The 1918 Flu Pandemic (aka the ‘Spanish Flu’) infected and killed millions of people globally, including killing more than 1,400 in Oakland, California. (The population at that time was about 216,000.)
There were two major outbreaks in Oakland, one in the fall of 1918, and another in January 1919.
In one particularly grim 24 hour period in November 1918, 39 deaths were recorded. 2 Schools were closed, and citizens were required to wear masks to help prevent the spread of the disease. (https://oaklandwiki.org/1918_Flu_Pandemic)
Oakland Tribune November 2, 1918
S.O.S! Need Ten!
Wear you mask whenever you on the street”
Oakland Police
The police arrested 488 overnight on November 03, 1918. Every arrest was held over for $10.00 bail. Many stay overnight because they couldn’t raise the bail. Oakland Tribune – Nov 03, 1918
Makeshift Hospital
The Oakland Municipal Auditorium is being used as a temporary hospital with volunteer nurses from the American Red Cross tending the sick there during the influenza pandemic of 1918, Oakland, California, 1918. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
The Oakland Auditorium (now the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) was used as a makeshift hospital because the existing hospitals were overwhelmed.
Volunteer caregivers from the American Red Cross preparing surgical dressings for sufferers of influenza during the great flu pandemic of 1917-1918.
The War is Over! Celebrate!
Oakland Tribune Nov 11, 1918
World War I ended in November 1918. News about the pandemic was put on the back burner, even more.
The city of Oakland invited everyone to come and celebrate the end of the war on November 11, 1918. The event was held at the city hall plaza.
No wonder there was another outbreak in November 1918 and January 1919.!
New Cases
January 11, 1991
On January 11, 1919, 312 new cases and 17 deaths were reported in the 24 hours ending at 9 am that morning. By 11 am, that same day, another 112 new cases and three additional deaths were reported. Oakland Tribune January 11, 1919
In this series of posts, I hope to show Then and Now images of Oakland Schools. Along with a bit of the history of each school, I highlight.
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.
Montera Junior High
Montera and Joaquin Miller Schools are located where Camp Dimond, owned by the Boy Scouts, once was. The camp opened in 1919 and closed in 1949 when the board of education purchased the land.
Groundbreaking
The groundbreaking ceremony was held in December 1957. The school was next to Joaquin Miller Elementary School. Speakers at the event were Peter C. Jurs, board member; Mrs. Robert Hithcock, President of the Joaquin Miller PTA; Zoe Kenton, eighth-grade student; Jim Ida, seventh-grade student; and Supt Selmer Berg. Rev Robert H. Carley led the invocation.
Malcolm D. Reynolds and Loy Chamberlain designed the school. The new school featured: Administration Offices.
Construction
Jan 1958
1958
Parking Lot – November 1958
Gymnasium
June 1958 Russ Reed Photo
Naming the School
Montera Junior High – Nov 1959
The school was temporarily called Joaquin Miller Junior High because it is adjacent to Joaquin Miller Elementary School.
As in all new Oakland Schools, the students, faculty, and community help choose the school’s name.
Recommendations to the school board from the school’s parent-facility club were as follows:
Jack London Junior High
Montera Junior High
Pineview Junior High
They were set to vote on the name at the next board meeting. Before they could vote, they received a second letter from the parent-faculty club at the school withdrawing the recommendation of Jack London Junior High.
Theparents said that.
London was not a fit person for the honor.“
Parent – Faculty
SF Chronicle – Oct 1959
A student representative said, “Montera Junior High” was the top choice for those attending the school. The area was known historically as the Montera District.
Oakland Tribune November 23, 1924
School Dedication
The school was formally dedicated as Montera Junior High on November 10, 1959
In 2011, Montera became a California Distinguished School. The woodshop is another source of school pride, having celebrated over 50 years of teaching children the arts of woodcraft. It is the only remaining woodshop in an Oakland middle school.
In this series of posts, I hope to show Then and Now images Oakland Schools. Along with a bit of history of each school, I highlight.
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.
Skyline High School
Skyline High School is located on a 45-acre (some say 35 acres) campus at the crest of the Oakland hills. The school is near the Redwood Regional Park and has a panoramic (through the trees)view of the San Francisco Bay Area on one side and Contra Costa on the other.
My School Id
Hill Area High School
Where will Oakland’s proposed new hill-area school be located”
Oakland Tribune Sep 05, 1956
Talks about a new “Hill-Area High School began in the early to mid-1950s. After weeks of field trips and meetings the possible sites for the new school were reduced from eight to three.
They finally they decided on a 31-acres site at Skyline Blvd and Fernhoff Road – No 1 above and below.
