volt alternating and three-phase current.

The fireproof boiler house, with white en- amel walls and ceilings, is located in the rear of the main building and contains two large oil-burning boilers that supply steam through an eight-inch main to the 8,000 feet of steam coils that stand in front of the two great steel ventilating fans, which by the aid of two ten- horse electric motors, supply the buildings with nearly 4,000,000 cubic feet of moderately heated fresh air per hour. There are over 500 feet of electric lighted concrete air tunnels leading away from the fans. The ventilating of the toilet rooms, shower bath rooms and chemical laboratory is independent of the main system.

One of the late improvements to the high

school is a large two-story building, located on the southwest corner of the square, east of the main building, which is used for the con- mercial department and the gymnasium.

Besides the high school there are nine gram- mar schools in San Jose. The buildings are practically all new, those not new having been modernized in every particular. Three-fourths of the school rooms of the city schools are of convertible open-air design, having open- air windows from the floor to the ceiling on one side of the room and French doors en- closing the entire opposite wall of the room. Practically every elementary school owns the entire block upon which the school is situ- ated. The board of education adds $10,000 worth of playgrounds into the department each year regularly. Teachers are selected by an examination conducted by four principals and the superintendent in the elementary schools, and in the high school upon the rec- ommendation of the principal of the high school, the head of the department concerned, and the city superintendent of schools. The maximum salary paid in the grades amounts to $1.560, and in the high school $1,900, with $2,100 for elementary school supervisors and $2.400 for elementary principals.

Physical education has been developed to a considerable extent, having four teachers of physical education in the high school and at least one teacher in each elementary school especially equipped to lead in this work. Thirty minutes have been added to the ele- mentary school day in order to give sufficient time to physical education. The high school has a gymnasium and swimming pool, which are used by three thousand different students each week, including day high school students and evening high school students, and elemen- tary pupils on Saturdays.

The schools have had medical examination for ten years, with a school physician and med- ical and dental clinic. The board of education has purchased free eyeglasses for those who needed them, and in some cases it is furnish- ing free milk for those suffering from malnu- trition. Clothes and shoes are furnished to those who need them in order that they may attend school. Stammering and stuttering pupils are given special attention. Cafeterias are operated in the high school and in one ele- mentary school.

There is a kindergarten in each elementary school, and in 1921 there was added an extra kindergarten in each school where foreign children predominate. The school system has a school librarian conducting her work along the lines adopted by the county librarian. Practical education is carried on to a consider- able extent both in the grades and the day

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and evening high schools. About one-half of the teachers engaged in this line of work come from the trades, and the other half are school men and women prepared to do this work. Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six students were enrolled in the evening high school in 1921 with an average night attendance of 700. This work will be nearly doubled for the com- ing year, according to present plans. In the classes of Americanization the foreign-born purchased $65,000 of bonds and thrift stamps, which was, on the average, more than the reg- ular American citizen purchased. Sixty-two of the foreign-born of this class entered the army, not because they were drafted, but be- cause of a desire to fight for American ideals. There are twelve teachers, Mrs. Nellie Chope is principal.

The school department on March 9, 1820. submitted to the voters a proposition to bond the city for $400,000 for high school purposes and $300,000 for the elementary schools. The bond issue was carried by a seven-to-one vote. It was necessitated by the fact that the board of education desired to largely extend tech- nical and physical education, and because the number of pupils had increased from 3639 to 9557 during the past twelve years, while the number of teachers had increased from 116 to 251.

Twenty-five large class rooms, a study hall and eight immense concrete shops were built at the high school in 1921, while a whole square block was purchased for playground purposes. The following lines of work are taught in the Polytechnic high school, which occupies half a block on San Fernando Street between Sev- enth and Eighth: Woodwork, electrical work, auto construction and repairing, carpentry and building, lumber and planing-mill work, sheet metal work, and oxygen and acetylene welding and cutting. At each elementary school a large addition, comprising in most cases eight rooms, has been built. Over $100,000 worth of elementary school playground have been added. Lunch rooms and indoor gymnasiums have been provided at each school. All new rooms that have been built are convertible open air in type.

The appraised value of the high school plant . in the spring of 1920 was $600,000. The ex- penditure of the $400,000 raised by bond issue increased the valuation to $1,000,000. The grammar school buildings and lands are val- ued at $736,000.

The average high school attendance in 1922 was 1934. R. B. Leland is the principal. There are twenty-four regular and thirty-five special teachers. The grammar school, kin- dergarten and special teachers number 168.

Following are the names of the city super- intendents of schools since 1860: R. P.

