USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego county, California; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
The beginning of the period of steady maintenance of the public schools in San Diego dates from July 1, 1854. The county had received no part of the state school funds for that year, on account of its failure to maintain a school for at least three months prior to the first day of October the year before. In order that this should not happen again, hurried action was taken on the date named. E. W. Morse gave the following account : "Up to July 1, 1854, there had been no public school in San Diego county, but on that day the county court being in session, Cave J. Couts, the judge, appointed William C. Ferrell county superintendent of schools, who at once appointed E. V. Shelby census marshal, and J. W. Robinson, Louis Rose and E. W. Morse school trustees for the whole county. Within a few hours the trustees had received the marshal's report, had hired a room for the school and employed a teacher, so that before night a public school was in full operation under the school law of the state." Mr. Morse, although always accurate and clear-headed, had evidently forgotten the earlier attempts at a school; and the appointment which Ferrell received was that of assessor (the office being vacant on account of George Lyons' refusal to qualify), and the law then making the assessor ex officio superintendent of public schools. The teacher employed was Miss Fanny Stevens. On December 2d, the Herald stated that she had about thirty pupils, and it may fairly be said that she was the first teacher who established and maintained a public school in San Diego.
From this time on the school was maintained with regularity and statistics began to be available. In October, 1855, School Marshal Thomas E. Darnall reported 117 children of school age in the county. In 1856, Joshua Sloane taught
234
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
in San Diego from January 21 to March 21 at a salary of $75 per month, and had an enrollment of 32. The branches taught were: Orthography, read- ing, writing, geography, arithmetic and English grammar. W. H. Leighton was then the teacher for three months, beginning July 7, at a salary of $50, and had an enrollment of 29. He taught the same branches, excepting grammar, and also taught history, geometry, algebra, French and Spanish.
In the spring of 1857, Leighton taught four months at a salary of $75. In the fall, James Nichols taught three and one-third months at $60 and had 49 pupils enrolled. There were 138 children of school age in the county. Nichols taught both the spring and fall terms in 1858, also a four months' term in 1859. By the year 1860, the pupils of school age in the county had increased to 320. The only schoolhouse in the county had been erected at Old Town. It consisted of one room, 24x30 feet, with a ceiling ten feet high. During the year 1863, eight months of school were taught, Mary B. Tibbetts and Victor P. Magee being the respective teachers of the two terms.
In 1864 J. L. McIntier was school marshal and E. W. Morse school trustee. Total children of school age, 317. The year 1865 is when Miss Mary C. Walker came to teach the school and an entry in the record in 1866, reading, "We have been without a teacher since June 1," probably marks the date of her resignation. Miss Augusta J. Barrett came in this year to succeed Miss Walker, and taught until she was married to Captain Mathew Sherman, in 1867. The records are meager during the '6os, the names of teachers not appearing in many instances. In the year last named, there was a school library of sixty-one volumes, valued at $50.
The first school in New San Diego was taught by Mrs. H. H. Dougherty, in the old government barracks, in 1868. In the same year, the first public school in Horton's Addition was opened in rented rooms on the lot at the corner of Sixth and B streets, donated by Mr. Horton. The teachers named in the records in this and the following year are Mr. Parker and Miss McCarrett. In August, 1869, a public school was reopened in the barracks under Mr. Echels, and in December the teacher at the B street school was, Mrs. Maria McGillivray.
In 1870 the first public school building was erected on the B street lot, the school removed into it and divided into three grades. The principal was J. S. Spencer, the intermediate teacher Miss Lithgow, and the primary teacher Miss McCoy. The number of school children in the Old Town district was 512 and in the new town, 243. In 1871, the schools were reported to be in "a deplorable condition. The county superintendent is paid nothing for his increased services and consequently did nothing." Only one district in the county had sufficient funds to maintain a school eight months. Notwithstanding these conditions, another school was opened in Sherman's Addition, on lots donated by Captain Sherman. This school was named "the Sherman school" in honor of Captain Sherman and is still so known.
From this time onward, the story is one of continuous growth. The annals are too voluminous for reproduction, but the most important events will be noted and present conditions described.
