Ocean Park

Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963) 1951, 1950, 1950s, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1945, 1944, 1940, 1940s, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1934, 1933, 1932, 1931, 1930, 1930s, 1929, 1926, 1925,1924, 1923, 1922, 1921, 1920s, 1919, 1918, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1913, 1912, 1911, 1910, 1910s, 1909, 1908, 1907, 1906, 1905, 1903, 1902, 1900, 1900s, 1898, 1897,1895, 1892, 1890, 1890s, 1889, 1884, 1880s, 1876, 1875, 1870s, 1542See Text

J.J. O'Connor and E.F. Robertson George Dantzig*[1914-2005] Biographies of Mathematicians 2005. 1970s, 1960, 1956, 1952, 1950s, 1947, 1946, 1939, 1937, 1936, 1930, 1914, 1909 

http://www-history.mcs.standrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Dantzig_George.html  See Text

James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1952,  See Text

Lawrence Mace* In Search of Whole Rainbows, Unpublished Manuscript, 1994, 1952, 1949, 1948, 1942  See Text

Anna Elizabeth 'Nancy' Nimitz,* 84; Rand Economist, Researcher, 1 March 2004 Los Angeles Times, B11See Text

Seldon Rodman The Artist Nobody Knows, New World Writing, The New American Library: NY, 1952. pp. 151-157, 1952, 1921, 1918, 1898  See Text

Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1952 See Text

Documents

Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963) Copied by Kelyn Roberts, June 7, 2007. 1890s, 1889, 1542

"Seventy-five years have passed since the Santa Monica School District was first formed, and during that time the citizens of the district have given repeated and abundant evidence of their desire to provide for their children the best possible educational program and services in the best possible learning environment. They have generously and continuously supported their Boards of Education when the Boards have found physical expansion necessary. They have considered their schools a cooperative enterprise, mutually participated in by themselves, their Boards of Education, and the employees of the Board. The results are good. From an initial enrollment of fifty-two pupils housed in two rooms of "the little Presbyterian Church that then stood on the corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue," the pupil population has grown to approximately 16,000 children and youth housed in sixteen modern, well-equipped school plants strategically located throughout the city. How efficient are the educational programs carried on within these buildings may be indicated by a brief consideration of the fundamental principles upon which they are based."

Table of ContentsPage

Chapter:

Introduction                                1-3

Chapter I. Background of a Community         4-33

Discovery                               4

Area Named for Saint Monica                5

Spanish Land Grants                       6

American Occupation of California            9 

Americans in Santa Monica (SM)             10

SM Developed as a Townsite                13

Civic Development                        14

City Incorporation

and Development                       20

Reorganization and Growth                  24

Growth Determinants                      26

The City's Progress Slowed

City's Growth Spurred by

 World War II                          30

City Reorganization                       31

Summary                               32

Chapter II. Early Schools in Santa Monica    34-56

Formation of the District                  34

First School

  Opened March 6, 1876                  35

Early Personnel                         38

Early Discipline                         40

Early Growth of the School

System                             44

Need for Additional

  Schools                             45

Calabasas School                        46

Garripatas School                       46

Canyon School                          47

South Side School                       48

High School Extends

Grammar Grades                       53

Summary                             55

Chapter III. Expansion

of School Organization              56-83

First High School Organized               57

Lincoln High School                     60

Further Growth in School

  Enrollment                          61

New Elementary Schools

  Authorized                          64

Garfield School                         65

Grant School                           68

The First McKinley School                 70

Jefferson School                        71

The First Roosevelt

  School                              72

The Westside School                     73

Santa Monica High School                73

The Campus Expands                79

The Curriculum                    80

The Counseling Program             80

Student Body Activities              81

Summary                             82

Chapter IV. Organization

of the Educational Program          83-107

The Junior High School

  Movement                          84

Lincoln Junior High School               85

John Adams Junior High

  School                             87

Four New Elementary

  Schools                            91

The Platoon Schools                    92

Special Services                        96

Adult Education                        97

Santa Monica Junior

  College                            101

Santa Monica City College               104

Summary                            106

Chapter V. School Development

in Adversity                      108-120

The Earthquake of 1933                 108

Depression Antidote                   113

Santa Monica Technical School          117

Summary                            120

Chapter VI. Wartime and Postwar

    Development                      121-133

The Need for More School Housing        121

Will Rogers ElementarySchool            123

John L. Webster School                 124

Franklin School Additions               125

"Kansas Street" School                  126

Further Additions to Secondary Schools     127

The 1950 Building Program

  and Bond Issue                      128

Summary                            132

Chapter VII. Implications                 134

[Bibliography, Sources, KR]

Introduction

The fundamental of American education have not changed since the inception of free public schooling. While education has been broadened to keep pace with social, scientific, and industrial progress, it still is chiefly concerned with teaching the individual the basic concepts of democracy so that he may become a good and useful citizen. [(1) Grace W. Jones (Ed.) Report-Santa Monica City Schools, Santa Monica: Scott and Scott, 1950, p. 3]. In a period of seventy-five years since the foundation of the Santa Monica schools, there have been many changes in the personnel, buildings, curricula, and teaching methods of the schools. Unchanged, however, has been the steady determination of the citizens to provide for their children the best possible education consistent with the ideals of democracy.

     With the founding of the community in 1875, and the influx of families, the need for schools soon became apparent. In that year, eleven years before the town was incorporated, the organization of the school district as a political unit began. The early settlers of Santa Monica may have been rough and ready citizens, hard riding, and quick on the trigger; but they were not slow to recognize the value of an education for their children. Through the determination of these early residents, a foundation of education was established for culture and progress of which modern Santa Monica is justly proud.

     The purpose of this study is to trace the development of the Santa Monica schools from 1876 to the present time. The historical data include a chronicle of the people and events that have influenced the development of the schools, their growth, building programs, curriculum development, and achievements noted through the years. Although the study is centered in the historical background of the schools, it is necessary to review briefly the historical events of the community they serve.

     Chapter I, entitled The Background of a Community, gives a brief history of the town of Santa Monica and provides a setting for a better understanding of the growth and development of the schools. A history of the development of the city and the development of the schools are so firmly linked that each must be considered in relation to the other. Many of the early functions of the city first found their origin through the needs of the growing school district. The first official election in Santa Monica, the first tax assessor, the first census, the fixing of the first tax rate, all were brought forth through the needs of the first Santa Monica school.

     Chapter II traces the development of the very early schools in Santa Monica, starting with the organization of the first Board of Trustees, who called a special election to form a new school district, and concluding with the founding of the first high school in 1884. The first school in Santa Monica, known as McKusick's School after the first teacher hired in the district, was opened on March 6, 1876. Later, other schools were established in the [south Santa Monica, 1890], Garrapetes [1891,Topanga], Calabasas [1893], and Santa Monica Canyon [1894] sections. Additional data concerning early policies established by the board of trustees are discussed, particularly as they contributed to and influenced the system of schools that later developed.

     Chapter III follows the expansion of the Santa Monica schools from 1887 to the establishment of the present Santa Monica High School in 1911. That period marked the greatest expansion of school facilities yet experienced, and resulted in the approval of a series of bond issues. The first bond issue was for a $15,000 school structure which eventually became the first separate high school building. In 1905 and 1906, the voters approved three additional bond issues totaling $135,000 to construct six additional elementary schools. Finally, in 1911, the voters endorsed expansion of the secondary school program by approving a $200,000 bond issue to establish a new site and plant for the high school on Prospect Hill, midway between Ocean Park and Santa Monica proper. The chapter also includes an account of the high school course of study as first developed, the expanded offerings at the new high school, and the beginnings of the present high school program.

     In Chapter IV, the further refinement and expansion of school organization between 1912 and 1930 is detailed. The establishment of two junior high schools in 1912 and 1914, respectively; the adoption of the platoon system in 1924 and its effect on the construction of elementary schools during the 1920's; the extension of the regular high school program to include adult education, the evening high school, and junior college instruction, are among the developments discussed.

     The effects of the earthquake of 1933 and the reconstruction period which followed it are covered in Chapter V. In that particular period, a critical one financially for the local community as well as the nation, the school district was faced with the necessity of rebuilding all of its school plants. The chapter describes the work of the Board of Education, the administration, and interested lay citizens in securing Federal, state, and local aid and in coordinating their services to rebuild the schools to meet the demands of a changing pattern of school needs. This chapter also discusses the circumstances leading to the establishment of the Santa Monica Technical School in 1937, and describes the development of its curricula which eventuated in its present three general types of training; namely, pre-employment, trade extension, and related classes for indentured apprentices.

     As the critical period of the 1930's came to a close, the City of Santa Monica and its schools entered a new era marked by defense mobilization, war, and postwar problems. Chapter IV is devoted to a review of these problems and the conditions that brought them about. Emphasis is given to the critical school housing needs which resulted from the rapid and continued growth in district population; to the way in which these needs were partially met in 1946, when the electors voted approval of a $3,350,000 bond issue to support the building plan proposed by the administration. The bond issue in the amount of $4,890,000, approved in 1950, is also discussed, as are the new construction and additional facilities made possible by the approval of the two bond issues. Finally, this chapter presents a brief resume of the plans for the operation, maintenance, expansion, and modernization of the Santa Monica schools which were formulated soon after William S. Briscoe became Superintendent of schools in 1948.

     The implications of this study of the Santa Monica schools are outlined in Chapter VII. Seventy-five years have passed since the Santa Monica School District was first formed, and during that time the citizens of the district have given repeated evidence of their desire to provide for their children the best possible educational program and services in the best possible learning environment. Indications are offered of the extent to which these desires have been realized, and further evidence is presented of the citizen's interest in their schools as a community enterprise. What this portends for the future cannot be predicted with certainty. But, on the basis of past experience, it is reasonable to suggest that the schools of Santa Monica will continue to receive the wholehearted support of the citizens to which they belong.

Chapter I The Background of a Community

     The history of the development of the Santa Monica City Schools is so inextricably interwoven with the history of the community that a review of the more important historical events in the growth of Santa Monica is necessary for a proper understanding of its schools. As s H.D. Barrows has aptly said, "No community can claim to be highly enlightened which is content to remain ignorant of the prime causes that have made it what it is." [1. H.D. Barrows in Luther A. Ingersoll Century History of the Santa Monica Bay Cities, Santa Monica: L.A. Ingersoll, 1908, copyright page.]

Discovery

     The founding of a community upon the palisades overlooking the broad blue Pacific was the result of several events that led California pioneers to dream of and found a town at this particular spot. California was unknown in the early sixteenth century. It was in 1542, thirty-six years after the death of the discoverer of America, that Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator, sailing under the flag of the Spanish emperor, Charles V, entered the bay of San Pedro, later rounded Point Fermin, and dropped anchor in a beautifully clear, crescent-shaped bay. Indians who inhabited the nearby islands and mainland gazed for the first time on Caucasian faces. It was, perhaps, in honor of these godlike beings with their bird-winged conveyances, that the savages set fire to the dry grass of the plains along the shore; and the great clouds of smoke which overhung the land caused Cabrillo to give the place the name, Bahia de Los Fumes (Bay of the Smokes). [2. Charles Dwight Willard, The Free Harbor Contest at Los Angeles Los Angeles: Kingsley, Barnes and Neuner Co., 1899, p. 25]

     Following Cabrillo's discovery of California, the area remained virtually unexplored for over two centuries. Finally, the title to Santa Monica and all lands of California became vested in the King of Spain, Charles VI, the greatest of the Spanish Bourbons. [3. F.J. Forsdyke, Bernard Rackham, et al., Charles VI, King of Spain, 1759-1788, Encyclopedia Britannica, XXI, 1943, p. 281] Title to Alta California was accomplished by Spanish occupation, begun by Gaspar de Portola at San Diego in 1769, and followed by the establishment in California of presidios, missions, and pueblos. In August of the same year, white men, scouts of Portola, stood on or near the site of Santa Monica. They looked down upon the surf, they saw the mountains of Malibu lifting up into the morning haze, and then they returned to their camp near an Indian village located where two springs rose from a hollow in the hills. They reported a high, steep cliff, "terminating in the sea where the mountains end," and observed that passage north along the shore was cut off. [4. W.W. Robinson, Santa Monica-A Calendar of Events in the Making of a City, Los Angeles: Title Insurance and Trust Co., 1950, p. 1]

Area Named for Saint Monica

     Father Juan Crespi, a missionary explorer on the Pacific coast from 1769 to 1774, who accompanied Father Junipero Serra and members of the Portola expedition, told of their coming to a point near the coast as he inscribed the following entry in his diary:

"May 4, Great Feast of the Ascension of Christ. I said Mass in the presence of everybody, and at nine o'clock we broke camp going northwest. On leaving the place we made a circuit around a range of hills that descend to this curve of the bay, and at the end of the first hour we found ourselves again on the seashore. The rest of the march, which lasted three hours and a half, all over good level land, until we struck a hill which juts out into the sea. It has on its skirt a green hollow, with several pools of fresh good water and we made camp near it. We called it Pools of Santa Monica and the father president named it Village of San Juan. Our explorers found in this place a large village which we did not find later on arrival, doubtless because the inhabitants hid themselves in the hills through fear."

[5. Herbert E. Bolton, Fray Juan Crespi, Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast 1769-1774, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1927, p. 100]

     Thus, Saint Monica's day, May 4, gave inspiration for the name of the beautiful bay and the land adjacent to it. Harry Carr, pioneer Los Angeles newspaperman, and author, recorded an interesting story of Saint Monica in his book, Los Angeles-City of Dreams:

"Tradition tells us that St. Monica, born about 332 A.D., was reared with such strictness that even a drink of water was forbidden her between meals. It is fitting that destiny should involve the law of compensation and confer her name on one of the foremost watering places of the Pacific Coast.

"The early marriage of the girl to Patrictus did not bring to her parents unalleged happiness. Patrictus was cursed with an extremely bad temper. Unfortunately, too, one of their sons took to heresy and immorality to the great distress of his poor mother, who was inconsolable over it. The story is told that she wept and prayed and prayed and wept for her wandering boy. At length, she told the bishop of her heavy heart. "Wait," he comforted her, "the child of so many tears cannot perish."

"His words were prophetic. Illness brought the young man down to the gates of death. His mother prayed fervently for his recovery, which came about in a double sense. He regained his health, turned from his evil ways, and with the years became the great Saint Augustine."

[6. Harry Carr, Los Angeles-City of Dreams, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1935, pp. 132-133]

Where Wilshire Boulevard ends at the Palisades, Santa Monica in 1935 placed a sculptured figure of the saint for whom was named the bay, the rancho, and the city.

Spanish Land Grants

     The first land grants of record in this area was known as Topanga-Malibu and was made in 1805 to Don José Bartolomeo Tapia, being conformed [confirmed] by a deed executed in 1845 and recorded in this county records. This deed states that on July 12, 1805, the governor of Loreto granted to José Tapia those sections of land known as Malibu, Topanga, Sottome, Simi, and Sequit. The property is described as bounded on the north by the Sierra Mayor, on the south by El Mar Ocean Pacifico, on the east by Rancho Santa Monica, and on the west by El Rio de San Buena Ventura. [7. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 125] This was the first recorded mention of Rancho Santa Monica.

     In 1828, however, Don Francisco Sepulveda, soldier and Los Angeles citizen, was given possession of and provisional title to "the place called San Vicente," which included all of the town of Santa Monica. Facing the ocean, it extended from the Canyon to what is now Pico Boulevard. In the east it reached almost to present-day Westwood Hills and included the mountains that overlook the San Fernando Valley. [8. Robinson, op. cit., p. 2.]

     The grant was given him, Sepulveda explained later, not only because he was the owner of more than one hundred and fifty head of cattle, but because of his "having been an old soldier of the country and having worked at the most painful period, when wandering amidst nomadic tribes, suffering untold privations and in constant danger of his life." [9. Robinson, op. cit., p. 2.] Sepulveda was officially put in possession by José Antonio Carrillo, then alcalde of Los Angeles.

     The year before that, in 1827, Xavier Alvarado and Antonio Machado had been given a provisional grant of the "place called Santa Monica." Santa Monica then referred to the Canyon and the land that lay between it and Topanga Canyon, extending to the hills in the rear. [10. Loc. cit.] But in 1831, Machado gave up his interest to Alvarado, and when Alvarado died his sons remained in possession until 1838, when they abandoned Santa Monica in favor of Ysidro Reyes and Francisco Marquez. The owners of the two ranchos brought cattle, horses, and sheep to their new land. Sepulveda, who lived in town, built an adobe house near the springs, now called San Vicente Springs, or the Springs of Santa Monica named by the members of the Portola expedition. Here he set out orchards and vineyards; and a few years later his sons, too, built houses nearby. [11. Ibid., p.3]

     Reyes established himself on the bluff of present-day Huntington Palisades, but later moved across the Santa Monica Canyon where his sheep would have protection from the wolves. He put up what is said to have been the first house on the site of the city of Santa Monica. With a full view of the sea, it stood near the spot where Seventh Street now dips into the Canyon. Francisco Marquez built his home farther down on the slope of the Canyon. [12. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 137]

     The grant to Francisco Sepulveda was confirmed by Governor Alvarado in December, 1839. Sepulveda promptly lost his title papers, so later on, in 1846, Pio Pico had to come to his rescue with another grant. [13. Robinson, op. cit., p. 3]

     In the same year of 1839, began a lengthy dispute between the Sepulvedas, on the one side, and the Reyes and Marquez families on the other. Both claimed "Santa Monica," or Boca de Santa Monica, as it came to be called, the magnificent pasture land that stretched between Santa Monica and Topanga Canyon. Sepulveda insisted that this strip was properly an annex of his larger grant of San Vicente. "Without it," he said, "I have no place for my horses and am reduced to a piece of land where I eke out a miserable existence." [14. Robinson, op. cit., p. 3.]

     The leading citizens of Los Angeles took sides. Carrillo, Dominguez, and Talamantes lined up with Sepulveda. Machado and Ingo went with Reyes and Marquez. Petitions were addressed to the governors; courts were appealed to; and all of the parties made trips to Monterey, then the center of civil government under Mexican rule. Ultimately, Sepulveda lost the disputed land, but he gained the name of the rancho. He had been calling his ranchoSan Vicente y Santa Monica so long that the name stuck. It was only after the arrival of the Americans that the San Vicente was dropped. [15. Robinson, op. cit., p. 5.]

     To help Reyes and Marquez, Antonio Machado, then alcalde of Los Angeles, went to Santa Monica, accompanied by chain bearers. He began his survey at the mouth of Topanga Canyon. He had with him a cord that measured one hundred varas in length (a vara being thirty-three inches long), to the ends of which were attached two small billets of wood. He and his aides started down the beach, measuring 7500 varas to a point in the first ravine just southeast of Santa Monica Canyon. Here Don Fernando Sepulveda appeared, on behalf of his father, Francisco. Together they proceeded to throw the cord from south to north. They soon got very tired and very hot. Finally, when they had reached a deep mountain ravine, they decided the country was too rough. Here they marked a dead tree with a machete and did the rest of the surveying on paper. The result was the Diseno de Santa Hermonica. Its date is 1839. [16. Robinson, op. cit., p. 5]

     In 1843, Don Juan Warner made a survey for Sepulveda. He happened to have a compass and a 200-vara cord and did not avoid the mountains; thus he was able to produce a fairly accurate map. This map was then recorded and filed in the country recorder's office and served later as one of the first official documents for land titles in this area. {17. Loc. cit.]

American Occupation of California

     Trouble between Mexico and the Americans settling in Alta California made for very difficult times as far as maintaining any form of government was concerned. While treaty negotiations were pending between the United States and Mexico, an event occurred in California which ultimately changed the destinies of the territory. This was the discovery of gold on January 24, 1848, near the town now known as Coloma, on the American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about thirty-five miles above Sutter's Fort. The news did not spread in time to bring many gold-seekers into California during 1848. [18. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 78]

     The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was signed on February 2, 1848, ending the war with Mexico, resulted in California's becoming a province of the United States. The Mexican laws were still in force and the government was half civil and half military. Richard B. Mason, governor under American military rule, promulgated a code of laws that was intended to tide over affairs until a territorial government could be established by Congress. Governor Mason was a faithful and conscientious military officer, but he had little knowledge of civil affairs and his rule was not satisfactory to the Americans. He did the best he could under the circumstances, but he was unable to exercise much authority, whether civil or military, as most of his soldiers had deserted to the gold fields. [19. John S. McGroarty, California-Its History and Romance, Los Angeles: Grafton Publishing Co., 1911, p. 28]

     Governor Mason was succeeded as military governor by Bennett Riley. The question of calling a convention to form a state constitution had been agitated for some time. Conforming to the express wish of many leading men in the territory, Governor Riley called an election August 1, 1849. to elect delegates to form a state constitution, or a territorial government, if that should seem best, and to elect judges, prefects, and alcaldes for the principal municipal districts There was set up, through the action of the convention, a state government and California became a self-constituted state. It had organized a state government and put into operation its own laws without the sanction of Congress. After a bitter controversy, statehood was approved in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and the bill was signed by President Fillmore on September 9, 1850. On September 11, the new state's senators and congressmen presented themselves to be sworn in. [20. Ingersoll, op. cit., pp. 79-81.]

     News of the admission of California as a state reached San Francisco on the morning of October 18, by the mail steamer Oregon. Business was at once suspended, courts adjourned, and the people went wild with delight. Messengers mounted on fleet horses to spread the news throughout the state, [21. Ibid., p. 80.] But when the initial elation had subsided, consideration had to given the graver matters which confronted the young state. For example, disputes over land holdings and grants had long been a problem. Consequently, one of the first problems to be solved by the new state government was the investigation and confirmation of all titles in California. To this end, a Board of Land Commissioners was appointed. [22. Robinson, op. cit., p. 5]

     Among the first to file their petitions with the board soon after its creation were Francisco Sepulveda and Ysidro Reyes and Francisco Marquez, the owners of the two ranchos in the Santa Monica area; but thirty years went by before all questions of title and survey were settled. Finally, in 1881, United States patents were issued. To the widow of Francisco Sepulveda went Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, with 30,000 acres; to Ysidro Reyes went Boca de Santa Monica, with 6600 acres. [23. Robinson, loc. cit.]

The Americans in Santa Monica

     Up to 1870, the Santa Monica bay region had scarcely felt the impact of the new spirit brought into the country by the American occupation. Since the original ranchos were still intact and were occupied chiefly as grazing land, very few Americans had obtained holdings. Santa Monica Canyon was the one attraction of the southern coast at this time. Here a few American families each year camped under the sycamores. In the summer of 1872, John Reynolds opened a small family hotel in the Canyon, served dinners, and kept supplies for the campers. [24. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 141]

     In September, 1872, an event took place which marked a new era in the development of this vicinity. This was the sale of the San Vicente y Santa Monica ranchos by José del Carmen-Sepulveda and others to Colonel Robert S. Baker. The first sale was reported to include 38,409 acres of land and the price was in the sum of $54,000. [25. Kate L. Cowick The Outlook's Story of Santa Monica, Santa Monica: Santa Monica Evening Outlook, 1932, p. 3.]

     Col. Robert S. Baker, who thus became an important factor in the history of Santa Monica, was a descendent of an old and well-known family of Rhode Island. He came to California in 1849 and engaged in business in San Francisco, being a member of the firm of Cooke and Baker, who dealt largely in mining supplies. Later he became interested in raising sheep and associated with a General E.F. Beale in the cattle and sheep business in the northern part of the state. With his purchase of the ranchos in the Santa Monica area, he located in Los Angeles and in 1874 married Mrs. Arcadia Bandini de Stearns, widow of Don Abel Stearns, one of the earliest American settlers of southern California, and daughter of Juan Bandini, one of the wealthiest and most distinguished of early Californians. [26. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 142]

     Colonel Baker at once proceeded to perfect his title to all of the Sepulveda holdings by purchasing all surrounding disputed lands. He had obtained possession of a magnificent tract of land, with a mile and a half of ocean frontage, and with the San Vicente and numerous other springs as well as several small mountain streams. With characteristic enterprise, he began efforts to utilize his land for something more than a sheep pasture land. He interested his friend, General E. F. Beale, in his plan. Beale was one of the earliest and most successful promoters known in California history-so successful that President Lincoln remarked of him when he was surveyor-general of the state in 1861, that "Beale had, indeed, become master of all he surveyed." [27. Ingersoll, loc. cit.]

     The Los Angeles Express of December 22, 1873, announced that

"General Beale has arrived here with an eastern capitalist who contemplates the purchase of the San Vicente ranch with the view to the construction of a wharf at Shoo Fly Landing and building a narrow gauge railroad from there to the city."

The railroad mentioned was to be an extension and branch of the Southern Transcontinental Railroad that was being brought to Los Angeles. The plan was that wharves were to be built and the Pacific Mail steamships would dock there. [28. Idem.] Later, the San Francisco Post of September, 1874, in a glowing account of the scheme, remarked:

" . . . Why the Los Angeles people ever adopted the Wilmington road to shoal water is one of those things no fellow can find out. At two-thirds the distance they can reach deep water at the place called Truxton, on a bay right north of Wilmington. Here, at a comparatively light expense for wharves, they can bring ship and cars together."

     The plan for Truxton included, besides the wharf and the railway, a magnificent hotel and a town site: but this wonderful plan was never to progress beyond the paper stage. [29. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 143.]

     After the failure of the "Truxton Scheme," the arrival of Senator John P. Jones of Nevada again stirred rumors of a big plan of development in the Los Angeles area. He was known to be fabulously rich and to have railroad ambitions. Consequently, when it was announced in January, 1875, that Senator Jones had purchased for about $150,000 a two-thirds interest in the San Vicente rancho, and that a new railroad was assured, there was much rejoicing throughout southern California. [Robinson, op. cit., p. 9-10.] Thus the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad was organized in January, 1875, with several Los Angeles capitalists investing in the project. A right-of-way between Los Angeles and Santa Monica was secured at once and without any difficulty, and Colonel Crawford, the engineer and general manager of the road, began active operations. It was announced that the road would be pushed through to Independence, where the Panamint mines, owned by Senator Jones, were located. There were rumors also that the line would be carried across Nevada to Salt Lake City and the papers frequently referred to it as the beginning of a transcontinental line. [31. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 144]

     As soon as the railroad work was fairly started, the construction of a wharf was begun. The first piling on the wharf was driven on April 22, 1875, and the first boat landed there in June. This wharf was 1700 feet in length and reached a depth of thirty feet at low tide. It was substantially built, with depot and warehouse at its terminus, and cost approximately $45,000. [32. James M. Guinn, A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1907, p. 89.]

Santa Monica Developed as a Town Site

     Early in 1875, Senator Jones and Colonel Baker subdivided a portion of the Rancho Santa Monica y San Vicente lying on the mesa adjoining the bay of Santa Monica. The town was named after the bay and was of magnificent proportions on paper. On the 16th day of July, 1875, a great sale of lots was held. An excursion steamer came down from San Francisco loaded with lot buyers, and the people of Los Angeles and neighboring towns rallied in great numbers to the site of the prospective maritime metropolis of the south. [33. missing ref.]. Tom Fitch, the silver-tongued orator of the Pacific slope, inaugurated the sale with one of his brilliant orations. He drew a fascinating picture of the "Zenith City by the Sunset Sea," as he named it, when , at a day not far distant, the white sails of commerce should fill the harbor, the products of the Occident and the Orient load its wharves, and the smoke from its factory chimneys darken the heavens. [34. Guinn, loc. cit.] Tom Fitch let his imagination run rampant as he described the land that was about to be offered for sale, as may be gathered from the following extract:

"On Wednesday afternoon at one o'clock we will sell at public outcry the highest bidder, the Pacific Ocean, draped with a Western sky of scarlet and gold; we will sell a bay filled with white-winged ships; we will sell a southern horizon, rimmed with a collection of purple mountains, carved in castles and turrets and domes; we will sell a frostless, bracing, warm yet unlanguid air braided in and out with sunshine and odored with the breath of flowers. The purchaser of this job lot of climate and scenery will be presented with a deed of land 50 by 150 feet. The title to the land will be guaranteed by the owner. The title to the ocean and the sunset, the hills and the clouds, the breath of the life life giving ozone and song of the birds is guaranteed by the beneficent God who bestowed them in all their beauty and affluence upon block 251, and attached them thereto by almighty warrant as an incorruptible hereditament to run with the land forever." [35. Cowick, op. cit., p, 22]

The Honorable Joseph Lynch, Major Ben Truman, and Colonel J.J. Ayres, the historic trio of Los Angeles editors, were present and made further glowing speeches as to the future of Santa Monica and of southern California.

     Listening to the speeches, the people became anxious to own a lot in the new town. They forgot the dusty, barren plain. They forgot that here were not yet ships in the harbor. They forgot that land was cheap and plentiful in California. They forgot everything but "the great commercial center of the southwest." Bidding started; the first lot was located at the northeast corner of Broadway and Ocean Avenue, and it sold for $300.00 Lots sold rapidly, and in a short time people were paying from $150.00 to $500.00 for barren pieces of land. The sale was a huge success, and Santa Monica as a town was off to a grand start. [36. Robinson, op. cit., p. 10.]

Civic Development

     The town's growth was rapid. In less than nine months after its founding, it had 160 homes and over one thousand inhabitants. Among the merchants of the first year we find W.D. Vawter and Sons, Fourth Street, dealers in dry goods, clothing, etc.; Wilson News Depot, which handled everything from Eastern periodicals to "gents' furnishings, drugs and medicines"; Tell's "Lookout," which combined "native wines and brandies, fresh fruits, vegetables and fish," with "livery and feed stable"; M.J. Bundy, dealer in paints, oils, and glass; Boehme and Kilgariff's tin shop; M. Boufosky, groceries and liquors; H. Giroux & Bro., groceries and liquors. There were two hotels: the Santa Monica Hotel, kept for a few months by J.C. Morgan and C.M. Monroe and then by J.W. Scott; and the Ocean View House, corner of Oregon and Second, kept by Malcolm and Harper. [37. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 149]

     The town continued to grow. Its attraction as a seaside resort began to be recognized and it took on new life. The resulting boom sent property values skyrocketing. The magnificent Arcadia Hotel, the finest resort hotel in the southland at the time, was built on the palisades and extended down the bluff for several stories to give access to the ocean bathing. Brick buildings were being constructed in place of the less permanent frame buildings that were first erected. [38. Ibid., p. 147]

     A majority of the first residents came from Los Angeles, in 1880 a city of 11,000 population, for with the railroad that Senator Jones was building, they could see Santa Monica as a promising commercial city. [39. Ibid., p. 112.] As it took several hours to get to Los Angeles by horse and wagon, and since the residents had business and family ties in the places they came from, it was soon necessary to have mail services. So, on July 19, four days after the town started, a fourth class post office opened with W.H. Williams as the first postmaster. The post office was located on Second Street between Oregon and Utah. Mail and passengers were carried between Santa Monica and Los Angeles by John R. Reynolds Pioneer Stage Lines, and it took about two to two and one-half hours for the one-way trip, depending on the conditions of the dirt roads. Although two trips were made daily by the stage, the mail arrived only once a day. It was dispatched at 10:30 a.m., and arrived at 5:30 p.m. [40. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Diamond Jubilee Edition), July 8, 1950, p. 14B.]

     The first issue of the Santa Monica Outlook appeared October 10, 1875, a neat and well-filled four-page weekly edited by L.A. Fisher. An article in this first issue describes the arrival of the first mail in Santa Monica.

"J.J. Reynolds, who drives the stage between Santa Monica and Los Angeles, pulled up in front of the post office last Tuesday evening, and tumbling out a large mail bag, delivered a little speech in this wise: 'I bring more mail to Santa Monica than leaves Los Angeles for Anaheim or than is going to San Bernardino." [41. Santa Monica Outlook, October 13, 1875, p. 1]

Since residents called at the post office for their mail, it made an ideal meeting place to discuss the events and problems of the day.

     A vital part of any community is the interest of that community in providing for the spiritual needs of its people. From the very first year, Santa Monica residents gathered to worship and to plan for proper church facilities, and five pioneer churches were organized in Santa Monica before 1900,

     The first church organized in Santa Monica was the First Methodist Church. At the first quarterly conference in Santa Monica, held October 26, 1875, at the residence of D.G.C. Baker, the presiding elder, A.M. Hough accepted a resolution to those present that the trustees elected be instructed to incorporate and secure lots from the Santa Monica Land Company and proceed to erect a church building thereon. Margaret Atkinson and Mrs. D.G.C. Baker were appointed a committee to secure subscriptions to aid in the erection of the church. The Reverend J.D. Crum was chosen to serve as the first minister, and on January 2, 1876, he dedicated the new chapel. [42. Minutes, First Quarterly Conference, Santa Monica First Methodist Church, October 13, 1875, unpaged.]

     The history of the Presbyterian Church dates back to September 12, 1875, when a Sunday school was organized at the home of W.D. Vawter. On September 24, a petition signed by twelve persons, was sent to the Rev. Dr. White, chairman of the Committee of the Presbytery, asking him to come to Santa Monica on September 28, 1875, to organize a new church. On Sunday, July 10, 1877, a move was made for building a permanent place for worship. The Reverend I.M. Condit served as the first minister of the Presbyterian Church. [43. Ingersoll, op. cit., pp. 290-291.]

     July 28, 1877, the Outlook stated, saw the celebration of mass for the first time in the new town of Santa Monica. The service was held in the home of Judge Morgan, the Rev. Fr. Verdaguer of the Los Angeles Plaza Church, presiding. The services for those of the Roman Catholic faith were held at various homes until May 4, 1884, when the first church was opened. On August 18, 1885, the bell of the church was blessed and in an impressive ceremony the church was dedicated. In May, 1886, Father Patrick Hawe came as pastor of the church, and soon became an important figure in the lives of his parishioners as well as in the community. In 1899, a small band of Sisters of the Holy Name came to Santa Monica to establish an academy. They rented a private home on Fourth Street and opened their school on September 12 with nineteen pupils. [44. Ingersoll, op. cit., pp. 292]

     The first Episcopalian service held in Santa Monica was an Easter service in Rogers Hall, April 15, 1876, with the Reverend J.B. Gray officiating. Intermittent services were held until November, 1885, when Senator Jones donated two lots on Fourth Street and an active building program began. The Reverend Henry Scott Jefferys was appointed by the bishop as the first missionary for the new parish. [45. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, pp. 2-6.]

     In April, 1889, a Baptist Sunday school was called in the home of Mrs. Drane on the south side of Santa Monica. For a time, the Sunday school was held in the old Washington school. From February 1, 1890 until November 3, 1892, the Reverend A.P. Brown, pastor of the Baptist Church at Palms, preached alternate Sundays at Ocean Park. On September 5, 1892, the first "Baptist Mission" was dedicated as a branch of the Palms church. The church cost $700.00 and was furnished with one hundred chairs, a pulpit, and an organ. Then, in 1902, interested citizens gathered together to organize a church in Santa Monica, and in December of that year the Reverend George Taylor of Sawtelle preached in the new Baptist chapel and dedicated the building to the service of God and the members of the community. [46. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 297]

     Many other churches have been organized since the first pioneer groups were formed. Santa Monican are churchgoing people and nearly every denomination is represented with at least one church. Many large, beautifully appointed buildings house the sanctuaries, Sunday school facilities, recreation facilities-all of which note the progress of their respective churches during the years.

     One of the first women's organizations formed in Santa Monica was the Women's Christian Temperance Union, organized in the summer of 1885 by a small group of earnest women. These women felt that there was much need of their labors in Santa Monica as at that time there were at least twelve saloons in operation. They took over, in addition to their temperance activities, the reading room and library to "improve the moral tone of their beautiful town." [47. Missing.]