The new hill area high school costs were expected to be almost $4,000,000, with nearly $3,000,000 earmarked for site development and construction.
Oakland Tribune May 21, 1958
For 1,500 students, the plans called for fifty-four classrooms, a library, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, an auditorium, and administrative offices. The number of classrooms would be increased to 67 for 2,000 students.
The Oakland architectural firm of Warnecke and Warnecke were hired to design the new school.
Construction
The grading and excavation was complete by July of 1959 at a cost of $182,000
Montclarion 1961
Architects Warnecke and Warnecke estimated the school building would cost $3,650,600 in addition to the money already spent on the site, and development would bring the total to $4,623,301.
Some of the suggestions to cut the cost was.
Omit a $500,000 auditorium
Omit the covered walkways for a savings of $97,000
Substitute 13 portables classrooms for permanent buildings to save $266,800
Oakland Tribune Jan 25, 1959
The contract to build the Hill Area High School was awarded to Branagh and Son, at a cost of $4,140,500 for 50 classrooms.
Construction was set to begin in November of 1959
The school was set to open in the fall of 1961.
Oakland Tribune Jan 25, 1961
Loud protests that the “tentative” boundaries for the new Hill Area High School would keep low income and minority groups prompted the Board of Education to request further study on the matter in January of 1961.`
Representatives of the NAACP told the board members that keeping attendance boundaries in hill area would make the new facility a
“private prep school supported by public funds.”
The existing boundaries of the four high schools in Oakland then had lines extending to the eastern limits of the city allowed for a wide divergence of racial and economic backgrounds.
The proposed boundary for the new school stretched along the top lines of the hills would only allow for “horizontal mobility.”
David P. McCullum, president of the Oakland NAACP, stressed that “Negros would not be the only ones deprived of a chance to attend the new school but that all races in the lower economic group would be cut out.
” It is not just a color problem-it is a total problem.”
Henry J. Kaiser Jr was the chairman of PACE (Oakland’s Public Advisory Committee on Education), and he wrote in a letter to the board of education that.
“This is the time when all of us-the Negro people and the white people-should face common problems together and work them out to our mutual satisfaction, to the end that the community is strengthened and our school children are given the maximum opportunities for development.”
McCullum said:
Skyline boundaries don’t just shut out Negroes, but create general “economic” segregation which also affects many white people.
The new attendance boundaries brought charges of gerrymandering.
The Segregation unintentional School Official Decries”
April 03, 1962
But today there are many Negro children in junior highs which feed into Skyline High School”
Selmer Berg Apr 1962
The discussion on Skyline’s borders went on for a few more years. In 1964 an ‘Open” enrollment plan was proposed, and eventually, it was accepted.
Oakland Tribune Feb 26, 1961
The new boundary did the best job of following present junior high attendance lines, and in giving relief to Castlemont, Fremont, Oakland High and Technical High.
The Name Skyline Wins!
In January of 1961, Dr. George C. Bliss was appointed the first principal of Skyline. Dr. Bliss had with the Oakland schools for 36 years most recently as the principal of Technical High School.
School board members received suggestions that the new Hill Area High school be named Sequoia or Skyline High.
Montclarion 1961
In February of 1961, Oakland’s newest high school had an official name.
The board voted at the regular meeting to call the $4.5 million school “Skyline High School”.
Athletic Shakeup
To fill Skyline, they planned on taking the following students from:
700 from Oakland
400 from Fremont
200 from Castlemont
125 from Technical
Seniors could stay at their present school and graduate with their class, and junior within the new boundaries also had that choice. Sophomores had no choice. They must go to Skyline.
This meant that some of the star athletes would be leaving their school for Skyline.
Oakland’s starting basketball guard and the best high jumper in track and field were bound for Skyline.
Oakland High was set to lose Paul Berger, their coach of nine years.
Ben Francis was the sophomore starting basketball guard at Oakland High, who must switch to Skyline. Others were Craig Breschi,Glen Fuller, Jim Ida, and Ed Huddleson.
Oakland Tribune Nov 03, 1962
Ben Haywood Oakland’s best high jumper was bound for Skyline.
JUNIOR BEN HAYWOOD WIND FOUR EVENTS
Oakland Tribune Mar 03, 1962
It was announced in April of 1961 that no varsity football would be played the first year at Skyline, by principal Dr. George Bliss.
“Football depends a great deal on size and weight.” the principal said, ” and we’ll be outnumbered two and three to one in seniors by the other schools.”
Skyline High circa 1963
Dedication
Sky’s the limit
All we have to do is develop the finest school that’s possible-one that everybody can look up to”
Dr. George Bliss – Aug 1961
The formal dedication for the school was held in December of 1961. The ceremony was held in the auditorium, with music provided by the Skyline Concert Band and Choir.