In 1873 the first county institute was held in San Diego. Thirteen teachers were present. Lectures were delivered by State Superintendent Bolander and Dr. G. W. Barnes. During 1876 and 1877 a more thorough organization into
235
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
grades was made and the work systematized. In 1878 there was much complaint about inadequacy of accommodations and an election was held which authorized the levy of a special tax to build schools and employ teachers. In the next year the enrollment increased fifty per cent, and a bonded indebtedness of $50,000 was thought necessary to relieve the strain.
In 1881 Joseph Russ, of the Russ Lumber Company, offered to give the city all the lumber necessary for the construction of a new school building. This resulted in the building of the Russ school building, later used for the San Diego high school. The first school was opened in this building on August 14, 1882, when 276 pupils were enrolled and 32 turned away for want of room. The principal was J. A. Rice; assistant, Miss E. O. Osgood. The total cost of the building to the city was $18,418.73. This was the first good school building which the city owned.
The high school was organized in January, 1888. The first instructors were: Mrs. Rose V. Barton, Mrs. Julia F. Gilmartin, Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Davis and Miss Ella McConoughy. Professor Davis was principal.
The kindergarten department was first introduced at the Sherman school in 1888, in charge of Miss Fischer. It was soon after extended to other schools and is now an established and valued part of the school work.
As stated, the high-school building was erected in 1881 and 1882. Later a new high-school building was erected at a cost of $201,000 for the building and about $35,000 for the furnishings, and in 1913 the building was greatly enlarged. It contains sixty-two rooms. It is provided with several lecture rooms, assem- bly halls, science rooms and rooms for the art department, gymnasium, study rooms and offices for the officials. When the new building was completed and occupied, the former high-school building was used as a polytechnic school.
The Middletown school was built in 1888 and contains eleven rooms.
The B street and Sherman schools were built in 1889 and the Logan Heights (then known as the East school) a little later. The two first named cost $30,000 each. The B street and the Sherman school each have fourteen rooms. At Logan Heights there are twelve rooms. The University Heights school has nine rooms. The other schools in the city are: The Lowell school, seven rooms ; the Franklin school, nine rooms. The Manual Training school has one room and there are two kindergarten bungalows. The schools outside San Diego proper, but within the city limits and under the charge of its board of education, are : La Jolla, two rooms; Old Town, two rooms; Roseville, two rooms; Pacific Beach, two rooms; and Sorrento, one room.
In 1888 a school building was erected in Mission Valley and a school main- tained for about ten years, but it has now been abandoned.
On June 30, 1906. the citizens of San Diego voted to issue bonds amounting to $120,000 for the construction of several modern school buildings. The corps of teachers is large. The salaries paid run from $900 for the first year to $1,200 for the second and subsequent years. In the grammar schools the pay for the first year runs from $600 to $800; in the second year $30 is added, the same in the third, $40 in the fourth and $40 in the fifth. Duncan Mackinnon is the present city superintendent of schools.
The course of physical culture in the public schools is one of their most valued features. It was first suggested and largely brought about by the Concordia
236
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Turnverein. The first instructor was Professor L. de Julian, who acted as physi- cal director from 1900 to 1902. The German system is used, consisting of dumb- bell exercises, club swinging, apparatus work, calisthenics and games. These are for the children of all grades, from the first to the eighth. The director visits one or more schools each day and gives fifteen minutes' instruction to teachers and pupils, and each class devotes the same time daily to the work under the instruction of the teachers. Each school is equipped with dumbbells, wands, clubs, horizontal bars, rings and climbing ropes, also a basket ball court for boys and girls.
San Diego is with reason proud of its schools. The course of study is good and the schools are accredited. The teachers are well trained and devoted, the board of education progressive and the whole system one which reflects the highest credit upon the place and people.
Of private schools, San Diego has had a number from an early day. The first was the academy of Professor Oliver, established in 1869. In 1872 he sold the buildings to Miss S. M. Gunn, who removed them to Ninth and G streets, added improvements and opened the San Diego Academy. J. D. Dorlan had a "select school" at the corner of Seventh and H streets in 1872. Rev. D. F. McFarland opened his seminary in 1873 and Mrs. O. W. Gates established the Point Loma Seminary in the same year. R. Roessler had a private academy in Gunn's acad- emy building in 1879. The first "business academy" was opened by Professor E. Hyde in 1882.