    The library was first organized on March 1, 1876. It was formed and met on a social basis, meeting once a week on Saturday evenings, when discussions were held and papers read. Books and periodicals were contributed for the use of members. The movement of the Library Society for a free reading room came about in 1884, and was soon taken over by the W.C.T.U. Entertainments were held regularly to provide funds for the purchase of books and materials, and the ladies of the organization gave their time to keep the reading room open. [48. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 269.]

     A private school, known as the Santa Monica Academy, was opened on November 8, 1875, by D.G.C. Baker and his wife. The first public school was opened in the Presbyterian Chapel on the corner of Third and Arizona streets on March 6, 1876, with H.P. McKusick as the first teacher. A school district was organized with J.W. Scott, John Freeman, and L.T. Fisher as trustees. On March 11, 1876, a special bond election was held and the electors voted $5000 to build and equip the first school. The school house, located on Sixth Street, was ready for use in September, 1876. [49. Loc. cit.]

     The year 1876 opened with the brightest of prospects for the new town. Its beautiful location, the ample space given to streets and alleys, the uniform method of tree planting which had been adopted, the park and school building which were already planned for, added to the favorable outlook for a steadily increasing volume of business and drew many people who adopted Santa Monica as a home. [50. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 150]

     In February, a meeting was called to consider the question of incorporation of the new town; but after a lively discussion, the proposition received but one vote. In April, 1876, the Outlook, which was an energetic agent and exponent of Santa Monica progress, published its first "special edition" reviewing the achievements of the first six months of the town's existence. It reported that one thousand lots in the town and thirty-five acre-villa lots had recently been sold; two thousand acres of the San Vicente ranch, lying along the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad in the vicinity of the San Vicente springs, had been divided into villa-farms to be sold at the rate of $100.00 per acre. [51. Loc. cit.] In the same month, Michael Duffy's Bath House, the first one in Santa Monica, was completed, and a pavilion was built on the beach by Senator Jones and Colonel Baker. The Santa Monica Hotel was enlarged and many more business houses were built. There were many visitors and campers both at North Beach and at the Canyon. One of the greatest attractions of the season was a series of ring tournaments between mounted knights, one side of Americans led by B.F. Reid, the other composed of native Californians under the command of J.J. Carrillo. [52. Ingersoll, loc. cit.]

     In May, 1876, William Spencer fired 4000 feet of clay pipe which was to be used for an extended irrigation system. The Santa Monica pipe proved so satisfactory that large orders were placed for it and later in the year construction of a clay pipe manufacturing company was under way. This was the first utilization of the Santa Monica clay beds and marked the founding of a large industry that now makes ceramics, pipes, tile, china, and many art objects. A reservoir was constructed, with water coming from the San Vicente Springs. Use of William Spencer's clay pipe in laying the first water mains was soon under way. [53. Ibid.]

     As building progressed on the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad and the "Long Wharf" neared completion at North Beach, a dispute arose between backers of the Wilmington-San Pedro Harbor development group and the businessmen of Santa Monica who hoped to make their city the commercial shipping center for Los Angeles. The first railroad train leaving Los Angeles for Santa Monica used flat cars, as the passenger coaches had not yet arrived. Three trips were made the first day and passengers from the steamer Senator were landed in Los Angeles twelve hours in advance of those who had gone by way of San Pedro. The Outlook on November 3, 1875, reported:

"We watched a lively scene on Santa Monica Wharf last Thursday that is decidedly encouraging. On one side the schooner John Hancock was discharging a large cargo of lumber; on the opposite side the schooner Newton Booth had just arrived with railroad ties; further down the barkentine Ella was unloading coal. The Senator was discharging a large cargo of passengers and freight, including several race horses. A train of cars was waiting to transport the whole into the back country." [54. "A Busy Scene (Editorial), The Outlook, November 3, 1875, p. 1.]

     The same month the coast steamers began to make regular stops at the new town. It was reported that at one time twenty-eight mule teams were loaded with freight for San Bernardino. On Sunday, December 5, 1875, the new road was so far completed that an excursion of four hundred people, the first excursion to Santa Monica, was brought in. Two trains a day were put into operation and the fare was one dollar for passengers and one dollar per ton for freight from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. [55. Cowick, op. cit., p. 24.]

     But the Southern Pacific, when the Los Angeles and Independence road and wharf were assured, had dropped the freight rates between Los Angeles and San Pedro from $5.00 per ton to $2.50 per ton; and on completion of the line, it dropped the passenger rate from $1.00 to 50 cents, thus forcing Santa Monica's road to begin operating at a loss. The people of Los Angeles, because of their gratitude for breaking the monopoly of the Southern Pacific, declared that they would stand by the Santa Monica road and handle their freight over the Santa Monica Wharf. [56. Willard, op. cit., p. 63.] Thus, the railroad question continued to be the most vital issue in Santa Monica and, indeed, to southern California. The influence and competition of the Southern Pacific was proving too strong to be overcome by small independent roads. At the same time, the Panamint mines had not panned out as was expected, and the idea of continuing the road to Independence had been abandoned. [57. Ibid., p. 65.]

     Senator Jones had already sunk a million dollars in the enterprise; but he could not be expected to go on losing money indefinitely. He offered to sell the road at cost to the people of Los Angeles County; but many were not in favor of the idea. Still, Santa Monica had hopes that she might be victorious in her plan to serve the Los Angeles area with her harbor [58. Loc. cit.], and many railroad schemes continued to be proposed, construction actually being under way on many of them. One of the more promising plans proposed to build a railroad from Los Angeles to Redondo Beach and there to construct wharfs and port facilities. For over a year a battle ensued through the newspapers, the chambers of commerce, and interested business men in their respective communities. The controversy came to be known as "The Free Harbor Contest of Los Angeles," and is reported in a book by the same name by Charles Dwight Willard.

     At the end of a year and a half of operations, the Los Angeles investors found that they were not receiving the support from the people to which they considered they were entitled, and when the opportunity arose to part with the property to advantage, they sold the road and the Long Wharf to the Southern Pacific. For a few years, the Southern Pacific made use of the wharf and port facilities at Santa Monica, but late in the 1870's they abandoned it and tore down the outer end of the wharf, declaring that it was unsafe even for foot passengers. Their reasons for leaving Santa Monica at the time were that vessels moored to the wharf, even in comparatively good weather, suffered so much from swell that the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, the principal user, at last refused to guarantee a landing there. [59. Willard, The Free Harbor Contest of Los Angeles, op. cit., p. 63.]

     Only a few very stouthearted citizens still had faith that Santa Monica would ever again reach its former prosperity. But there were those who had become attached to the town and who felt confident that the great natural advantages afforded by the climate, the location, and the fertility of the soil would eventually make up for the loss of the port facilities. And as long as the people of Los Angeles and the interior could escape to Santa Monica during the torrid summer days, and tourists and health-seekers could find here an ideal spot for brief rests or more permanent homes, the place still would prosper. As such, Santa Monica from this time on was destined to be a residential city and a resort and recreational area for all of southern California, even the whole of the United States. [60. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 157]

City Incorporation and Development

     The opening of the decade of the 1880's found Santa Monica in the midst of very discouraging circumstances. Santa Monica was not alone in her depression. Financial hardships and general depression talk throughout the nation did not keep the real pioneers in this young town from continuing their plans for a real city. In spite of the many hardships, there were always those citizens who were confident of the success of the community of Santa Monica and who worked for general improvements and official organization.

     Although many of the townspeople thought that city government and services were unnecessary while the town was so small, others knew that in order for the town to progress cooperative civic effort was necessary. The town had wagged along for ten years under the more or less benign protection of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which provided a minimum of law and order under the administration of the local sheriff; but domestic water, sewage disposal, and other community requirements were matters left for the individual householders to solve as best they might. [61. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 3G.]

     As the community continued to grow, the need for more civic improvements and cooperative effort became apparent. A group of citizens, who later formed the Santa Monica Board of Trade, a forerunner to the Chamber of Commerce, took steps to try again for the incorporation of the town. On November 30, 1886, the election to decide the question resulted in a vote of ninety-seven for incorporation and seventy-one against. In the same election, the first board of trustees were chosen and consisted of John Steere, chairman; Dr. E.A. Folsom, A.E. Ladd, W.S. Vawter, and J.W. Scott. Fred C. McKinnie was the first town clerk; H.C. Baggs, Jr., was elected marshall; and E.K. Chapin, treasurer. Baggs, however, failed to qualify and Michael Noon was appointed as marshal. [62. Ingersoll, op. cit., p. 169]

     Much of the stimulus for civic improvements came about through the activities of the first Chamber of Commerce. This organization was established when a group of the leading citizens met on December 6, 1888, and formed what they chose to call a Board of Trade. Heading the group was R.L. Gandy, with J.J. Carrillo as secretary. One of the first projects undertaken by the group was the plan for the construction of a municipal pier. Later projects included promotion of a suitable water system, sewer system, and other city improvements. [63. Ibid., p. 175]

     In 1895, the Board of Trade changed its name to the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. Robert F. Jones, nephew of Senator John P. Jones, was elected the first president. Throughout the years, the Chamber of Commerce has continued to work on many worthwhile projects for the improvement of the city, for better city government, for more adequate recreational facilities, for business and industrial expansion, and for the attraction of thousands of visitors and residents to the "Zenith City." [64. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 18C]

     One city department had been organized unofficially for several years prior to the incorporation of the city. Forty-six men, including some of the town's leading citizens, had formed a volunteer fire department, having organized their group on March 22, 1879, as the Santa Monica Hose and Hook and Ladder Company with Robert Eckert as foreman and president of the company. [65. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 16B.] Two manpowered hose carts and a hook and ladder wagon with 2000 feet of hose were all that the initial company had in the way of equipment, aside from the traditional axe. In 1900, however, the city board of trustees purchased a combination hose and chemical wagon which was pulled by a team of horses. Firemen served without pay for many years, but a benefit ball and other entertainments were staged each year to create an emergency fund for firemen temporarily out of work or injured in the line of duty. [66. Loc. cit.]

     In contrast, the department today rates as one of the most efficient among comparable United States cities. The personnel now totals ninety-three. All of the firemen are under civil service. They man five stations at strategic points about the city and make use of the most modern of firefighting equipment and methods. In addition, Santa Monica firemen undergo a continuous realistic training program, keeping themselves fit for any emergency. A fire prevention bureau has recently been added to the department with the single task of finding the source of possible fire hazards and eliminating them. [67. Loc. cit.]

     One of the responsibilities of the board of trustees was to interest private companies in providing utilities under a franchise from the city. The first of these was granted in 1887 to a company which proposed to establish a gas plant to supply the town. This project never materialized, but it started the interest of the community in providing utilities for general use. The only gas for the town for many years was that manufactured by a private plant for the Arcadia Hotel and two or three private homes. [68,Ibid., p. 21C.]

     Detailed plans for establishing an electric plant in Santa Monica were discussed as early as 1890. However, it was not until 1893 that the Santa Monica Electric and Power Company was incorporated. When it went into service in September of that year, the town was able to boast that it had twelve incandescent street lamps. A program of installing wiring in all the major buildings including Steere's Opera House and many private homes soon was accomplished. [69. Loc. cit.]

     Shortly before 1900, the Santa Monica Electric and Power Company became a part of the United Electric, Gas, and Power Company and set about installing a $40,000 gas plant. The United Company became subsequently a part of the Independent Edison Company, and in 1909 joined the Southern California Edison Company. In 1915, the Edison Company relinquished their interests in supplying natural gas to the Southern Counties Gas Company. The Santa Monica Bay Division of this company is now the largest of all the company's eight operating divisions and is connected by a network of large diameter pipelines with all sources of supply integrating through a central system The expansion of facilities of this company has kept pace with the growth of Santa Monica and renders a real service to the community at large. [70. Ibid., p, 21C.]

     Like every other city of any size in California, Santa Monica's major problem has been its water supply, a matter which has been critically apparent since the first tank wagon came into town from nearby springs with barrels of water for sale. Santa Monicans were told that water was plentiful in 1875, the developers claiming that the water of San Vicente Springs was being collected in two large reservoirs which would form pretty lakes in the proposed park and would provide a flow of a half-million gallons per day which soon would be distributed into new iron mains laid throughout the town site. [71. Ingersoll, op. cit., p, 194.]

     The Santa Monica Land and Water Company was formed in 1898 to provide a better water system. Deeper wells were dug at the Arcadia plant and at the Sycamore Springs in the Canyon. A dam was built in Sepulveda Canyon, but in a long rainy period one winter it burst and seriously flooded the town of Sawtelle. [72. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 4C.]

     By 1900, there were four independent water companies supplying Santa Monica. In 1916, the townspeople demanded to own their own system, and the small companies were purchased for $712.500. In 1923, $1,000,000 in bonds were voted to expand the city water system, but continued growth of the city's population taxed even this additional supply. In 1932, Santa Monica voted to participate in the Metropolitan Water District. The formation of the district, which included twelve southern California cities, gave the necessary assurance to the Federal government, and a dam was constructed on the Colorado River to store water for use the year round. Today, Santa Monica uses as much as 19,000,000 gallons per day of Colorado River water. The Arcadia and Charnock wells are held as a reserve and can supply over 9,000,000 gallons per day. [73. Ibid., p. 5C.]

     Because of soil conditions and high water level, the problem of sewage disposal continually plagued the board of trustees of the city. They called a special election on March 21, 1893, to vote upon the question of bonding the town to the amount of $40,000 for the construction of an adequate sewer system. After much controversy, the vote showed 148 against the measure and eighty-four in favor of it. In 1895, the question of sewer bonds was again submitted to the citizens, and after vigorous work on the part of the board of trade, $40,000 in bonds were voted by a majority of seven to one. This service continued to expand through the support of additional bond issues until Santa Monica elected to join Los Angeles and other nearby communities in the Hyperion outfall sewer project at El Segundo. [74. Ibid., p. 8C.]

     The police department was created in May of 1896, and George F. See and A.L. Forsyth were appointed as the first police officers. The new organization supplemented the services of the county sheriff's office. In 1908, after the city was chartered, the department was separated from its former function in connection with the tax collector's office. [75. Ibid., p. 19b.]

     The personnel of the present police department numbers over one hundred men. The department comprises a uniformed division with two-way radio in fleets of patrol cars and motorcycles. The detective force has approximately thirty officers. There is a traffic bureau with a special accident investigation division. The newest of the divisions is a juvenile bureau that strives to prevent delinquency among the youth of Santa Monica. [76. Ibid.]

Reorganization and Growth

     During the first twenty-five years of Santa Monica's development, the citizens were not altogether satisfied with the organization and operation of the city as a municipal government. One of the leaders in the attempt to improve the existing situation was Frederick H. Rindge, a man of great wealth, sincere religious zeal, and large philanthropy. He devoted his time, energy, and and money to the fight for the good standing of Santa Monica as a morally strong community. [77. Frederick H. Rindge,Happy Days in Southern California, Los Angeles: Frederick H. Rindge, 1898, p. 37.] Together with many of the town's leading citizens, Rindge formed a committee to secure the passage of an ordinance prohibiting the licensing of saloons. As a result of the action of these men, the anti-saloon ordinance was adopted in 1900. In the campaign that had been waged before the election, many of those favoring the retention of saloons had argued that closing them would result in great financial loss to the city in license fees. Rindge, however, in a public meeting, promised to indemnify the town against the loss sustained by refusing licenses to the saloons, and after the election, he presented his check for $2500 to the city. But the anti-saloon movement was not effective for long, and the ordinance was soon interpreted to mean that liquor could be served whenever food was ordered. [78. Ingersoll, op. cit., p.130.]

     While living in Santa Monica, Rindge associated himself closely with the life of the community. In 1895, for example, he offered to erect and donate a church building to the Methodist Society, providing they would maintain it and support a pastor. He was deeply interested in the Young Men's Christian Association, and aided largely in lifting the debt of the Los Angeles Association. He helped to establish the Ocean Park Y.M.C.A., and was a benefactor for many years to the Santa Monica Y. It was well said of his career that:

"As a business man, as a church leader, as a Y.M.C.A. president, as a consistent worker for the development of the city and the state, Mr. Rindge made himself so useful that no man can take his place. He was a rich man; but he employed his wealth for the greatest good of the greatest number. Santa Monica was indeed fortunate to attract a man of the calibre of Frederick Hastings Rindge, who was mainly instrumental in founding a city that has grown in standards and accomplishments through the years." [79. Ibid., p. 131.]

     During a period of six turbulent years from 1901 to 1907, more growing pains plagued the city fathers of Santa Monica. The anti-prohibition campaign waged fiercely, the question of the legal separation of the north side (Santa Monica) from the south side (Ocean Park) became an open issue, and finally, the topic of providing a suitable city hall engaged a great deal of attention. After many town meetings, a great deal of oratory, the appointment of special committees, the board of trustees called a special election for the reorganization of the city government and to vote on bonds for the construction of an adequate city hall. The bonds were passed for the new city hall and the building was completed in 1903. [80. Santa Monica Evening Outlook July 8, 1950, p. 3B.]

     Agreement, however, could not be reached on the reorganization of the city government until 1907, and then a charter for the city of Santa Monica was approved by the State Legislature the same year. The trustees, elected in 1907, began at once to bring about needed civic improvements; bridges; storm drains, paving, water development, garbage disposal, park and recreation facilities, and business and residential planning. All these received their attention. [81. Loc. cit.]

     It took several years for Santa Monica to recover from the depression of the early 1900's; indeed, it had only begun to regain its place upon the advent of World War I. The decision not to separate Ocean Park and Santa Monica, and the subsequent effort to improve and develop the Ocean Park area, had helped to unify the city. The next problem to be solved by the Trustees was to decide the direction for the expansion of the main business section. Many individuals' interests were at stake and considerable wrath was incurred as various schemes were proposed. Where the center of town had once been Second, Third, and Fourth Streets between Broadway and Colorado, new buildings were spreading northward to and along Oregon Avenue, which is now Santa Monica Boulevard. During this period, many fine tracts of homes were opening above Wilshire Boulevard and as far east as Twenty-sixth Street. Thus, expansion of the business section northward brought the town closer to these new subdivisions.

     For a few years following 1920, the influx of people into southern California was like a flood, with every state in the Union contributing to the western migration. Santa Monica shared in the distribution of prosperity and population. Building activities continued to "boom" to greater heights as new tracts were opened east as far as the city limits. This brought about the establishment of neighborhood communities in the more outlying areas. A business section began to progress along Wilshire Boulevard, and another in the vicinity of Twentieth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard. Montana Avenue promised to develop as business property to serve the northern part of town and Lincoln Boulevard was the only north-south artery that developed, because of its connection with Highway 101 along El Camino Real.

Growth Determinants

     Four major factors have greatly influenced the growth of the city of Santa Monica. In the first instance, Senator Jones and Mrs. Baker realizing the benefits to the town, gave a 300-acre site to the United States Government for the establishment of a Pacific Coast Branch of the National Home for Volunteer Soldiers. The second factor is the industrial development that has been stimulated by the phenomenal growth of the Douglas Aircraft Company. Third, the growth of Santa Monica has been greatly influenced by the location of the Los Angeles campus of the University of California in nearby Westwood Hills in 1928 and its subsequent growth. Finally, and still a predominant factor, is the growth that has resulted from the salient location of the city itself and the salubrious climate that has attracted visitors and residents alike.

     The Soldiers Home, as the National Home for Volunteer Soldiers has been called, was established in 1888 on its 300-acre site just above the San Vicente Springs. In the years that have followed, it has become a large complex operation. Known today as the Veterans Administration Center, it cares for several thousand veterans of several wars, both men and women. Recently, a part of the Center has passed into the hands of the University of California, Los Angeles, and it is on this site given by the government that a portion of the University's projected $21,500,000 medical school will be erected. In the interim, certain segments of the training program for medical doctors are being carried on as a cooperative effort between the UCLA Medical School and Wadsworth General Hospital, where treatment is given to the Center's medical and surgical cases. [82. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 23C.] Thousands of doctors, nurses, technicians, mechanics, and attendants are required to maintain this huge facility. The center's hospitals and resident dormitories thus not only bring large business to the Bay area, but the presence of the many employees and service personnel has a marked influence on the growth and prosperity of the surrounding communities, with a large share going to Santa Monica, less than six miles distant.

     In the second instance, since the founding of the town, no single event has meant more to Santa Monica than the decision of a young man with vision to succeed as a manufacturer of aircraft. That man was Donald W. Douglas who, in 1920, established his office in the back room of a barber shop on Pico Boulevard, and considered himself in business. Despite initial setbacks, Douglas became, within the next twenty years, the bellwether who led nearly half a million people into southern California aircraft factories. With the help of a press agent, Bill Henry, he had started a new national industry. [83. Alva Johnson, Billion-Dollar Plane Builder, Saturday Evening Post, December 4, 1943, p. 22.]

     As the Douglas Aircraft Company grew, more and more people were employed, and the demand for housing became more acute. Considerable land still remained in the southeastern section within the city limits of Santa Monica and in the very area of the Douglas plant. Bean fields and grain fields were soon converted into vast housing projects that would help to fill the housing demands of the aircraft and defense workers. Along main transportation lines many apartment and multiple housing projects developed. These in turn stimulated the growth of business areas to serve the nearby residents. As a result, then, of the establishment of the one large plant by Douglas, other parts plants developed in the Santa Monica area. As the war contracts were completed these smaller companies turned to the manufacture of other commodities. Thus, Santa Monica was well established as an industrial area. [84. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 8D.]

The City's Progress Slowed

     Santa Monica had witnessed periods of depression and "boom" several times in the first fifty years of her history; but none quite so disastrous as the depression of the 1930's which was climaxed by the severe earthquake of 1933. When the "bank holiday" closed the banks early in 1933, the nation was thrown into a panic. As people discovered that they had again lost through bank failure after having dropped money in the stock market crash of 1929, the general economy of the nation took a sudden downward slump. As buying power ceased, business declined, and many thousands of people were thrown out of work.

     This same pattern was reflected in the economy of Santa Monica. Speculation as to the effects of the "bank holiday" was still running high when four days after it had been declared, another catastrophic event occurred which disrupted the economy of southern California even more. This was the earthquake that struck on March 10, 1933, and proved to be a major disaster. Santa Monica was fortunate in not being in the severely damaged, injury other than the disruption of utilities, the falling of plaster, and some broken glass, being negligible. The main problem concerned the structural damage to large business buildings, schools, and public buildings. These were declared, in many instances, to be unsafe should another severe earth shock strike. Because of economic conditions, businessmen, the Board of Education, the city, and private citizens found that they did not have the ready money to start reconstruction.

     After a period of several months, when the debris had been cleared and an appraisal of the damage had been made, emergency funds were made available to begin work. The rehabilitation of the schools proceeded on funds appropriated by the district and on money borrowed from the county unappropriated fund. The work was organized as State Emergency Relief Administration projects and a dozen or more projects began their work at the various schools. Before these projects were completed, Federal funds were secured for the city and the schools form the Public Works Administration; and together with the manpower and funds supplied by the Works Progress Administration, the necessary public reconstruction and remodeling was accomplished. Through these projects many citizens were given work when none other was available. [87. Op. cit., p. 18A.]

     One of the major projects started at this time was the establishment of plans for and the beginning of construction on a civic center for Santa Monica. A large area of ground was purchased by the city south of Olympic Boulevard and in what often had been called "no man's land," between Santa Monica and Ocean Park. As the initial unit, a city hall was completed in 1939 at a cost of $370,000. It houses most of the departments of the city government, including the police department and the main fire station. [88. Op. cit., 4B] The plan for the civic center envisages an assemblage of various government agencies in this central location. At the present time, a branch county courthouse, the second unit of the center is nearing completion. It will house county offices which now are located in various buildings scattered throughout the city. The building is to cost $270,000 and will be an attractive addition to the center. [89. Loc. cit.}

     The employment of thousands of people, the resulting need for materials and supplies, and the increased buying power that resulted, gradually began to stabilize the economy of the nation as well as that of Santa Monica. Most of the emergency projects were completed by 1939, and again local industry began to absorb more and more workers. By 1940, industry was again approaching full production with the program of expansion as mobilization plans and the draft of manpower became imminent.

City's Growth Spurred by World War II

     The Douglas Aircraft Company received large orders for military planes and as the United States became drawn into the Second World War, general production was stepped up tremendously. Large plants, like the Douglas Company, found that they no longer could make all the parts, tools, and needed equipment that was necessary to keep up production. They, in turn, farmed out to smaller plants many of the jobs that they had formerly been doing. As a result, many small companies were formed and others that had been manufacturing nonessential items were retooled for full-scale defense production [90. Loc. cit., p. 8D]

     Building restrictions curbed much construction during the war, but the influx of workers again taxed available housing facilities in the area. The population of Santa Monica soared once more as families doubled up and new construction was completed. Many people living in Santa Monica were employed in the San Fernando Valley, Inglewood, El Segundo, and other vital defense production areas.

     As the war progressed, service men were returned for rest and rehabilitation. Many of the hotels and beach clubs were converted for use to hospitals, dormitories, and rehabilitation centers for the various branches of the service. This program brought many wives and families of men to the city and in many cases the visitors found employment here and stayed on to make it their home.

     Following World War II, when building restrictions again had been lifted, home and business construction increased rapidly. The building permits from 1946 to 1948 averaged more than $10,000,000 per year. While home construction had continued on a limited basis during the war, business and commercial buildings had not kept pace with the demands of the increased population. Many new stores were opened and old ones modernized. Theaters, restaurants, and recreational facilities that had been curtailed during the war were added to keep pace with the growing city . [91. Loc. cit., p. 4B.]

     During the war period and immediately following, the increase in population threw an added burden on the Santa Monica schools. The enrollment in the elementary schools had increased 40 per cent in a ten-year period from 1938 to 1948. Schools were overcrowded and double sessions were necessary in most of the schools by 1945. In 1946, the electors passed a $3,350,000 bond issue to build three additional elementary schools and make needed additions to the elementary and secondary schools already constructed. The demand for classes had crowded the Technical School during this time, so that large additions of classrooms and shops were planned to relieve the crowded conditions. [92. Minutes, Santa Monica School Board of Trustees, June 10, 1946, unpaged.]

City Reorganization

     During the war years city improvements virtually came to a halt. Even necessary maintenance and replacements had to be deferred and the result was that the physical program of the city was badly run down when hostilities came to an end. The dissatisfaction of the citizens had long been evident and soon resulted in a plan to call an election to vote upon the establishment of a Board of Freeholders to bring about the reorganization of the city government. The election was held on December 5, 1945, and the vote was 7055 for the formation of the board, 1581 opposed. The Board of fifteen men and women set to work immediately to draft a charter that would provide for a city-manager form of government. They retained Louis H. Burke, distinguished attorney and expert on municipal law, to draw up the charter in legal form. [93.Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 4B.]

     The citizens of Santa Monica, by a large majority, gave their consent and approval to the new charter on November 5, 1946. Approval by the State Legislature followed as a matter of routine, and on March 18, 1947, Mark T. Gates, later elected presiding officer and mayor, H.G. Markworth, Ben A. Barnard, George A. Neilson, J.L. Schimer, Jr., E.L. Talmadge, and Jack J. Guercio were installed as the first city council under the new form of government. The council named Maurice King, city engineer, as interim city manager, in which capacity he served until the council succeeded in engaging the services of Randall M. Dorton, a veteran professional city manager. Reorganization proceeded rapidly, but with a minimum of disturbance. Competent city employees soon learned that they had nothing to fear, that ability would be recognized, and that increased satisfaction could be derived from a job better done because of complete freedom from political interference. [94. Ibid.]

     The new administration made every effort to catch up with the tremendous backlog of necessary equipment, maintenance, and public improvements. Streets were paved, sewers improved and extended, and the water system was further developed. Fire protection facilities were increased and modernized. Bonds were improved for the installation of much-needed recreational facilities such as tennis courts, play fields, swimming pools, and indoor recreation rooms.

     The new administration still is pledged and is making an effort to give the people of Santa Monica an honest, businesslike government commensurate with the needs of a community of nearly 80,000 persons. Santa Monica is a community which has almost covered its available land, but whose possibilities of growth and ultimate development are compassed only by the foresight and imagination of its people.

Summary

     In this chapter, then, the history of the background of the community of Santa Monica had been traced from the events that led up to the founding of a city to the present time. The chapter provides a setting for the understanding of the locale served by the Santa Monica City Schools and of the factors in the development of the city that have caused or influenced the development of the schools.

     The chapter begins with an account of the early explorers who first visited the shores of California. The story is told of the voyage of Cabrillo, who first discovered the "Bay of Smoke," and how , later, Father Junipero Serra and Father Juan Crespi explored the Pacific coast with Portola's expedition in 1769. The party stopped at the springs nearby on May 4, 1769, Saint Monica's Day, and after relating the story of her life associated the name with the area now known as Santa Monica.

     After the land became Mexican Territory in 1822, ranchos were granted to many soldiers and men of influence. The boundaries of the rancho of Don Francisco Sepulveda and the rancho of Xavier Alvarado and Antonio Machado, the two which comprise the Santa Monica area, were disputed; and only after many years, when the Sepulveda rancho and all disputed lands were purchased by an American, Col. Robert S. Baker, were the titles to Santa Monica actually cleared.

     In this chapter are related the events of the founding of a town by Col. Baker and his plans for bringing the railroads to Santa Monica sot that the city might become the Port of Los Angeles. In spite of the failure of the railroad scheme and the loss of the port project, Santa Monica continued to grow. The founding of the early city departments and the development of the city as a residential and small industrial area are also described.

     Many major events have influenced the development of the city of Santa Monica. Four major factors have greatly influenced the growth of the city; the Soldiers Home, the Douglas Aircraft Company, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the ideal location of the town itself. The city had just safely recovered from the depression and earthquake of the middle 1930's when the impetus of the industrial development prior to World War II spurred unprecedented, growth in industry, business, and homes-all characteristic of the pioneer spirit of all Santa Monicans to face their problems and turn them into avenues of progress.

     The city today is operated under a city manager form of government, which came about through a reorganization of the city government voted by the electors in 1946. Civic, business, recreational, and cultural advancement have kept pace with the growth in population, now nearly 80,000 persons, all of whom are proud of their city for its location, its beauty, and its achievements.

     Not the least of its achievements has been the development of its schools. In Chapter II, then, the story of the early Santa Monica Schools is related: the physical aspects of the schools and their early educational expansion, with an account of the changes that have occurred in school policy and administration since the pioneer days when the plans for the city were spread over a part of the Jones and Baker sheep ranch on the vast palisades above the Pacific.

Chapter IIEarly Schools in Santa Monica

Formation of the District

     The Santa Monica School District was organized as a political unit of the state in 1875, eleven years before the town was first incorporated. The school district originally included the vast stretch of valleys, plains, and mountains, embracing La Ballona Rancho on the southwest and the Malibu Rancho on the northwest and everything in between. Out of this broad domain numerous other school districts were formed from time to time, and it has only been in recent years that the geographical boundaries of the Santa Monica School District have been reduced to the area of the city, with the addition still of a stretch of twenty-six miles of seashore and mountains lying between Topanga Canyon and the Ventura County Line., with the exception of the Decker Elementary School District which is only a part of the Santa Monica High School District. [1. School District Organization in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles: Office of the County Superintendent, 1937, p. 47.]

     The special edition of the Outlook of July 6, 1897, relates that "the first school was called to order on Monday morning, March 6, 1876, in the little Presbyterian Church that then stood on the corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue." The organization of the district came about through the desires of the early townspeople to provide a suitable education for their children. A public meeting was called on December 5, 1875, and a petition signed by thirty-four citizens of Santa Monica was sent immediately to the county superintendent of schools as a request to form a school district in Santa Monica." [2. School District Organization in Los Angeles County, p. 47.]

     Prior to the opening of school, a board of trustees was selected to organize the district. John Freeman, J.W. Scott,, and L.T. Fisher were chosen at the public meeting to serve as the first trustees. The early board minutes recorded the brief details of the business conducted in the months preceding the actual opening of the school. The following excerpts tell only a portion of all that undoubtedly took place in three months:

"Santa Monica, Feb. 5th, 1876

"At a meeting of the school trustees, all present.

Feb. 19th, was set for day of election and notice of same printed in the Outlook."

"Santa Monica, Feb. 19th, 1876

"The members of the board not being present the polls were not opened and no election held. A new notice was issued calling for an election March 11th."

"Santa Monica, March 6th, 1876

"H.P. McKusick was employed at a salary of (100.00) one hundred dollars per month to teach school. The Presbyterian Church having been rented for that purpose at a rent of $25.00 per month."

"Santa Monica, March 11th, 1876

"At the special election today, the tax was carried by of vote of yes and none no. Loren Heath was elected Assessor and Collector." [3. Minutes, Santa Monica School Board of Trustees, January 28, 1876-March 11, 1876.]

First School Opened March 6, 1876

     The event of the opening of school, be it noted, occurred five days in advance of the voting of the special school tax, which is a mark chalked up on the courageous side of Messrs. Freeman, Scott and Fisher. Undoubtedly, the board members well knew the sentiments of the Santa Monica pioneers and their determination to organize the district and provide the necessary facilities for a school. This was witnessed by the vote of the electors. No record of the number of yes votes was indicated, but at least there were no votes in opposition.

     Fifty-two pupils enrolled the first day. To give the occasion its proper setting and dignity (and, no doubt, suitably to impress upon the minds of the children their obligation to learning and authority, as in the days of the Hoosier schoolmaster), the occasion was officially witnessed by the three trustees. Such visitations soon became a custom with the trustees and were usually accompanied by oratorical fanfare directed at both teachers and "scholars." [4. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     The first school was organized with eleven classes of three grades with an enrollment of seventy-seven pupils by the end of the first month. With this number of pupils, there is little possibility that H.P. McKusick did much to provide for individual differences, but spent considerable time in "riding herd" and assigning lessons. Since McKusick's records are lost, no account is available of the names of the children attending the first Santa Monica school. However, the pioneers of Santa Monica came from states where public education was a settled policy and it was through their foresight that the foundation of public education was laid in this pioneer settlement of the west. Their children were fortunate to have the advantage of an opportunity to learn. [5. Loc. cit.]

     Loren Heath, the first school tax assessor and collector of the Santa Monica School District, returned the assessment roll on April 10, 1876. The school trustees canvassed the roll for three days and made a number of changes, the chief of which, according to the record, was the little item of 25,000 acres in the return of the Santa Monica Land Company. The minutes read:

"We find that the Santa Monica Land Company have returned but about 5,000 acres of the San Vicente Rancho. We estimate the rancho at 30,000 acres which we value at ($1) one dollar per acre it being hill land." [6. Board Minutes, April 22, 1876.]

The total valuation of the school district, as corrected by the trustees was recorded as $1,035,580. The first school tax rate was set at 60 cents on the one hundred dollars.

     The town lots on Sixth Street between Oregon and Arizona Avenues, now serving as the site of the offices of the Board of Education, had been donated to the school district by Senator John P. Jones and Col. Robert S. Baker, who had developed the original town site of Santa Monica. On these lots the first school building was erected in the summer of 1876, and was ready for occupancy upon the opening of school in September of that year. [7. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     A call for bids on the schoolhouse was made on April 18, 1876 and six bidders responded. The contract was awarded to William Lloyd for $2850, and he was asked to post bond for $1000 for the "faithful completion of said contract." The building was of frame construction with two classrooms on the first floor and a large room above. The upper room was not entirely finished but was used on many occasions for entertainments, public meetings, and dances. The exterior was of simple colonial style with clapboard siding and was adorned with an impressive bell-tower. [8. Board Minutes, June 9, 1876.]

     The cost of the building, however, leaped upward as it neared completion. A compromise with the builder effected a reduction in the overall costs, but the board paid William Lloyd the sum of $4150 for the building. This sum did not include all items of expense, however, for the board minutes of June 9, 1876, contain the following entry:

" . . . and also paid $12.50, Wilson's bill for stationary, O.A. Snow, $6.00 for blackboard, L.T. Fisher for privy (lumber and wood) $14.50. S.I. Rolf for school furniture $6.25 . . ." [9. Loc. cit.]

