Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 2

I hope to show Then and Now images of Oakland Schools in this series of posts. Along with a bit of the history of each school, I highlight. Some photos are in the form of drawings or postcards or from the pages of history books.

Note: Piecing together the history of some of the older schools is sometimes tricky. I do this all at home and online — a work in progress for some. I have been updating my posts when I find something new. Let me know of any mistakes or additions.

Campbell Primary School

Campbell Primary School started put as the Grove Street School. The name was changed in 1906 to Campbell School for Fred Campbell, the superintendent of Oakland schools from 1870-1870 and 1886-1890. He was the state superintendent of schools from 1880-1883.

Campbell School looked in 1887 Oakland Tribune June 09, 1926

His daughter Mary Campbell was the school’s principal from 1898-1926.

Miss Mary Campbell – Oakland Tribune Jun 9, 1926

In 1907 a new school was built. The Mission Style school was designed by Architect F.E. Voorhees and cost $38,000. It had seven classrooms and an office for the principal.

Oakland Tribune Mar 1907

1954 the school was closed because it was not earthquake-safe, and the students were sent to Tompkins School. The school was sold and demolished in 1954. A commercial building was built on the site.

More Info:

The school was located at 416 Grove Street.

Cleveland School

In 1912 the first drawing for a new Peralta Heights school was submitted to the school board. John J. Donovan and Shafer & Wilde were the architects.    Donovan designed many schools for the district.

Peralta Heights is a small neighborhood in what is now known as Cleveland Heights.

Bids to build the school were submitted in 1912, based on the below photo. They held a formal opening of the school in Jan of 1914.

Oakland Tribune Jan 6, 1914
Oakland Tribune Mar 29, 1914

The old school building stood in 1973 and was finally replaced with a new facility in 1977.

Oakland_Tribune_Mon__Mar_26__1973_
Oakland Tribune March 26, 1973

Cleveland Today

Cleveland School Today – Google Maps

More Info:

California Distinguished School for 2020

“serves the very diverse and historically underserved city of Oakland, with a large percentage of students living in poverty and a large percentage of English learner”

Release California Department of Education

Press Release – OUSD

Cleveland Elementary School is located at 745 Cleveland Street.

Cole Grammar School

Cole Grammar School was opened in 1878 in West Oakland on 10th Street between Union and Poplar Stree. The plans called for a two-story, 14-room building.

Cole School – Oakland and Surroundings 1885

It was named for Rector E. Cole, an early Oakland dentist and member of the city council, and member and then president of the Oakland Board of Education.

Jack London attended Cole starting in 1887. He graduated 8th grade in 1891.

Front Doors of the Cole School Building with several children standing on the sidewalk in 1908 Huntington Digital Library
Class of 1909
Class of 1910

School Fire

In Dec 1923, the school was destroyed in a six-alarm fire where one fireman lost his life, and six others were injured. The fire was deliberately set by a”firebug.” A suspicious fire was a reporter at Garfield School at 23rd and Foothill Blvd.

Cole School

The cornerstone for a new school was laid in May 1925, and the new two-story school was dedicated in April 1926.

More Info:

Cole School was the headquarters of the Chief of Police from 2013-2021 (?.) As of 2023, a new OUSD administration building in under construction.

Cole School Today – Google Maps

Cole School was located at 1011 Union Street.

  • Central Administrative Offices Cole Campus – OUSD

Piedmont Avenue School

The Piedmont Avenue School, as seen below, was built in 1891.

Oakland Tribune February 13, 1892

Before that, a two-room schoolhouse was closer to the Mountain View Cemetery. Classes we held for a time at the home of G.W. Hume, who lived in a large estate where the school is located now.

Both children from Piedmont and Oakland used the school at that time. The building was designed by William Kirk and cost about $10,000 to build. The school had a bell tower with a 350-pound bell. There was a large assembly room, a library, a hothouse for plants, classrooms on both floors and a large lighted basement where the children could play during wet weather.

Oakland Tribune February  20, 1892

The school was dedicated on Washington’s Birthday in 1892.