The Academy of Our Lady of Peace, 1135 A street, is conducted by the Sisters of St. Joseph. It is a boarding and day school for girls and young ladies, well equipped for the development of the mental, moral and physical powers of its pupils. There is also a separate school for boys.
The San Diego Free Industrial school was founded in 1894 by Mrs. J. F. Cary of San Diego. Her original intention was to start a sewing school for girls and to improve the condition of the children living on the water front. It was soon found necessary to make provision for the training of the children of both sexes and after six months boys were also admitted. From the begin- ning the scope of the work has grown until it now embraces a number of activities.
In its early days the school occupied a room on the ground floor of the Montezuma building, corner of Second and F streets. Later it was removed to the Tower House on Fourth and F, thence across the street to what is now known as the Worth lodging house, where it remained until the summer of 1897. At that time the new Congregational church had been completed and the con- gregation was ready to move out of the old tabernacle, then standing on Ninth and F streets. Through the efforts of George W. Marston and Mrs. J. F. Cary, the old building was secured as a home for the industrial school. A lot on the northwest corner of State and F streets, fifty feet wide, was purchased, and the building removed thereon.
Since securing permanent quarters, the school has grown steadily. There is a manual training school where boys are taught the use of tools in various trades, a cooking school in which girls learn plain cooking practically, a sewing school, etc. The school is supported by voluntary contributions and all tuition
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT SAN DIEGO
SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL
237
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
is free. The school is incorporated and Mrs. J. F. Cary was its first president and manager.
THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
The movement to secure a State Normal school for San Diego was under- taken in 1894 and was due primarily to the great expense and inconvenience experienced by San Diego families in sending their children to the State Normal school at Los Angeles, and other institutions throughout southern California. This expense was estimated at $2,750 per month and it was obvious that such conditions could not continue indefinitely.
The agitation was begun by Harr Wagner, then county superintendent of schools, and Professor Hugh J. Baldwin, who was then in charge of the Coro- nado schools. A munificent offer by Mrs. O. J. Stough greatly simplified the undertaking and undoubtedly contributed materially to the early success of the movement. It was proposed that the building and grounds of the college at Pacific Beach should be used for the new normal school, and this property, valued at $100,000, Mrs. Stough offered as a free gift to the state. With this splendid inducement to offer to the legislature Senator D. L. Withington and Assemblymen Dryden and Keene were able to make a strong fight at Sacramento. They were supported by unanimous public sentiment and materially aided by Pro- fessor Baldwin, who went to the capital for the purpose, having been selected by . the citizens of San Diego as the representative of the Chamber of Commerce.
The bill to establish the school at this point passed the legislature in 1895 but was vetoed by the governor. Two years later the bill was pressed, Assembly- man W. R. Guy making it the especial object of his efforts. The legislature acted favorably upon it for the second time and it was signed by the governor.
Although the generosity of Mrs. Stough doubtless secured the success of the project, her offer was not accepted and in the end the normal school was located on University Heights. Immediately after the bill became a law, two other sites were brought into competition with Pacific Beach. Escondido offered its fine three-story high-school building, together with the grounds, and the Col- lege Hill Land Association offered eleven acres on University Heights. The board of trustees appointed by the governor to select the site for the school con- sisted of Thomas O. Toland of Ventura, J. L. Dryden, of National City, John G. North, of Riverside, and W. R. Guy and Victor E. Shaw, of San Diego. They with Governor Budd and Samuel T. Black, ex officio members of the board, looked over the three sites and decided on the present location on University Heights.
CHAPTER XXIX
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
During the sixteen years of the normal school's existence it has graduated over seven hundred students. In September, 1910, the training school was moved from the main building to a new building erected on the campus at a cost of $55,000, including equipment. The whole plant represents an invest- ment of $312,020.
During the years 1911 and 1912 the school has expended appropriations ag- gregating $111,900, as follows:
Salaries
$77,500
Support
7,500
Library
3,000
Grounds
3,000
Printing
900
SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS
Improvement of campus
$5,000
New heating plant.