Thompson, Rev. L. Hamilton, W. Tonner, D. S. Payne, W. C. Hart, J. M. Littlefield, Chas. Silent, W. B. Hardy, E. A. Clark, J. O. Haw- kins, L. J. Chipman, J. G. Kennedy, J. B. Finch, A. W. Oliver, J. G Kennedy, L. F. Cur- tis, F. P. Russell, A. E. Shumate, Alex. Sher- iffs, W. L. Bachrodt.

The State Teachers' College

The State Normal School, now the State Teachers' College, was established by an act of the Legislature, May 2, 1862. It was lo- cated in San Francisco and opened its doors with thirty-one pupils. Its usefulness in providing efficient teachers for the public schools of the state was at once recognized, and in 1876 an appropriation was made for the erection of suitable buildings. One of the most memorable battles ever witnessed in the legislation of the state took place on the ques- tion of selecting a location for this institution. Nearly every county in the state offered a site and some of them large subsidies in money. San Jose offered Washington Square, contain- ing twenty-five acres, for the use of the state, and the offer was accepted. A large and fine wooden building was erected under the super- intendency of Theodore Lenzen, the architect. This building, with all its contents, including furniture, library, apparatus, museum and charts, was burned to the ground, February 11. 1880. The Legislature was then in ses- sion and a bill was immediately introduced for an appropriation to rebuild, the school in the meantime occupying rooms in the high school building. An effort was made to change the location of the institution and the fight of 1870 was renewed. But San Jose was again successful and an appropriation was made with which another and stronger building was constructed. This building was used until the earthquake of 1906, when it was so greatly damaged that its demolition became a ne- cessity.

The new building was completed in 1910. It is situated on the Fourth Street side of the Normal campus, with its entrance opposite San Antonio Street. The structure is two- storied and is laid out in the form of a quadran- gle. The building is an adaptation of the Mis- sion style of architecture and is made of re- inforced concrete, covered with gray plaster, trimmed with brick and roofed with red tile. The quadrangle, whose extreme length is over 400 feet and whose extreme width is about 250 feet, is composed of three main divisions. united by continuous open arcades, an upper and a lower. To the right, on the approach from the gates, is the science wing of the building; to the left is the library. The two sides of the quadrangle are connected at the rear by the administration building, and in

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front by a single arcade, open on both sides. In the center of this are three arches, a little higher than those of the rest of the arcade, which form the entrance to the building.

Passing under the central arch. one enters the great court. On either side rise the cen- tral arches of the upper and lower arcades. The latter are plain concrete archways, while the former are supported by pillars of stained Oregon pine. Directly in front, a little to the left of the entrance to the administration build- ing, rises a tall Gothic tower. The lower floor is a locker room for the girl students, while the upper is occupied by the preceptress. Where the library wing meets the adminis- tration building is a large room devoted to the first and second grades of the Training school. Above the library are large reception rooms and special rooms of various kinds. In the center is one of the most beautiful rooms in the building. It has great arched windows which, on the north side, form a bay. This is the music room. Then there are the society rooms and the drawing rooms. In the science wing are recitation and lecture rooms, with seats arranged in tiers. On the lower floor is the kindergarten. In the basement are en- gine rooms and store rooms.

As adjuncts of the teaching departments are the Short Story Club, organized in 1904 by Dr. Henry Meade Bland; the Men's Club, the Psychology Round Table, the Art Club. the Dailean Society, the Mandolin Club, the Newman Club, the Y. W. C. A. and the Bas- ket Ball Association, Sappho Club, Athenian Socitety. Eurosophian Society, and Browning Club. Basket ball and tennis courts are on the campus.

The Training school has a faculty including eight department supervisors, four assistants, librarian and special supervision of domestic science and penmanship. About 600 children are in attendance. In addition to the regular subjects there are classes in typewriting, printing, home problems, household science and decoration, cooking, sewing, manual train- ing, physical training, including folk dancing and military drill, and primary handwork. Classes in the violin and piano give children further opportunities, and the Training school orchestra adds its part. A minimum of one year's teaching of one period a day is required of all except experienced teachers and univer- sity graduates. The minimum for experienced teachers is one term of twelve weeks, and for university students, two terms.

One of the important departments of the Normal School is the library, which for the most part was the work of Miss Ruth Royce, who for thirty-five years was the librarian, leaving office in 1918. In her hands the library

grew from a small number of books to a col- lection of over 18,000. She was succeeded by Helen Evans, whose competency was quickly recognized. The arrangement of books in the library is known as classification. There are many kinds, but here the decimal classification of Melvil Dewey is used. This classification divides all knowledge into ten parts-general work, philosophy, religion, sociology, includ- ing economics, education, etc. : philology, nat- ural science, useful arts, including agriculture. domestic science, etc .: fine arts, literature, history, including geography, travel and biog- raphy. All books of the history of San Jose are found together on the shelves. There is a collection of standard books for children and also a department for the Training school.