Engraving of the Piedmont District School at Webster Avenue in Oakland, Alameda County, California, from the book “Illustrated album of Alameda County, California” by Jos, 1893. Alex Colquhoun. Courtesy Internet Archive. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

School Fire

In July of 1938, while the students were on summer break, the school was destroyed by an arson fire. Ten firemen were injured, four of them seriously.

The new school was dedicated in March of 1941 with funds provided by “The Living New Deal” Works Progress Administration (WPA).

This Art Deco school building has an auditorium, library, kindergarten classroom, kitchen, offices, and regular classrooms. There is still a WPA sidewalk marker in front of the school.

More Info:

Prescott School

Prescott School was established in 1866 as a one-room primary school. It was named after William H. Prescott, a historian, and was located at Ninth and Campbell Streets on dirt roads surrounded by woods.

Oakland Tribune 1877

In 1869 a new two-story building with four classrooms on each floor, ‘the largest, and it was the most up- to- date school building in Oakland,’ with C. W. Brodt as principal, with a salary of $150 per month.

Prescott school building was heavily damaged in the historic 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

 

Prescott School with damage from the 1906 earthquake
UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Permalink: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb1m3nb284/

New School

Prescott Primary School was constructed in a record time of 187 workdays by Lawton & Vezey, a local contractor.

Oakland Tribune October 24, 192

 

Oakland Tribune October 24, 1916

The new school was a two-story Spanish-style steel-framed building with a basement and seventeen classrooms.

accepted by the school board, who considered it one of the best in the recent school buildings”

Oakland School Board – October 05, 1926

The exterior of Prescott School circa 1918
Towns (Royal E.) Papers
Oakland Public Library, African American Museum
prescott-school-playground-west_1_0f2ee96ce0f6fda0b21a28a70d72cea6
Prescott School 9th & Campbell Streets – Cheney Photo Advertising Company c 1919

Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first African-American teacher, taught there in 1925 — 13 years before any other school hired a black teacher.

Unsafe and Condemned

 

Oakland Tribune 1958

In 1954 Prescott Junior High (name change?) was condemned for being dangerous to the students. At that time, there was no budget to replace it.

Prescott Today

Prescott is located at 920 Campbell St.

 

Prescott School Today – Google Maps

The school has been operating under the name PLACE @ Prescott (Preparatory Literary Academy of Cultural Excellence @ Prescott) since 2006, serving Kindergarten through 5th-grade children

More Info:

Swett Grammar School

Swett School was located at 12th Avenue and East 19th Street.

Views of Oakland 1893
Swett School – 1906 earthquake damage
Owning Institution: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library
Permalink: https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/hb9199p3sm/

Woodrow Wilson Junior High

Woodrow Wilson Junior High started as Mosswood Junior High in August of 1923. It was located at the corner of 48th and Webster Streets. In 1924 the school’s name was changed.

Oakland Tribune Feb 19, 1924

In 1926 they laid the cornerstone for a new school.

Oakland Tribune Oct 28, 1926
Oakland Tribune Aug 20, 1927
Woodrow Wilson Junior circa the 1970s

In the early 1970s, Woodrow Wilson Junior High School was demolished, and a new school was built. In the mid-1970s, the school was renamed the Verdese Carter Middle School.

Demolition of Woodrow Wilson School in the 1970s
from Adrienne Broach
Demolition of Woodrow Wilson School in the 1970s
from Adrienne Broach

Woodrow Wilson Today

The School Today Google Maps

In 2007 the Oakland Unified school district opened its first school that enrolls only immigrant students. The Oakland International High School is modeled after international high schools in New York City for newcomers to the United States. The school was still open in 2019.

More Info:

The school is located at 4521 Webster St.

  • Oakland International High School – OUSD
  • West Coast District Uses East Coast Model – August 2007

Updated August 2023

The End

3 thoughts on “Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 2

  1. I lived in High Street homes low-income housing projects and went to there High Street homes Grammar School. I don’t know when the entire project and school was torn down. However after reading the history of other schools in Oakland, I am curious 2 read about High Street homeschool.

  2. i am looking for the name of a Special Education School for handicapped students that was location in the Oakland hills area between 1963 and 1973. it was on or near Lincoln Ave. Any information would be helpful. thank you.
    Thelma Elbert, 770-774-0064 and elbert2000@bellsouth,net.

Leave a Reply