5,000
Repairs
10,000
The enrollment statistics of the past four years reveal an increase of forty- seven per cent. in the number of students in the normal department, of sixty- three per cent. of the number of students graduated, and of seventy-eight per cent. of the number of students in the training school, with the year 1909. Not only is the school growing in numbers but it is also developing the scope of its work. A course of study for the preparation of teachers to do rural school work is now in operation, and a further extension of this work, the thorough prac- tice teaching, in a portable building to house a typical rural school, is con- templated next year. A definite program of normal school extension has been systematically carried out through the conduct of local institutes by instructors of the normal school-an arrangement made possible through the good offices of County Superintendent Baldwin.
WILL FURNISH TEACHERS
To serve the needs of the school officers of the territory adjacent to the normal school, Dean W. F. Bliss has developed a well organized appointment bureau, with the result that it is now possible for any district seeking a trained teacher to secure the advice of the normal school as to what graduates are avail- able. The services of this appointment bureau have been very freely sought and with very general satisfaction to all concerned. The graduates of the school are freed of the necessity of using the teachers' agencies, and the school district is put into touch with the teacher adapted to the local situation.
239
240
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Another evidence of the very real desire of the school to offer its services generously to the state is to be found in the summer school work that it has undertaken in the past and which it will resume in the summer of 1913. For the past half dozen years the State Normal School of San Diego is the only one of the normal schools of the state that has offered summer school work to the teaching body of the state, and as far as any announcement has been made, it will be the only school offering such work next summer. Courses in methods of teaching the fundamental branches of the elementary .curriculum, and in English literature and dramatization, history, agriculture, household arts, manual training, music, drawing, physical education and hygiene, biological science and mathematics will be offered, also special courses in English and music for high- school teachers, together with special lectures on literary, social and economic topics for teachers and the general public. While thorough-going professional work is the order of the summer session, it is not forgotten that students in attendance are on their vacations and that they need recreation, consequently, work is closed at one o'clock, and afternoons and week-ends are available for all of the splendid opportunities for out-of-door recreation furnished by San Diego and its matchless environment. The very fact that a teacher may live in Tent City, within easy journey by street car to the normal school grounds each day, availing the student of all the opportunities for recreation afforded by the Coronado resort, makes the San Diego normal school one of the most eligible schools in the world for a pleasant as well as a profitable summer session.
Beginning in the summer of 1914, President Hardy hopes to put the school on the basis of continuous sessions throughout the year, divided into four terms of twelve weeks each, with short vacations between the terms. This arrange- ment of course is conditioned upon the amount of financial support that the state is able to give the school. President Hardy, however, believes that in no better way than by the adoption of this arrangement could a great dividend in service be paid to the people of the state. An annual extra appropriation of $5,000 would make it possible to keep the school open practically twelve months in the year, increasing its efficiency at least twenty-five per cent. at an increase in expenditure of about eight per cent.
The administration of an institution like the normal school involves some interesting problems in cost, and in the finding of cost units. The real test of the value of any public service institution is to be found in the ratio of its cost to the value of its produce. President Hardy's analysis of the cost of ad- ministration of the school for the sixty-third fiscal year, shows the following tabulation of statistics :
UNITS OF COST
Account
Amount
Cost per Graduate, 104 în number Cost per Pupil. 639 in number
Equipment
$2,133.97
$20.51
$3.35
Administration
5.567.95
53-54
8.71
Instruction
30,739.97
295.57
48.1I
Care Buildings
3.165.68
30.44
4.95
Care Grounds
1,579-71
15.20
2.47
Maintenance
1,069.50
10.28
1.66
Materials Used
696.40
6.70
I.IO
Totals
$44.953.18
$432.24
$70.35
241
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
It will be noted that the cost per graduate in the academic year 1910-191I was $432.24. Superintendent of Public Instruction E. Hyatt shows in his bien- nial report that the average term of service of the public-school teacher in California is four years, and the average annual salary paid women teachers is $711.17. On this basis the state estimates the value of the services of a San Diego normal school graduate for four years in terms of money equivalent at four times $711.17, or $2,844.68. This sum, compared with the sum of $432.24, the cost of turning out a graduate from the State Normal School of San Diego in 1912, shows that the state is not engaged in a losing business when it under- takes the preparation of teachers.