The total cost of the building plus equipment consumed nearly all of the tax money that had been voted at the special election.

     The following paragraph concerning the opening of school in September, 1876, suggestive of mid-twentieth century schools, is taken from the files of the Santa Monica Evening Outlook:

"Public school will not begin next Monday as heretofore stated. The desks, which were expected on the Senator this morning, did not arrive. Besides, the carpenters have not yet completed their work on the building. The trustees feel quite confident that all arrangements will be made by the following Monday, September 11. This delay has been unavoidable, therefore, it is only proper that teachers and patrons exercise a little patience." [10. Santa Monica Outlook, Aug. 30, 1876, p. 1.]

     As the school year closed in June, 1876, in the Presbyterian Church, the enrollment had risen to over one hundred pupils with an average daily attendance of nearly seventy. The board of trustees added another teacher when school opened in the new building on September 11, 1876, a Miss Alice Whitton who was employed as assistant to teach the primary grades. McKusick taught the older children and was in charge of the school even though the title of principal was not vested in him. [11.Ibid., July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     There are few facts recorded in the board minutes relating to the new school. Only assumptions can be made as to the success of the teachers and the methods and subjects that were taught. The minutes show a succession of personnel as teachers and principals in those early days. A very stable program could scarcely have been possible with as many changes as took place those first years.

Early Personnel

     The board of trustees exercised complete autonomy over the affairs of the school district and was subject only to the somewhat limited supervision and approval of the country superintendent's office. They reserved the right, when they hired a teacher or principal, to request his resignation at any time. Illustrative of their action, the Board Minutes of January 10, 1877, show that the board requested the resignation of H.P. McKusick as teacher and employed A.C. Shafer to fill the vacancy at a salary of $80.00 per month. Shafer remained only until the close of school in June and was replaced the following year by A. McPherson, who was elected as "principal" of the Santa Monica school, Shafer was rehired as a principal for the school year 1878-1879, and had as his assistant, Miss Clara S. Tullis. [12. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     Up to 1879, all of the principals employed by the trustees were men. However, Mis Blanche Downs was elected principal in 1879 and served for one year. The following year, the board chose a man for the position and elected George C. Hall. Due to ill health, Hall was forced to resign before the end of the school year. The trustees closed the schools for a week until a successor could be selected. They elected Miss Florella King to complete the term because "no man appeared available." [13.Board Minutes, March 16, 1881.]

     Whether the positions in the Santa Monica schools were so "rough" that teachers and principals found jobs elsewhere, or the caliber of the educators of the time was such that the best were not secured, is only vouchsafed in the undisclosed memories of those now passed. The story is recounted of one such principal who was elected to serve in 1881-1882. J.H.P. Williams was, apparently, a man of strong will and had been hired in the board's efforts to secure a man who was not afraid to use the rod as the chief means of discipline of the school. The board received more than it bargained for when:

"On December evening in 1881, the pupils of the Sixth Street school were joined by the young people of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches in a rehearsal of a play in the dining room of the old Santa Monica Hotel on Ocean Avenue, then vacant and later burned. The affair was under the direction of Principal Williams. He did not appear at the appointed hour, but entered the room at a late hour after the children were tired and the parents were impatient. As he entered the room a Mr. McDonald, the care keeper of the hotel, approached him, upbraiding him for being so late and keeping the children waiting. With a few exchanges of hot words, Williams whipped out a gun, shot McDonald through the side, inflicting a wound from which he is said to have died in later years."[14. Horace M. Rebok, From Pioneer Days, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, June 2, 1929, sec. 2, p. 1.]

Williams was tried in the courts of Los Angeles County and was found not guilty as charged. He had pleaded self-defense, alleging that he mistook a pipe protruding from McDonald's pocket for a gun and so shot first. The attorney for the defense was Stephen M. White, who in later years was a Senator from California. [15. Rebok, loc. cit.]

     Williams lost his job and the schools of Santa Monica "lost the services of a great disciplinarian." The school trustees met on December 3, 1881, and took the following action:

"Board met at the residence of Mrs. Huie. On motion of the trustees they decided to discharge J.H.P. Williams from further services as principal of the Santa Monica school. It was further resolved that Dr. Elliot be empowered to advertise in a Los Angeles Newspaper for a principal of the Santa Monica school."

The school was closed from December 3 to January 2, until the new principal had been secured.

     The board minutes show that the entertainment planned for rehearsal at the Santa Monica Hotel on the evening that Principal Williams engaged in a little gun play to the damage of Carekeeper McDonald, was properly staged in the assembly room of the Sixth Street School on the evening of December 31, 1881. Following this program, a Wilcox and White organ was presented to the Public School of Santa Monica, the purchase money for which having been raised by a series of entertainments "gotten up through the instrumentality of M.R. Gaddy," a board member, and others. [16. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, 6G.]

     To advertise in the newspapers for teachers and principals was common practice in the 1880's. On March 1, 1888, an advertisement appeared in the Outlook and was reprinted in other newspapers throughout southern California. It read:

"Wanted . . . a district school teacher. The Board of Trustees of the Santa Monica school district are authorized to have a teacher for the summer which commences July 12, 1888, in Steere's Opera House. He must be a man sound in body and intellect and not afraid to use the rod. Wages $10.00 per month and found (signed) E.P. Howell, John Steere, T.A. Lewis, Trustees."

Early Discipline

     Corporal punishment evidently continued to be used as a first as well as a last means of resort in the disciplining of children in the 1880's. There is no lack of evidence that teachers carried this kind of punishment too far at times, creating for the future generations the impression that the pedagogues of the time delighted in inflicting punishment on their "scholars" for even the slightest infraction of f rules, and were therefore not quite as "understanding" as they might have been. Beatrice Pearl speculated that:

" . . . the children who attended public school classes in the early days of Santa Monica were probably overgrown, and as untamed as the west to which their parents had brought them. Naturally they got into plenty of mischief. If the schoolmaster failed to impress these healthy young stalwarts with the swift certainty of punishment, his teaching career might end in mid-term. Under these circumstances, strict school room discipline took on an aspect of self preservation, for the teacher."[17. Beatrice Pearl. Santa Monica Schools,unpublished report of W.P.A. Project #6050, 1939; in files of Santa Monica City Schools, p. 10.)

     E.P. Howell, who was principal when the trustees advertised for a man "sound in body and not afraid to use the rod," was a master of the art, stated Horace M. Rebok:

"He had an instrument of torture of his own invention, more terrifying than the rod recommended by King Solomon. He used a strap of two layers, fastened together with copper rivets. His method was to lick them across the knees." [18. Rebok, op. cit., p. 8.]

     The board minutes show many complaints regarding the severity of punishment administered in the school. Doubtless, too, many accounts of such happenings were related to the board members in person. The board, upon several occasions, attempted to straighten out matters by the issuance of definite board rulings. In 1891, for example, they issued the following ruling:

"It is resolved that the teachers be instructed that all necessary punishment of pupils shall be inflicted by the teacher in whose class the pupil is enrolled, and when any pupil becomes unmanageable and refuses to submit to just punishment such pupil shall be suspended and the cause of such suspension be reported at once to the board of trustees by the teacher and the principal." [19. Board Minutes, Jan. 30, 1891]

     Following this ruling, the minutes show that there were many suspensions and in some instances, the board called both the offenders and their parents before them and only upon their written promise were they allowed to re-enter school.

     Two years later, so sensitive had the public conscience become about the whipping in the school, that the board felt moved to reverse the ancient Solomonic saying, "spare the rod and spoil the child," and declared so in effect in the Board Minutes of March 10, 1893: "That from hereafter, teachers in the public schools of Santa Monica are forbidden to use corporal punishment upon any pupil."

     At a later date, the trustees were obliged to define corporal punishment as meaning "whipping."

     The teachers waxed indignant over the pronouncement. They held a meeting and agreed upon a formal protest to the board's action, dispatching the following petition:

"We, the undersigned Teachers in the Santa Monica Schools, are in receipt of copies of a resolution adopted by the Board in session on March 10th, 1893. Our reasons for pursuing this course are the following:

"1. We feel that said resolution to be an expression by the Board of a want of confidence in the corps of teachers in the Santa Monica schools.

"2. It is our opinion that the abolition of corporal punishment in the middle of the school term, and after we have adopted a certain system of discipline in accordance with regulations previously laid down by the board, would be detrimental to the interest of the pupils and demoralize the discipline of the school.

"3. The teachers of the schools, who are in the best positions to know the characters of the pupils, and therefore, to judge the matte, have not been consulted. We do not consider that the schools of Santa Monica have yet reached the condition that would render the abolition of corporal punishment advisable.

"4. Corporal punishment, in our opinion, has not been resorted to during our connection with the schools more frequently than has been necessary; and in no case do we believe the punishment has been unjust or unduly severe. We all recognize the fact that the fear of corporal punishment is one of the most powerful restraints upon the pupil, and we anticipate much trouble should such a restraint be removed. In most cases where a pupil is guilty of an offense deserving either suspension or corporal punishment, we are of the opinion that it is much wiser to punish the offending party corporally and retain him in school than to suspend him from school and thus expose him to the many evils incident to idleness.

"5. We desire to be excused from exercising the power of suspension, which all public schools in the State of California, as far as we know, recognizes as one of the duties of the Principal of the Santa Monica Schools by a previous action of the board."

(Signed) C.I. Moore; George H. Prince; Carrie W. Atkinson; Jessica Rubicam; Mabel Davisson; Nathan F. Smith; Hattie Bowles"

     The Board of Trustees did not take kindly too the rebuke hidden in the protest of the seven recalcitrant teachers, [20. The original of this document, yellowed with age, reposes safely in the vault at the Board of Education, Santa Monica, California.}, nor did they enjoy having the wisdom of their ruling questioned by their subordinates. Their answer was read aloud to the teachers by the president of the Board and bristled with outraged authority:

"We do not think that the tone and language of your communication to be such as to command our attention, other than to instruct you to enforce the rule adopted by the board on March 10th, 1893, and served upon you.

"If at any time any teacher feels that he or she cannot comply with and obey the rules of the board, they are invited to hand in their resignation and not insult the board by such communication. " [21. Board Minutes, Mar. 24, 1893]

     The teachers were squelched; yet there was enough fight left in them to take one final swing at authority. They wrote to the board again, this time in a different key, but it is possible to read between the lines and see that they were not convinced against their will. After quoting the full text of the rules they wrote:

"The instructions given in the resolution of March 10, 1893, conflict with the instructions given us by the principal at the opening of the term-September 5th, 1892-in this: That the principal directed up to use our discretion in matters of corporal punishment, but that suspension should be made by him.

"We ask an opinion as to which instructions are obligatory upon us as teachers?"

     This communication was again signed by all seven teachers in the Santa Monica schools. Whether the board designed a further reply is not known, but from that date, whipping in the schools speedily decreased. Public opinion crystalized on the question, supporting the board's position and soon not even the slapping of a child's face by the teacher or principal was condoned, although it too occurred. [22. Pearl, op. cit., p.16.]

     A new city charter was written in 1906 containing a restrictive clause stating that "corporal punishment shall not be inflicted in the public schools of said city except in the presence of or with the written consent of the parent or guardian of the pupil." The revisions of the charter since that time have contained the same provisions and it still remains the law of the city today.

     Nevertheless, numerous complaints by parents continued to be made after enactment of this law over the alleged excessive punishment of children. During the superintendency of Horace M. Rebok, on at least two occasions, he demanded and secured the resignation of teachers for violation of this law. [23. Ibid., p. 17] As time progressed, the archaic ceremony of epidermic application was replaced by needed child study [sic] which worked wonders for both teacher and child.

Early Growth of the School System

     It was only upon the election of W.W. Seaman in 1881 that any principal remained for more than a year. For six years, under his able direction, the schools made notable advancement. In 1884, the school had grown in size sufficiently to hire an additional teacher. The class size continued to be large and the need for additional room became apparent. The board called for an election on the ninth day of March, 1888, to submit to the voters of the district the propriety of raising a tax of $1200 in conformity with a desire expressed at a public meeting held at the schoolhouse of the district. The money was needed to complete the second floor of the school and to furnish it suitably for use of the higher grades. [24. Board Minutes, Feb. 1, 1888.]

     Tradition played a large part in the activities of these early days. The beginning of many practices and procedures was instituted as serious problems to be met and solved by those concerned with the welfare of the schools. As the town grew and the schools became established, they became a focal point of attention for the parents and children of the community. With pride and determination, the children, the teachers, and the parents set about to have their schools reach the maximum of proficiency and beauty.

     For many years there has been speculation as to the origin of the large bell that had traditionally called children to school. The minutes of the Board of Trustees contain this prosaic record.

"A Cincinnati Thirty-two Inch Bell was presented to the public school of Santa Monica. The purchase money was in part raised by entertainment gotten up by W.W. Seaman and others, and in part by warrants of county funds." [25. Board Minutes, Aug. 25, 1882.]

     The bell was made by the Blamer Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati and was purchased from Linforth, Rice and Company of San Francisco. The bell carried a written guarantee from the manufacturer, further endorsed by Linforth, Rice and Company, that "the janitor could not ring it loud enough to crack it within two years." This guarantee is still pinned to the page in the Minute book under date of August 25, 1882.

     For thirty years the 32-inch bell swung to and fro, first in the tower of the old Sixth Street School and later in the tower of the Jefferson School to which the bell was transferred when that building was erected in 1906. After all the timely warnings to mothers of the town to set the clock and get the children off to school, the bell was removed from the Jefferson tower in 1927, after the Santa Barbara earthquake. After the tower was removed as a safety measure, the bell went into storage where it remained for many years. [26. Pearl, op. cit., p. 8.]

     In 1931, Laura G. Crawford, director of public relations for the school district, again brought the bell to light when she suggested to Josephine O'Leary that it would be of historic interest and special honor to install the bell in the new Garfield Elementary School, of which Miss O'Leary was then principal. The suggestion was quickly adopted. There the bell now hangs as a memory of the past and on special occasions its solemn tones can be heard throughout Santa Monica. [27. Loc. cit.]

Need for Additional Schools

     By the time Santa Monica was twenty years old, its citizens were boasting of its school system which included the big Sixth Street School, with its eight rooms, and two one-room schools, one in the South Side area and the other in old Santa Monica Canyon. In 1895, when the Outlook was claiming the town had a population of 2500, the citizens were claiming that Santa Monica had one of the best school systems in the state, in proportion to its size. [28. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     For over fifteen years the Sixth Street School was the only public school in the area of Santa Monica. Many of the boys and girls had to come long distances to attend classes. They came from the areas now known as Venice and Ocean Park, east from the area of the Soldiers Home, and from several canyons north of Santa Monica Canyon. Many of the children rode horseback, tying their horses to a hitching post in front of the school. Others, it was reported, boarded in town during the week, in order to partake of the opportunity of attending schools in Santa Monica, and returned home on week ends.

     The boards of trustees, as they were called in early days, always have included members who were interested in the educational side of the schools as well as in the financial and business side, and who have chosen efficient school administrators to the good fortune of the city of Santa Monica. From about 1890, their great task has been to keep one jump ahead of the steadily increasing school enrollment. [29. Loc. cit.]

     There were several other early schools included in the Santa Monica system prior to 1900. There is, however, little record of some of them. There was the South Side School in Ocean Park [1890]; the Calabasas School [1891], located approximately fifteen miles northeast of Santa Monica and at the southwestern end of the San Fernando Valley; the Garripatas Canyon School [1893], now the Topanga Canyon School, which was located in the cattle pasture lands and which probably derived its name from the parasites that afflicted the herds of cattle that roamed the hills and canyons; and the Santa Monica Canyon School [1894], located just north of Santa Monica in Santa Monica Canyon or the original Boca de Santa Monica. All of these schools, except the South Side School, ceased to exist for a time or have withdrawn to form or join another district.

Calabasas School

     On August 31, 1891, the board resolved that a school should be established at the town of Calabasas, a small settlement and outpost on the route through the San Fernando Valley to Ventura and Santa Barbara. The board employed Miss Hannah Swanwick at $60.00 per month, and J.C. Morgan, clerk of the board, was appointed a committee of one to "fit up the schoolhouse and was given the power to purchase necessary goods," [30. Board Minutes, Aug. 31, 1891.]

     In the early days, the town of Calabasas had quite an unsavory reputation and as a consequence, teachers were hard to keep. Attendance at the school was very irregular. After supplying four teachers in the first year, the board ruled to forsake the project as an unsuccessful venture. [31. Pearl, op. cit., p.7]

Garripatas School

     The Garripatas (cattle tick) School was established for only two years as part of the Santa Monica schools. Because of the distance from the Sixth Street School, the board thought it advisable to establish a school for the small group of children living in the area. A suitable room was rented in 1893, and the clerk of the board was authorized to visit the school with the newly elected teacher, Miss Caroline Mueller, and was instructed to purchase a clock and other supplies and equipment necessary for the opening of school. [32. Board Minutes, Jan. 3, 1893.]

     However, the parents of the Garripatas Canyon children, in spite of being provided with school facilities, were very remiss in not having their children enroll and attend school.

     On July 27, 1893, the board instructed the clerk to inform the patrons of the schools that, owing to the small attendance, it had been decided to discontinue the school the following year. On August 7, 1893, after a petition was presented from the residents of Garripatas Canyon, the board reconsidered its actin and hired Miss Emily Gardner at $50.00 per month subject to the pleasure of the board in maintaining the school, if the regular attendance should fall below ten pupils. At the end of the second year, due to lack of attendance and the cost of maintaining the school, the school was closed and Miss Gardner was brought in to teach at the Sixth Street School the following year. [33. Pearl, op. cit., p. 7.]

Canyon School

     In 1889, the board minutes revealed that two of the trustees Vawter and Morgan, were directed to investigate the needs of a school at Santa Monica Canyon, No action was taken in this regard until 1894 when the Board Minutes contain the following entries:

"July 19th, 1894

" . . . Resolved that it is, in the judgment of this board, necessary to raise by tax within the district, the sum of two thousand dollars, for the purpose of acquiring a site, building and furnishing a one-room school in the old Santa Monica Canyon, and hiring a teacher for one year . . . the election to be held at the public school house on Sixth Street in said district on the 13th day of August, 1894.

"August 20th, 1894

"Board met in special session, with all members present and canvassed election returns of special tax election of August 13th, 1894, and found there were 106 votes cast at said election, 77 Tax Yes and 29 Tax No. . .

"September 1st, 1894

"Moved and adopted that R.P. Elliot be appointed a committee of one, with power to act, to procure a building site in Old Santa Monica Canyon. It was unanimously resolved that the salary of the Canyon teacher be fixed at Sixty Dollars per school month, commencing at a time when the building is ready. And on roll call for the election of a teacher to fill the position, Miss Mina Minn Norton of Los Angeles was unanimously elected.

"The clerk of this board was instructed to advertise (as soon as a site was secured) per plan and specification on file with this board.

"September 15th, 1894

"Moved that the board proceed to open bids for the Canyon School House: Bid of J.A. Tobin, $1374, Bid of J.P. Comstock, $990, Bid of H.X. Goetz was $982. The bid of H.X. Goetz, being the lowest, the contract was awarded to him by a unanimous vote. The clerk was instructed to write Mr. F.D. Jones of L.A. & get his lowest figures on his adjustable school desks."

     The Canyon School, for many years, was the pride of the trustees. It was the center of community activities in the Santa Monica Canyon area. The Minutes reveal the board's concern for the details of the drilling of a well, the fencing of the school grounds, and careful maintenance of the building and grounds; and especially their concern to keep the weeds and brush away from the buildings so that the school would be spared the damage of a mountain fire. The board granted the use of the school room for church services every Sunday and the school was also used for community entertainments and for an occasional dance,

     The Canyon School remained a on-room school for many years. Prior to the close of the school year in 1925, the patrons of the Canyon School called for a special election and voted to withdraw from the Santa Monica Schools and become a part of the Los Angeles City Schools. [34. Annual Report, Santa Monica School Board of Trustee, 1924-25.] Miss Theresa C. Sletten, then teacher and principal of the school, transferred to the Los Angeles City system. During the years, the attendance at the Canyon School has averaged between only twenty and thirty children in the grammar grades.

South Side School

     On the first Monday of September, 1890, when the first school opened in south Santa Monica, the citizens of that area were witnessing something very much like a miracle. They had petitioned the board of trustees many times, without results, for a school south of Front Street (known today as Pico Boulevard); and now a one-room, whitewashed building actually rose on the peak of the hill at Ashland and Fourth Streets, surrounded by lonely sand dunes and a few houses. [35. Pearl, op. cit., p. 21.]

     The school had been scheduled to open on March 3, 1890, but the trustees were compelled to rescind the order because the apportionment of school funds to the district fell considerably below the estimate for the year. Ellen Huie, who had come from a distance to teach school, had to be reimbursed for her expenses with a check for $7.50 and returned to her home. [36. Board Minutes, Feb. 24, 1890.]

     A few months later, when Miss Huie did welcome the children of the neighborhood to their seats in the one-room school atop the hill, she must have been no little perturbed, facing the oddly assorted group of all ages that stared up at her, waiting for their first lesson. The minutes of the board state that she resigned the following September, foregoing a salary of $50.00 per month. One teacher after another tackled the school, but none of them remained very long. Maggie Biggy took over from Miss Huie; and she, too, tendered her resignation within a year. Hattie Bowles came next, followed in 1893 by Edith Lane who remained until the second schoolhouse was erected in 1895, when Alice M. Frazier and Estelle Barden were employed. Kate Smith was elected the first principal of the South Side School in 1899, and Florence Rubicam, one of the first graduates of the Santa Monica High School, and Elizabeth Hamlin, later supervisor of elementary schools, was elected principal in 1901. [37. Pearl, op. cit., pp. 21-22.]

     In 1902, "South Siders" again began petitioning the board of trustees, this time for better school accommodations for their children. As the school had contained only the primary grades, parents were desirous of having the board provide facilities so that even the upper grade pupils would not have to walk the distance to the Sixth Street School. Finally, both schools became crowded; consequently, the Board, on July 6, 1895, resolved:

" . . . that it is in the judgment of this board necessary to call an election and submit to the electors of this school district, the question of whether such tax in said amount shall be raised within this district, the sum of Fifteen Hundred Dollars, for the purpose of moving old building, building and furnishing a school building for the South Side on Lots 12 and 13, BLock F, Santa Fe Tract, and it is, in the judgment of this board necessary to call an election and submit to the electors of this school district the question of whether such tax in said amount shall be raised within said district for said purpose."

     The tax was passed on August 5, 1895, and subsequently the Board awarded the contract to Charles H. Thomas for the erection of a large one-room frame school building, complete with bell-tower. The contract price was $1065. The smaller building, later called the annex, was moved to the rear of the lot to make way for a better constructed school which provided seating for fifty-four pupils, although an additional number were soon taken in. [38. Pearl, Santa Monica City Schools, p.23]

     The Ocean Park area built up at a steady rate, far more rapidly than Santa Monica proper. The sand dunes surrounding the school sprouted small houses and each home usually had one or more children. The increased population soon overtaxed the capacity of the two small school buildings on the hill. A second story had been planned for the larger building, adding an additional room; but before it could be accomplished, the need had grown too imperative to wait for its construction. The sixth, seventh, and eighth grades were sent to the Baptist Church to be accommodated, and the trustees rented the Santa Fe Pavilion for use of the second and third graders. The parents were insisting on the construction of a new schoolhouse, but the board lacked sufficient funds to erect such a building as would be needed in the next two years. [39. Pearl, loc. cit.]

     Elizabeth Hamlin, the newly elected principal, found the school with an enrollment of seventy-six and a staff of only two teachers, including herself. Convinced that the children were not getting all they should from their classes because of the lack of an adequate teaching staff, she approached Professor C.I.D. Moore, who had just been elected supervising principal, and confided to him her concern. He explained that his hands were tied; however, the ever-increasing enrollment soon compelled the board to hire a third teacher. [40. Ibid., pp. 23-24]

     Miss Hamlin recalls an interesting happening during her teaching career in the Santa Monica schools. [41. Personal Interview with Elizabeth Hamlin, April 9, 1951; Santa Monica, California.] There seemed, she states, to be a closer association with the school in those days than is currently apparent. Life revolved around the schools. School activities provided the only entertainment available.

"We celebrated all the holidays in the schools and always had a big tree at Christmas time. I remember an amusing incident connected with one of those Christmas celebrations at the school.

"Thinking to make Christmas celebrations more real to the children, I told them the story of the Savior's birth. The next day, an irate parent visited me and administered a first-class scolding. He accused me of teaching religion to my classes, a practice which, he pointed out, had been stopped by law!"

     At a public meeting, held April 18, 1902, the townspeople enthusiastically proclaimed their approval of the plan to build a new school. They wanted, they asserted, a school worthy of the town and of the children who would attend it. Nothing less than a building with eight classrooms would suffice to take care of the town's anticipated growth. They believed that $12,000 would prove ample to cover the cost of such a building, and they urged that the money be raised by calling for another bond issue. [42. Pearl, op. cit., p. 25.]

     An election held May 12, 1902, provided the funds for the new building with only four dissenting votes out of the 205 votes cast. The community of Ocean Park felt jubilant over the prospects of having one of the finest schools in California. The school census figures reveal that in 1902 there were 1084 children of school age in Santa Monica, which represented an increase of 161 over the previous year. Sixty-five percent of the increase had occurred in Ocean Park. [43. Pearl, loc. cit.]

     When the school was completed, the cost had come nearer to $15,000 but included two additional lots. Trustee Vawter offered the lots at the unbelievably low price of $610.00. The original, smaller school building was purchased by the Ocean Park Catholic Church and was removed to the corner of Third Street and Marine Avenue, where it became a caretaker's cottage. The larger one-room building remained for several years and was used as a community center building. The board finally sold the building to another church and it was moved to a new site on Seventeenth Street. [44. Ibid., pp. 25-26.]

     The community and the children took great pride in the new building that was ready for occupancy in November, 1902. Its imposing beauty was enhanced by its commanding position up on the hill. Since the board of trustees had failed to provide a single object of art to beautify the interior of the building, the school set about to earn money for that purpose. They gave entertainments for paid admissions and sold candy and other items to swell the fund. A long desired piano and set of encyclopedia were also acquired in this way. [45. Personal interview with Elizabeth Hamlin, April 9, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     An ill fate awaited the new school, which had been renamed the Washington School. Five years after its completion on January 2, 1908, it burned to the ground. Miss Hamlin recalls the incidents that occurred that day: [46. loc. cit.]

"We were having trouble with the furnace that day. Some of the rooms were too hot, others too cold. As a consequence, we could hear an almost continuous signaling to the janitor. I finally talked to him and he said that he was giving the furnace as much as he dared. I instructed him to adjust the ventilators, and then went back to my room, for I was still a teaching principal. Ten minutes later one of my third grade boys rushed up to the desk and cried out excitedly, "Miss Hamlin, Miss Hamlin, the school's on fire!"

"I asked him if he remembered the fire drill. When he said that he did, I asked him to give it at once. I then went into the hall to investigate. One of the teachers had her pupils lined up there for the flames had burst through the ventilators in her room. When everyone was safely out of the building, I discovered that the boys,by some prearranged signal among themselves, had formed groups to rescue all the art objects, the encyclopedia, and even the piano."

     The Washington School that rose out of the ashes of the old one the same year gave the neighborhood its first fine brick building. Cement sidewalks had been laid around the entire block, but weeds and wild flowers still grew unmolested in the streets. The new building contained twelve rooms, was of two-story construction, and commanded a view of the Santa Monica-Ocean Park strand. The slope of the hill permitted the extension of the building downward, creating a sub-story. Before three years were passed, space in the sub-story room had been converted into classroom space. [47. Pearl, op. cit., p. 27.]

     Visitors, discovering the beauty of Santa Monica, remained in ever-increasing numbers to become permanent residents. The schools found it difficult to keep pace with this phenomenal growth, and the inadequacy of instructional facilities made it necessary, in 1912, to send the eighth grade to Lincoln School. A year later, the John Adams School took in the seventh and eighth grades making it possible to establish a much needed kindergarten. A Miss Schaffner was selected to direct this early kindergarten program [48. Ibid., p. 28.]

     Washington School, still on the march in 1919, added four new primary rooms, the enrollment of the school having again reached the point where a large number of pupils could not be properly accommodated. The board of trustees acquired additional playground space in 1911, and in 1923 a cafeteria bungalow and lunch pavilion were added. Later, the windows of the pavilion were screened and domestic science classes were held there. An adjustment room was established in 1929, and the daily supervised playground program began in 1930 [49. Mary E. Baker, Washington School Annual Report (unpublished report to the superintendent of schools, June, 1930, p. 1.]

     The earthquake of 1933 caused considerable damage to the Washington School and compelled it to be closed. When a rigid inspection of the building was made, the school came under the ban of official condemnation and was demolished in 1934. Class work continued in tents that had been erected on the John Adams Junior High School campus nearby. [50. Pearl, op. cit., p. 28.]

     The present Washington School Building was constructed in 1935 as a cooperative project of the Works Progress Administration and of the Santa Monica Board of Education. The building is mainly one-story construction of the Monterey type of architecture. There are two buildings, one housing the kindergarten and primary grades, and the other accommodating the upper grades. Currently, Washington School has an average enrollment of nearly 420 children from kindergarten to grade six. There is a faculty of fifteen including a full-time principal and remedial teacher. The school is to have a new cafeteria-auditorium building from the bond funds voted in 1950. This addition should complete the facilities of the school, and as there is limited space available, the growth of the school is restricted to its present site. [51. From Personal Interview with Sadie Jenkens (secretary to the Superintendent of Schools since 1921), May 2, 1951; Santa Monica.]

High School Extends Grammar Grades

     The extension of the elementary grades in 1884 was considered to be the actual date of the founding of the high school. Because of the extension of grades in the school and continued growth of the community, the school population continued to grow. The enrollment for the year 1876 was 103 children. In 1885-1886 the enrollment had risen to 198, and by 1895-1896 it had jumped to a high of 669 pupils in the schools. During this time the board members had been faced with the problem of calling special elections to raise by special tax the money necessary to meet the needs of the school. The tax was raised each year to meet only the budget of the current year including necessary expenditures for capital outlay. [52. Statistical Report prepared for the Santa Monica Board of Education, Research File, 1907.]

     In 1887, however, the annual budget of the district had increased to the point that further building could no longer be financed from the regular school tax, Consequently, the board decided to call the first bond election on August 13, 1887, to have the voters approve the advisability of bonding the district for six years to raise $5,000 to build a four-room addition to the original Santa Monica School. They wished also to purchase two additional lots for playground use. The electors passed the bond issue and bids were called for immediately. A second wing of two rooms was added in 1893, [53. Board Minutes, Aug. 9, 1887; Feb. 25, 1888; and July 13, 1893.]

     In an article published in the OutlookSpecial Edition of July 6, 1897, Nathan Smith, an early-day teacher and principal in Santa Monica, stated that "in May, 1885, the first class was graduated from the Santa Monica Grammar School. It was probably the second or third class graduated in Los Angeles County."

     In 1887, the graduates of the two-year extension of the grammar school were referred to as a high school class. Speaking of the graduation exercises, the Outlook of June 8, 1887, reported:

"Miss Alice Mosse and Mamie Roose, E.J. Vawter, Jr., and Albert Montgomery, who composed the graduating class of '87 of the Santa Monica High School, gave a pleasant entertainment last Friday evening at the Steere's' Opera House, to their friends. The exercises consisted of vocal and instrumental music and recitations and the presentation of diplomas. The evening closed with a social hour in which pleasantry, cake and ice cream were sweetly mixed."

     The extension of the elementary school was supported by the elementary district under provisions of the common school law. Trustees were authorized to organize high schools under an act of 1866, and under the State Constitution of 1879. What occurred in Santa Monica in this respect was repeated in many California communities prior to the enactment of the Union High School Law of 1891. No mention is to be found in the board minutes prior to 1891 relating to the high school or the high school course of study. [54. Pearl, op. cit., p. 80.]

     In the Board Minutes of July 7, 1886, however, the record shows that W.W. Seaman was employed as principal; Mrs. A.R. Seaman was hired as a "teacher in the primary department," and Miss S.M. Levering as "teacher in the intermediate department." The same classification of principal and teachers followed for a number of years until the high school was officially recognized in 1891. In recalling early incidents in the founding of the high school, Judge Fred H. Taft, who served the school board from 1896 to 1899, commented: [55. Ibid., p. 18.]

"The principal taught high school subjects equivalent to the first two years of high school courses of that period, and this procedure would have been in keeping with practice in many towns and cities in California between 1856, when the first high school was opened in San Francisco in the first common school district, and the enactment of the union high school law in 1891. Besides, the Los Angeles State Normal School at that time offered advanced standing to pupils completing the two year high school course."

     Historically, it would appear that the Santa Monica High School had its beginnings in 1884 during the principalship of W.W. Seaman, when a third teacher was hired and the principal began to teach high school subjects to those pupils who had continued to add to their education. Even though those receiving diplomas in 1887 might be regarded as the first class to graduate from the Santa Monica High School, actually it was not until the 1894, when the Santa Monica school had been approved and established under the Union High School law of 1891, with a four-year course of study, that the first class was traditionally graduated from the high school. The high school continued to occupy rooms in the Sixth Street building until 1898, [56. Pearl, loc. cit.]

     The graduates of the first four-year high school class were Hilda Hasse, Florence Rubicam, Della Sweetzer, Guy Bundy, and Roy Sulliger, "The Immortal Five," as their successors called them. The early commencement exercises were held in Steere's Opera House on Third Street and were highlights of the year attended by most of the residents of the community. After the usual entertainment by the class, speeches and responses by the faculty and the "scholars," and the awarding of diplomas, the evening became a popular social event. [57. Information taken from High School Graduation Programs on file with the Board of Education, Santa Monica, California,]

Summary

     Thus by the beginning of the twentieth century, the scope of the Santa Monica schools had encompassed the full twelve grades. The board of trustees and the patrons of the district had been able to provide adequately for all the children who desired to attend the schools. The original Santa Monica School had had so many changes due to the early growth of the community, that the original section was hardly recognizable to the very early pioneers. From a humble beginning in two rooms, it had virtually burst at the seams on subsequent occasions so that at one time four rooms were added in one wing and later another wing, containing two rooms, was built.

     As the town continued to grow and little children, especially, were required to walk long distances to school, the parents petitioned the board for the establishment of small schools in outlying area. In turn, the board had established the South Side School in Ocean Park, the Canyon School in Santa Monica Canyon, the Calabasas School and the Garripatas Canyon School. As new schools were added, they were established first in rented buildings and, as the need became apparent, the board purchased property and erected permanent buildings thereon. Almost identical one-room schoolhouses were built in the South Side and Canyon areas. The original Canyon schoolhouse is still in use as part of the present school, now associated with the Los Angeles City Schools.

     The South Side School is the only one remaining of these early schools operating as an elementary school in Santa Monica. In 1904, the name of the school was changed to the Washington School. The school still serves the Ocean Park area and provides for kindergarten and grades one to six. The building, then an eight-room structure, was destroyed by fire in 1908, but was rebuilt as a twelve-room school. This, in turn, was seriously damaged during the earthquake of 1933, so that again, in 1934, it was rebuilt with a new four-room primary unit and modern upper grade rooms. It continues as a fourteen-room unit today.

     During the time that the Canyon School was a part of the Santa Monica schools it remained a one-room school. It became a part of the Los Angeles City Schools when the patrons voted in 1925 to become a part of that district. The Calabasas and Garripatas Canyon schools were closed after brief periods of time for lack of sufficient attendance. As the areas developed, the parents asked to withdraw from the district and form their own districts. The Garripatas Canyon School is now the Topanga School and operates as a separate district. From the Calabasas area and through territory acquired from the Santa Monica School District, the vast mountain area to the north and west now form the Decker, Las Virgenes, Liberty, Cornell, and Calabasas districts.