Another noteworthy department is the kin- dergarten, directed by Miss Isbel O. Macken- zie. It prepares teachers for the kindergarten and first grade. The rooms are located in the extreme south end of the main building, at- fording a southeasterly exposure. Plenty of light, air and sunshine make an attractive and wholesome setting for the fifty or more little ones who spend three and a half hours of their day here, to afford the would-be teachers an opportunity for practice teaching. The furni- ture and decorations conform to sanitary standards. Growing plants and flowers ar- ranged and cared for by the children give a standard to the students which is worthy of being emulated by the kindergartens of the state. The magnificent school grounds, planned in 1870, seemed to have been designed by men of vision for the future generations of children. The kindergarten teachers, as well as the students, gather under the trees for recreation and work. Another kindergarten is an experimental school of the most approved type and is conducted in a building of its own. Gas stoves and dining room equipment in one of the rooms give opportunity for the re-living of home activities. Social instincts are stressed through self-organized groups in the arrangement of the luncheon and through the cooperative work done in the various com- munity problems. The large materials afford opportunity for the physical and social devel- opment of the child. Individuality is expressed in the choice of materials. The Stanford- Binet tests are given to obtain the mental age of the child, and daily charts are kept on file for each child. Concentration and initiative are emphasized at all times. In Miss Mac- kenzie, a teacher of long experience and broad sympathy and understanding the kindergarten has as director one of the ablest in the State of California.

'The state branch school has as president Dr. William West Kemp, who assumed of-

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fice on July 1, 1920. He succeeded Dr. Mor- ris Elmer Daily, who died July 5. 1919, after having served as president for nineteen years. Between July. 1919, and July. 1920. L. B. Wilson, the vice-president, acted as president pro tem. A temporary assembly and gym- nasium and a cafeteria are among the latest improvements. The course of study embraces everything necessary for the instruction of students who desire to be teachers. It em- · braces, art, mathematics, music. English, physical training, history, bookkeeping, house- hold arts, kindergarten, drawing, agriculture. geography, zoology, physiology, industrial arts, expression, psychology, civics, pottery and manual arts. The teaching force numbers sixty-six. The average attendance of students for the year 1919 and 1920 was 500.

The conversion of the Normal School into a State Teachers' College took place in 1921. The first term in October showed an attend- ance of 800, the largest of any similar institu- tion in the state. The institution having at- tained college status offers in addition to the regular courses, junior college courses. Plans for a new building have been adopted and the conditions for the home economics and manual arts departments will soon be bettered. The last named department will have courses in auto construction and repair, electrical wiring, plumbing, tinning, machine shop practice, foundry work, pattern making, cabinet mak- ing. carpentering, printing and mechanical drawing. The new building will face Seventh Street.

College of Notre Dame

The massive buildings and beautiful grounds of the College of Notre Dame, standing in the heart of San Jose, in no way indicates the small beginning from which they sprung. In 1844 a band of devout Sisters established a mission school in the Willamette Valley, Ore- gon. In 1851 other Sisters of the order start- ed from Cincinnati to join in the work on the Willamette. They were to come by way of the Isthmus and Sister Loyola of Nouvain and Sister Mary of Nismes, came down from Oregon to San Francisco to meet them. Find- ing they would be compelled to wait some time for the arrival of the vessel from Panama, these Sisters accepted the hospitality of Mar- tin Murphy, of Mountain View. They looked through the valley of Santa Clara and were charmed with its natural beauties and ad- vantages. At this time Father Nobili was lay- ing the foundations of Santa Clara College. He suggested that the Sisters establish an edu- cational institution in San Jose and the sug- gestion was supplemented by the urgent en- treaty of Martin Murphy and other citizens. The Sisters were easily persuaded. They

chose the present site for their building, pur- chasing at first a tract of ground 10134 by 1371/2 feet. There was no Santa Clara Street then and no improvements near the tract. San Jose had but twenty-six houses and they were nearly all on Market Street or further east. The ground was grown up with mustard and weeds, through which an acequia, or water ditch, flowed sluggishly. Having made their choice of location the Sisters did not delay their work. Levi Goodrich, the architect, was employed, and in August, 1851, the school was in operation. From this small beginning has arisen one of the great Catholic educational in- stitutions in the United States. The founda- tions for the present main building were laid in 1854. Mr. Kerwin was the architect, but hay- ing buildings under his direction in course of construction in other places, was not able to give proper attention to the San Jose build- ing. In consequence the chapel wing of the structure would have been a failure, had not Sister Loyola come to the rescue, and as archi- tect and overseer, calculated all the details. In 1855 the college was incorporated by the State Legislature and subsequently the same body so extended the original charter as to confer all the rights and privileges of col- legiate institutions in the United States. In 1862-63 the main building and the eastern wing were completed. The latter runs back to a depth of 250 feet. The west wing is 103 feet deep.