The largest item in the cost of the production of a graduate is to be found in instruction, which, as will be noted in the table given above, comes to some $30,000 per year. This is expended in salaries distributed among the faculty of twenty-nine teachers, each one of whom is a specialist in his or her line of work. The roster of the faculty includes: E. L. Hardy, president; W. F. Bliss, dean of normal school and registrar : Gertrude Longnecker, department of education ; Emma F. Way, preceptress; W. C. Crandall, dean of summer school ; Florence Bryant, assistant registrar; Mrs. Charlotte Graham Robinson, librarian ; Dr. Charlotte J. Baker, medical examiner; Elizabeth Rogers, principal ele- mentary school.
Roster of teachers: Edward L. Hardy, school administration; W. F. Bliss, dean of the normal school, history and civics; Florence Bryant, Latin; Jane Butt, English and expression; Ada Hughes Coldwell, household arts; Jessie Rand Tanner, physical education; Georgia V. Coy, biology and physical educa- tion; W. C. Crandall, biological sciences; Oren F. Evans, manual training and athletics in training school; Rose E. Judson, music; Gertrude Longnecker, edu- cation ; Emily O. Lamb, drawing and manual training; Irving E. Outcalt, Eng- lish : Alice Edwards Pratt, English; Ernest L. Owen, director of the orchestra ; W. T. Skilling, physical sciences ; J. F. West, mathematics ; Marea Goddard, French and Spanish.
In addition to the faculty provided by the state, the training school is con- ducted by eight teachers detailed for service in the normal school by the city board of education, since the normal school houses and administers the educa- tion of over three hundred children each year for the city. The roster of the city teachers so detailed for the year 1911-1912 follows: Edith McLeod, Ger- trude Laws, associate principals of the intermediate school; Alice Greer, Edith Hammack, Nelson Sebree, Mary T. Dinneen, Grecelynn Glidden, Sara L. Her- ron, assistants. Care of grounds and buildings : Martin Roth, gardener ; Fred W. Van Horne, head janitor and engineer; George Averbeck, Ernst Wiedenhoff, J. M. Turner, assistant janitors; Dudley Turner, watchman.
The entire control and management of the school is vested in a board of trustees, of which M. L. Ward is president, with Dr. Fred Baker and Charles N. Andrews as resident members, and Charles C. Chapman of Fullerton, I. B. Dockweiler, of Los Angeles, as non-resident members, and Governor Hiram W. Johnson and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Edward Hyatt, ex-officio members. Meetings of the executive committee are held monthly and of the full board, semi-annually. The school is also subject to control by a joint board of normal school trustees, consisting of delegates from each of the Vol. I-16
242
HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY
boards of trustees of the seven normal schools of the state. At the next meet- ing of the joint normal school board, the trustees and faculty of the local school plan to present the claims of the institution to do what has sometimes been called junior college work, that is, to do in addition to its regular function of preparing teachers for the elementary school a correlative work in the prepara- tion for life or for the colleges or universities of students who cannot or do not care to go directly from high school to college or university. This plan is now in operation in Wisconsin, relieving the state university of a great deal of its burden of handling undergraduate students and thus enabling it to give more energy to its higher function of post-graduate special research, at the same time not imposing any burden upon the normal school it is not already pretty well prepared to meet.
POST-GRADUATE WORK
Another new function of the state normal schools of California results from action of the state board of education, taken at its meeting held November I, 1912, when the normal schools were authorized to do a certain type of post- graduate work required in California for all candidates for the high-school cer- tificate. The normal school will thus share with the state university and with Leland Stanford, Junior, University in the controlling of the highest certificate given by the state. Should the legislature in its session now at hand recog- nize the new intermediate school, consisting of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, as organized in such cities as Berkeley, Alameda, Oakland and Los An- geles, it will undoubtedly follow that the normal schools will be called upon to prepare teachers eligible to receive a new certificate involving at least three years of preparation in a normal school. All these considerations make it very clear that the normal schools of California are sharing in the forward improve- ment in education, so characteristic of the state, and that they may look forward to a period of both intensive and extensive development of their functions.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.