     Chapter II is concluded with a brief description of the formation of the high school program in the original Santa Monica School. It existed first as a two-year extension of the grammar school and then developed as a fully accredited four-year high school in 1891. In 1884, a third teacher was employed which allowed the principal, W.W, Seaman, to teach the children of the ninth and tenth grades. A special tax was voted to finish the main room on the second floor of the Sixth Street building and this room, together with later additions, served as the high school until the erection of the Lincoln School in 1898.

     W.W. Seaman served as principal of the schools from 1886 to 1892 and undoubtedly was an educator of not inconsiderable merit. He succeeded in establishing the high school program, developed a suitable course of instruction for the primary, intermediate, and higher grades, and brought together a well-qualified teaching staff. Under his administration the graduates of the high school were as well prepared as any in the state.

     The story of the early schools in Santa Monica, presented in this chapter, reviews the development of these schools as a foundation upon which the later schools were based. Considerable credit is due the townspeople, the faithful men and women who served as school trustees, the principals and teachers, and the early students for the pioneer pride and spirit they exhibited in their determination to achieve a suitable program of education in Santa Monica.

     The groundwork laid by the early pioneers of Santa Monica carried the schools into the next important phase of their development. Chapter III follows the expansion of the schools from 1897 through the establishment, in 1911, of the Santa Monica High School on its present site. In 1897, the first school bond issue in Santa Monica approved a $15,000 building program for the Lincoln School, which became the first high school. In 1905 and 1906, the voters approved three additional bond issues totaling $135,000 to construct six new elementary schools. These developments, as well as an account of the establishment and expansion of the high school course of study, are detailed in Chapter III.

Chapter IIIExpansion of School Organization

     At the turn of the century, the community of Santa Monica was established as a city. The city was growing rapidly and its boundaries were encompassing more and wider areas. The city fathers, school trustees and the citizens were confronted with many problems. There were many civiic needs: the need for streets and sidewalks, sewers, water and electric development, public buildings, school facilities-all demanding the expenditure of large sums of money. Thus, the citizens had to decide how much to do and what should be done first.

     The increase in numbers of school-age children gave the taxpayers little choice but to provide additional schools. In 1897, the first school bond issue approved a $15,000 building program for the Lincoln School, which became the first high school. In 1911, a new high school was approved for the full expansion of the secondary program, while three earlier bond issues (1905 and 1906) had provided $135,000 to build or replace six elementary school buildings to spread elementary instruction to neighborhoods throughout Santa Monica.

     The diligent work of the women of Santa Monica secured the necessary support for the schools and it was they who insisted that the buildings be constructed of brick to withstand the dangers of fire. In spite of the inability of women to vote at that time, the bonds were passed by large majorities. A great deal of credit is due the women, particularly the members of the Child Study Circle of the Women's Club, for their active interest in the schools of Santa Monica.

     The town had survived its first hard years by a narrow margin, and faith had sometimes run low. But soon the growth and prosperity of the small community astounded its founders and kindled anew the belief that Santa Monica had been destined from the beginning to become "the great commercial center of the west." Travelers had spread far and wide reports of the beauty and fertility of the great state beyond the Rockies where the mountains dip into the sea; an area large enough, they said, to cradle half a dozen other states. As an additional attraction, southern California offered not only one climate, as did the home places in other states, but a variety. One could take his choice: snow and ice in the high regions, the dry heat of the deserts, the cool evenings of the coastal valleys, or the refreshing breezes of the coastal areas. The railroads did their part in publicizing the new wonderland by offering low colonists' rates, and people took advantage of these to migrate to the coast in ever-increasing numbers.

     Warm days drove the newcomers to the beaches, where they discovered the beauty of Santa Monica and the advantage of residence there. As a result, the population in 1894 soared to approximately 2500 inhabitants, [1. Ingersoll, Century History of the Santa Monica Bay Cities, p. 187,] The Outlook, founded along with the town and suspended for only a brief period during the worst of the hard times following the failure of the wharf and the railroad scheme, crowed over the figure of one record-breaking Sunday when no less than 12,000 visitors enjoyed the delights of ocean bathing and the incomparable view from the palisades. The report was that the Southern Pacific Railway Company had brought approximately 200,000 passengers to Santa Monica in one year. [2. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 9G.]

     New homes rose with such celerity that they seemed to spring from the very soil. New enterprises increased and even the industrial aspects of the town gave future promise of greater development. The public schools never lagged far behind the growth and development of the city. This, in part, was due to the qualifications of those who served on the Board of Education; but in even larger measure, to the interest and desire of the people of Santa Monica to maintain a good school system.

First High School Organized

     In 1891, the trustees set aside the sum of $2500 for the high school and elected LeRoy D. Brown, principal. Classes, however, were still held in such rooms in the old Sixth Street building as were not required for the use of the primary or grammar grades. The Board approved a course of study for the high school grades, some of the early texts for which included Kellogg's Rhetoric, Hill's Lessons in Elementary Geometry, Ginn's Plutarch's Lives, Dickens' Christmas Carol, and Scott's Lady of the Lake. [3. Board Minutes, Aug. 18, 1891]

     The high school was accredited by the University of California after an inspection of its course of study and an evaluation of the qualifications of its teaching staff-this in its second year of operation as a four-year high school. Many pupils who normally could be expected to drop out of school at the end of eighth grade were now afforded the opportunity of completing a full high school course.

     By 1897, the high school rooms on the upper floor of the Sixth Street building were crowded beyond their capacity, as were the three grammar schools in the district. To meet this condition, the board of trustees called a bond election to vote the sum of $12,000 for the building of a proper high school [4. Board Minutes, March 6, 1897]; and for the first time, a plan of the school trustees met with opposition. There were other much needed improvement, and a great deal of discussion among the townspeople resulted from the proposed bond election. The controversy seemed to stem from the necessity of deciding which need should be met first. One very vocal citizen averred that additional school facilities could very well be provided at a much smaller cost by the construction of annexes to the Sixth Street school building. Another wrote to the Outlook in protest, demanding: "Will anyone pretend to say that there is any such need for a high school as there is for a sewer?" [5. Outlook, April 2, 1897, p. 2.] Still others were of the opinion that because the entire nation was experiencing a period of financial depression, money could not be spared unless it would create needed work for the many unemployed. A letter to the editor of the Outlook pointed out: [6. Pearl, Santa Monica City Schools, op. cit., p.46.]

" . . . that the increased tax rate if the bonds carried, would be too great a burden, and that the annual expense of the proposed high school building would total approximately $4,500. Can we stand it? Would it not hinder the building of the sewer?"

     Sentiment against the bonds crystallized, with the opposition leaders counting on the ever malleable /Soldiers Home vote to swing the election. The results justified their confidence; the bonds were defeated by a vote of 123 to 147.

    The trustees now found themselves neatly impaled on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, throngs of eager young people demanded entrance to the high school; and on the other hand, the community refused to supply funds for an adequate building to house that high school. Facing this difficult situation, the men responsible for the schools proved not only their progressiveness but their resourcefulness as well. Had they not, they asked themselves, been elected trustees of both the grammar and the high school districts, and did there not exist "more than one way to skin a cat?"

     On September 4, 1897, another school bond election invited the city to vote the sum of $15,000 for the elementary school district. [7. Board Minutes, Aug. 12, 1897.] The trustees carefully refrained from mentioning the need of a high school. The bonds carried by a gratifying majority, and soon a new grammar school began to take form at Tenth Street and Oregon Avenue, where four lots had been acquired.

The Weekly Signal, which existed for a time as a rival to the Outlook, finally revealed that another way had indeed been found to "skin the cat." It described the new school as an eight-room building, having an upper story with two classrooms, a physical and mechanical laboratory, and an assembly hall, forty by sixty feet in dimension, excluding the 12 x 20-foot stage. "It will be the most convenient hall in Santa Monica," the Signal stated. "The whole upper story of the building will be leased to the high school district . . ." [8. The Weekly Signal, Santa Monica, California, April 24, 1898, p. 1.] This article, appearing just prior to the passing of the final bond issue for the new building, later to be known as the Lincoln School, declared:

"Proper school facilities is [sic] one of the most important matters (if not the most important) which any community has to consider: hence, it is unfortunate that the bonds did not carry at the former election. Had the proposition carried at that time, we would now have a new building ready for occupancy, and the trustees would not now be obliged to run half-day classes for the balance of the year. It is too bad to endanger the high standard already attained by the Santa Monica public school, as it is quite an honor for our high school scholars to be able to enter the State University without passing special examination, which position we now occupy, being ahead of San Francisco, Oakland, etc., and it reflects great credit on our trustees, supervising principal and teachers; but such a standard cannot be maintained if the school has to contend with inadequate facilities; and if, at the next examination of our high school scholars should fall below the required standard, it can probably be traced to the policy pursued by the voters at the former bond election.

"However, we will all hope that no such calamity will befall us, and it will not if it is in the power of the trustees, Prof. Smith, and the teachers to avert it."

Lincoln High School

     The Lincoln High School opened in the spring of 1898, with Nathan F. Smith continuing as principal, [9. Board Minutes, March 3, 1898.] and the building was dedicated at the June graduation exercises that same year. But long before the plan to provide secondary education in Santa Monica had been consummated, sharp criticism had been leveled at the trustees for their choice of a building site. One objector said: "This is ridiculous [sic], why build a school away out in the country? It will be twenty years before this town is settled enough to need a school that far out." It may be remarked in passing that the new school was to be located four blocks east of the existing Sixth Street School.

    While the new building continued to rise exactly where the trustees had determined it should, rivalries, bickerings, and faultfinding descended upon the board with the fury of angry hornets, seriously hampering the work. Bitter feeling prevailed in one quarter, for example, because a certain influential citizen, who owned lots across the street from those selected, had not been favored, and for a time construction was spiteful held up. When a contractor undertook the grading of the street, which had never been paved, he soon found himself ousted, and for no reason other than that he did not belong to the clique in power. [10. Pearl, op. cit., p. 52.]

     The site on which the Lincoln School stood had a 220-foot frontage on Tenth Street and a 150-foot depth on Oregon, extending to an alley. The trustees planned to buy lots on the other side of the alley in order to gain a solid frontage fro the school playground. But a lumber merchant near by objected to the closing of the alley because his teams and wagons found it convenient to turn there. Thus, for a long time, the Lincoln School graced one side of the alley and the playground the other. At a later date, however, the trustees bought the entire block for school use. [11. Pearl, ibid., p. 53.] This site is now occupied by the Madison School.

     Part of the issue became a personal one, centering about Principal Smith. Elected principal in 1892, Smith had brought to the high school a rare gift of leadership which had contributed much to his school's development. He was not, however, a graduate of any college, and for that reason he suffered a good deal of criticism, even at the hands of other school people. Nevertheless, he continued to render loyal service until the high school had become a functioning entity at the Lincoln School building. In 1900 he resigned, saying that a principal made a few more enemies every year that stuck with him, while his friends seemed gradually to drop away.

     Under Smith's leadership, and later under that of Superintendent D.A. Eckert, the program of the high school progressed and expanded. When the first high school was organized in 1891, only one course of study was offered. Ten years later there were two courses leading to college entrance and one commercial course. From 1902 to 1907, three courses leading to college entrance and one commercial course was offered. As can be seen from the four-year academic course of 1902, set out below, academic subjects, with few electives, were the order of the day. [12. Manual, Public Schools-1906-07, Santa Monica: The Outlook Press, 1906, pp. 30-31.]

Languages HistoryCommercial

English           Greek History           Commercial Arithmetic

Latin             Roman History          Commercial Law

German          Medieval History         Bookkeeping

               United States History      Typing

               Civics                  Stenography

                                     Penmanship

                                     Spelling

Science MathematicsArt

Botany           Algebra                 Freehand Drawing

Chemistry         Plane Geometry           Geometrical Drawing

Physics           Trigonometry

Physical Geography

     In 1907, with the introduction of manual training and domestic science, and greater recognition of music and art, the courses became more elastic and somewhat less rigidly academic. The school manual of that year shows four college preparatory course and three commercial courses of two, three, and four years. [13. Loc. cit.]

     With the offerings of a good course of study, competent teachers, and the ability of the seventy-eight pupils who had graduated up to 1905, the school became a fully accredited institution. In addition to the students who were preparing for college, a large number of the graduates were completing the courses offered by the newly organized commercial department, thus preparing themselves directly for employment.

     Student government appeared early in the history of the high school, being organized under the direction of Professor Smith in 1899. In the same year, the students requested, and were granted, permission from the board for use of a room as a student store. [14. Board Minutes, Sept. 26, 1899.] The enterprise was to be conducted on a nonprofit basis for the facility of the students in providing their own books and supplies. It was sponsored by the student government, which fostered many other student activities as well.

Further Growth in School Enrollment

     In the first month of the school year 1892-1893, there were 521 students enrolled in all of the Santa Monica schools, and two months later the total had risen to 585. The Outlook published the figures and stated that "for the first time in the city's history, the schools had gained steadily every month since opening day." [15. Pearl, op. cit., p. 81.] This fact reflected the continuing growth in the town's population. Land auctions and "tent sales" were attracting much attention in Southern California, and the excursion trips brought more and more people into Santa Monica. In spite of the criticism that the Lincoln School had been built "away out in the country," the town continued to grow toward the east.

     In 1903, Santa Monica re-annexed the territory cut from it when it dropped to a city of the fifth class. The school district, by action of the [Los Angeles County] Board of Supervisors, was officially changed to the Santa Monica City School District, and the supervising principal assumed the title of city superintendent of schools. [16. A city of the fourth class maintained its own schools and the chief administrative officer of the district, the superintendent, was appointed by the board with a four-year contract.] D.A. Eckert, who had been with the schools since 1895 and had held the positions of teacher, vice principal of the Lincoln School, and supervising principal of the Santa Monica schools, was elected as city superintendent for a four-year term.

     On June 3, 1903, the Board of Education agreed on a motion to hire a secretary for the board on a part-time basis, and R.M. Miller was selected at a salary of $25.00 per month for the position. Within the year, the business of the schools had increased to the point that the board found him indispensable, and decided to hire him on a full-time basis at a monthly salary rate of $75.00. In essence, then, Miller became the first business manager for the board. Four years later, on July 5, 1907, a clerk was approved for the superintendent's office, and Beulah Blankenship was employed at the rate of $40.00 a month.

     With the granting of a city charter to Santa Monica in 1906, the schools passed from the jurisdiction of the county superintendent of schools to that of the Santa Monica Board of Education. This change afforded the city an opportunity, through its board of education, to create its own courses of study and establish its own educational policies, in accord with the general school law of the state.

     When the controversy over the bonds to build the Lincoln School building arose, many individuals and organizations had rallied to the support of the Board of Trustees and of the schools. Probably the most influential group, at that time and subsequently, was the Child Study Circle of the Santa Monica Women's Club. Mrs. E. Vawter, wife of a former school board member, was chairman of the group; and while the Circle was small, it soon carried great influence in the community for the improvement of child welfare as related to the schools. [17. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6B.] The women of the Child Study Circle were well aware of the crowded conditions that existed prior to construction of the Lincoln building and in 1905, when the enrollment of the schools again more than doubled and families were moving into the city at an even greater rate than before, they undertook as their project for the year a study of the building needs of the Santa Monica schools. They had the active endorsement of the Board of Trustees, and with the fearlessness and determination which later characterized the members of the Parent-Teacher Association, they urged the school board to present a $60,000 bond issue to the voters with the understanding that they in turn would secure the voters to put it over. [18. Pearl, op. cit.,p. 57.]

     The board expressed some doubt that the community which had become so much disturbed over an expenditure of $15,000 for the addition of the Lincoln School would look favorably upon a plan to spend $60,000 for new sites and the erection of additional buildings. However, the women of the Circle were confident that the townspeople could be made aware of the large increase in school population and they certainly knew, by the size of the classes and the crowded conditions of all the schools, of the need for expanded school facilities.

      By 1905, the community was growing laterally at various points in the city. While the Ocean Park area continued to grow, children were rapidly filling the remainder of the eight rooms that had not been occupied when their "big" building was completed in 1902. In consequence, the trustees requested Superintendent Eckert to make a study of the residence of the pupils attending the schools in order that property might be purchased and schools located closer to the areas they would serve.

     Results of the study revealed that the Prospect Hill area, the Irwin Heights section, and the new extension of the central portion of Santa Monica eastward as far as 26th Street, were the faster growing communities and warranted the consideration of the board for the location of schools. The Santa Monica Land and Water Company offered a one-acre site in the Westside district if the school board would locate a school there. [19. Board Minutes, July 20, 1905.] This section (Brentwood) was several miles distant from the existing schools and the promoters of the area were anxious to have a school located there in order to attract families to buy land and build homes. The board held the offer in abeyance until the election on the bond issue. After the bonds had been approved, however, the board accepted the offer.

     As evidence of the skill and determination of the women of the Child Study Circle, there were three bond issues proposed and passed for school building purposes in a period of eight months. The aggregate amount of these bond issues was $135,000 and each was passed by a substantial vote.

     The first of this series of bond issues came about when, on the evening of August 17, 1905, the board passed the following resolutions: [20. Board Minutes, Aug. 17, 1905.]

"Resolved, that it is, in the judgment of this board advisable to call an election and submit to the electors of this School District the question of whether bonds of said District shall be issued and sold for the purpose of raising money to the amount of Sixty Thousand ($60,000) Dollars, for the purpose of purchasing school lots, for building and insuring buildings, for furniture and necessary apparatus, for improving school grounds, and for liquidating indebtedness already incurred for said purposes . . ."

     The election took place on September 11, and when the board met, on September 18, to canvass the votes, it was reported that out of the 123 votes cast, there were 116 favoring the bonds and only seven against. [21. Ibid., Sept. 18, 1905.]

    The board, thus enabled, immediately set about securing plans and specifications.

New Elementary Schools Authorized

     Preliminary to the inauguration of the building program, the board determined the need for and purchased three sites: those for the Garfield School, to consist of eight rooms; the McKinley School of four rooms; and the Irwin Heights School of four rooms. After the plans were approved and the bids were in, the women of the Circle again made their plea for child welfare and the improvement of the city when they urged the board to consider the proposal to build the three schools of brick. They pointed out that at slightly more cost the construction of brick buildings would safeguard the children from fire, would patronize local industry thus creating more jobs for the community, and would add three imposing buildings to the city that would be comparable to schools being built in other communities. [22. Pearl, op. cit., p. 58.]

     The board determined that it would be impossible to buy the property, build the three schools of brick, furnish and improve the grounds, and pay off the previous bonded indebtedness of the district with the $60,000 that had been raised by the bond issue of September 11, 1905. Again the women assured the board that if they would present to the voters of the district another issue for an additional $15,000 to complete their plans, the women would secure the necessary votes to pass the bonds. It was apparent that the Circle members knew whereof they spoke. The election was held on December 9, 1905, and when the board met to canvass the votes it was discovered that the women had persuaded 198 voters to go to the polls and that of these, 158 cast their ballots in favor of the additional bonds.

     Assured of the confidence of the voters in their project, the board proceeded to advertise for bids on the three brick buildings. J.F. Atkinson, a Los Angeles contractor, "was awarded the contracts for the building of eight rooms at Michigan Avenue and South Seventh Street, and the building of four rooms at Arizona Avenue and Twentieth Street," [23. Outlook, Feb. 27, 1906, p. 1] and George D. Snyder of Santa Monica was awarded the contract for the Irwin Heights School.

     Construction of the three brick buildings had no more than got under way when the women of the Circle began a movement to build two more buildings: one to provide for children on the north side of town, the other to replace the original Sixth Street building. The main part of the Sixth Street School was over thirty years old and had had so many additions that it was poorly lighted, heated, and ventilated. Moreover, its floors and stair treads were so worn as to constitute an accident hazard, and its general condition such as to make it a veritable fire trap. With the courage of their convictions, the Circle members again led in the bond campaign. They circulated petitions, spoke at meetings, and talked to their neighbors and friends about the need for the third bond issue. It was said that "citizens either saw that the women were right or gave up combating what many of them regarded as 'rank extravagance." [24. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     On May 2, 1906, the voters of Santa Monica again turned out to the polls in even larger numbers and approved the bonds by a vote of 288 to 66. The women of the Circle had once again secured a record vote approving another $60,000 worth of school bonds, an almost stupendous sum for the small beach city to assume when it had virtually no industry to help increase its assessed valuation. In 1907, the property value of the Santa Monica School District totaled $194,000 with an outstanding indebtedness of over $129,000. [25. Annual Report, Santa Monica City Schools, 1906-07, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     As a result of the three school bond issues, six new buildings were added to the district in less than two years. The buildings ranged in size from the one-room Westside School to the large eight-room buildings for the Garfield and Jefferson schools. A brief account of some of the salient historical events is presented for each of these schools.

Garfield School

     Garfield School, the eight-room, two-story, brick building which rose at Seventh Street and Michigan Avenue at an approximate cost of $22,828, began its existence in 1906. Named for James A. Garfield, former President of the United States, the school was honored by the late President's family when James R. Garfield, then Secretary of the Interior, personally presented it with a picture of his father. [26. Josephine O'Leary, Garfield School Annual Report, Unpublished written report to the Superintendent, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 4.] The picture remains as a valued possession of the school today.

     Nettie B. Rice, who had been with the schools since 1903, opened Garfield School as principal with a staff of four teachers. She remained in that position until 1921, when she went into high school work. Garfield School accommodated grades one through eight, a fact which created special problems since the size of the playground prevented the older pupils from playing ball because it endangered the smaller ones in their play. Additional property soon provided the necessary play space, however.

     Some of the modern school functions that today are accepted as a matter of course, had their inception in the difficulties experienced at Garfield with its mixed pupil population. "Spanish Hills" on the south, the Chinese farm children on the north and east, side by side with a settlement of Negro families and a scattering of Italians, Japanese, and Russians-all added to the melting pot area that surrounds the school. [27. Personal interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 8, 1951; Santa Monica, California.);

     The first school cafeteria was established in the Garfield School to help provide adequate nourishment for children from some of these homes. Miss Rice described the development of the cafeteria program as follows:

"Many of the children came to school hungry because both home and labor conditions were bad. In the belief that a hungry stomach and a fertile brain do not go hand in hand, an attempt was made to remedy the situation. For a time the Imperial Ice Company, through the kindness of Mr. J. Howard Blanchard, the owner and a member of the board of education, furnished and delivered all the skimmed milk we could use. The French Bakery at the corner of Michigan and Seventh Street, gave us all their day old bread. Children who had come to school without food were served warm milk and toast.

"The crude little cafeteria, its only cook-stove the school furnace, was a far cry from the modern school cafeterias today, yet it served it purpose. With hard times country wide, the need at Garfield grew. Kind women, among them Mrs. Blanchard, Mrs. Carrie Parker, Mrs. Mae Fogel, and Mrs. Abbott Kinney supplied that need with hot soup that was served to the hungry children without charge." [Pearl, op. cit., p. 36-7.]

      The first Parent-Teachers Association in Santa Monica was established at the Garfield School, its first president being Mrs. H.R. Morton. Both Mrs. Fogel and Mrs. D.G. Stephens, who assisted at the first meeting, continued their sponsorship of the organization for a number of years and were instrumental in its spreading to other schools in Santa Monica,. [29. Ibid., p. 39.] The present units of the association can point with pride to the services they have rendered throughout the years to the Santa Monica City Schools.

     It was at Garfield, too, that Santa Monica's first "opportunity" or ungraded rooms were established, when Superintendent Martin discovered that pupils from the ages of eight to eighteen were still attending the primary grades. Emily Rhodes was appointed to conduct these new ungraded grammar grades, while the primary division was under the direction of Marie Donahue. The philosophy underlying the program was utilitarian in character, as evidenced by the fact that a part of the "opportunity" training was devoted to instruction in gardening. On a plot of ground adjoining the school, and loaned by its owner for the purpose, the classes planted and harvested vegetable gardens. Part of the produce was used in the school cafeteria and part was sold to provide seeds, fertilizer, and tools for the project.

     Garfield had the distinction of providing still another "first" in the Santa Monica schools. Because of the large number of working mothers in the neighborhood who were compelled to leave small children at home unattended, the need for a kindergarten became apparent. Thus, in the fall of 1913, the first kindergarten in Santa Monica was opened with one teacher. [30. Board Minutes, Aug. 9, 1913.] Increased enrollment soon required the employment of a second teacher, at which time a second classroom was converted to kindergarten use, offering an attractive, homelike environment in which to continue the program. In 1925, when the regular classrooms were needed again for the regular school programs, a domestic science building was moved from the old Lincoln grounds and remodeled to provide a comfortable kindergarten building at Garfield. [31. Pearl, op. cit., pp. 37-38.]

     When Miss Rice accepted a position in the Lincoln Junior High School, she was succeeded in the principalship at Garfield by Josephine O'Leary, who took up her duties in the fall of 1922 and remained as principal of Garfield School until her retirement in 1949. Her tenure was distinguished by much progress, both in point of physical facilities and curricular development. Her effort was tireless, her determination unflagging, to provide the pupils of Garfield School with the best educational opportunities possible. Even in 1922, it was apparent that the building was becoming inadequate for the needs of the school, that pupils were handicapped by insufficient or outmoded equipment, that too little provision was made for "special" classes. [32. Personal interview with Josephine O'Leary, May 10, 1951; Santa Monica, California.] Miss O'Leary plunged energetically into the task of remedying the situation, and in 1933 her efforts were rewarded. A new Garfield School containing eight classrooms, a kindergarten, and an auditorium-cafeteria room, was constructed at 1811 Sixteenth Street. True, Miss O'Leary had been aided and abetted by an "act of God," for the earthquake of 1933 had rendered the old building unsafe for occupancy, and thus it had been razed. But from the record there can be little doubt that much credit is due the principal who, for eleven years, never missed an opportunity to call needed improvements to the attention of those who had the power to make such improvements materialize.

     Americanization classes were started in the new school for entering pupils who spoke little or no English. In these special classes as much academic work was given as seemed profitable to the children; but emphasis was placed upon handwork and physical activity, and careful attention was given to the formation of desirable habits and attitudes. The general instructional program was expanded to include worthwhile activities in the practical arts. The boys worked in the woodshop on simple construction projects and did considerable furniture repair, while the girls were taught cooking and sewing in their domestic science classes. Both boys and girls participated in activities involving weaving, basketry, and gardening.

     In cooperation with the University of California, Los Angeles, a demonstration school was established at Garfield in 1934, under the direction of Professor Junius L. Meriam of the University's School of Education. It was used for teacher-training and observation; but the project was discontinued after only two years because of community pressure. In commenting on the demonstration school, Miss O'Leary stated that the parents of the children felt the program of the school discriminated against them and that the children were not taught as they were in other schools in the district. They were right. The school did have a special program and was adapted to the needs and abilities of the children. The "discrimination' was intended to provide more favorable learning situations for the pupils, although the parents could not see it. During the two years of operation, however, and through Professor Meriam's expert guidance, many techniques and methods were developed that remained as part of the curriculum after the discontinuance of the demonstration school. And, according to Miss O'Leary, Professor Meriam's interest in the school continued even though it was on an unofficial basis.

     In spite of the parent's lack of enthusiasm for the demonstration school, many values resulted. The special classes were in charge of teachers who had made a study of the particular type of work dealing with the special needs of the Garfield pupils. Real guidance activities were a part of the program associated with the work and included medical and dental assistance and attention to adequate provisions for food and clothing for many underprivileged children. Such efforts, of necessity, remain a part of the work of the school today.

Grant School

     The Grant School, established in the Irwin Heights area in 1906, had many problems similar to those that confronted the Garfield School. About 50 percent of its pupils came from Mexican-American homes, many of them non-English speaking, and special classes were thus required for their development. [33. Pearl, op. cit., p. 38.]

     The original school building in the Irwin Heights district was a small one-room structure erected in 1905. It housed about forty children, grades one through eight, under instruction by Lula B. Villinger, the only teacher. In view of the range of grades and the large number of children, many of whom spoke no English, to be taught the difficulties inherent in the task would appear to be self-evident. Moreover, as new homes continued to be built, the school population grew; and it soon became apparent that additional rooms were needed.

     It was to meet this need that the board allotted certain of the proceeds from the bond issue of 1906 for the construction of a new four-room school, [34. See supra, p. 122.], which contained also an office , a large central hall, and a full basement which was later converted into classrooms and toilet facilities. The school became a community center and many meetings were held in the large central hall. All of the schools erected in Santa Monica at this time were built around the central hall plan. These halls were approximately 160 square feet in area, with classrooms and coat rooms opening from them. They were used as assembly halls, occasionally for recitations, and often for displays of the work of the school. In addition, they made excellent meeting places for community groups of various interests.

     Although the original one-room building had been opened as a kindergarten in 1915, and two basement rooms had later been converted into classrooms, it was not until 1924 that the problem of housing pupils in this school became acute. It that year the school population began to rise rapidly, and a two-story addition to Grant School, providing eight classrooms and an auditorium, was erected. At the same time, the 1906 building was modernized and refinished to harmonize with the new addition. [35.Board Minutes, May 10, 1924.] The development of the Douglas Company spurred home construction in this area at an alarming rate, and the board took under immediate consideration the possibility of adding more classrooms at Grant School to accommodate the growing pupil population. However, when the advisability of adding more rooms to an already overcrowded site was questioned, it was decided to purchase a new site south of Pico Boulevard and to build a new elementary school.

     Thus, in early 1936, the original Grant School was advertised for sale; but when offers fell far below the price expected by the board no action was taken. However, a possible solution was suggested when a petition, signed by 543 residents of Santa Monica, was presented to the board on March 9, 1936, requesting ". . . that the Board take immediate steps to establish a trade school, second to none, in the City of Santa Monica, and utilize for this purpose the grounds and the buildings of the old Grant School." [36. Board Minutes, March 9, 1936.] The trade school, now called the Santa Monica Technical School, opened in the old Grant building in September, 1937, and continues in that location today. The new Grant School plant is located at Twenty-fourth and Pearl Streets, south of Pico Boulevard.

The First McKinley School

    In 1906, Santa Monica was just beginning to experience growing pains, and these had been reflected in the schools. Particularly were they felt in the eastern section of the city where the establishment of a brick manufacturing plant and a large bean storage warehouse had resulted in the influx of many new families. The report of the study made by Superintendent Eckert [37. See supra, p. 119] indicated that the need for establishing a school in this area was urgent, and it was to meet this need that the first McKinley School came into being. The site selected covered a half city block on Twentieth Street between Santa Monica Boulevard and Arizona Avenue. The building constructed in 1906 still stands and at present houses the Ramsey Military School. [38. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.]

     Mary Louise Ogilby, early teacher at the original McKinley School, reported that school life there assumed an orderly and pleasant aspect, despite early difficulties in securing principals who remained for any length of time. For example, Rachel M. Sharpe, the first principal, was forced by ill health to resign her position after only five months of service; and Dora L. Baker, who succeeded her, remained only two and one-half months. [39. Personal Interview with Mary Louise Ogilby, May 23, 1951, Santa Monica, California.]

     By 1912, under the administration of Myrtle Sellers, the school enrollment had reached 143 pupils with three teachers in charge of instruction. A year later the teaching staff had increased to four teachers, Gertrude Wyman having succeeded Miss Sellers to the principalship, a position she held for nine years. Under her administration, an attractive kindergarten bungalow was added to the school plant in 1915, and the kindergarten program was directed by Florence Cowan. But by 1921, when Miss Wyman was transferred to the Santa Monica High School and Kathryn Peck became principal of the McKinley School, it had become apparent, even to the disinterested, that the school had outgrown its quarters. Enrollment had now reached 276 pupils, and there was a staff of eight teachers. Rooms had to be rented in a nearby church, and even the addition of two rooms in the basement of the school could not avert the necessity of instituting double sessions. Mrs. Peck found these conditions far from ideal. [40. Pearl, op. cit., pp. 44-5.] Moreover, the site was inadequate for a larger school. But the problem was not insurmountable. The Board of Education, having foreseen the need of the McKinley School area, had purchased a bean field situated at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Chelsea Street. The site had been chosen because it was the most central point in the district between the old Lincoln (now Madison) School, and the city limits to the east. [41. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 6G.] Here it was that the second McKinley School was erected, being opened in 1923.

     For the ensuing five years the old building lay idle. The board had planned to sell the property, but no buyer seemed interested. Then, in 1928, it was purchased by the Methodist Church which, in turn leased the building back to the Board of Education for the purpose of housing the primary grades of the McKinley, Franklin, and Jefferson schools, and thus relieving their overcrowded conditions. The building, temporarily renamed the Twentieth Street School, continued to operate in this capacity for another two years, with Hannah Ogden serving as supervising principal. When additional classrooms were built in the district, the primary grades of the school were transferred and the building was again taken over by the church.

Jefferson School

     The bond issue of 1906 had provided funds for the construction of three additional schools, the first of which was to replace the original Sixth Street School, grown obsolete and hazardous. [42. See supra, p. 122.] The new building, named the Jefferson School, contained eight large classrooms in a two-story brick structure with a full basement. Upon its completion, the old Sixth Street School was razed and the Cincinnati bell that formerly had hung in its tower was transferred to the stately bell-tower of the new school. The building's interior featured a large central hall from which there opened four classrooms on each floor, cloakrooms, and offices and storage facilities. For several years, the basement was unfinished; but later three classrooms were completed and lavatories were installed to replace the outdoor closets. [43. Cora C. Leitzau, Jefferson School Annual Report, June, 1927; unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, pp. 1-4.]

     Wide staircases connected the three floors, and a natural wood finish was used throughout the building. The new structure was acclaimed by all who visited it as the most modern school building of its time. Special attention had been given the window arrangement to assure maximum natural lighting, while the central hallways and the wide stair cases assured the safety of children from the dangers of fire. [44. Ibid., p. 2.]

     In 1909, two rooms in the basement of the Jefferson School were equipped for domestic science and woodworking. A program was developed that included all boys and girls in grades five and six, children from other schools being transported to Jefferson that they might participate in the program. This arrangement continued until the institution of the platoon system in 1927. Exhibits of the girls' sewing projects and the boys' woodwork and furniture repair work were displayed in the hallways. Also, exhibits of the pupils' work in spelling, arithmetic, penmanship, and art were placed in the central hall from time to time.

     By 1927, the enrollment had grown to such numbers that Jefferson School was forced to the use of double sessions. The Madison School was built on the site of the old Lincoln building and the fifth and sixth grade pupils were transferred there from Jefferson School in order to relieve overcrowding. The same year an addition was built on the front of the building to accommodate the offices of the Board of Education, which, prior to this date, had occupied rooms on the second floor of the high school. When the high school needed the rooms for instructional purposes, the Jefferson School was selected to house the Board officers because it was considered to provide a more central location than any other available. The earthquake of 1933 so severely damaged the building that the engineers declared it unsafe for regular school use. Thus, in 1936?, all of the pupils were removed from the Jefferson building and transferred to other schools. Since that time, offices of the Board of Education, including the professional library, have occupied the building.

     Bertha R. Hunt was assigned as the first principal of Jefferson School and served in that capacity until 1919. She was succeeded by Cora. C. Leitzau, who served as principal until the school was closed in 1936. Miss Leitzau was then appointed principal of the Madison School where she remained until her retirement in 1947. She had served the district as teacher and principal for forty-two years. [45. Personnel Records, Santa Monica Board of Education.]

The First Roosevelt School

     The second school contemplated by the bond issue of 1906 was to accommodate elementary pupils on the north side of town, which then was beginning to "boom," and thus eliminate the necessity of having these children walk the distance to Jefferson School. [46. Josephine Hodgkins, Roosevelt Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, pp. 1-2.] In 1912, an entire second story was added and still later, classrooms and lavatories were installed in the basement.