Oakland Tribune Dec 04, 1961
The formal presentation was made by Selmer Berg the Sup. of the Schools with Arch W. Host and Leroy D. Smith accepting on behalf of the students and faculty.
In a surprise feature to the program the auditorium was named the Selmer H. Berg Hall in his hoor.
The school newspaper is the Skyline Oracle and the yearbook is the Olympian. These publications have existed since the early decades of Skyline High history. The participants of each publication are involved by taking the offered courses. The Skyline Oracle has won numerous honors over the years for the quality of its publication.
Skyline Mascot
Arson Fire
From Chris Treadway
In January of 1973, an ex-student of Skyline who at the time was AWOL from Fort Ord broke into the 20 Building in search of food or money. He said he threw a lighted match into a can of cleaning fluid. He said he tried to put the fire out but fled and pulled the fire alarm. When the fire department responded, they were unable to find it. Neighbors later saw the flames and called the fire department by this time the 20 Building was gone.
From the Skyline Yearbook
After leaving Skyline, he broke into a church down the hill and was arrested by the police; he had set off the silent alarm. While in police custody, he confessed to starting a fire at Skyline.
I hope to show Then and Now images of Oakland Schools in this series of posts on Oakland Schools. Along with a bit of the history of each school. Some photos are in the form of drawings, 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.
Dag Hammarskjöld School
Sorry I wasn’t able to find any pictures of the school. Let me know if you have any.
The new Columbia Gardens school on Empire Road was a temporary school established in 1961 as a “bonus” project from the 1956 bond issue.
The school was officially named Dag hammarskjöld School after the late secretary-general of the United Nations in October of 1961.
Dedication
The school was dedicated in March of 1962.
Oakland Tribune Mar 21, 1962
The school is now a middle school called Hammarskjold (Dag) Opportunity and is located at 9655 Empire Road
$40 Million School Program Ends – Oakland Tribune Feb 02, 1964
Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School is one of the oldest schools in the Oakland Unified School District. The school had several incarnations before becoming Lincoln Elementary School.
Lincoln School’s history goes back to 1865 when the Board of Education established Primary School No. 2, “the Alice Street School,” at Alice and 6th Streets.
The school was moved to Harrison Street and renamed Harrison Primary.
The lot for the first school cost $875, and the two-room school cost $1,324. There were 60 students registered that first year.
Lincoln School in 1887
In 1872 (1878), Lincoln Grammar School was built on its site at Alice and 10th Streets. They paid $7,791 for the land, and the building, complete with “modern speaking tubes for communication,” cost $20,000.
Lincoln School in 1898
1906 Earthquake
Drawing of the New Lincoln School
The 1906 Earthquake interrupted the construction of a new school building with 22 classrooms that replaced the school from 1872. New plans were drawn to make an earthquake-proof structure. There were many delays, but the school was finally open in the fall of 1909.
Oakland Tribune Aug 31, 1907
New Lincoln School ended up costing between $150,000-$175,000.
Lincoln School offered the first manual training and homemaking classes in the city. During the flu epidemic of 1918, meals for prepared for and served to 200 daily.
New School
Preliminary plans for a new two-story concrete building were authorized in October 1957. The cost was estimated at $535 000.
The 1906 building was demolished in 1961 due to seismic safety concerns.
Oakland Tribune October 06, 1959
A new building was erected in 1962. The cost of the building was $617,000 and had 16 classrooms, offices, an auditorium, a library, and a kindergarten.
A bronze plaque of the Gettysburg Address was presented to the school.
Oakland Tribune Apr 18, 1961
The school grew and used portable classrooms to accommodate the new students.
Lincoln Today
The school is at 225 11th St. in Oakland.
The school has a long history of serving families in the Oakland Chinatown neighborhood and children from other parts of Oakland. Today, the majority of the children at Lincoln come from immigrant families across the globe. To learn more about the history of Lincoln Elementary, please visit the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project.
Lincoln Today
In 2004 the new annex building was built to replace eleven portable buildings.
Lincoln’s alums include famous Oaklanders: Raymond Eng (first Chinese-American elected to Oakland’s city council), James Yim Lee (author and student of Bruce Lee), and Benjamin Fong-Torres (famous rock journalist and author).
Distinguished School
2006: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2007: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2008: Lincoln Elementary is named a California Distinguished School and wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2009: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2010: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award and is named a National Blue Ribbon School
2011: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2012: Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award
2019: Today, Lincoln Elementary serves over 700 TK-5 students.