In 1866 Levi Goodrich erected the select school. In 1869 Theodore Lenzen continued the building and in 1876 Mr. Readney made the last addition and erected the day school. In 1900 the secondary department was accred- ited to the University of California, which privilege entitles its certified graduates to ad- mission without matriculation examinations, to the State and Stanford Universities, to any Western college and to the State Normal schools.

The grounds of the college are spacious, artistically laid out and ornamented by choice shade trees, shrubbery, flowers and lawns. It is generally conceded that the college offers ideal conditions to the earnest student and is a paradise of opportunities for the lover of nature. The calm atmosphere in which the students dwell, in the midst of beautiful en- vironment, the harmony of regularly recurring duties, the beauty and sublimity of the liturg- ical year, all are potent factors in deepening. rounding and refining character.

The aim of the college is that of Christian education, as understood by the Catholic Church, not only in intellectual but in moral development. While maintaining a high stand- ard of study, the formation of character is the main object of the teaching given.

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The college has a farm house and orchard on the Los Gatos road. Thus supplies of eggs, vegetables and fruit, are daily avail- able. Notre Dame Villa, a charming estate, comprising 100 acres on the picturesque hills of Saratoga, adds a delightful recreation re- sort, health factor and natural botanical gar- den, to the resources of the college.

The health of the students is an object of constant solicitude. Plain and wholesome fare. beautiful and extensive grounds, which af- ford opportunity for frequent exercise, fre- quent walks and excursions to points of inter- est-all conduce to develop and preserve health and strength. The students are also provided with out-door games, including ten- nis, basketball, volleyball and other athletic amusements. Daily open air drills in physical culture are given, and no student is relieved from physical training unless by written re- quest from her physician. In case of sickness the students are given the best medical at- tendance and care in well-kept infirmaries.

To well-equipped buildings, laboratories. li- braries, etc., the college adds the advantages accruing from opportunities to hear lectures in literary and scientific subjects by notable lecturers, as well as season concerts by world- famous artists. For class instruction and reci- tation the stereopticon and the balopticon are employed with most satisfactory results. As before noted the estate at Saratoga offers in- valuable opportunities for field work in the natural sciences. Excursions of this nature are likewise made to points of scientific in- terest in the valley.

The government is mild but firm, as the happiness and mental development of the students are closely connected with good or- der. As the Catholic religion is professed by the members of the college, the exercises of religious worship are Catholic, but students of any denomination are admitted, provid- ed they are willing to conform to the general regulations of the school.

The institution embraces the following de- partments: The Collegiate, consisting of the College of Letters and Social Science and the College of Music; the Secondary, including four years of work preparatory to the Col- legiate course. Graduating honors are award- ed to students completing the work of this department; the Preparatory, including the work of the grades. Students completing this department receive certificates; the Commer- cial department includes thorough courses in bookkeeping, commercial law, commercial arithmetic and correspondence, typewriting. stenography and stenotypy; diplomas are awarded.

The Notre Dame College of Music-a de-

partment of the college-has, from its com- mencement up to the present time, maintained the highest standard of effort in this special educational field. The most distinguished art- ists of the season for concerts in the commo- dious Notre Dame Hall, are secured yearly.

College of the Pacific

The College of the Pacific is the oldest in- corporated educational institution in Califor -. nia. It was granted a charter by the Supreme Court July 10, 1851. under the name of the "California Wesleyan College." The board of trustees at its first meeting. August 15, 1851, voted to change the name to "The Uni- versity of the Pacific," and the Legislature sanctioned the change in a new charter granted March 29, 1852. The institution was known by this name until July 24, 1911, when, in ac- cordance with the changes in its plans and pur- poses, the name was again changed by court proceedings to the College of the Pacific. Until 1871, when it was removed to its pres- ent site, the University of the Pacific was lo- cated in Santa Clara.

In the late '50s the University founded the first medical school in the state. This was afterwards incorporated as the Cooper Med- ical School of San Francisco. The school was later acquired by the trustees of the Le- land Stanford Jr. University and now forms its medical department. In 1896 Napa Col- lege, situated at Napa, Cal., was consolidated with the University of the Pacific and its grad- uates are now enrolled among the alumni of the College of the Pacific.

The college was founded upon coeduca- tional principles and women are admitted on precisely the same footing as men. In equip- ment and teaching force the college is pre- pared to give thorough instruction of colle- giate grade, to maintain high standards of scholarship, and in every way to carry out its aim to be a college of first rank, limited in its attendance to 500 students. It is located at College Park, a suburb of San Jose, on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railway and about ten minutes' ride by electric car from either San Jose or Santa Clara. The campus is two blocks from the old Mission road, the Alameda, now a part of the State Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, one of the most beautiful residence avenues in the state.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 39

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1934

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934