     Playgrounds at both the Jefferson and the Roosevelt schools were divided, separating the boys on one side of the building and the girls on the other. The children were even instructed that "boys use one stairway and girls the other."

     Josephine Hodgkins was assigned as the first principal of the original Roosevelt School after having taught in the district for four years. For nearly thirty years after her appointment she served the school both as principal and as teacher of the first grade. After the earthquake of 1933, the Roosevelt School was declared unsafe for occupancy and the board voted to sell the site and relocate the school plant on an entire city block at the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Montana Avenue. The new location was closer to the center of the north side population, and provided six acres for buildings and playgrounds. When the new school opened in 1937, its full-time principal was Miss Hodgkins who remained at its head until she retired in 1949, a much beloved friend of all who had known her in her work as teacher and principal over a period of forty-six years.

The Westside School

     Until the construction of the Westside School, children of elementary school age had attended the McKinley School, some three miles distant. The one-acre site donated by the Santa Monica Land and Water Company provided suitable space for the one-room school which was built there in 1907. During the time that the school was a part of the Santa Monica School District, it remained a one-room school with an average daily attendance of usually no more than thirty pupils. In 1925, the voters of Westside, then called Brentwood, voted to withdraw from the City of Santa Monica and become a part of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles City Schools. [47. Board Minutes, April 4, 1925.]

Santa Monica High School

     In 1910, twelve years after the revelation by the Weekly Signal, [48. Supra, p. 110] it had become an established fact that the high school had outgrown the "borrowed" Lincoln School building, and that a new building must be provided. The Board desired to find a site that was large enough to meet the existing needs of the high school and to allow for future development. A good many people thought that it would be expedient to consolidate the two sections of the town by building a polytechnic high school where it would serve both areas. Thus, at a public meeting in the City Hall, called October 27, 1910, school functionaries of both Ocean Park and Santa Monica gathered to discuss the feasibility of such a plan. [49. Board Minutes, Oct. 27, 1910.]

     In the early days, a good deal of bitterness had developed between the community that lay south of the arroyo and that which comprised the north section of Santa Monica. The southern portion of the city began to impute the city leaders from the north with unprogressiveness. As early as 1900, Ocean Park had had its own water system, post office, amusement pier, race track, and golf course. The fact that Ocean Park had developed its own business section and had its own school, churches, and civic organizations made the southsiders somewhat independent. Ocean Park, moreover, had become popular with summer visitors, a fact which some of the more conservative Santa Monica residents were inclined to minimize by referring to its amusement pier as "cheap and gaudy," and averred that it attracted "undesirable elements." The phenomenal growth of Ocean Park, they said, belonged in the "mushroom" category. [50. Pearl op. cit., p. 89.]

     It is not surprising, then, that the strong feelings of each side of town precluded an immediate solution to the problem of locating the high school. But the meeting of October 27 was not entirely without results, for an advisory committee to represent the city, in cooperation with the Board of Education, was appointed. This committee consisted of Roy Jones, chairman; George D. Snyder, secretary; Carl F. Schader, Robert White, and Horace M. Rebok. It later was expanded and became known as the "Committee of Fifty," [51. Ibid., p. 90.]

     On December 12, 1910, a resolution was adopted by the Board of Education declaring its intention to call an election for a $200,000 bond issue. [52. Board Minutes, Dec. 12, 1910.] On the same date, another resolution was adopted declaring the board's intention to establish the high school on Prospect Hill located between Fourth and Sixth Streets and between Michigan and Fremont Avenues. [53. Loc. cit.] Prospect Hill, a spot rich in local history, had been selected for the high school site partly because of its location midway between the two sections interested in it, and partly because of its topographic features. At its crest, the hill stands 120 feet above sea level, and offers a view of the entire city. A visitor once said of the spot:

"I have seen the best of public sites, both in Europe and America, and some of them on one side are equal to your Prospect Hill; but never have I seen a public building site as good as this on every side, with sea, hills, mountains and valleys so spread out in a continuous panorama." [54. Pearl, op. cit., p. 90.]

     After a lively campaign, in which the women of the city again played an important part, the election was held on Tuesday, January 24, 1911. Bonds in the amount of $200,000 were voted to the high school district to meet the cost of a new site and the necessary buildings to establish the high school on the top of Prospect Hill. Out of the 875 votes cast, 768 favored the bonds. [55. Board Minutes, Jan. 30, 1911.] There were, of course, a few individuals who felt that the site on Prospect Hill was ill advised; but its location halfway between the north and south sections of the town ultimately did much to unify the district.

     Santa Monica pronounced it a gala day when the cornerstone of the new high school was sealed into place. The ceremony was held on April 11, 1912, and was witnessed by nearly one hundred county and city superintendents from various parts of the state. A luncheon was served at the Seaside Hotel for the superintendents, city officials, school personnel, and distinguished guests, after which the whole town turned out to witness the ceremonies incident to the laying of the cornerstone.

     The formal ceremony was notable because of the full participation of the town, the clergy, and fraternal and civic organizations. The invocation was given by the Reverend J.D.H. Browne, rector of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church. The Reverend Patrick Hawe, pastor of St. Monica's Catholic Church, delivered the prayer of dedication. The cornerstone was laid by Dana R. Weller, past grand master of the Grand Lodge of California, Free and Accepted Masons, and was assisted by members of the order. The benediction was given by the Reverend W.H. Cornett, pastor of the Santa Monica Presbyterian Church, [56. Program, Laying of the Cornerstone-Santa Monica High School, April 11, 1912; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education,] Among other distinguished guests who spoke on that memorable occasion were Edward Hyatt, state superintendent of public instruction, who gave greetings; Mark Keppel, county superintendent of schools, who complimented the people of Santa Monica on their foresight in providing an institution of the calibre of the proposed high school; and Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the University of California, who delivered the address of the day.

     As a record of the occasion, the following articles were placed in the cornerstone: a copy of the program of the day; the high school course of study; the elementary course of study; a directory of teachers of the Santa Monica School District; the Los Angeles County School Directory; the directory of California secondary schools; the city charter; a copy of the Daily Outlook and the Evening Journal, Santa Monica's two newspapers; pictures of the Santa Monica Schools; and Ingersoll's History of the Santa Monica Bay Cities. Inscribed on the cornerstone were the words: "The Foundation of Every State Is the Education of Its Youth." In 1937, when the building was being remodeled, the metal case that held these documents was opened. The contents were examined, resealed in another metal case, and place in the new cornerstone. [57. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 8G.]

     The three buildings comprising the main sections of the high school plant were of tapestry brick construction, with red tile roofs. These structures housed, respectively, the academic and administrative departments, manual arts and commerce, and the science, household, and fine arts departments. The academic building stood in the center of the group and contained, besides sixteen classrooms, complete administrative offices, a special recital hall with seating capacity for 110 persons on the second floor, and the school auditorium. Much pride was taken in the auditorium that seated 1200. Nothing, it was concluded, could have been more complete in the way of an auditorium, with its modern upholstered chairs, fully equipped stage, and dressing rooms. [58. Pearl, op. cit. , p. 91.]

     The manual arts and commerce departments occupied the building facing Michigan Avenue, which held the foundry, forge, machine shop, and laboratory for practical physics. There were shops for cabinet making, milling, a dry kiln, finishing and fuming rooms, and a large instruction hall. Wood-turning and pattern-making found room in the basement, while the second floor of the building provided space for the commercial department and mechanical drawing.

     The structure on the south side of the administration building, facing on Fremont Avenue,housed on the first floor chemistry, with its lecture rooms and laboratories; physics, biology, and botany rooms; a dark room, and an instructors' room. The second floor contained rooms for the fine arts department, and for cooking, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, and other phases of domestic science.

     The formal dedication of the new high school took place on February 23, 1913, at two o'clock in the afternoon. Mrs. D.G. Stephens, then president of the Board of Education, presiding. The Reverend Lislie Lebinger offered the invocation, Superintendent Horace M. Rebok presented the dedicatory address, and Mrs. Stephens made the formal dedication of the school. [59, Program, Dedication of Santa Monica High School, February 23, 1913; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     Frank W. Thomas, elected in 1911, was the first principal of the new high school, which opened in its new location with an enrollment of 450 students and a staff of twenty-three teachers. The following spring more than a dozen teachers were added to to the staff to meet the requirements of an increased enrollment. [60. Pearl, op. cit., p.92]

     Thomas resigned in 1913 to become president of Fresno State Teachers College, and the Board of Education accepted his resignation "with deepest regret." His successor was J.E. McKown, who was followed two years later by A.F. Wood. The next year, 1916, W.F. Barnum, who had been teaching in the high school since 1914, assumed the principalship. Under his able direction the high school made remarkable progress. He served the school as principal from 1916 until his untimely death on May 13, 1943. The auditorium building, constructed after the earthquake of 1933, was named Barnum Hall in honor of his long and faithful service to the school.

     Ocean Park residents soon discovered that the new high school, lying as it does midway between the two settlements, served their children equally well. As time went on and old antagonisms were replaced with friendly understanding and tolerance, Ocean Park people took as much pride in the hilltop high school as did residents of North Santa Monica.

     On August 8, 1912, the electors voted another $150,000 for the schools, of which $65,000 had been allotted to the high school for gymnasiums and other improvements. [61. Board Minutes, Aug. 14, 1912.] From this bond money a health unit was constructed to serve as an emergency first-aid room and rest room for those who were not well. In 1918, a complete printing plant was installed at a cost of $1840.

     Each year brought a sharply increased enrollment, compelling the construction, in 1924, of a fourteen-room addition at Seventh Street and Pico Boulevard, at a cost of $132,000. Included in this new building were the library facilities to provide for the school of even larger enrollment, the Board having estimated that the maximum number of students might reach two to three thousand. [62. Pearl, op. cit. , p. 93.]

     Two memorial gateways, each costing $1000, adorn the high school grounds. The Williamson D. Vawter Gate and the Robert P. Elliott Gate were announced at the dedication ceremonies of the new high school on February 23, 1913. The Vawter Gate, erected on Fifth Street and Michigan Avenue, was dedicated by the children of W.D. Vawter. Vawter was one of the pioneer citizens of California, a man who had exhibited great interest in the schools of Santa Monica, and a man respected in the community for his civic, industrial, and moral worth. The Robert P. Elliott Gate was presented by Carl F. Schader in honor of his father-in-law who, in an earlier period, had served for two terms on the Board of Education and was an active civic leader. This gate opens to Pico Boulevard and Fourth Street.

     The Board Minutes of May 12, 1912, contain the following memoir:

"We believe that the Williamson D. Vawter Gate will teach the boys and girls who pass through it in pursuit of education, a higher respect for age and superior wisdom, a noble appreciation of worthy deeds and self-sacrifice, and higher ideals of civic pride and public duty."

     The same sentiments were expressed in the minutes on the presentation of the Elliott Gate, and the Board presented a copy of the statements to the donors of each of the gates.

     During the years of World War I, when the impact of the conflict was felt strongly by students and faculty, Santa Monica High School engaged in many patriotic activities. Among other things, they raised money for an ambulance to be sent to the French army. The Red Cross sewing class at the school numbered 216 participants, the largest class in the history of the school. So many young patriots joined the armed forces that there were almost twice as many girls as there were boys in the school. The total enrollment dropped to 455, with chemistry the most popular study of that period, and home gardening also proving to be an important interest." [63. Pearl, op. cit., p. 97]

     When the war ended, people of the town discussed building a suitable memorial to the war heroes who had served and who had given their lives in the great conflict. In the spring of 1919, the Board of Education passed the following resolution:

"Whereas, the Board of Education deems the erection of an open-air theatre on the High School grounds as an integral part of the High School plant, a public necessity for the use of the school and a place of assembly for the citizens of Santa Monica, and whereas the United States, in cooperation with the Allied Nations, has recently won a great victory over Germany and her allies, therefore be it-

"Resolved that the open-air theatre to be erected on the High School grounds shall be a memorial theatre, to be dedicated to the honor of soldiers, sailors, and marines who were enlisted in the World War, and to the memory of those who gave their lives in the cause of that war. And be it further-

"Resolved that the walls of the Memorial Theatre shall bear appropriate tablets, with suitable inscriptions and the name of every soldier, sailor, and marine enlisted from the City of Santa Monica, and from the Santa Monica High School District." [64. Board Minutes, April 21, 1919.]

     The designers were instructed to mark with a gold star the name of every soldier, sailor, or marine enlisting from Santa Monica who met death in the war.

     A bond issue of May 20, 1919, provided $30,000 to meet the costs of the Memorial Bowl, as designed by Allison and Allison, architects. Fitting into the slope of the hill, below the main group of buildings and above the athletic field, the Memorial follows the traditional lines of the old Greek theaters. With concrete foundations and a facade of ornamental brick, it seats approximately 3000 persons, and was considered at that time the best example of its type to be found in southern California. Facilities for the production of pageants, plays, and aesthetic dances were provided, with the traditional greensward and shallow pool extending from the stage proper. Dance recitals, rallies, school assemblies, and the annual Spanish Fiesta continues to create colorful spectacles from the Memorial Theatre.

     Dedicated May 30, 1921, on Memorial Day, with the U.S. Flagship Wyoming at anchor in the bay to participate in the ceremonies, the program opened on the municipal pier, from which flowers were strewn across the waters in honor of the Navy men who had lost their lives in the war. The assemblage then proceeded to Woodlawn Cemetery, where the graves of soldiers buried there were decorated with flowers. The program at the Memorial Theatre began at ten-thirty in the morning with members of all branches of the service participating in the dedication. The dedicatory address was delivered by Frederick Wards, dean of the American stage. The unveiling of the memorial tablet closed the ceremonies. [65. Program, Dedication of the Santa Monica High School Memorial Theatre, May 30, 1921; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

The Campus Expands

     During the reconstruction period, following the earthquake of 1933, the high school campus acquired three new buildings: an auditorium, the boys' gymnasium, and a wing for the art department. The five other main buildings were reconstructed to meet earthquake standards set up for school buildings. All of the buildings were structurally braced to withstand shocks greater than those occurring in 1933 at the quake's center, the Long Beach area. The high gabled roofs were replaced with modern shockproof, deck-type roofing. By removing much of the dangerous "gingerbread" and reinforcing all of the bearing walls with steel then coating the outside with stucco, these buildings took on an appearance of modern architecture. [66. Beach Cities Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, Oct. 1937, p. 2.]

     The entire group of buildings, including the newly added auditorium, gymnasium, and art wing, brought about the real completion of the high school campus. The dream of years had been realized in the new auditorium that was opened in September, 1938. Since that time, it has served as a most adequate facility for all of the high school functions and has been the only auditorium of its size and appointment for all large civic affairs.

     The foyer of Barnum Hall displays a handsome tile mosaic, fifteen by seventeen feet in size, called The Vikings. The mosaic, together with a mural on asbestos stage curtain, were the work of a Federal Art Project during the W.P.A. days. The work was directed by an eminent Santa Monica artist, S. Macdonald Wright, who used the Viking theme to emulate the name chose many years before by the student body as the name of its athletic teams.

Samohi [67. The name Samohi came into being in 1912 when the faculty and students decided to publish a school paper, and a contest was held to determine what it should be called. Edwin Coulon, a boy of French extraction who lived in Santa Monica Canyon, won the competition with the name Samohi, which he devised from the three words, Santa Monica High. The name soon was applied to the school itself, and is now so associated. Student's Manual, p. 30)

     Santa Monica High School, 1950-51, p. 30] today is considered to have one of the best high school auditoriums in the state. Among the outstanding features of the interior are its 1500 comfortable opera chairs, the rich carpeting, the concealed lighting, and the very adequate stage equipment. The size of the stage and the extensive equipment permit the production of almost all types of dramatic or musical performance. In addition to the plays and musicals presented by the high school, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra each year presents a series of concerts, two opera companies stage productions there regularly, and other theatrical and musical organizations make use of the auditorium for civic events.

The Curriculum

     The general courses of the curriculum in Santa Monica High School have always been maintained at a high standard. The subjects first taught on the new campus were: modern and classic languages, history, English, science, commercial subjects, manual training, domestic science, and physical education. The library of the high school has an exceptionally large number of titles and provides the students with reference material, fiction, and nonfiction books to supplement the textbooks used in their regular studies.

     An agricultural program was introduced into the course of study in 1914 with work in propagation and horticulture for those interested in this field as a career or for home use. The program reached a peak during World War I, when food production became a vital factor in winning the war. [68. Pearl, op. cit., p. 94.]

   As the school grew, more subjects were added to the course of study. In 1916, a course in dramatics was instituted and later was made part of the regular English program. During the years debating and forensics have in part been replaced by classes in public speaking. The greatest changes, however, have taken place in the business department where course in shorthand, salesmanship, business law, business practice, office practice, and secretarial training have been added to the program of bookkeeping, accounting, and typing that traditionally had been offered.

     Courses in driver education were first introduced in 1948, the work in this field including the theory as well as the practice of safe driving. A dual-control car is used for training purposes on the road, while in the classroom, many instruments are employed to test observation, reaction time, and general ability in handling an automobile. Since June 1951, driver education has become a requirement for graduating and must be taken by all student in the junior and senior years. [69. Student's Manual, p. 10.]

     Currently, the subjects of the high school are divided into eleven departments: art, business, English, foreign languages, homemaking, mathematics, mechanical arts, music, physical education, science, and the social studies. The high school program prepares the student for entrance into college or university, specific courses being offered as preparatory to advanced study in such fields as architecture, agriculture, art, business administration, dentistry, home economics, law, librarianship, medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical education, science and mathematics, and teaching. [70. Ibid., pp. 13-14.]

The Counseling Program

     The high school counseling program has developed rapidly in the last ten years. With a competent staff and the time provided to insure the best results, the program has greatly helped students to plan future educational pursuits or to choose areas of vocational interest. Through the counseling program, the teachers and administrators have been able to provide classes that would meet the needs and interests of the present-day high school student in helping him to achieve his vocational goal. [71. Student Manual, p. 7.]

     Students are given individual counseling by the same counselors throughout their high school careers. This guidance program begins in the 9A grade when the students make their plans for the senior high school, and is followed by one or more individual conferences each succeeding semester until graduation. In the counseling offices are files which contain information concerning grades, activities, standardized test results, interest inventories, and special interview records beginning with the seventh grade. With this information at hand, the counselors strive to assist the students in understanding their own abilities, aptitudes, and personality traits, and then to make choices of the school opportunities that will most likely lead to their best development.

     Students are also given information concerning vocational opportunities and are assisted in the evaluation of their own interests and aptitudes for various occupations. In the 10A English classes and senior psychology classes, units of vocational study are presented. In addition, the counselors give further assistance in vocational guidance since the choice of courses, particularly in the major field, is closely related to the the student's vocational goals. Vocational materials are available in the library and in the counselor's offices. Special arrangements are made for students who wish to enter the special trades to take a portion of their work at the Santa Monica Technical School.

     In the spring semester each year, vocational conference is held for all students. Over forty meetings are planned in response to students' interests and each student attends meetings of his choice. A business or professional man or woman who is experienced in each field describes the vocation and answers the students' questions. Following the conference, the senior boys and girls have an opportunity to get further firsthand information about the world of work by going out into the community on Boys' and Girls' Career Days.

Student Body Activities

     The high school currently (1951-1952) enrolls approximately 1700 students, and its faculty numbers over eighty teachers on a full or part time basis. A. Ewing Konold, principal since 1945, has been particularly successful in making the community aware of the excellent program that is carried on at Santa Monica High School. Many recent graduates have brought additional honor to the school by winning scholarships to colleges and universities with the state and throughout the the United States. [72.Personal interview with A. Ewing Konold, May 25, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     The community has actively endorsed and supported a program of athletics in the high school. The physical education department has produced teams that have won many conference and statewide championships. The trophy case in the foyer of the administration building is evidence of the success and interest shown by the students in the accomplishments of the school.

     An active student body program is governed by the Associated Student Body Officers and Cabinet. The elected representatives of the classes and other student organizations carry on a program of extracurricular activities including assemblies, rallies, boys' and girls' leagues and the like. The student cabinet sponsors and controls an active club program which is academic, hobby, honor, service, social, or vocational in character.

     In a period of sixty years, the Santa Monica High School has become an established part of the community. By having only one high school, the support and pride of the community is vested in the one institution. The years have brought many changes in subject and personnel to the high school, but for the most part the community, the Board of Education, and the administrators of the schools have looked favorably upon the overall educational program and the results that have been achieved.

Summary

     A summary of the period of rapid expansion in the schools would be incomplete without again giving credit to the electors of the Santa Monica City School District who, insistently spurred on by the women of the community, gave their support to providing adequately for the large increase in school enrollment and the constant betterment of the educational program.

     The present chapter begins with a description of a campaign waged by the Board of Education to establish a separate high school and remove the higher grades from their cramped quarters in the original Sixth Street school. Undaunted by the defeat of a bond issue to erect a high school, the Board submitted another proposition to the vote of the electors to build an additional grammar school. Upon the approval of the bonds and the construction of the Lincoln School , the Board proceeded to rent the new building to the high school. Thus was their original purpose achieved.

     As the city developed, the board helped to solve the problem of increased enrollment in the elementary schools by securing the passage, in less than one year's time, of three bond issues totaling $135,000 and used the money for the construction of six new buildings in various parts of the district. Five of the new buildings were of brick construction, which not only made them considerably safer from fire but created jobs for local labor and industry.

     The latter part of the chapter is devoted to an account of the establishment of the Santa Monica High School in 1911 and 1912. The early course of study that was established and that developed as the school grew is the foundation upon which the present program is based. The selection of Prospect Hill, midway between Ocean Park and Santa Monica, as the site for the new high school was a large factor in eliminating the cross-town rivalry which had existed between the two communities. Today, with community interest vested in one high school, the educational program at the secondary level is more nearly meeting the needs of all students. Not only does it prepare them for work in colleges and universities, but it provides also terminal courses in business, homemaking, and mechanical arts, as well as scholastic and cultural experiences that better equip the high school graduate for his role as an adult member of the community.

     In Chapter IV, analysis will be made of the further refinement and expansion of the organization of the schools, starting with the establishment of two junior high schools in 1912 and 1914, respectively. The further development of the elementary school program came about through the adoption of the platoon system in 1924, and consideration will be given to the effect this had upon the construction of new elementary buildings of the period.

     Also discussed will be the extension of the regular high school program, which came about in two ways. First, although adult classes were held as early as 1889, it was only in 1913 that the adult education program and evening high school were officially organized. In the second instance, the need for a junior college was recognized in 1929, and the program opened as an extension of the high school program. Two years later, the junior college moved to its present campus, occupying the original Garfield building. A discussion of the development of the programs of these two branches of the schools is offered, and a summary made of this further phase in the refinement of a complete program of education in Santa Monica.

Chapter IV Organization of the Educational Program

     The phenomenal growth in enrollment which the Santa Monica schools experienced during the early part of the twentieth century, fastened the attention of the Board of Education upon the problem of providing adequate physical facilities. But even while it was still waging the battle for proper housing, the Board concerned itself with the problem of determining the type of organization that would best serve the children in the various schools throughout the district.

     When enrollment was small and the higher grades could be accommodated by using rooms not occupied by the grammar grades, control of the schools was easily handled by one supervising principal. However, as new schools were added and enrollments increased, problems of organization became more apparent. In 1906, when the district became a city school district, D.A. Eckert was appointed city superintendent of schools. After one year's service he was succeeded by Horace M. Rebok. [1.Board Minutes, May 14, 1907.]

     Superintendent Rebok was an educator of strong convictions and courage and his leadership often turned strenuous opposition into active support of the schools. He so won the confidence of the public that not one of the five bond issues submitted to the voters during his administration met with defeat. [2. Pearl, Santa Monica Schools, p. 122.]

     Educators generally had become concerned about the 8-4 organization of the school program. Rebok's particular concern centered upon the fact that because of late school entrance, retardations, and high grade standards, there were pupils of sixteen to eighteen years of age still in the grammar grades. He pointed out that because of these wide differences in age the smaller children were being subjected to situations often unwholesome. [3. Loc. cit.]

     Upon the recommendation of the superintendent, supported by the backing of the women of the town, the board ordered that a study be made of age-grade distributions and possible plans of organization for the district. [4. Board Minutes, Mar. 31, 1910.] The results of this study began to appear in 1912 when the board approved the establishment of the first intermediate schools. The Lincoln School, founded in 1912, and the John Adams School, established in 1914, became full junior high schools when the state adopted legislation in 1919 making possible a 6-3-3 plan of organization. Later, as a result of the success of the junior high school program, the board approved the design and construction of four new elementary schools patterned after the platoon system. This further refinement of the elementary school program, together with the organization of the evening high school and adult education program and the establishment of the junior college, completed the present span of the Santa Monica City Schools as they exist today.

The Junior High School Movement

     The first junior high schools to appear in the United States were opened in Berkeley, California, and in Columbus, Ohio, in 1919. [5. William T. Gruhn and Karl R. Douglass, The Modern Junior High School, New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1947, p. 37.] Superintendent Frank Bunker of Berkeley and John H. Francis of Los Angeles were the first to establish junior high schools in California. In 1911, Los Angeles adopted a full 6-3-3 program, and seeing the advantage of such a program, Superintendent Rebok requested permission from the Santa Monica Board of Education to set up an intermediate school in the soon to be vacated Lincoln School Building. [6. Board Minutes, July 11, 1912.]

     Late in the nineteenth century, when the American ladder system of public education had been quite fully developed; and when, for the first time, the elementary, then the secondary, and finally the higher segments of the school systems had been placed under public control and given public support, leaders in the field began to turn critical attention upon the entire system of public instruction. As defects became increasingly obvious, plans for reorganization were formulated. These plans, however, did not get under way until 1910, a year after the junior high program in Berkeley and Columbus had begun. [7. Gruhn and Douglass, op. cit., p. 38]

     John Dewey, a pioneer in the 6-6 movement, found many to agree with him when he voiced it as his opinion that the mere acquiring of knowledge is not the proper end of elementary education. The real aim, he said, should be to organize the instincts and impulses of children into working interests and tools. [8. John Dewey and Evelyn Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1915, pp. 15-16.]

     Limiting the time in elementary school to six years, he believed, would tend to make clear the real issues of elementary education. Other educators strengthened Dewey's position by pointing out that the seventh grade, rather than the ninth, is the natural turning point in the pupil's life, marking as it does the beginning of adolescence when new methods and more specific instructions are necessary.

     In Santa Monica, Horace M. Rebok, city superintendent of schools, became deeply interested in the junior high movement. Upon his recommendation, John G, McNeeley was employed as principal to organize the Lincoln School in 1912. In 1914, another school , John Adams was constructed and designated as an intermediate school. The two institutions, however, offered only the seventh and eighth grade work. [9. Board Minutes, Aug. 5, 1912.] But in 1919, when the state legislature enacted a measure legalizing the junior high school program, both Lincoln and John Adams were immediately established as full junior high schools.

Lincoln Junior High Schools

     The organization of an intermediate school in the old ten-room Lincoln building coincided with the removal of the high school to its new building on Prospect Hill. The Lincoln School opened with an enrollment of 110 pupils, and a staff of three teachers. From September, 1912, to February, 1913, classes were held in a finished portion of the new high school building, still under construction, and for a time in the council chamber of the old city hall. When the original Lincoln building had finally been vacated by the high school grades, the Lincoln Junior High School claimed the old structure. Here it remained until 1923, when a new plant designed for its use was completed. [10. Pearl, op. cit., p. 74.]

     Departmental work was introduced with specialized teachers for each subject. The first three-teacher faculty consisted of John McNeeley, principal and teacher of history, geography, and civics; Josephine Roberts, teacher of art and English; and Georgia Scott, teacher of English and arithmetic. Following its move into its own building in February, 1913, the school grew and changed in many ways. Increased enrollment made it possible to offer a greater variety of courses under instruction of specialized teachers in the subject field. Thus four additional teachers were employed the first semester in the new school and by June of 1914, the faculty totaled fifteen. Special teachers of music, Spanish and French were the new additions to the staff. There were no facilities at Lincoln for work in domestic science or shop; thus the facilities at Jefferson School, four blocks away, were used for these classes. [11. See supra, p. 136.] However, in 1922, two large bungalows were purchased and equipped for these special subjects at the Lincoln School. [12. Board Minutes, May 10, 1922.]

     General science and a course in agriculture were added to the junior high school program in 1915. [13. Manual, Santa Monica City Schools, 1915, p. 7.] A large plot of ground was set aside for use of the classes in agriculture. Here the boys and girls planted vegetables and flowers, acquiring much valuable information for application to home gardening. They harvested and sold the crops, using the money to purchase seeds and equipment.

     When John Adams, the intermediate school for the south side of Santa Monica, was opened in 1914, enrollment at Lincoln dropped considerably. But it slowly rose again and in September, 1922, when the ninth grade was added at Lincoln, there were 418 pupils attending the regular junior high school. [14. Annual Report, Santa Monica City Schools, June, 1951, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     The unexpected and rapid development of the city in the early 1920's indicated that a more extensive junior high school plant would be required in the northern part of Santa Monica. Indeed, by 1923, the Lincoln School, which served that area, had become so inadequate to house the number of pupils attending, that the board determined to take immediate action to remedy the situation. A school bond issue, passed that year, had provided the board with the funds necessary to purchase a site and build a new plant for the Lincoln Junior High School. Accordingly, it selected a nine-acre site between California and Washington Avenues and extending eastward from Fourteenth Street to Sixteenth, and advertised for bids on the new plant. [15. Board Minutes, Nov. 28, 1923. Among the lots acquired for the school were those set aside by Senator Jones and Colonel Baker for a young ladies' seminary. [Pearl, op. cit., p. 75.]]

     When the Lincoln Junior HIgh School plant was completed in 1924, it represented an investment of more than $600,000. The property had been purchased for approximately $50,000 and the cost of the buildings, exclusive of equipment, was $443,000. The remainder of the overall cost was applied to landscaping, fencing, and equipment. [16. Pearl, Santa Monica City Schools, p. 75. ]

     The new plant was considered by educators of the time to be among the most complete of its kind. Special facilities had been provided each department, and the arrangement of the buildings and the departments was such as to allow accessibility, adaptability, and quietude when needed. The open U formation of the plant permits an impressive view of the main classroom and administration building, which is a two-story, red brick structure with tile roof. The approach to this building is along open corridors which flank the sides of those adjoining it. One of these buildings contains the auditorium and music rooms, while the other houses the cafeteria and homemaking rooms. The auditorium has as a seating capacity of 700 and is fully equipped for junior high school use. The cafeteria dining room will seat 300 students and is used for school dances and other student activities. [17. Ibid., p. 76.]

     The Lincoln Junior High School has a most complete library, both in point of books and of physical details. The reading room and reference room, separated by folding doors, together will seat approximately 140 students. A full-time librarian instructs the students in the use of the library and aids them in selecting materials. [18. Frederick F. Martin Annual Report of the the Santa Monica City Schools, 1929-30, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     Smaller buildings house the shop rooms and boys' locker room. The girls' physical education department is housed in a large gymnasium which provides adequate dressing rooms. The boys' physical education department needs more adequate shower and dressing room facilities, and present plans call for construction of a boys gymnasium to meet these needs. It is also planned to remodel the present boys' locker room for use as additional shop facilities, and to add a classroom wing when increased enrollments require it. At present, there are just under 1000 students at Lincoln, and it is anticipated that an expected peak enrollment of approximately 1300 students will be reached between 1956 and 1958. [19. Personal interview with George K. Drake, principal of Lincoln Junior High School , May 16, 1951; Santa Monica, California.

John Adams Junior High School

     The establishment of the John Adams Junior High School followed a pattern similar to that of the Lincoln Junior High School.

     In September, 1914, John Adams opened its doors as an intermediate school housed in a building which, technically, was formed from the elementary school district. Besides Principal Tom Russell, who also taught grammar, spelling, and composition, there were three teachers in this early school. [20. Pearl, op. cit., p. 74.]

     During the time that the John Adams School occupied the original site on Sixth Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, the facilities were far from adequate. The building had been planned as an elementary school; but when the need for an additional intermediate school became apparent, the Board designated the school for seventh and eighth grades. Consequently, the school had a continuous adjustment to the increased enrollment and to the changes that were necessary in the curriculum. [21. Loc. cit.] By 1928, the enrollment had reached 700 pupils, and during the intervening years the building program had not kept pace with the increase in pupil population. True, a classroom wing of six rooms had been added, and a cafeteria unit installed in the basement; there were boys' and girls' gymnasiums, two shop buildings, and a four-room-bungalow extension on the west side of the main building. [22. Idem.] But these had long since proved to be inadequate. Moreover, as the enrollment continued to climb, the board deemed it unwise to add further buildings to an already crowded site. Again, the earthquake of 1933 had seriously damaged the older buildings on campus. Thus, the board decided that available funds would be spent to better advantage by beginning construction of a new building rather than attempting to rebuild the old ones. [23. Board Minutes, May 22, 1935.] The old buildings were condemned and torn down and the site abandoned for school purposes. At the present time, most of the maintenance departments of the Santa Monica City Schools are located on the former campus of John Adams Junior High School. Some of the newer structures were rebuilt after the earthquake and these, together with the basement of the main building, provide quite adequate facilities for the maintenance shops.

     In 1936, a new John Adams plant on a twelve-acre tract at Sixteenth and Pearl Streets provided Santa Monica with the latest architectural development in Junior high schools. The nucleus of the present-day plant contained fifteen regular classrooms, art and home economics rooms, a library, cafeteria, and administrative offices. The school opened with an enrollment of 600 and a teaching staff of twenty-six full-time and nine part-time teachers. [24. Pearl, op. cit., p. 74.] Two years later, 1938-1939, it became necessary to add a unit of eight classrooms and three larger rooms, one for mechanical drawing, one for domestic science, and one for janitorial use and building supplies. Another provided locker and shower facilities for the boys' physical education classes, a corrective room, offices, and toilets. [25. Pearl, op. cit., p. 75.] Part of the money derived from the bond issue of 1946 was allocated to complete the John Adams Junior High School plant, and from this money, in 1948-1949, there was constructed an auditorium with a seating capacity of 750, a large gymnasium with connecting facilities for the girls' locker room and showers, and a four-unit shop building for metal work, wood work, and mechanical drawing.

     The new John Adams plant, both in structure and design, follows the modern trend, expressing simple beauty through line and color. Its buildings are of the rambling one-story type of construction, providing safety from fire and earthquake, and are connected by outside, covered corridors that surround two grass-covered patios.

     The present enrollment at John Adams, like that at Lincoln Junior High School, is slightly less than 1000 students, and it is expected that within a period of five or six years the pupil population will have increased to over 1300. As John Adams is located in the faster growing section of Santa Monica, it is anticipated that additional classrooms, a new cafeteria, and library will be needed to accommodate the added student enrollment. With these additions, the campus will have a thoroughly complete instructional unit. [26. Financial Plan for the Operation, Maintenance, Expansion, and Modernization of the Santa Monica City Schools, 1949-56, unpublished report in the files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 42.]

     For a period of eleven years, from 1925 to 1936, John G. McNeeley served as principal of both the Lincoln Junior High School and the John Adams Junior High School. A great deal of credit is due him for the organization and program that developed in the two schools. In 1936, he asked the Board to be relieved of the supervision of one of the schools. The Board granted his request, and elected Thomas A. Wood, principal of John Adams Junior High School, a position which Wood still holds. McNeeley continued as principal of the Lincoln school until his untimely death in 1949. He truly can be called the father of the junior high school movement in Santa Monica. [27. Personal Interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 17, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     In describing the function of the junior high schools, McNeeley wrote:

"The main purpose of the junior high school, as we understand it, is to teach those things which will enable each individual to become a self-supporting member of society. We assume that all agree that every child is entitled to master, in so far as he has the ability, the essential in arithmetic, English, and the social studies, and that all should be given systematic work in physical education.

"The above mentioned subjects are required of every child. In addition, the pupil may, within certain reasonable limits, choose other subjects in which he may be interested, such as music, both vocal and instrumental, art, oral English, woodshop, machine shop, electric shop, mechanical drawing, printing, cooking, sewing, algebra, Latin, Spanish, French, biology and others.

"To put it another way, the major objective of the junior high school is to explore by means of material in itself worthwhile, the interests and aptitudes, and capacities of the pupil and to start him along the lines he, his parents, and the school are convinced will most likely be of profit to him and to the state. When the junior high school has accomplished these ends, the pupil will have sufficient information to make the election of future study intelligently, and adapted to the particular type of school in which he is prepared to work. [28. Pearl, op. cit., p. 71.]

Still another time McNeeley wrote of the junior high schools that:

" . . . the immediate need of secondary education seems to be an understanding of our contemporary civilization. In the past the objectives of secondary education have been a lucrative occupation or fitting human beings to be machines in an industrial age. At present the objective is to provide mental comfort and a guiding philosophy of life in the days of stress and tribulation that lie ahead.

"A secondary objective is to give youth a critical appreciation of our American heritage and to equip them to participate intelligently in our democratic form of government." [29. Ibid., p. 77]

His words were prophetic. Conditions have not changed greatly since they were written. The nation is still upon the threshold of a critical period. Though perhaps modified in degree, the objectives set forth by John McNeeley in the 1930's still form a foundation for the junior high school program in Santa Monica today.

Four New Elementary Schools

     The second big "building boom' of the early 1920s caused an upsurge in tract development and again gave impetus to the construction of many new homes, so that the existing elementary schools could no longer provide for the additional enrollments. The Board had priorly purchased three new elementary sites and had torn down the original Lincoln School building to provide a fourth. Thus, in 1923, when the need became urgent, it was possible to start construction on two of the four schools ultimately to be built: the John Muir School at Ocean Park and Lincoln Boulevards, and the new McKinley School at Santa Monica Boulevard and Chelsea. [30. Board Minutes, Dec. 30, 1921.]

     Similar in design, these two schools each contained eight classrooms, a large kindergarten, an auditorium and administrative offices. They were of two-story brick construction with tile roofs and were of the Mediterranean type of architecture. Each was built on a site of nearly six acres.

     McKinley School had no more opened in 1923, when double sessions were again required. Consequently, that very year the board authorized an eight-room addition and construction began immediately. McKinley's two main buildings were connected by one-story wings accommodating the library and cafeteria. The arrangement of the buildings created an attractive enclosed patio which contained paved work areas for the pupils. This patio made a very functional as well as beautiful center for the school. [31. Pearl, op. cit., p. 47]

     The area served by the McKinley School continued to grow, and in 1925 the Board of Education let the contract for the Franklin School. This school was constructed on a site of six and one-half acres located between Montana and Idaho Avenues at Twenty-fourth Street. The seven-room building was similar in design and architecture to the McKinley and John Muir schools. First organized as a primary school, Franklin soon embraced all six elementary grades. Dorothy Jackson, now Mrs. Pasek, opened the school as principal and continues in that position today. [32. Dorothy Jackson Franklin School Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 1.]

     As the community to the north continued to expand, additional classrooms were provided at the Franklin School which at present time has a total of twenty-four. In 1949, a building program added a cafetorium (combined auditorium and cafeteria), four classrooms, and relocated the kindergarten in enlarged quarters. The former cafeteria was remodeled to serve as the school library. The school now accommodate elementary pupils in the area north of Wilshire Boulevard and east of Sixteenth Street north and east to the city limits.

     A contract was awarded in 1925 for the construction of the large Madison School which occupies the site of the demolished Lincoln School . Designed as an upper grade building, Madison housed only the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades from 1925 to 1939. Upon the closing of Jefferson School, however, the primary grades were transferred to Madison and the school became a regular elementary school. [33. Personal Interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 17, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     Originally of modified Tudor architecture, the two-story building contained twelve regular classrooms, a large music room, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 500, a large cafeteria and a library and suitable administrative offices. One of its striking exterior features was the large square bell-tower located in the center of the building. Unfortunately, when the structure was remodeled after the 1933 earthquake, the tower was removed along with all of the distinctive ornamental trim. [34. Thomas A. Wood Madison School Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 1.] Stripped of its former embellishments, the Madison building was converted to a modern exterior enhanced only be the long lines established by the horizontal window areas against the plain walls and simple entrance facade. Today planting boxes flank the entrance and, in spite of its age, Madison appears to be one of the "modern" building in town. It now serves the children of the west central section of Santa Monica.

The Platoon Schools

     In 1924, Horace M. Rebok resigned as Superintendent of Schools in Santa Monica to become Executive Secretary of the California Society for Secondary Education. He had served the Santa Monica schools for seventeen years, and under his leadership they had greatly progressed. He was interested in and connected with many state-wide movements for the study and improvement of California's schools, and his diligent efforts on behalf of the Santa Monica system had had a most favorable effect upon the educational program. [35. Pearl, op. cit., p. 124.]

     Rebok was succeeded by Frederick F. Martin, former business manager of the Pasadena City Schools, who served the District for eight years. His assumption of office coincided with the completion of the new John Muir and McKinley schools, and during his incumbency Franklin and Madison schools also began operation. One of Superintendent Martin's first projects was to interest the Board of Education in the platoon plan of organization for the new elementary schools. [36. Personal interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 17, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     The platoon system was originated by William Wirt, Superintendent of Schools in Gary, Indiana, and represented a radical departure from the self-contained classrooms that had characterized the period prior to the early 1920's. It might truthfully be said that the influence of John Dewey and his educational philosophy constituted the foundation upon which William Wirt built the first platoon school and from which the platoon-school idea in Santa Monica was adapted. [37. R.D. Case The Platoon School in America Stanford University: Stanford University Press, 1931, p. 3.]

     Briefly, the platoon system provided for the division of pupils in schools of approximately 500 into two groups, called platoons. Class schedules were arranged so that during morning sessions one platoon was studying the fundamental subjects (language, spelling, writing , reading, arithmetic) in the home room, while the other platoon was engaged in activity subjects (social studies, science, physical education, music, art) in "special" rooms. [38. A 'special" room was one in which the teacher had specialized in the subject area taught.] The two platoons then interchanged activities for the other half-day. The "duplicate" features of the plan brought about a maximum use of the school plant. [39. Case, op. cit., p. 19.]

     The following are some of the advantages claimed for the program: [40. Frederick F. Martin, Annual Report of the Santa Monica City Schools, 1929-30, unpublished report in files of the Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 23.]

1. Maximum use of school facilities was made possible. In a school with but eighteen classrooms, the school could accommodate twenty classes by using the auditorium and having one group on the playground for physical education.

2. The cost of equipment was lessened, since materials for special subjects were provided only for the special room in which the subject was taught.

3. The teacher could better fit himself for teaching fewer subjects than was possible if he taught the full list of required subjects.

4. The pupils were given the advantage of being exposed to different teachers' personalities.

5. The pupils were not subjected to the monotony of sitting in one classroom for an entire day. They worked intensively for a brief time and then moved on to another environment to undertake new studies.

6. The freedom and variety of this type of program developed self-control and initiative, and was designed to conserve the energies of the pupils and the teachers.

     The platoon schools met with immediate approval in Santa Monica. The full utilization of the school plant appealed to the economy-minded taxpayers and the idea of having specially trained teachers for each subject was considered by the parents as sound teaching. Adaptation of the original platoon idea was made in Santa Monica, however, only in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The members of the Board of Education believed that primary pupils were too young to make adjustments to the several rooms and teachers as required in the somewhat complex platoon organization. [41. Personal interview with Hannah H. Ogden, teacher in the McKinley School (1927-1949), May 23, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     Many desirable outgrowths of the platoon program have become a regular part of the curriculum of the present-day elementary schools. As a result of the platoon special-room subjects, a sound program of music, physical education, and library instruction was established in Santa Monica's elementary schools which has outlived the platoon organization itself. The music program established while the platoon schools operated has continued to grow into a particularly gratifying one. According to Wade Thomas, Supervisor of Music, the people of Santa Monica have always had a strong interest in music, and expect music to be a regular part of the program of the schools. Special music teachers provide classroom instruction in voice training, music reading, and music appreciation in the upper grades. Other specialists instruct small instrumental groups in strings, brass, and woodwinds; while glee clubs, orchestras, and an occasional elementary school band provide additional musical training at the elementary level. [42. Personal interview with Wade Thomas, June 7, 1951; Santa Monica,, California.]

     The music program is continued and extended in the program of the secondary schools. Piano classes are offered at the junior high school level as well as the opportunity to participate in the a cappella choir, glee clubs, band and orchestra. The high school and city college music program, Thomas points out, extend the secondary program even farther, providing great opportunity for both average students and those wishing to major in music. [43. Ibid.]

     Student accomplishment under the direction of the music department is demonstrated each year through participation in three combined community programs. The first is a Christmas program presented by various glee clubs and instrumental groups, and held annually in the Presbyterian Church. In April of each year the glee clubs, orchestra, and instrumental groups participate in the Concert of the Masters, and the Symphonies by the Sea in May. These three concerts have become traditional in the community and are enjoyed by many music enthusiasts.

     The present physical education program in Santa Monica's likewise a direct outgrowth of the program initiated in the platoon schools. Part-time boys' physical education instructors assist with the upper grade program in each elementary school. In addition, special classes in rhythms and folk dancing are part of the regular program in all elementary grades. Moreover, each school, like those of equally progressive communities, maintains a supervised, after-school playground. These playgrounds are under the supervision of a physical education teacher within the system, or a student of physical education from the University of California, Los Angeles. Supervised summer playgrounds are also maintained, and each recreation center is open daily from nine to five with the exception of Saturday when a half-day schedule is followed. During the summer, the more strenuous physical activities are supplemented by a program of table games and handcrafts that attract many children to the playground at each elementary and junior high school. [44. Personal Interview with Supervisor of Physical Education Bess Shirley King, June 6, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     According to Grace W. Jones, Director of Libraries for the Santa Monica City Schools, the most widespread influence of the platoon school idea is the continuation of the library program in the elementary schools. Each elementary school has a complete library unit staffed by a library clerk, all textbooks,supplementary texts, unit books, reference works, and recreational reading books being supplied by the individual schools. Each fourth, fifth, and sixth grade class spends a number of periods in the library every week, while upper grade pupils are allowed to come to the library or take books back to their rooms to supply reference materials supplementing their regular class work. [45. Personal interview with Grace W. Jones, June 9, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     The library clerk is responsible for the library environment and sees that the books are properly shelved. She also assists teachers in the selection and placement of reading books and materials, and is responsible for the collection of audio-visual materials as well as the scheduling of instructional films for the various classes. The library program had become fully established in the elementary schools of Santa Monica by 1933. Following the earthquake of that year, however, and the subsequent condemnation of buildings, the progress came to an abrupt halt. An attempt was made to relocate the specially equipped rooms in tents that had been erected to house the dispossessed classes; but lack of space and the restriction of materials and supplies due to the "hard times" of the depression years forced curtailment of the platoon program.

     In 1936 and 1937, as the remodeled school buildings were reopened, the platoon plan was replaced by the activity program carried on in the individual classrooms. The reduction in enrollments, the rearrangement of school boundaries, and changes in administrative philosophy were the prime factors in the curriculum changes in the elementary schools. The reorganization had resulted in the establishment of each school on a basis of the six elementary grades with the added kindergarten.

Special Services

     Many special services have been introduced in the Santa Monica schools during the years, some of the earlier ones being these: [46: Martin, op. cit., p. 60.]

1907 Dr. C.A. Jenks authorized as the first School Doctor.

1909 A.W. Sherman appointed part-time Attendance Officer.

1913 Miss Elizabeth Hamlin elected Elementary General Supervisor.

1915 After-school playgrounds instituted.

1923 Dr. Wm.T. Atkin authorized as first School Dentist.

1924 Community Service Program Adopted.

1924 Research Department established.

1926 Miss Madeline DeFussi employed as first School Nurse.

1929 Home Teachers authorized.

     While the Santa Monica Schools can claim no "first" in the establishment of these services, it may be noted that in instituting them they did not lag far behind other school systems within the state. For example, the appointment of Dr. Atkin as the school dentist occurred in the same year that this special service was inaugurated in the San Diego City Schools. [47. Edna C. Chapman The Health Education Program of the San Diego City Schools, unpublished master's thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1951, p. 76.]

     But in Santa Monica, it was the establishment of the research department, now the guidance department, which probably had the most far-reaching influence on the program of the schools. This department was instituted in September, 1924, through cooperation with the University of California, Los Angeles, and its work was directed by J. Harold Williams of the University faculty. In the first two years of its operation, a program was developed which included demonstration testing, test surveys, and the training of teachers. Many of the teachers had had no previous experience in testing and research methods. [48. Martin, op. cit. p. 25.]

     The research department staff consisted of the director, who served on a part-time basis, a supervisor, and two assistants. The department was organized to serve the various levels of the school system and provided six major activities: (1) measurement, (2) counseling, (3) clinical investigation, (4) organization and supervision of special classes, (5) curriculum research, and (6) the study of special problems. [49. Loc. cit.]

     One of the most practical results of the research work in Santa Monica was the organization of special classes for children whose progress in the regular grades would be seriously retarded by maladjustment which could be minimized under conditions of more individual teaching. Three types of classes were established: opportunity classes for gifted children, adjustment classes for pupils who had fallen behind in their work but who were mentally capable of making normal progress in school, and development classes of the mentally retarded. [50. Ibid., p. 26.] Supervision of these special classes was provided directly from the research office, were arrangements were made for the admission, promotion, and transfer of pupils in any of the special groups. In cases of severe maladjustment, the work was handled on a clinical basis. The use of numerous mental tests, interviews with parents and with teachers, and the study of data supplied by the school physician, nurses, and visiting teachers provided the information needed to aid in special placement. [51. Martin, Loc. cit.]

     While the opportunity classes no longer exist, special training classes have replaced the development classes and special remedial reading classes operate in place of the former adjustment classes. The research department established the beginnings of the testing program now used in the schools, and has had the responsibility of developing the counseling and guidance program for the entire district.

Adult Education

     As early as July, 1889, adult education had begun in the Santa Monica Schools. As the Board Minutes record:

"The application of L.B. Lawson was granted to conduct a writing class in the school building [Sixth Street School] the room to be designated by Mr. Rowell [principal], provided the district be at no expense and the house to be left in as good condition as when he takes it." [52. Board Minutes, July 6, 1889,]

     Again, in the spring of 1900, a Mrs. Cook was granted the use of Room 6 in the Sixth Street School to conduct a "kindergarten and Mother's Study Group. Rent for same to be free." [53. Board Minutes, Mar. 6, 1900.] These early classes were voluntary efforts on the part of individuals interested in forming classes for their own improvement. But despite the implications inherent in this fact, it ws not until 1910 that the Board of Education took official action to establish a regular evening school program. The following entry in the Board Minutes revealed the plan:

"Moved . . . , and seconded . . . , that it is the sense of the Board of Education that an Evening Elementary School be established as soon as it is definitely ascertained that conditions warrant the establishment of such school, and Superintendent is hereby authorized to make a preliminary enrollment of such persons as may desire to attend an evening school and present to the Board of Education, at his convenience a report embodying such preliminary enrollment and other information as may be serviceable [sic] to the Board of Education in determining the matter, also to communicate with the School Boards of several cities of Southern California as to the success of evening schools where the same has been established." [54. Ibid., Aug. 8, 1910.]

The Superintendent returned his report early in September and the board immediately authorized the establishment of four classes. These were held for adults who wished to study the elementary subjects and complete their grammar school education.

     Five years later the program was expanded to include classes in English for non-English speaking adults. These were initiated through the efforts of Nettie B. Rice, then principal of Garfield School, who for some time had been concerned about the acute attendance problems and migratory enrollments of children of Mexican laborers. Upon investigation, she determined that the fathers of such children enrolled in her school had difficulty in securing and holding jobs because of their inability to speak English. She immediately brought her findings to the attention of Superintendent Rebok, and persuaded him to ask the Board's permission for her to establish classes in English for the Mexican laborers. The board approved the plan, and the evening classes then established have become a firmly entrenched part of the adult education program. [55. Personal interview with Elmer M. Krehbiel, director of the division of adult education, Santa Monica City College, May 28, 1951; Santa Monica, California.] Although now retired from her regular teaching duties, after forty-eight years of service to day pupils, Miss Rice still continues in the evening school program the English classes for the foreign speaking which she initiated over thirty-six years ago. Besides these, she has also taught Americanization classes for those desiring to obtain their citizenship papers.

     It is perhaps worthy of mention that Nettie Rice has served the Santa Monica City Schools for a longer period of time than has any other teacher in the system. First employed by the Board in 1903, she was assigned to teach second grade in the South Side School. After four years in this position, she was appointed principal of the Garfield School, in which capacity she served from 1907 until 1922. From 1922, when she returned to the classroom until her retirement in 1951, Miss Rice was a teacher in the Lincoln Junior High School. [56. Pearl, op. cit., p. 34.] Her devotion to her work and her selfless service to both her day and evening classes have won for her the admiration and esteem of the entire community.

     In 1916, the adult education program was taken over by the high school and was supervised by the high school principal. Subjects were added to the program as the need arose, the heaviest demand being in the commercial subjects and the manipulative skills; i.e., shop work, sewing and millinery, ceramics, weaving, and mechanical drawing. [57. Personal interview with Elmer M. Krehbiel, May 28, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     More recently classes in many other areas have been added to the adult education program at the request of individuals in the community. Some of these are upholstering, jewelry making, driver education, minerals and gems, public speaking, hooked rug making, and wood carving. The adult education program offers classes in orchestra, civic opera, community chorus, civic band, and vocational orchestra. [58. Bulletin of Information and Announcement of Courses, 1950-51, Santa Monica: Santa Monica City College, 1951, pp. 74-77.]

     Over a period of years many adults have enrolled in one course of a recreational or semi-vocational nature, only to become interested in more academic subjects and to pursue those until they have completed the requirements for a high school diploma. Moreover, within the last four years the adult education program has approved courses leading to graduation with an associate of arts degree from Santa Monica City College. [59. Ibid., p. 77.]

     Ten years after the evening school came under the supervision of the high school principal, it was recognized as a separate department of the high school with an administrative head of its own. In September of 1926, Robert Evans was appointed principal of the evening high school and was given full responsibility for the establishment of a program and the employment and supervision of teachers. [60. Board Minutes, Sept. 2, 1926.] Upon his resignation in May, 1928, the Board of Education had difficulty in locating a person qualified to assume the responsibility for the school's administration. Thus, for one semester, the Evening High School was administered by W.F. Barnum and A.R. Veenker, principal and vice-principal of Santa Monica High School.

     Elmer M. Krehbiel, a member of the Evening High School faculty, was finally appointed by the Board as the new principal in January of 1929, and for a year he administered the school without relinquishing any of his regular teaching duties. Then, in 1930, the State Department of Education ruled that districts maintaining evening high schools provide supervision of classes proportionate to the number of classes maintained. Under the new ruling, Krehbiel was given a half-time administrative and half-time teaching assignment. But as the adult program grew, more of his time had to be spent in administration and supervision, with the result that, in 1937, the principalship was made a full-time position.

     Prior to 1937, vocational classes were included in the program of the Evening High School; but upon the establishment in that year of the Santa Monica Technical School, such courses were offered there. In 1938, the Evening Technical High School was opened and operates today as a part of the Technical School rather than as a unit of the adult education program. Since 1939, there has been a growing trend toward closer cooperation between the Evening High School, City College, and the Technical School. [61. Personal interview with Elmer M. Krehbiel, May 28, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     After two years of study and discussion, the Board of Education, on June 25, 1945, authorized the consolidation of the junior college, technical school, and adult evening school under the name of Santa Monica City College, with three divisions: the General College, concerned primarily with general education, pre- and semi-professional curricula, engineering, and the fine arts; the Technical Schools, concerned with trade and technical education; and the Adult Education Center, concerned primarily with evening classes. [62. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 12G.] At the time of consolidation, Elmer Sandmeyer became president of the City College, with jurisdiction over the three divisions, and Elmer Krehbiel was made director of the division of adult education. [63. Board Minutes, May 16, 1945.] Within the three divisions of the City College, provision is made for all types of classes that will meet the needs and the desires of the adults of the community. How successfully they are doing this is indicated, in part, by the many requests each year for additional classes and the waiting lists that much be established each year in many subjects. But it is recognized that the measure of service an adult education program can render a community is limited only by the support which the community itself gives to that program, thus making it possible continually to widen the scope of work offered. In Santa Monica, this is the purpose for which the adult education program exists.

Santa Monica Junior College

     Santa Monica Junior College was first organized in September of 1929, operating under the California Junior College Law of 1907. This law provided that:

"The board of trustees of any city, district union, joint union or county high school may prescribe postgraduate courses of study for the graduates of such high school, or other high schools, which courses of study shall approximate the studies prescribed in the first two years of university courses." [64. School Code, 1929, Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1929, Sec. 3.351.]

     The Board of Education decided to keep abreast of the thirty-three other communities in California which provided such instruction, by extending the educational opportunities in Santa Monica from kindergarten through the junior college. [65. Board Minutes, Nov. 26, 1928.] Accordingly, rooms on the second floor of the high school were assigned to the junior college and it opened with a registration of 152 students. Additional students in February raised the total registration for the year to 228. And the rapid growth of the student body within the first two years of the junior college's existence clearly indicated the need for additional classrooms. [66. Martin, op. cit., p. 18.] Fortunately, the old Garfield Elementary School, conveniently located just north of the high school between Sixth and Seventh Streets on the east and west and Olympic Boulevard and Michigan Avenue north and south, became available in 1930. The building was remodeled for junior college use, and equipped with the necessary science laboratories and demonstration rooms. [67. Pearl, op. cit., p. 115.]

    Ralph H. Bush, who had founded the nation's first junior college in Joliet, Illinois, was secured by the Board of Education to organize the new junior college in Santa Monica. Long an advocate of the junior college program, Bush enthusiastically set about establishing a curriculum and activities that would meet the needs of the post-high-school students in Santa Monica. In a public address, shortly after the opening of the junior college, Bush said: [68. Ibid., pp. 113-114.]

"About once in every generation there arises a new movement in the field of education. The present generation is witnessing this movement in the reorganization of secondary education with its resultant development of the junior and senior high schools and junior colleges.

"With the great development in the use of machinery less and less boys and girls were needed in industry. As a consequence they were able to stay in school and have the various state legislatures passing the anti-child labor laws and laws raising the compulsory school attendance of children from 10 to 12, 14, 16 and 18. In order to care for all these pupils of the 'teen' age, school plants sprang up all over the country with buildings, equipment, and facilities undreamed of a generation ago. The school day was lengthened as well as the school year. Where in the 1880's and 90's children were needed to help on the farm or in factories, necessitating short school terms and school days, now they stayed in school.

"Educational leaders came to believe that the courses given the first two years in college could be given in communities capable of supporting a good high school. In support of this idea the first public junior college was opened in February, 1902, in Joliet, Illinois. Today there are approximately 500 (1937) public and private junior colleges in the United States."

     Santa Monica Junior College offered two types of curricula: one to prepare students for entrance into a university upon their graduation from junior college; the other, of a semi-professional nature, to satisfy the needs of students wishing to complete a year or two of schooling beyond the high school level before seeking employment. [69. Ralph H. Bush Santa Monica Junior College Annual Report, 1930; in files of the Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 2.]

     When the rebuilding and remodeling of the Garfield plant was completed, the new junior college campus contained sixteen sturdy bungalows housing laboratories, art and music departments, administrative and faculty offices, a field house, men's and women's lounge rooms, an auditorium, and a total of twenty-four classrooms. As the college continued to grow, additional bungalows were added to provide needed classrooms.

     After the 1933 earthquake, the brick building had to be abandoned and tent-frame bungalows were built on its foundation and around the edges. Although the temporary quarters of the junior college were somewhat inadequate for the best program, "There existed a close association between the students and the faculty that might otherwise have been lost in a larger, finer building." [70. Personal interview with President Elmer C. Sandmeyer, Santa Monica City College, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     Subsequent to 1933, the enrollment at the junior college climbed to new heights, and additional bungalows crowded in the small campus. Thus, in 1940, the Board of Education purchased a new 20-acre site a mile and a half to the east of the existing school in anticipation of developing a new junior college campus. Preliminary plans were already under consideration when the entry of the United States into World War II brought the possibility of a new college abruptly to a halt. [71. Milo Perry JohnsonA Study of the Planning Methods and Techniques for Building New Junior Colleges, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1950, p. 16.]

     By 1944, it had become evident that additional buildings and equipment were needed to meet the needs of increased enrollments brought about by the upsurge of population during the war. But to the Board of Education it was equally clear that the building needs of the district would have to be met by some means other than current tax funds. Accordingly, the Board requested Percy R. Davis, Superintendent of Schools from 1932 to 1948, and his staff to estimate the needs of the elementary and junior high schools, the high school, and the junior college. [72. Johnson, op. cit., p. 17.] Results of this survey revealed the necessity of raising $3,500,000 for the various schools, and a proposed bond issue in that amount was placed before the voters of the Santa Monica School District. The bond issue carried, and $1,283,000 was earmarked for the purpose of building a new city college. At that time it was proposed that half the bungalows, which were still in use at the old campus, be moved to the new site and remodeled. The other half of the needed buildings were to be of new, one-story, frame-and-stucco construction to conform to the architectural style of the remodeled bungalows. [73. Ibid., p. 18.]

     In September of 1946, the architect firm of Marsh, Smith and Powell was commissioned to draw plans for the new college, such plans to take into consideration use of existing buildings and the new ones as proposed. These plans were only in the preliminary stages when soaring postwar building costs prompted the Board to call a halt on the project. [74. Ibid., pp. 17-18.]

     In 1947, heavy pressure by many of the sports enthusiasts of the community was put upon the Board of Education to build a suitable stadium on the new junior college site. The proponents of the plan declared that neither the high school nor the junior college had suitable facilities for interschool sports activities. The Board acceded to the demands and authorized the construction of a stadium with team dressing rooms under the structure, and a seating capacity of 5000 spectators. The total cost of this project, including landscaping and lighting, ran in excess of $200,000. [75. Board Minutes, Jan. 14, 1946.]

Santa Monica City College

     In July of 1945, when all post-high-school education in Santa Monica was administratively consolidated to for a city college, [76. See discussion supra, p. 195.] the junior college became the General Division of the new organization. Its curriculum continued to provide for both college-preparatory and terminal students, and the opportunity to complete the first two years of university work at less expense and while living at home. [77. Bulletin of Information . . . 1951-52, p. 24.]

     The second division of the City College, the Santa Monica Technical School, provides education and training for students wishing immediate placement in employment. The purpose of the Technical Division of the City College is:

"1. To encourage and develop social and economic competence; an appreciation of the dignity and importance of trade and industrial skills; and the ability to do a worth-while job effectively.

"2. To provide educational experience that will help the individual to select, prepare for, enter, and progress in an occupation." [78. Bulletin of Information . . . 1951-52, p. 71.]

     With the increase in industry throughout Santa Monica since World War II, there is an urgent need for the training of students with salable skills.

     The Adult Education Division, the third component of the Santa Monica City College, has been discussed in an earlier part of this chapter. [79. Missing. Supra.]

     The City College still needed a home. Expanding enrollments housed in the old, temporary bungalows; a slight drop in school building costs; and bond money which had been waiting five years to be spent for the development of the new City College plant, prompted the Board of Education and the new Superintendent of Schools, William S. Briscoe, to ask for speed in planning the proposed construction. In October of 1948, Superintendent Briscoe, with the approval of the Board of Education, appointed a director of educational planning, whose first assignment was to develop educational specifications and detailed requirements for the new buildings. [80. Johnson, op. cit., p. 9.] Milo Johnson, general trade coordinator of the Technical Division of Santa Monica City College, was the man selected to fill the new post.

     Johnson began immediately to determine the needs of the various divisions and departments of City College that would be housed on the new campus. A faculty building committee was organized to collect information from various faculty members with reference to requirements for room size, storage facilities, lighting, and equipment. The new director worked carefully with the committee and the individual departments in coordinating their plans, and time to time called in consultants to advise on specific problems. [81. Ibid., p.25.]

     The results of the preliminary study were consolidated in a set of specifications called Design Standards for the New Santa Monica City College Buildings. Upon approval of the design standards by the Board of Education, the specifications were given to the architects to complete the plans as specified. Director Johnson worked in close cooperation with the firm and the plans which finally emerged were considered most satisfactory.

     The plans for the first group of buildings, about one-half the total needed for the City College, were ready for Board approval in June of 1950. Subsequently, bids were advertised and a contract let in August, 1950, for the construction of the administration building, the main classroom building, library, student activities building, speech arts building, art building, and music building. The total cost of seven buildings, including site improvements, approximated $1,200,000. [82. Johnson, op. cit., p. 67.]

     The City College was, at last, assured of a permanent home. Ground was broken on September 11, 1950, for the construction of the first seven buildings. These are to be of reinforced concrete construction and of contemporary modern design. Off-street parking facilities will be provided for approximately 500 automobiles.

     President Sandmeyer expressed his pleasure in at last having a college that will provide adequate educational opportunities for students on the junior college level and one in which the entire community can be proud:

"There had been so many plans made involving the moving of bungalows and the construction of less permanent buildings that in 1949, when plans were finally approved for the construction of a real city college plant, I knew that Santa Monica would have a City College campus second to none in California. [83. Personal interview with Elmer C. Sandmeyer, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     But a half-finished City College could not fulfill President Sandmeyer's expectation, and to complete the college plant required funds. Thus, the Board of Education, upon recommendation of Superintendent Briscoe, authorized a survey of the population, enrollment trends, and school building needs throughout the district, realizing that the submitting of another bond issue to the voters was inevitable. [84. Board Minutes, April 10, 1950.] From the results of the survey, the board determined the needs of the district at all levels to be nearly $5,000,000 for land acquisition, buildings, and improvements. The bond issue was submitted to the voters in November of 1950, and met with their approval. As a result, City College will receive additional facilities through the construction of a large science building, a gymnasium, a cafeteria-homemaking building, an auditorium, and further additions to the music and art buildings. [85. Ibid., Sept. 11, 1950.]

     Plans for the science buildings have been approved and when bids are received, it is anticipated that construction will begin before the end of 1951. Plans are under way on the other buildings, and as the Board of Education approves them and conditions seem favorable, construction will proceed. When completed, the total City College plant will represent an estimated investment of $4,000,000 in site, buildings, and improvements. [86. Personal interview with Elmer C. Sandmeyer, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     The students, faculty, and administration are eagerly awaiting the time when they can make the move to the new campus. Construction is progressing ahead of schedule on the first group of buildings, and they are expected to be ready for occupancy early in 1952.

Summary

     The period of greatest refinement in the organization of the Santa Monica City Schools came between the adoption of the junior high school plan in 1912 and the founding of the junior college in 1929. The organization developed during this period is basically the program that the schools encompass today.

     The present chapter describes the groundwork that preceded the adoption of the junior high school idea and how John G. McNeeley organized Santa Monica's two junior high school program is traced from its beginnings in the original schools through the progress it has made as each school moved into a better planned, more adequate school plant.

     Changes in the curriculum of the elementary schools took place in 1924 when Frederick F. Martin was elected Superintendent of Schools. Martin interested the Board of Education in the platoon system of school organization, which was adopted and put into effect in the four new elementary schools then under construction. The platoon schools met with public approval, and by 1928 had spread to every elementary school in the district.

     The platoon system remained in effect until after the earthquake of 1933, when building limitations and the necessary adoption of the activity program which could be carried on in one room gradually caused its discontinuance. The present programs in music, physical education, and the elementary school library are outgrowths that are directly attributable to the semi-departmental program characteristic of the platoon schools.

     The chapter includes a brief description of the organization of the research department, now the guidance department, as one of the many special services that had their beginnings prior to 1929. The work of the department now includes a complete program of measurement, counseling, clinical investigation, organization and supervision of special classes, and studies of special problems.

     The adult education program in Santa Monica was officially organized in 1910 and has served the adults of the community in various ways since that time. Throughout the years classes of a commercial, technical, civic, and hobby nature have been offered. In 1945, the adult program was included as a division of the City College and now offers courses leading to the Associate of Arts degree.

     The founding of the junior college in 1929 was a notable step forward in extending the educational opportunities for young people in and near Santa Monica. From a humble beginning in extra rooms of the high school, Santa Monica Junior College, now the General Division of Santa Monica City College, has become an institution of merit among similar schools of higher education. Further advancements in course offerings are planned when the college moves into its permanent home and the campus that is presently under construction.

     The organization of the schools program was progressing steadily when interrupted by two major events of the 1930's. In the ensuing chapter, the effects of these events, the earthquake of 1933 and the depression which marked most of that decade, are discussed in relation to the problems that faced the Board of Education and the citizens of Santa Monica at that time. The chapter also describes the work of the school authorities and interested lay persons in securing necessary local, state, and Federal funds to reconstruct, modernize, and expand the physical facilities requisite to carrying on the educational program of the schools. Finally, Chapter V tells of the establishment of the Santa Monica Technical School in 1937 and its subsequent program of specific training for the skilled trades. The pre-employment, trade extension, and apprentice programs have successfully met the needs of men and women preparing for business and industry through times of depression, war, and apparent prosperity.

Chapter V School Development in Adversity

     When Percy R. Davis became Superintendent of Schools in 1932 Santa Monica, like the rest of the nation, was already in the throes of the financial depression which characterized most of the decade between 1930 and 1940. Future prospects for the schools were unpredictable, for lack of funds, ordinarily accruing for school purposes from various tax sources, in addition to heavy indebtedness, harassed the Board of Education and the school administration. General conditions were by no means auspicious; yet to Superintendent Davis, adversity presented a challenge that a less able man might well have found it impossible to meet. With characteristic foresight and efficiency, he began immediately to examine the issues to which he had fallen heir. Then, less than a year after his assumption of office, disaster struck. The earthquake of 1933 overnight rendered most of the schools unsafe for occupancy and added immeasurably to the new superintendent's already numerous problems. How these problems were met and in what ways the schools were further developed during these trying years, is the subject of the present chapter.

The Earthquake of 1933

     On March 10, 1933, at 5:55 p.m., an earthquake jarred southern Californians into forgetfulness of their evening meal. Close to a major disaster as it proved to be in some sections, Santa Monica learned to accept it as a blessing in disguise; first, because it acquainted her citizens with the physical conditions of the schools as nothing else could have; and second, because it enabled the Board of Education to rebuild the oldest structures and make the rest quake-resistant, with the Federal government paying variously from 20 to 80 per cent of the cost. [1. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Oct. 10, 1933, p. 18.]

     In those southern California communities where the trembler reached its greatest intensity, damage to school buildings was extreme. Auditoriums collapsed, walls were thrown out, and the very exits to safety were piled high with debris which, a few minutes before, had been parts of towers and ornamental entrances. Had the quake occurred while the schools were in session, an appalling number of children undoubtedly would have lost their lives.

     In Santa Monica, however, removed as it was from the center of the quake's intensity, the damage was considerably less, although great enough to warrant the closing of the schools so that an inspection of them could be made. Four days later, while the ground still shook with tremors of diminishing intensity, a committee composed of architect D.D. Smith, engineer Phillip Rowell, and builder Robert Peterson, accompanied by the president and the secretary of the Board of Education, examined every room in each of the twelve plants in the school system. [2. Board Minutes, Mar. 13, 1933.] The inspection disclosed no structural faults and a relatively few minor damages, with the exception of the high school where fire walls had been loosened at the top of the wall. [3. Ibid., April 3, 1933.] These damages were rapidly repaired. At the same time, brick chimneys were removed and replaced with iron stacks; cast stone entrances gave way to monolithic concrete; gable ends were anchored, roof trusses braced, and many other measures taken to eliminate hazards.

     Later in the same month, the firm of Marsh, Smith, and Powell, architects, were employed by the Board of Education to carry out the recommendations of the inspection committee. In their voluminous report, Peterson and Rowell suggested, among other things, that the Board inform itself as to the proximity of school buildings to definitely known earth faults, in order to determine whether to prepare for major or minor earth shocks, and recommended that all new buildings be of class A construction, properly designed. This last advice was based on the failure of brick and hollow tile to withstand the March tremblor in the cities most heavily stricken. [4. Robert A. Millikan, president of the California Institute of Technology, was chairman of the State Commission for School Inspections and coordinated the work of the local inspection committees.]

     The report condemned the use of brick veneer as practiced in the past, and the joining together of materials having different degrees of flexibility; e.g. wood frame joined to a masonry wall, or a brick wall against a concrete wall. If anchor ties were used in masonry to wood, it was recommended that the ties go completely through the wall. Any ornamentation not monolithic was also condemned as was that which could not be made absolutely secure through proper anchorage. [5. Board Minutes, April 3, 1933.]

     Subsequent reports from various groups who inspected the schools revealed that none of the buildings was better than class C construction, and that some of them belonged to Class D. In the event of an earthquake equal in intensity to that of the Long Beach-Compton area, they stated, Santa Monica's schools would meet the same fate that befell schools of class C and D construction there. Some of the features of the school buildings listed as hazards were: side walls too high, unsupported large window openings, large rooms with insufficient supports for the room above, workmanship in the masonry graded from poor to excellent, joist anchorage inadequate, bond beams over second story windows in some cases were two feet below roof joists, and the roof construction resting on brick walls carried above the bond beam. [6.Board Minutes, April 17, 1933.]

     Peterson and Rowell, considering the problem of what to do with the present structures, stated that it would be impossible to prepare them against a major shock with entirely new construction. Confirming reports from other inspection groups, they emphasized that in a semi-major quake Santa Monica would sustain approximately the same loss as had the Compton and Long Beach schools in the March disaster. To prepare against a shock of this intensity would entail a complicated and costly program, they pointed out. A great deal could be done, however, to minimize the loss of both property and life by eliminating the hazards in Santa Monica schools known to be the same as those from which the Long Beach-Compton areas suffered. [7. Loc. cit.]

     Marsh, Smith and Powell submitted their report on May 9, 1933, and the Board of Education employed Paul Jeffers and Murray Erick, consultant engineers, to review the findings and recommendations submitted up to that time. [8. Board Minutes, May 9, 1933.] While the engineers were completing their examination of these data, some fifty or more citizens made a tour of inspection of the damaged schools in the Compton and Long Beach areas with representatives of the architectural firm of Marsh, Smith and Powell pointing out the faulty construction. The group, deeply impressed by what they had seen, immediately elected a committee to make further investigations. Moe M. Fogel, chairman of the committee, appealed to various civic organizations to appoint their own representatives to serve as an advisory committee. [9. Pearl, op. cit., p. 60.]

     Jeffers and Erick returned their report on May 29, 1933, describing the weaknesses of the Santa Monica school buildings in detail. The following items were included in their report:

"Many of these details of faulty construction could be corrected and the buildings thereby made safe for occupancy in case of mild quake. Such reconstruction would not, however, be sufficient to make the buildings safe for occupancy, in case of another earthquake of the degree of intensity of the Long Beach and Santa Barbara quakes. Such construction would make your buildings somewhat better than the average school building.

"We therefore recommend that, with the exception of the oldest buildings which do not warrant the costs of reinforcing, all buildings be properly reinforced to withstand some definite horizontal force, thereby minimizing the damage by earthquake, of which this type of building has proven susceptible.

"This reinforcing is not difficult of achievement nor is it particularly expensive for the average school building. Only by such reinforcing of the building can assurance be had that every reasonable precaution has been taken to safeguard the lives of the children who are compelled to occupy the buildings." [10.Board Minutes, May 29, 1933.]

     Early in October of 1933, while the citizen's committee was still studying plans with the engineers, another earthquake but of relatively minor intensity, disturbed the public mind. The committee, perhaps somewhat influenced by the latest tremblor as well as what they had witnessed and the reports they had perused, advised the Board of Education to call a bond election for the purpose of providing funds for strengthening and reconstruction of school buildings, to the amount of $200,000. The bond election, held October 24, 1933, failed to receive the necessary two-thirds vote, thus leaving the Board without funds to carry out the recommendations made. [11. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Oct. 25, 1933, p. 1.]

     District Attorney Burton Fitts of Los Angeles County held that the negative result of the election absolved the School Board, individually and collectively, from legal responsibility in case of damage or injury resulting from future earthquakes. Thus, on Fitts' further advice, Superintendent Davis filed with the grand jury a complete report of the steps taken to provide earthquake-proof school buildings for the children of Santa Monica. [12. Pearl, op. cit., p. 61.] But such self-protective measures could do nothing to accomplish the end results desired. And so, in November of 1933, three members of the citizens' committee-C.H. Cromer, structural engineer, Fitts, and Dr. Ellet Harding, the President of the Board of Education-met with the grand jury for further discussion of the problem at hand. This meeting precipitated an inspection of the Santa Monica schools by the State Department of Architecture, the first such inspection to be made by this department; and the information gleaned during this investigation guided the State in formulating its "earthquake code' for public schools. [13. Personal interview with Percy R. Davis, Feb. 16, 1951; Los Angeles, California.]

     When the findings of the State Commission finally were released, condemning all Santa Monica schools as unsafe, late Mayor William H. Carter, then commissioner of public works in Santa Monica, ordered the schools closed. This news, released on March 13, 1934, was received with mixed emotions: the children gave it joyous acclaim, but their parents and the Board of Education were plunged into a state of mind bordering consternation. The report of the State Commission had dashed any hopes they may have had that the report of Jeffers and Erick perhaps presented a too pessimistic view concerning the physical condition of the schools. [14. Board Minutes, Mar. 13, 1934.]

     Superintendent Davis, anticipating these reports had already ordered the erection of tents on the school grounds the purpose being to use them for classrooms until such time as a more permanent solution to the school housing problem could be found. In the elementary district the amount expended for such equipment did not exceed $26,000, and an even smaller sum was required to make the high school safe for occupancy until more complete changes could be made. [15. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 70.]

     The rehabilitation of the schools proceeded on funds appropriated from the districts, and on money borrowed from the county unapportioned fund. [16. Board Minutes, April 23, 1934.] The work was organized as projects of the State Emergency Relief Administration, a dozen or more in number, including the demolition of the old Roosevelt, Washington, and Grant elementary schools and the old Garfield building, then occupied by the Santa Monica Junior College. But even before these projects were completed, it was rumored that Federal funds were to be made available for school reconstruction. Accordingly Morton Anderson, President of the Board of Education, was sent at once to Washington to represent Santa Monica and make a personal appeal for the needs of the district. He was the first of such representatives to arrive at the national capitol. Upon his return, Anderson reported that Congressman John Dockweiler, Senator Hiram Johnson, and Admiral Peoples, chief of the Public Works Division, had agreed to allocate $1,500,000 to the Santa Monica School District for the rebuilding of its schools. [17. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Sept. 9, 1935, p. 1.]

     With this heartening assurance from Washington, the Board of Education called another school bond election for November 12, 1935, with bonds totaling $290,000. This sum represented 20 per cent of the total cost of the proposed program as required by the Works Progress Administration. The campaign for the bonds that followed stirred Santa Monica as no previous campaign had done, with civic organizations, women's clubs, parent-teacher associations, and even high school students and children from elementary grades taking part. Nevertheless, the opposition was strong, and to the usual cries of waste and extravagance it now added lurid charges of graft and corruption. The Outlook commented editorially:

"That Santa Monica needs new school construction is undeniable; that anyone should attempt to controvert such a movement is unthinkable.

"A more sound and completely invulnerable plan could scarcely be devised whereby any municipal corporation of any bond district would receive an outright gift of four dollars for every dollar voted in a bond issue.

"If the city repudiates this measure at the polls, certainly it will be performing a nasal excision, for some other city will get the allotment, and Santa Monicans will have to pay their share of the bill in exactly the same amount as though the $1,500,000 was being spent upon the improvement of Santa Monica, and the safeguarding of Santa Monica school children.

"The work must be done. Only one issue exists, whether the citizens of this city want the work to be done with a Federal grant, and reduce the municipal taxes, or whether they want the work to be done with money from the already heavily budgeted municipal treasury and the added load of stiffly increased taxes." [18. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Nov. 9, 1935, p.6.]

     There is no question that the fact of the Federal Government's willingness to make an outright gift to the district of $1,500,000 armed the bond campaigners with a powerful argument. [19. Pearl, op. cit., pp. 62-3.] But even more powerful was the argument that if the bonds carried, the immediate employment of some 1400 Santa Monica residents would follow, and via their wages a large part of the $1,500,000 would begin to circulate through local channels of trade, blessing empty tills as it traveled. The school bonds carried, and with a record-breaking nine-to-one majority. [20. Board Minutes, Nov. 18, 1935.]

Depression Antidote

     That the nation's public schools suffered severely during the depression of the 1930's is undisputed. New school construction, except in rare instances was out of the question, and in some districts funds for even ordinary repairs were lacking. Some schools were forced to shorten the term so that teachers' salaries might be saved. In many communities, because of shifts in population and for other reasons, schools were badly overcrowded, with pupils often receiving only half-day instruction because of a lack of classrooms. [21. H.H. Linn Some Practical Suggestions for W.P.A. Works in Public Schools, American School Board Journal, 92, March, 1936, 27-29.]

     But bad as conditions were generally, the observation probably is not unwarranted that the schools of southern California, due to the exigencies described in the preceding section of this chapter, were doubly pressed for money with which to repair damaged buildings and maintain an educational program on greatly reduced tax moneys. Their comeback and even forward progress are doubtless due, at least in large measure, to the aid received from the Works Progress Administration. [22. Charles H. Judd Federal work Program for Better Schools, School and Society, 65, March 21, 1937, 410.] The establishment of the S.E.R.A. (State Emergency Relief Administration) had made possible a start on the demolition of condemned buildings, and the Santa Monica School District, faced with the necessity of rebuilding almost every schoolhouse, had made application for additional funds with which to finance required reconstruction. But the state had only limited emergency money to spend, and the rehabilitation program undertaken with S.E.R.A. labor was forced to an abrupt end. [23. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 7G.]

     The money allotted to these and various other S.E.R.A. projects in the vicinity, had alleviated somewhat the unemployment problem in Santa Monica. But with the exhaustion of the emergency funds, the economic outlook again took on a darkened aspect. Then, ten weeks after the close of the State projects and just one week after the approval of the $290,000 school bonds, the new projects secured by Morton Anderson and approved by Washington, D.C., under the Works Progress Administration, got under way. Unemployed men had jobs again, and local merchants, because of the wages of these men were able to smile with less restraint than formerly. [24. Pearl, op. cit., p. 64.]

     The army of W.P.A. artisans and laborers who swarmed over the projects worked two shifts of five hours each; while Paul M. White, superintendent of construction, and his corps of three inspectors worked double and triple time, determined to make as much headway as possible while an abundance of labor was available. To them it was self-evident that when other nearby communities got their reconstruction programs under way, their demands might easily drain the labor market. [25. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 7G.]

     Substantial savings were effected for the school district when Superintendent White established shops where W.P.A. labor and salvage materials could be utilized. Ventilators, ornamental iron work, cabinets, and other construction accessories were made there, as well as the window frames and sashes for the entire building program. Other shops made and kept in repair tools used in demolition, remodeling, and landscape projects. Besides the financial saving these prefabrication shops effected, the entire program was enabled to proceed at a faster rate than would otherwise have been possible.

      The Santa Monica schools secured maximum benefits from the funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. John Adams Junior High School, the Roosevelt School, the Washington School, and the Grant School were provided with new plants John Muir and Franklin elementary schools were made quake-resistant by the removal of the second story and the strengthening of the lower floor, with additional classrooms being provided to replace those that had been removed. Each of the buildings was modernized and brought up to state standards. Although few changes were made in the original plans of the Lincoln Junior High School and the Madison and McKinley elementary schools, all these buildings were completely rehabilitated and made earthquake resistant. Structural reinforcement, walls filled with concrete by the Gunite process, and modernization adapted these plants to more modern school use.

     The largest project in the building program was the complete rehabilitation and modernization of the high school. W.P.A. funds provided a new auditorium, Barnum Hall, which included practice rooms for band and orchestra as well as two music classrooms; a boys' gymnasium; a new wing to the library; and a new shop building. [26.Beach City Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3.] But funds were not sufficient to complete the project, and in 1936 an additional $250,000 in bond money was voted for the purpose. When the high school plant was finally complete, the Board of Education and the W.P.A. had spent more than $1,225,000 in remodeling and new construction. [27. Loc. cit.]

     Additional work projects of the W.P.A. meanwhile were paving playgrounds, turfing athletic fields, landscaping and refencing school grounds. Wherever possible, the school administration found work for as many men and women as the Works Progress Administration would provide. Office workers were placed with the Board of Education and in the offices of the several schools, while various art projects received administration support since these served to beautify the school plants. For many school children in Santa Monica today, the depression of the 1930's is a thing about which they merely have heard. But they cannot fail to be impressed with the pieces of sculpture, the paintings, the fountains, which are a part of nearly every school in Santa Monica, and which came to life under the stresses of that dark period in the nation's history. Only those who lived through it can fully appreciate the larger values of the projects carried on by the W.P.A. The employment provided and the resultant stimulation of business did much to bring the city of Santa Monica from the worries of the depression to a more stable economy that followed. [28, Pearl, op. cit., p. 64.]

     One by one the schools got back into the finished buildings, and the school program again resumed a more regular pattern. Pupils and teachers alike experienced some trying years when compelled to use makeshift arrangements in improvised tents and bungalows. And yet those years were not without their compensations. True, as Hannah Ogden, teacher at the McKinley School during the reconstruction period, points out, the tents were sometimes cold; the wind billowed the canvas walls distractingly, and those walls were more than a little damp when leaks developed during the rainy season. But this only added authenticity to the "let's play pioneer" spirit which pervaded school life at that time, and gave to it a certain thrill. And on pleasant days, the bird song that interrupted a lesson, the intrusion into the classroom of a bee or a butterfly, the excursion time into the open sunlight at a moment's notice for periods of work activity, all gave added freshness and spontaneity to the business of acquiring an education. [29. Personal interview with Hannah Ogden, May 23, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     During the actual work on the buildings, the plying of hammer and saw, the riveters at work, and the ceaseless activity that went on just outside the open tent flaps, served to inspire the writing of poems, songs, and stories, and as well give endless impetus to invention. Practical use was made of the building debris. It was no uncommon thing to see a child earnestly exploring piles of discarded lumber ends from which could be constructed boats, mast heads, loading platforms, or other structures. Sand and cement were likewise commandeered from construction work to bring life miniatures of Hoover Dam or the Los Angeles Harbor.

     Teachers found less difficulty than might have been expected in adjusting the school work to the primitive conditions forced upon them by the closing of the schools, They were quick to utilize the hazards of a school lot more or less pre-empted by machinery, scaffolding, excavations, and unsteady plank walks, to keep pupils safety conscious, with the older ones looking out for those younger than themselves. When it was found that passing from tent to tent for classes was both awkward and noisy, the children, under the teacher's guidance, developed the important trait of personal responsibility, and themselves brought forth order and quiet. Many of the classes took great pride in beautifying the grounds around their tent homes. [30. Pearl, op. cit., p. 66.] A library under the trees, with only shrubbery and benches to mark its boundaries, was a thing to enjoy rather than to be deplored. Young readers found it both easy and delightful to concentrate on a reference relating to their classroom work, or just to browse through the many attractive books that were available. This freedom and the activity programs carried on in the sunshine, made undeniably for health and happiness, and were taken into account when plans were drawn for the new school buildings.

     An appraisal of the work accomplished by the Board of Education and the W.P.A. would certainly reveal many values to Santa Monica and its schools. Total expenditures reached nearly $3,000,000, of which the Board of Education supplied less than $950,000, or about 32 per cent of the total cost. [31. Beach Cities Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3.] Clearly, despite the period of severe economic stress through which the schools had gone from 1931 to 1939, they emerged from the depression strengthened both physically and educationally.

Santa Monica Technical School

     Santa Monica Technical School, the most recent addition to the secondary schools of Santa Monica, was established at the behest of over 500 representative citizens under the leadership of Edmund Slama, who petitioned the Board of Education to establish "a trade school second to none." [32. Board Minutes, June 28, 1937; of.supra, p. 132.] Today the Santa Monica Technical School is recognized as one of the outstanding trade schools in the nation, and the confidence of its advocates has been fully justified.

     First developed to give training to those who wished to become skilled tradesmen, the Technical School provided such persons with pre-employment training and prepared them to enter their chosen trade already equipped with considerable skill and knowledge of the job. During the years of depression jobs were hard to find, and employers practiced a high degree of selectivity. Thus, those completing the pre-employment courses at the Technical School found themselves in a preferential position when applying for jobs. Later, when the industrial demands of the national defense program developed, the graduates of Sanmotech were barely able to finish their courses before being offered good opportunities in industry.

     The school opened in the fall of 1937 with three pre-employment classes: carpentry, industrial sheet metal, and cosmetology. A year later, evening trade extension classes were instituted, and within three years the classrooms and shops were filled to capacity. While the Technical School's primary objective is to provide the youth of the community with trade education, it also exists to assist those already in trade by offering refresher or extension courses.

     With the inauguration of the national defense training program in 1940, the Technical School became the center of prodigious activity, being one of the first schools in California to introduce these specialized classes. Two new shop buildings were erected with assistance from the National Youth Authority, which made it possible to take advantage of Federal funds in establishing national defense and war production training programs. [33. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 11G.]

     Again Morton Anderson, who earlier had rendered such yeomanly service to the Santa Monica schools [34. See supra, p. 219.] contributed in a special way to the development of the Technical School. With characteristic energy and zeal, he assisted in obtaining from the Federal Government the equipment and tools which, within the year, made the machine shop at Samotech the best equipped shop west of the Mississippi River. [35. Santa Monica Evening Outllook, July 8, 1950, p. 11G.]

     From 1940 to 1945, almost 40,000 men and women were trained for ship building and aircraft manufacture, training programs were also conducted for the Merchant Marine, the Signal Corps, and many small industries. Classes were in session six days per week, operating twenty-four hours a day on three eight-hour shifts throughout the year. [36. Loc, cit.]

     Since 1945, the Santa Monica Technical School has been organized as a division of Santa Monica City College, which makes it possible to pursue courses in both the General College and the Technical School simultaneously. Students completing curricular requirements are awarded the Associate of Arts degree. [37. Personal interview with Director Emil O. Toews, Technical Division, Santa Monica City College, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     When the Technical School first opened in 1937, its principal was M. Evan Morgan, who was succeeded in 1938 by Ben Bernard, Morgan having been assigned to the position of director of curricula for the Santa Monica City Schools. In 1943, Emil O. Toews was appointed principal, and two years later, [1945] when the administrative reorganization of the upper secondary grades became effective, he became director of the technical division of Santa Monica City College.

     Currently, three general types of training are provided at Santa Monica Technical School: pre-employment, trade extension, and related classes for indentured apprentices. Pre-employment training in over twenty different trades is available to men and women preparing for employment in commercial art, auto body and fender work, auto mechanics, carpentry, cabinet and finish carpentry, commercial cooking and baking, cosmetology, dressmaking and design, industrial drafting, industrial electricity, jewelry engraving, industrial mathematics, machine shop, commercial photography, printing, power sewing, radio repair, radio communication, refrigeration and air conditioning, industrial sheet metal, plumbing, tool and die making, welding, wood pattern making, and blue print development and interpretation. [38. Bulletin of Information . . . 1951-52, pp. 71-73.]

     Trade extension courses for employed persons who wish to supplement or extend their skills are available for most of the trades listed in the preceding paragraph. In addition, special courses are offered in electrical cable splicing, electric building code, and television and blueprint reading. Special evening classes for indentured apprentices, who are required by law to pursue training in related theory, are organized for electricians, auto mechanics, carpenters, and plumbers. Apprentices in other trades, although in insufficient number to maintain separate classes, attend trade extension classes also. More than 300 apprentices are presently enrolled under the training program. [39. Personal interview with Emil O. Toews, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, Calif,]

     Flexibility of both course offerings and requirements for admission is one of the unique features of the Technical School. High school juniors and seniors and any adult who can profit by the training, are admitted at any time during the school term. A variety of related and supplementary courses such as mathematics, metallurgy, drafting, history, economics, foremanship training, conference leadership, English, engineering materials, and others are provided. [40. Ibid.]

     Industry in southern California, Director Toews points out, is growing at a very rapid rate, and the need for trained workers presents a constant challenge to the Technical School, which currently is operating at full capacity. But even in less prosperous times, the school makes significant contributions by providing men and women with the skills and knowledge on which employers place high priority value. Although the buildings of the present plant are far from ideal, its excellent faculty and unexcelled equipment give much weight to the claim that its training program is "second to none." Moreover, the plant is located in the center of the industrial section of Santa Monica and is convenient to the aircraft industries, oil industries, and other important commercial enterprises. This makes possible a continuous awareness on the part of the school's faculty and administrative staff of the specific industrial requirements which students can be trained to meet.

     Santa Monica City College, through its three divisions, has a great future, Toews believes; but it will make its greatest contribution to the people of the community not by basking in the sunlight of traditional practice but by maintaining and developing the peculiar advantages and strong points of each division. Dealing with averages may be sound practice in computing life insurance rates; but an educational program, to be effective, must deal with individuals. The three divisions of the college have already developed courses and curricula that meet the individual needs of many young people. This is especially true at the Technical School where the program is designed particularly for those whose principle interests and abilities are in the practical field where success depends more upon manipulative and technical abilities than upon the verbal or abstract. The principles, methods, and techniques of instruction at the Technical School have a definite contribution to make to the entire area of post-high-school education. [41. Personal letter from Emil O. Toews, May 28, 1951.]

Summary

     The days immediately following the onset of the depression of the 1930's and the earthquake which occurred in the third year of that decade presented problems to the citizens of Santa Monica and the Board of Education which at times appeared to be almost insurmountable. With the condemnation of all but one of the school plants in the district following the earthquake, came also the startling realization that there were virtually no funds with which to make repairs or rebuild them. Under the active leadership of Superintendent Percy R. Davis and his staff, the Board of Education, together with interested lay persons, surveyed the damage, estimated what had to be done, and made plans for accomplishing the desired results. Despite some difficulties, financial support from local bonds and from State and Federal funds was secured with which to complete a $3,000,000 modernization and building program.

     From a most critical period that the Santa Monica schools emerged with rebuilt and modernized school facilities designed to meet the needs of current educational practices. Three new schools, the John Adams Junior High School and the Grant, [the Washington] and Roosevelt elementary schools, were built mainly from funds provided by the Works Progress Administration. New buildings including the large auditorium, shops, and a library wing were added to the high school plant. The remainder of the existing schools were reinforced and brought up to standards prescribed by the State for earthquake resistance.

     Allocated projects of the State Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration of the Federal Government not only supplied the needed construction for the Santa Monica Schools; it also created thousands of jobs for persons unemployed as a result of the depression. Wages and money spent for materials, in turn, stimulated the upward trend of the city's economy.

     The Santa Monica Technical School was a direct outgrowth of the earthquake and depression period. Employers were insisting upon training and experience for workers prior to employment. The Technical School was designed to meet this need, and as conditions changed and the demand for trained defense workers increased, the program of Samotech was directed toward specific training for aircraft, shipbuilding, and other essential industries.

     Thus, as the critical period of the 1930's came to a close, the City of Santa Monica and its schools entered a new era of defense mobilization, war, and postwar problems. Chapter VI is devoted to a review of these problems and the conditions which brought them about. It also discusses the plans for the operation, maintenance, expansion, and modernization of the Santa Monica City Schools which were formulated soon after William S. Briscoe became superintendent of Schools in 1943. And finally, consideration is given to the improved instructional program in the schools which the new superintendent and his staff were able to effect when building needs had been determined. The inevitable bond issues required to meet those building needs are also discussed.

Chapter VI Wartime and Postwar School Development

The war clouds that had been gathering over Europe during the late thirties finally fulfilled their threat in September of 1939. The United States government, recognizing the inevitable course it eventually would be forced to follow, instituted a national preparedness program which accelerated industry in all parts of the country. Santa Monica was no exception, and by 1940 the effects of the program were being felt keenly. Douglas Aircraft was expanding rapidly; smaller parts plants were being developed; other defense industries were springing up in nearby communities. All placed a heavy demand upon labor, thus creating employment opportunities beyond the power of the local population to supply. In consequence, workers from other areas of the State, as well as other states in the Union, were soon attracted to southern California. The labor shortage was alleviated; but the solution to this problem created another situation equally severe, that of providing adequate housing for the large number of workers migrating to the city. Hotels, motels, beach cottages formerly used only during the summer, were filled to capacity, and in many instances families were forced to "double up" in order to have a place to live.

     There still remained, in 1940, a few residential lots scattered throughout the city, as well as relatively large areas of vacant property in its southeastern portion, principally in the vicinity of the Douglas plant. Since most of the newcomers were employed by Douglas, it became apparent that this vacant property should be developed as a residential area as rapidly as possible. Thus, through the coordinated effort of the City of Santa Monica and the Realty Division of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, priorities were secured to build there hundreds of single residences and multiple dwelling units to partially accommodate the large increase in population. [1.Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 21A. The regular census of 1940 showed for Santa Monica a population of 53,500 persons, United States Department of Commerce, Sixteenth Census of the United States, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942, I, 128, and by 1946, when a special census was taken , the population had risen to 67,473, an increase of 26.1 per cent, United States Department of Commerce, Special Census of the United States-1946, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, I, 118.]

The Need for More School Housing

     As a result of the great population increase, and the predominance of families with younger children, the schools became overcrowded. In the primary grades of many elementary schools, it was necessary to adopt double-session schedules, a plan which was expedient in the circumstances but hardly desirable from the standpoint of best educational practices. However, the Board of Education had been unable to set aside reserve funds to allow for additional classrooms or school facilities, for financially the school district had only begun to recover from the burden imposed by the period of reconstruction following the 1933 earthquake.

     The citizens themselves recognized the seriousness of the situation, and the initiative to remedy it was financially taken by the Parent-Teacher Associations of the John Adams Junior High School and the Roosevelt School. On November 26, 1945, these associations petitioned the Board of Education to give consideration to the proposition of calling for a vote on a bond issue to purchase sites, build needed classrooms and auxiliary rooms, and make necessary improvements in the elementary and secondary schools of the district. [2. Board Minutes, Nov. 26, 1945.] The petition was soon endorsed by other parent-teacher groups as well as civic and fraternal organizations. But before the Board was willing to act upon it, they deemed it necessary to ascertain the extent of needed construction and improvements throughout the district. Accordingly, the Board requested Superintendent Davis and his professional staff, to make the necessary survey. When it had been completed, the Board, on the recommendation of Superintendent Davis, proposed that a $3,500,000 bond issue be presented to the voters of Santa Monica for their approval. The bond election took place on June 6, 1946, and was approved by a vote of over three to one. [3. Board Minutes, June 11, 1946.]

     Major new construction authorized for the elementary schools included the addition of a large elementary school in the southeast section of the city to relieve the Grant, John Muir, and McKinley schools, which had been accommodating pupils from the residential area developed during the war years near the Douglass plant. A new school was also planned for the Malibu area, both for the purpose of alleviating the overcrowded conditions at the Madison and Roosevelt schools, and to eliminate the necessity of transporting small children such a long distance to school. At the Franklin School, improvements included the additions of another large kindergarten room; construction of a large cafeteria-auditorium, and the remodeling of the former cafeteria to serve as a separate library; and the addition of six classrooms. By 1950, it was necessary to add still another school to the district, a small six-room building in the northeast area of Santa Monica, on Kansas Street just north of Pico Boulevard.

     In the secondary school district, the major portion of the bond money was to be used for the acquisition of land and the construction of the first half of the permanent buildings on the City College campus. The balance of the money was to be used for the addition of an auditorium, a gymnasium, shop buildings, and classrooms at John Adams Junior High School, and for new shop buildings at both the high school and the technical school.

Will Rogers Elementary School

     The Will Rogers Elementary School, named for the famed humorist who had lived for many years in the Santa Monica Bay area, was authorized on January 12, 1947, when the Board of Education commissioned Herbert L. Fogerty to draw the plans for it. As originally projected, this school, which was to relieve the overcrowded conditions in the other schools serving the southern section of the city, was to have, besides the necessary offices, storage rooms, and sanitary facilities, a combination cafeteria-auditorium and twenty classrooms. [14. Board Minutes, Jan. 12, 1947.] However, before the plans were completed, a group of citizens from the area approached the Board with a suggestion which altered the original plans and resulted in the construction of a larger school. It was pointed out that many pupils then attending John Muir School were daily forced to cross Lincoln Boulevard, the dangerous north-south artery leading to and from the City of Santa Monica. The suggestion was made, therefore, that by constructing an additional six classrooms at Will Rogers, these pupils could be accommodated at the new school and thus be removed from the crossing hazard.

     The Will Rogers Elementary School, as finally constructed, was a new departure in schoolroom design and demonstrated the fact that standardization of classroom units and prefabrication of steel window frames and ceiling trusses could pare costs. The building consists of five five-room units of reinforced concrete construction build on concrete slab floors. On one side the rooms open to covered corridors connecting all of the units, and on the opposite side to a paved work area.

     Bilateral lighting is another unique feature of the Will Rogers classrooms. A balance of natural light is achieved by low V-type ceilings which allow maximum light from the north through a solid wall of clear glass sections, and from the south through opaque glass sections shielded by adjustable metal louvers. Artificial light is seldom needed, even on gray days.

     The "cafetorium," or combination cafeteria-auditorium, is an economy utilization of one room for a dual purpose. The main room contains twelve "In-Wall" benches and fourteen-foot tables that fold double into a six-inch wall space. When outstretched, each of the tables will accommodate as many as twenty primary children, so that when the cafetorium is used as a cafeteria lunchroom, 240 children may served at one time. A separate room adjoining the cafetorium provides a serving line, and contains stainless steel, electric warming tables which are supplied from the modernly equipped kitchen adjoining the serving room.

     To convert the cafetorium to auditorium use, the tables and benches are folded into their wall openings and the 42'x64' room, which can accommodate an audience of nearly 400 persons, is fitted with folding chairs. These chairs are stored in rollaway chair trucks that are kept in an adjoining storage room. At the south end of the auditorium is a large stage fully equipped with curtains, back drops, border lights, and microphone connections. Across the front of the stage, and running the full length of the proscenium arch, are four steps which are constructed in an outward V-formation, and which are effectively used for glee club, chorus, and choral speaking groups.

     The Will Rogers Elementary School opened on April 18, 1948, with Donald M. Cleland as principal, a staff of twenty teachers, and an enrollment of 672 pupils in grades kindergarten through six. [5. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, April 18, 1948, p. 13.] By the following September, there were 829 pupils, and the teaching staff had been increased to twenty-four. The enrollment trend established during its first months of operation continued during the 1949-1950 school year, and the Board of Education realized that additional classrooms would be needed to prevent classes from going on double sessions. Thus, on October 24, 1949, Joseph Estep, Santa Monica architect, was commissioned to draw the plans for four more classrooms, one to be added to each of the four then existing wings. [6. Board Minutes, Oct. 24, 1949.] On March 13, 1950, the plans were approved as drawn, construction began on June 3, 1950, and the new classrooms were ready for occupancy when school opened in September. With these additions, the pupil capacity at Will Rogers now approximates 960.

     The Will Rogers School is located at Fourteenth and Pine Streets, on a 5.5-acre site which formerly was owned by Lawrence Bell, member of a pioneer Santa Monica family and founder of the Bell Aircraft Corporation. A large deciduous oak tree whose limb spread exceeds sixty feet, and which long has been a familiar landmark, still graces the school's playgrounds. These extend to the north from Fourteenth Street through Sixteenth, and are divided into four areas in order to provide separate play spaces for the kindergarten, primary, middle, and upper grade pupils. These play spaces are provided with appropriate courts and equipment for each level, and, except for the play equipment areas where sand pits are provided for the safety and protection of the children, the playgrounds are surfaced.

John L. Webster School

     Completed in February, 1948, the John L. Webster School was known as the Malibu School until its dedication in March of the same year, when it was officially named in honor of the prominent civic leader and active magistrate of the Malibu Township Court. Like the Will Rogers School, it was authorized on January 12, 1947, and was designed by Herbert L. Gogerty. The school is located on a 6.67-acre site near Malibu Township, and consists of six classrooms, an office suite, storage rooms, janitor rooms, and adequate sanitary facilities. [7. Board Minutes, Feb. 9, 1948.] Its design is similar to that of the Will Rogers School, although on a considerably smaller scale. However, the architectural plans provided for future development, being so drawn that the six classrooms and offices could be placed in operation upon their completion and another six classrooms and cafetorium could be erected at a later date without any change in plans or landscaping. Adequate play space is provided for a maximum enrollment of more than 400 children.

     The Webster School serves a very large geographical area, some forty square miles, which extends from the Los Angeles city limits on the south to the Decker Elementary School boundary some twenty-six miles to the north. [8. The Decker Elementary District, which extends north an additional four miles to the Ventura County line, is a part of the secondary school district. Thus, secondary pupils must be transported by school bus to the Lincoln Junior High School, Santa Monica High School, and Santa Monica City College from points as far distant as thirty miles. [8 See Julius H. Stier Survey of Land Utilization with Forecasts of Elementary School Population and School House Needs in the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica: Santa Monica Board of Education, 1950, p. 123.]

     When the John L. Webster School opened in February of 1948, its enrollment was approximately 120 pupils and its teaching staff numbered four. Its first principal was Sylvia Jordan, who served until the end of the 1949-1950 school year. In the two and a half years of its existence, the school has grown until at the present time each of its six rooms is used and approximately 180 pupils are enrolled. There is a close association between the community and the school at Malibu, the townspeople actively supporting all school functions and taking great interest and pride in the progress of the school. Under the leadership of Paul Van Alstine, teacher in charge since September, 1950, a committee has been developing plans for the construction of the additional six classrooms and the proposed cafetorium unit. [9. Personal interview with Paul Van Alstine, October 12, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

Franklin School Additions

     Increased building and labor costs, which resulted in higher contract bids, precluded construction of the new cafeterias, auditoriums, and added classrooms at many of the elementary schools, which the Board of Education had planned to finance from the 1946 bond money. Only the most urgent needs thus could be met. At the Franklin School, which was overburdened with enrollments caused by the large population increase in the northeast section of the city, these needs included the kindergarten, the cafetorium, and a six-unit classroom addition. [10. Personal interview with Percy R. Davis, February 16, 1951; Los Angeles, California.]

     The Board of Education purchased two lots adjoining the school to which the existing kindergarten building was moved and there remodeled and extended to provide kindergarten facilities for nearly 150 children in morning and afternoon sessions. The former site of the kindergarten was used for the location of the cafetorium, which duplicated the combination cafeteria-auditorium built at the Will Rogers School. The six-unit classroom wing was built parallel to the main building, being connected with other existing buildings by covered corridors. Finally, the old cafeteria was remodeled for use as a library. The entire project represents an expenditure by the Board of Education of approximately $243,500. [11. Board Minutes, Feb. 9, 1948. ]

     Franklin School's plant capacity, based on twenty regular classrooms, one single-, and one double-teacher kindergarten, is 725 pupils. Its current enrollment is approximately 820. The housing needs of this large pupil population are being met partially by three temporary bungalows; but more permanent arrangements are clearly indicated. Additional classrooms at Franklin School, or the addition of another school to relieve both Franklin and Roosevelt, are being considered with a view to forestalling double sessions and alleviating crowded classrooms as the enrollments in these two schools continue to climb. [12. Stier, op. cit., p. 97.]

"Kansas Street School" [13. A name for this school has not yet been agreed upon by the Board of Education.]

     Authorization for the "Kansas Street" School was given on May 21, 1950, when Joseph Estep was commissioned to draw the plans for "a six-classroom building with offices, a library-cafeteria-auditorium unit, and proper janitorial and sanitary facilities." [14, Board Minutes, May 21, 1950.]

     The "Kansas Street" School, patterned after the four-room addition to the Will Rogers School, was designed with six separate classroom units connected by a central covered corridor. The units are of frame-and-stucco construction erected on concrete slab foundations, and their floors are covered with asphalt tile. The rectangular classrooms, 24'x40' in size, have large window areas to the north and smaller cloister windows to the south protected by wooden louvers. Each room has an individual heating unit that is thermostatically controlled. Each room is provided with enclosed coatroom area, adequate pin board and chalk board space, monel metal sinks and drain boards, drinking fountains, and ample cupboards and bookcases.

     Principal Marguerette MacMillan and her faculty of six teachers opened the school on January 8, 1952. Enrolled in grades kindergarten through three were 164 pupils, all transferees from the overcrowded Grant School. When this transfer took place, the Santa Monica schools were relieved of their last double sessions, and it appeared that building construction had at last caught up with the rapidly increasing school population. But for how long now seems problematical. Less than one year old, the school's enrollment has increased to 194 pupils, and plans are already being drawn for an additional six rooms, two of which will be specially fitted for kindergarten use. Present facilities are just barely adequate for present enrollments, and it is hoped that the new addition may be ready for occupancy by September of 1952. [15. Personal interview with Marguerette MacMillan, November 6, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

Further Additions to Secondary Schools

     Enrollment at the John Adams Junior High School also reflected the large increase in population as families continued to settle near the Douglas Aircraft plant. Despite large additions made in 1938, this junior high school was still incomplete, and a part of the 1946 bond money was therefore allocated for the purpose of completing the unit.

     Early in 1947, representatives of the John Adams Parent-Teachers Association and the Sunset Park Businessmen's Association called upon the Board of Education to proceed with plans for the completion of facilities at the John Adams Junior High School. Needed additions included an auditorium with a seating capacity of 750; proper dressing rooms and stagecraft facilities; a large band room; a large gymnasium with connecting facilities for the girl's locker rooms and showers; and a four-unit shop building for metal work, wood work, and mechanical drawing. After carefully considering these needs the Board of Education, on October 20, 1947, authorized Joseph Estep to draw plans for the necessary additions. [16. Board Minutes, Oct. 20, 1947.]

      The three building projects at John Adams Junior High School were completed by September, 1949, bringing the capacity of the school to well over a thousand pupils. The auditorium is regularly used by both the school and the community, and has helped to meet the needs of the Sunset Park area of Santa Monica. However, as enrollments continue to rise, it is expected that further bond money will be used to construct additional classrooms, a new cafeteria, and to remodel the present cafeteria for use as a library.

     The Santa Monica Technical School continued to grow beyond expectation even after the defense training program, conducted during World War II, closed in 1946. As classes expanded and new training demands were made, the Board of Education realized that additional shop facilities, classrooms, and a combined cafeteria and cooks' and bakers' school were urgently needed. However, since costs of new construction continued to mount and materials remained difficult to obtain, the Board cast about for other means by which to provide the necessary facilities without so large an expenditure of district funds. Investigation revealed that shop and barracks buildings at the Santa Ana Army Air Base were available for purchase at a small fraction of their value, and that these buildings were suitable for remodeling to fit the requirements of the Santa Monica Technical School.

      Thus, in 1947 and 1948, a procession of building sections arrived at the school from the air base some fifty miles away. These sections were rearranged on concrete slab floors and joined together to form long, narrow buildings. Much of the additional materials and the equipment required for the shops and the cafeteria were secured from war surplus depots in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, and the various classes in training at the school supplied a part of the labor and a major portion of the electrical and plumbing work. When completed, the new buildings housed the auto mechanics shops, the body and fender shops, the wood shops, the air-conditioning and refrigeration departments, and a large cafeteria and dining room. The new installations, fully equipped, cost about half of the original estimates. [17. Personal interview with Emil O. Toews, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California]

     A new shop wing was added at the Santa Monica High School during 1949-1950, to provide more adequate space for the auto mechanics program. The addition was designed by Marsh, Smith and Powell, Los Angeles architects, and was constructed by the firm of Roy Beck & Sons at a cost of $18,800. This was the first new construction at the high school since the completion of Barnum Hall in 1938. [18. Board Minutes, Mar. 28, 1949.]

The 1950 Building Program and Bond Issue

     By the early part of the 1950, except for the money set aside for the City College, the funds derived from the sale of the bonds voted in 1946 were exhausted. Moreover, the reserve for City College was great enough to provide only about half the needed facilities for the college campus. Thus the Board of Education was confronted with the perplexing problems of how to care for the still increasing elementary enrollments, how to provide needed additions and modernization at all levels, and what to do with half a city college.

     In order to inform itself fully concerning all aspects of school housing needs, the Board of Education instructed the research department, under the direction of Julius H. Stier, to prepare a report which later was entitled Survey of Land Utilization in the City of Santa Monica with Forecasts of Elementary School Population and School Housing Needs. [19. Cited supra, p. 246.] The report contained an account of the historical background for the city's past development, data on the economic bases for past and future development, the psychological and environmental bases for growth, and facts upon which reliable population estimates could be based. In gathering these data actual house-to-house surveys were made in selected areas within the district, and upon the information obtained , interpretations were made and estimates derived for future population growth within the city. These data were further refined and estimates of population were made for the individual areas served by each elementary school. Finally, the report presented specific recommendations for additions to, modernization of, or redistricting of the individual school boundaries.

     While the survey played major emphasis on elementary school requirements, it included also the recommendation that provision should be made for adequate school shops and warehouses and for a new administration building. The overall cost of the recommended additional classrooms, auxiliary facilities, modernization of existing buildings, site acquisition and improvements, and architectural engineering and planning would be, it was estimated, $1,608,690. [20. Stier, op. cit., p. 132.] Before calling for a bond election, however, the Board of Education deemed it advisable to appoint a citizens' committee to act in an advisory capacity on the issue. This committee was composed of business and professional people, members of the women's club and the P.T.A. Council, and civic, social, and fraternal leaders in the community. On July 24, 1950, a meeting of this Citizens Advisory Committee was held, during which Superintendent William S. Briscoe and his staff presented facts and data concerning a bond issue. The survey results and population estimates were presented and a discussion followed concerning the advisability of attempting a bond issue while the Korean War was in its adverse phases. However, the group voted unanimously to proceed with the bond issue, the committee concurring with the Superintendent and the Board of Education in the belief that it was important to keep strong the foundation of education even during war times. [21. Personal letter from William S. Briscoe, July 31, 1951.]

     With the confidence of the Citizens Advisory Committee in the need for a school bond election, the bond campaign got under way early in September, 1950. Again the various organizations cooperated in presenting the facts to their respective groups. Several teams, composed of two and three members of the superintendent's administrative staff, presented the facts on the building program and the bond issue. Talks were given to civic, professional, and fraternal groups, to service clubs and women's clubs, and to groups of citizens in each of the schools throughout the district. Large charts were prepared to show graphically increases in the the population, estimated enrollments, the enrollment capacity of each school, and the proposed needs for site acquisition, new building, remodeling, maintenance, and planning of a total building program for each level of the school system.

     In addition to the bond "talks," three major reports were used: the Survey of Land Utilization by Julius H. Stier, [22. Cited supra, p. 246.] the Report, Santa Monica City Schools, edited by Grace W, Jones [23. Cited supra, p. 1.] and A Financial Plan for the Operation, Maintenance, Expansion, and Modernization of the Santa Monica City Schools, 1949-1955, published b the Santa Monica Board of Education [Cited supra, p. 6.]

The Report, Santa Monica City Schools, is a three-color lithographed publication presenting an overview of the program of instruction in the schools and the cost of instruction; the special services of operating and supervising the total program; and a complete digest of the budget items including current expenses, tax rates, sources of revenue, proposed expenditures in the high school and elementary districts, and an outline of the proposed building program. The report is attractively illustrated with maps, pictures of children at work in the various phases of the school program, and charts and graphs showing the business and budgetary aspects of the Santa Monica Schools.

     The central idea for the report was based on the fact that it costs the taxpayers an average of $1.44 per day for an average child in school, and the actual way in which this money is spent is clearly set forth. Businessmen and taxpayers alike generally approved the report and commendations from other school districts and several universities attest to its success. [25. Personal interview with William S. Briscoe, July 24, 1951; Santa Monica, California.]

     The report of the financial plan for the Santa Monica Schools is, in essence, a proposed five-year budget for the schools showing the estimates of income and operating costs for the period 1949-1955, based on the previously submitted forecasts of school population. The proposed budget considers a general plan for the operation and improvement of the school system by determining the educational needs of the children of Santa Monica, by developing a program to meet these needs, by estimating the number of children to be served, by appraising the housing and equipment needs for the five-year period, and by formulating a financial plan which the community is willing and able to support. [26. Financial Plan . . . 1949-1955, p. 1.]

     The bond election was called for October 17, 1950. But prior to that time, the Board opened bids on the first units of the City College. These bids ran 50 per cent over the architect's estimates and posed a very difficult problem for the Board of Education.

"The architect advised rejection of bids stating that in his judgment the bids were entirely out of line without reason. He considered the contractors had been stampeded by war nerves. Given a few months in which to calm down they would bid reasonable prices, he thought. The Superintendent argued that if the Board were to reject the bids on the City College immediately prior to the bond issue, such action would have a dampening effect upon the enthusiasm of those who were for the bonds for the City College. In fact, the effect of such actions would be to bring a note of uncertainty and indecision into the whole situation. From careful study of building costs it seemed wise to recommend to the Board that the Board should go ahead and let the contract, for it did not seem there would be any appreciable lessening of costs in the foreseeable future. In fact, all evidence seemed to point to increasing costs. If the Board were to reject bids and later find that subsequent bids would be even higher than those submitted, confidence of the general public in the Board would be undermined. Certainly it seemed that it would not be possible to pass a bond issue with the Board uncertain of its course of action." [26A. Personal letter from William S. Briscoe, dated July 31, 1951.]

The Board of Education, by roll call vote, unanimously accepted the bids on the City College. The following policy for conducting the 1950 building program was also adopted:

"After careful consideration of the current building market and of local, national, and international factors, the Santa Monica City Board of Education proposes to pursue the following procedures and policies in the conduct of the school building program.

1. After thorough consideration of recent bids on the City College and High School Swimming Pool, and after a review of professional opinion on building costs as compiled by the administrative staff from technical publications of the building industry, and upon the advice of expert builders, the Board is resolved to award a contract for the construction of the first unit of the City College to the Alliance Construction Company. A careful review of all evidence indicates that lower costs are not probable. Experts' advice confirm this conclusion and cautions that delay may mean higher costs.

2. The Master Plan for school construction which the Board has developed will be retained. Plans for the various facilities, buildings, additions, sites and site developments will be prepared so that everything will be in readiness to seize a favorable opportunity to build if and when such opportunity is presented.

3. The Board is resolved that full use will be made of all existing buildings and of those to be built. It is understood that if, as a result of possible "all out" war, City College enrollments drop off, the City College facilities will be used temporarily to reduce enrollments in elementary and junior high schools by reassignment of grades to the high school and junior high schools.

4. The Board is resolved to proceed with actual construction on a priority basis, first consideration being given to classroom needs so as to avoid shortened day double sessions. Only the most urgent construction will be undertaken until the building market is stabilized.

5. The Board is resolved, in view of the fact that interest rates are as low as they have been in history, to attempt to add as much to its building funds through a bond issue as can be fitted into its financial program without increasing the tax rate. This decision is based on the advice of bond experts who predict that tax exempt features on school bonds may be removed which would mean much higher interest rates.

Summary

     In short, it is the policy of this Board to secure its necessary building funds when interest rates are low and except in case of emergency to expend such funds when the building market has been stabilized-not before. The construction of the City College and of necessary elementary classrooms are considered to be key solutions to the Master Building Plan." [27. William S. Briscoe Report on a Building Program and Proposed Bond Issue, an address delivered before a general teachers' meeting, Santa Monica High School, September 9, 1950; copy in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     An intensive bond program was waged in every section of the community for a little over a month's time from the opening of school on September 11, 1950, until the polls closed on October 17, 1950. Active parent groups canvassed the registered voters, newspaper publicity carried facts to the voters, pamphlets and brochures presented the bond needs, and, together with the presentations made to community groups, all contributed to one of the most successful bond drives in the history of Santa Monica. A record turnout to the polls showed a vote of 7049 favoring and 817 opposing the bond issues of $1,800,000 for the Santa Monica City School District, and 6998 votes favoring and 894 opposing the $3,09,000 bond issue for the Santa Monica High School District. [28. Board Minutes, Oct. 24, 1950.]

     The decisive nine-to-one margin of endorsement of the school bonds were considered, in particular, a voters' approval of the building program and, in general, of the total financial operations of the schools. Moreover, the perplexing problem of completing the City College was finally solved, so far as building funds were concerned. But of even deeper significance was the fact that once again the citizens of Santa Monica had given concrete support to their schools and, in so doing, reaffirmed their confidence in the Santa Monica system of education. Under the capable direction of the Board of Education, the professional leadership of the administrative staff, and the active interest of the parents of the district, the schools were moving forward in the realization that:

"It is no longer enough to teach a child the three R's. We in Santa Monica feel that education must now provide the child with knowledge that will help him develop into an intelligent, loyal, and well-adjusted citizen, capable of taking his place as an integral part of our complex social economic life.

"In spite of its vastly increased and complex curriculum, the fundamental objectives of education remain virtually unchanged. They are still devoted to turning out good citizens endowed with the initiative, energy, and determination to preserve our American way of life." [29. William S. Briscoe, in Jones (ed.), op. cit., p. 3.]

Summary

     During and following World War II, Santa Monica experienced a rapid growth in population which placed, in consequence, a heavy burden upon the schools of the district. The problem was complicated by the fact that the school district, by 1940, had only begun to recover from the burden imposed by the period of reconstruction following the 1933 earthquake, so that the Board of Education had found it impossible to set aside reserve funds to allow for additional classrooms or school facilities.

     A bond issue was submitted to the citizens for their approval on June 6, 1946, and received strong support with a vote in its favor of three to one. The $3,500,000 derived from this bond issue partially alleviated the serious school housing problem, particularly at the elementary level, by providing funds with which to build three new elementary schools and to expand facilities at the Franklin School. The new schools were the Will Rogers, the John L. Webster, and what is known for lack of a permanent name as the "Kansas Street" School. Extensive improvements were also provided at John Adams Junior High School, the high school, and the technical school. Moreover, reserve funds were set aside for the construction of buildings on the site of the new City College.

     War's end brought no decrease in population; on the contrary, the number of residents and the number of pupils in the schools continued to climb. Funds from the 1946 bond issue were exhausted, and the reserve for construction of the new City College, in light of the continually rising building costs, were sufficient to complete only half of the permanent buildings planned. Faced with the problem of how to care for the increasing enrollments, how to provide needed additions and modernization at existing buildings, and how to complete the City College plant, to ask the citizens to approve a bond issue. This it did on October 17, 1950 and the bond issue was approved by a nine-to-one vote. Thus were provided funds in the total amount of $4,890,000 to meet the physical needs of the district. Once again the citizens of Santa Monica had reaffirmed their confidence in their legal representatives, the Board of Education, in the administration of the schools, and in their system of education.  

Chapter VII Implications

     The aim of education is by no means to build new school buildings or remodel old ones. Rather, it is to provide for the children of a given community the best possible educational program and educational services for the best possible results in building citizens of tomorrow. But the physical plant of any school system largely determines how well the educational program and services can function, for without adequate housing and adequate physical facilities the schoolroom processes are severely hampered.

     Seventy-five years have passed since the Santa Monica School District was first formed, and during that time the citizens of the district have given repeated and abundant evidence of their desire to provide for their children the best possible educational program and services in the best possible learning environment. They have generously and continuously supported their Boards of Education when the Boards have found physical expansion necessary. They have considered their schools a cooperative enterprise, mutually participated in by themselves, their Boards of Education, and the employees of the Board. The results are good. From an initial enrollment of fifty-two pupils housed in two rooms of "the little Presbyterian Church that then stood on the corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue," the pupil population has grown to approximately 16,000 children and youth housed in sixteen modern, well-equipped school plants strategically located throughout the city. How efficient are the educational programs carried on within these buildings may be indicated by a brief consideration of the fundamental principles upon which they are based.

     In Santa Monica, the educational philosophy of the school system has always been that "education . . . is chiefly concerned with teaching the individual the basic concepts of Democracy so that he may become a good and useful citizen . . . prepared to face an ever-changing world." [1. William S. Briscoe in Jones, op. cit., p. 3.] In order to fulfill this purpose, the schools had, first, to establish standards for selecting teachers of high quality, and second, to develop curricula which would equip graduates with the knowledge and skills to meet the future intelligently and fearlessly.

     If, indeed, a school system is only as efficient and effective as its teachers, it is perhaps significant that 99 per cent of Santa Monica's teachers have completed more than four years of professional training, 57 per cent have completed five years or more, and 12 per cent have taken seven years of college work. [2. Jones, op. cit., p. 22.] But a high percentage of initial professional training does not alone characterize the teaching staff of the Santa Monica schools. The learning process for teachers is a continuous one. They are required to attend curriculum workshops regularly in order to improve their teaching methods, as well as to take additional university courses to maintain professional standards. Moreover, they are expected to take an active part in community life, that by their example as participating members in a democratic society they may inspire children and youth likewise to become good and useful citizens.

     In addition to general curriculum supervision, the teachers are aided in their work by supervisory experts in such areas as physical education, industrial arts, music, art, and library and audio-visual aids. These experts help teachers plan the various courses, coordinate the program and select the necessary tools and materials to make the program effective and efficient. In the area of special education, children suffering speech handicaps and reading deficiencies receive individual instruction from special teachers, as do the homebound, the crippled, and the slow in learning. Besides the help received from supervisory experts, a curriculum department, under the direction of the assistant superintendent of schools, keeps teachers informed of new educational trends and of curriculum methods use in other systems.

     In Santa Monica, the educational process is continuous, and a year-round endeavor. In addition to the regular day classes there are continuation classes for students wishing to "learn while they earn"; adult education classes for citizens wishing to continue their education in general or special fields, or to secure high school diplomas or the associate of arts degree; summer sessions which not only afford students the opportunity of making up grades but also provide a series of "enrichment courses" which materially add to the students' cultural backgrounds.

     The regular day classes of the Santa Monica schools recognize the "Three R's" as the fundamentals of education, although methods of teaching the basic tools of reading, writing, and arithmetic are today more scientific than they were in earlier years. From the primary grades through the junior college, emphasis is placed upon the importance of acquiring and exercising skill in the use of these tools to the end that not only greater facility in learning may be achieved but also that a more complete appreciation of the total curricular offerings may be enjoyed. As pointed out by Superintendent Brisco:

" . . . whether ours is a progressive or a traditional school system . . . is a question which cannot be answered unless we are agreed upon definitions. If it is progressive to try to keep abreast of current studies on child growth and development, and to see that the principle discovered through scientific study guide us in the education of our children, we hope we are progressive. If it is traditional to believe that the so-called fundamentals are important, that it is important for children to learn to read and write and spell and cipher, then we hope that we are traditional. We do not believe that learning becomes effective because it is distasteful. The application of sound psychological principles can add much to the attractiveness of many learning situations. We are also aware, however, that drill and hard work are essentials in the development of all skills. One of our major tasks is to develop in each student a desire for the highest standards of achievement of which he is capable." [3. William S. Brisco, Superintendent's Bulletin, Feb. 7, 1950, unpublished bulletin in office of Santa Monica Board of Education.]

     To what extent these desirable objectives are attained in Santa Monica is indicated in Figure 1, which compares the results of general educational development tests given by the United States Armed Forces Institute to seniors [4. Sciences and Mathematics sections given only to students enrolled in sciences and mathematics classes.] at Santa Monica High School during the spring semester of 1949 with the state and national averages resulting from similar tests.

Figure I. Santa Monica's Achievements on the General Educational Development Tests Administered by United States Armed Forces Institute, Spring Semester, 1949, Compared with National and State Averages on Similar Tests.

          National Av. California Av. Santa Monica Av.

Reading       50        67           70

English        50        59            60

Social Studies   50        62            72

Science        50        58           92

Mathematics    50        54           67

     Another yardstick for measuring the scholastic success of Santa Monica students is provided through studies of student's intention to continue their education beyond 12th grade graduation and the grade point average they maintain at the upper levels of learning. According to A. Ewing Konold, principal of Santa Monica High School, 39 percent of the students graduating from Samohi between 1947 and 1951 went on to Santa Monica City College, and 27 percent entered four-year colleges or universities. Of this latter group, 72 percent entered the University of California, Los Angeles, 4 percent matriculated at the University of Southern California, and 11 percent attended other institutions both within and outside the state. Of the June, 1951, graduates, 71 percent indicated their intention of continuing their education beyond the 12th grade. [5. Personal interview with A. Ewing Konold, Dec. 21, 1951, Santa Monica, California.]

     Follow-up studies of students entering the University of California, Los Angeles, during the past six years reveal that during four of those years the grade-point average maintained in the university by the Santa Monica graduates exceeded the average of grades maintained by students entering from all other large high schools. For example, the grade-point average of Santa Monica graduates during 1947-48 was 1.62 as compared to 1.41 for graduates of other large high schools, and in 1948-49 it was 1.53 as against 1.35.

     Again according to Konold, Santa Monica students, during the school year 1948-49, won over $25,000 in scholarships, these being distributed among approximately thirty students. This reflects two important facts: 1) the ability of Santa Monica students, and 2) Santa Monica's program of making available to its students information concerning scholarships offered.

     Only one of the criteria for judging the effectiveness of the educational program of any school district, but an important one, is the success of its students after their formal education has been completed. To name a long list of successful Santa Monica graduates would not be impossible but it is sufficient to note here a few who are indicative of the many who are notably successful in their respective fields of endeavor.

The Professions:

Harry J. Brode, Judge of the Municipal Court

Samuel J. Crawford, Attorney-at-law

Sam Dealy, Commander, United States Navy

James Edmonson, Colonel, United States Army

Cyril Gail, D.D.S., and member of the Santa Monica Board of Education

Eleanor Jackson, Attorney-at-law, and Legal Counsel during the Japanese War Trials

Harry Laughlin, Principal, John Adams Junior High School

Dorothy Jackson Pasek, Principal, Franklin School

Orlando H. Rhodes, Judge of the Superior Court

Katherine Whelan, Santa Monica Librarian

The Arts

Leo Carrillo, Radio, television, and film personality

Nadine Conner, Metropolitan Opera Soloist

Jean Leslie Cornett, Fiction Writer, Santa Monica Board of Education

Ken Darby, Radio, television, and film personality

Glenn Ford, Motion Picture Actor

Auriel MacFie, Journalist, Motion picture writer

Keith Monroe, Writer, Saturday Evening Post

Gene Nelson, Motion picture actor and dancer

Albert S. Otto, Lecturer

Roy Ringwald, Composer and conductor

Gail Russell, Motion picture actress

S. McDonald Wright, Artist, Faculty, Art Department, University of California, Los Angeles

Business and Politics

Mark T. Gates, Mortician and former Mayor

Jack Guerico, City Councilman

Russell Hart, Mayor of Santa Monica

Wilmer Morby, Business, Santa Monica Board of Education

Charles Noonan, Business

Sports

Beverly Baker, Tennis

Dorothy Bundy, Tennis

Leon MacLaughlin, Football, Coach, Santa Monica High School

Gussie Moran, Tennis

Perry O'Brien, Track and field

Melvin Plumer, Football, Coach, John Adams Junior High School

[6. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 11G.]

     In some school districts the fact that the schools should be the center of community cultural activities often becomes obscured by a feeling on the part of some citizens that the schools' chief function is to educate their children. Without losing sight of the primary importance of providing education for all who desire it and are able to profit from it, the Santa Monica schools actively participate in and contribute to the culture of the community. The Symphonies by the Sea, for example, are jointly sponsored by the Board of Education and the City of Santa Monica, with the first of each annual series of concerts being presented by the schools in their own Barnum Hall. Indeed Barnum Hall provides the only auditorium in the city where community cultural pursuits may be followed, and it is devoted to this purpose during a large portion of each year. Here are presented the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra concerts, arranged through the cooperation of the Santa Monica Auxiliary to the Women's Committee for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the music departments of the Santa Monica schools. Here, too, are heard the Music of the Masters concert series, sponsored jointly by the Music Arts Society and the Santa Monica schools.

     But the schools do not confine their musical contributions solely to joint sponsorships with the city of outside talent. They are actively engaged in developing among their own students native abilities and cultural appreciation in the musical field. There is general participation of elementary and secondary orchestras and bands in the Southern California Band and Orchestra Festival as well as individual and instrumental group participation. Moreover, student groups contribute to special community events such as that described in the following letter:

"On behalf of the four churches [Trinity Baptist, First Methodist, First Christian, and First Presbyterian], and speaking for myself I want to thank you again for the participation of the school choirs in the Annual Youth Christmas Vesper Service.

"While this is worth while for a great many reasons, for some of us it is one more evidence of the wonderful work being done in our public schools in Santa Monica," [7. David John Donnan, D.D., Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica, to Wade Thomas, Coordinator of Music, Santa Monica City Schools, December 10, 1951, Wade Thomas collection.]

     Although less active in the field of art than music, the public schools of Santa Monica nevertheless seek to discover and develop student talent in this cultural area by providing extensive art training at all levels of instruction. In cooperation with the Santa Monica Art Association, the schools present yearly exhibits of student work at the Santa Monica Public Library, and encourage community interest in such exhibits. Lecture series, provided through the Adult Education Division, command wide community attendance, being open to all citizens whether enrolled in adult education classes or not.

     Since education must always begin with insight into the capacities, interests, and needs of human beings, educational development becomes a personal achievement. The Santa Monica public schools focus attention on the individual, but at the same time they recognize that democracy implies the living together, in groups, of persons conscious of the needs and welfare of one another. In consequence, the schools seek to provide for children, youth, and adults of the community a program that is broad and varied, not only in school subjects, academic curricula, and vocational training, but also in social activities and studies through which a worthy sense of civic responsibility and of requisite civic behavior develops. Without these, the American "of, for, and by the people" form of government has no foundation. The Santa Monica schools are dedicated, therefore, to the proposition that their highest service is the contribution of citizens who understand fully the democratic concept with its privileges and responsibilities; citizens who can take their place equally in the local community, in the state, the nation, and, through the nation, in the world at large.

[Sources, KR, 2007]

Annual Report, Santa Monica City Schools, 1906-07, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, III(25)

Annual Report, Santa Monica School Board of Trustee, 1924-25, II (34)

Mary E. Baker, Washington School Annual Report (unpublished report to the superintendent of schools, June, 1930, p. 1. II(49)

Beach Cities Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, Oct. 1937, p. 2, III(66)

Beach City Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3, V(26)

Herbert E. Bolton, Fray Juan Crespi, Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast 1769-1774, Berkeley: University of California Press: Berkeley, 1927, p. 100, I (34)

Board Minutes, Santa Monica Board of Education Minutes

William S. Briscoe,Personal letter to Donald M. Cleland, July 31, 1951.], VI(21)

(See Personal Letter from William S. Briscoe, July 31, 1951)

William S. Briscoe Report on a Building Program and Proposed Bond Issue, an address delivered before a general teachers' meeting, Santa Monica High School, September 9, 1950; copy in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, VI(27)

William S. Brisco, Superintendent's Bulletin, Feb. 7, 1950, unpublished bulletin in office of Santa Monica Board of Education, VII(3)

Bulletin of Information and Announcement of Courses, 1950-51, Santa Monica: Santa Monica City College, 1951, pp. 74-77, IV(58)

Ralph H. Bush Santa Monica Junior College Annual Report, 1930; in files of the Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 2, IV(69)

[California] School Code, 1929, Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1929, Sec. 3.351, IV(64)

Harry Carr, Los Angeles-City of Dreams, New York: D. Appleton-Century Company: New York, 1935, pp. 132-133, I (6)

R.D. Case The Platoon School in America Stanford University Press: Stanford University, 1931, p. 3, IV(37)

Edna C. Chapman The Health Education Program of the San Diego City Schools, unpublished master's thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1951, p. 76, IV(47)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Percy R. Davis, Feb. 16, 1951; Los Angeles, California, V(13)

Donald M. Cleland, Personal interview with George K. Drake, principal of Lincoln Junior High School , May 16, 1951; Santa Monica, California, IV(19)

Donald M. Cleland, Personal Interview with Elizabeth Hamilin, April 9, 1951; Santa Monica, California, II(41)

Donald M. Cleland Personal Interview with Sadie Jenkens (secretary to the Superintendent of Schools since 1921), May 2, 1951; Santa Monica, California, II(51)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Grace W. Jones, June 9, 1951; Santa Monica, California, IV(45)

Donald M. Cleland Personal Interview with Supervisor of Physical Education Bess Shirley King, June 6, 1951; Santa Monica, California., IV(44)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with A. Ewing Konold, May 25, 1951; Santa Monica, California, III(72)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Elmer M. Krehbiel, director of the division of adult education, Santa Monica City College, May 28, 1951; Santa Monica, California, IV(45)

Donal M. Cleland Personal interview with Hannah H. Ogden, teacher in the McKinley School (1927-1949), May 23, 1951; Santa Monica, California, IV(41)

Donald M. Cleland Personal Interview with Mary Louise Ogilby, May 23, 1951, Santa Monica, California, III(39)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Marguerette MacMillan, November 6, 1951; Santa Monica, California, VI(15)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Josephine O'Leary, May 10, 1951; Santa Monica, California, III(32)

Donal M. Cleland Personal interview with President Elmer C. Sandmeyer, Santa Monica City College, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California, iV(78)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Wade Thomas, June 7, 1951; Santa Monica,, California, IV(42)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Director Emil O. Toews, Technical Division, Santa Monica City College, May 22, 1951; Santa Monica, California, V(37)

Donald M. Cleland Personal interview with Paul Van Alstine, October 12, 1951; Santa Monica, California, VI(9)

Kate L. Cowick The Outlook's Story of Santa Monica, Santa Monica Evening Outlook: Santa Monica, 1932, p. 3. I (25)

John Dewey and Evelyn Dewey, Schools of Tomorrow, E.P. Dutton & Company, Inc.: New York, 1915, pp. 15-16, IV(8)

David John Donnan, D.D., Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica, Letter to Wade Thomas, Coordinator of Music, Santa Monica City Schools, December 10, 1951, Wade Thomas collection, VII(7)

F.J. Forsdyke, Bernard Rackham, et al., Charles VI, King of Spain, 1759-1788, Encyclopedia Britannica, XXI, 1943, p. 281, I (3)

Financial Plan for the Operation, Maintenance, Expansion, and Modernization of the Santa Monica City Schools, 1949-56, unpublished report in the files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 42, IV(26)

William T. Gruhn and Karl R. Douglass, The Modern Junior High School, New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1947, p. 37, IV(5)

James M. Guinn, A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs Historic Record Co.: Los Angeles, 1907, p. 89. I (32)

Josephine Hodgkins, Roosevelt Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, pp. 1-2, III(46)

Luther A. Ingersoll Century History of the Santa Monica Bay Cities, L.A. Ingersoll: Santa Monica, 1908, copyright page, I (1)

Dorothy Jackson Franklin School Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 1, IV(32)

Alva Johnson, Billion-Dollar Plane Builder, Saturday Evening Post, December 4, 1943, p. 22, I (83)

Milo Perry Johnson A Study of the Planning Methods and Techniques for Building New Junior Colleges, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1950, p. 16, IV(71)

Grace W. Jones (Ed,) Report: Santa Monica City Schools, Santa Monica: Scott and Scott: Santa Monica, 1950, p. 3 Intro, (1)

Charles H. Judd Federal work Program for Better Schools, School and Society, 65, March 21, 1937, 410, V(22)

Cora C. Leitzau, Jefferson School Annual Report, June, 1927; unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, pp. 1-4, III(43)

H.H. Linn Some Practical Suggestions for W.P.A. Works in Public Schools, American School Board Journal, 92, March, 1936, 27-29, V(21)

Los Angeles Express, December 22, 1873,

Manual, Public Schools-1906-07 The Outlook Press: Santa Monica, 1906, pp. 30-31, III(12)

Manual, Santa Monica City Schools, 1915, p. 7, IV(13)

John S. McGroarty, California-Its History and Romance, Grafton Publishing Co.: Los Angeles, 1911, p. 28, I (19)

Frederick F. Martin Annual Report of the the Santa Monica City Schools, 1929-30, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education., IV(18)

Minutes, Santa Monica School Board of Trustees, June 10, 1946, unpaged, I(92)

Josephine O'Leary, Garfield School Annual Report, Unpublished written report to the Superintendent, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 4, III(26)

The OutlookSpecial Edition of July 6, 1897

Beatrice Pearl. Santa Monica Schools, unpublished report of W.P.A. Project #6050, 1939; in files of Santa Monica City Schools, p. 10, II(17)

Personnel Records, Santa Monica Board of Education, 1952, III(45)

Horace M. Rebok, From Pioneer Days, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, June 2, 1929, sec. 2, p. 1, II(14)

Program, Dedication of Santa Monica High School, February 23, 1913; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, III(59)

Program, Dedication of the Santa Monica High School Memorial Theatre, May 30, 1921; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, III(65)

Program, Laying of the Cornerstone-Santa Monica High School, April 11, 1912; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, III(56)

Report: Santa Monica City Schools, Scott and Scott: Santa Monica: 1950, p. 3, Intro (1)

Frederick H. Rindge, Happy Days in Southern California, Frederick H. Rindge: Los Angeles, 1898, p. 37, I (77)

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Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Oct. 10, 1933, p. 18, V(1)

Santa Monica Evening Outlook, Diamond Jubilee Edition), July 8, 1950, p. 14B., I (40)

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Santa Monica High School Graduation Programs on file with the Board of Education, Santa Monica, California,, 1952, II(57)

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The (Santa Monica) OutlookSpecial Edition of July 6, 1897

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(See Board Minutes. ff.)

(e.g., June 10, 1946, unpaged, I(92)

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School District Organization in Los Angeles County, Office of the County Superintendent: Los Angeles, 1937, p. 47. II(1)

Statistical Report prepared for the Santa Monica Board of Education, Research File, 1907. II(52)

Julius H. Stier Survey of Land Utilization with Forecasts of Elementary School Population and School House Needs in the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica: Santa Monica Board of Education, 1950, p. 123, VI(8)

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United States Department of Commerce, Sixteenth Census of the United States, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942, I, 128, V(1)

United States Department of Commerce, Special Census of the United States-1946, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947, I, 118, V(1)

The Weekly Signal, Santa Monica, California, April 24, 1898, p. 1, III(8)

Charles Dwight Willard, The Free Harbor Contest at Los Angeles Kingsley, Barnes and Neuner Co.: Los Angeles, 1899, p. 25, I (2)

Thomas A. Wood Madison School Annual Report, unpublished report to the Superintendent of Schools, June, 1929; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education, p. 1, IV(34)

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