Category Archives: Then and Now

Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 2

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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

July 25, 1938
July 25, 1938
July 25, 1938

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

Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 1 – A

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My 100th post!

This is the first in a series of posts on Oakland Schools.

I hope to show Then and Now images of most of the schools and a bit of the history of each school I show. 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.

Updated September 20, 2020

Castlemont High School

In 1863, Frank Silva purchased 73 acres of land for a farm. Castlemont High now stands on his land.

Oakland Tribune Oct 19, 1965

Castlemont High School is in Oakland, California, United States, formerly known as East Oakland High School. The Castlemont name was selected by a vote of the students. Castlemont High School was founded in 1929 in a medieval-style building. The school is located at 8601 MacArthur Boulevard.

 Castlemont High was designed by Chester Miller and Carl Warneke, Oakland architects. Oakland Local WIki – Castlemont High.

Castlemont Construction – Pouring the foundation.
Castlemont Under Construction
Castlemont Under Construction

On August 12, 1929, East Oakland High School opened at the cost of $670,000. Still, the name was short-lived; by a vote of the students and faculty in 1930, the name Castlemont was officially brought to prominence before being nationally designated the most beautiful school structure in the country.

Oakland Tribune July 7, 1929

The building’s main entrance is accessed from Foothill Blvd down six steps to the reflection pool, then ascends six steps to the extended terrace and the four-entry solid redwood doors.  The full length of Castlemont grounds adjacent to Foothill had been magnificently landscaped.

The building was replaced in 1961 as the old one was not earthquake-safe.

Castlemont is demolished
Castlemont is gone.

Castlemont Today

Google Maps
Google Maps

From 2004 to 2012, the large school housed three separate smaller schools called the Castlemont Community of Small Schools for eight years. The smaller schools were known by the names:

  1. Castlemont Leadership Preparatory High (10-12)
  2. Castlemont Business and Information Technology School (10-12) (CBITIS)
  3. East Oakland School of the Arts (10-12)

Dewey School

Dewey School was established as an elementary school at 38th Avenue and East 12th Street in 1899. It was a part of the Bray School District and the Fruitvale School District.

Oakland Tribune April 28, 1899

It was named after Admiral George Dewey, who was a hero in the Spanish-American War that was being fought at that time.

Dewey School circa 1916 Cheney Photo Advertising
Dewey School circa 1916 Cheney Photo Advertising

In 1964, Dewey became the first continuation high school in Oakland. Below is how Dewey looked in 1964. In 1913, an addition was added to the original school, which was still in use in 1964.

Oakland Tribune June 12, 1964

Dewey is now located at 1111 2nd Ave, Oakland, CA, 94606

Franklin School

Oakland Tribune Mar 29, 1928

The Brooklyn School was a two-story building built in 1863-64 at the cost of $5,000.

Oakland Tribune Jan 20, 1887

Brooklyn was annexed into Oakland in 1872. After the annexation, the nine-year-old school was renamed Franklin Grammar and Primary School.

Oakland Tribune Dec 30, 1874

An addition to the school was added in 1879 at the cost of $3,217.

Oakland Tribune Dec 30, 1902

On December 02, 1902, the school was destroyed by fire.

Oakland Tribune Nov 30, 1904
Oakland Tribune April 18, 1906

The new school building was almost complete when the SF earthquake of 1906 struck. The brick and steelwork were done, and the building was ready for the roof. When the school was finally done, the total cost was $204,343,45.

Franklin Grammar School – Cheney Photo Advertising circa 1912

In 1923, an oblong-shaped assembly hall was built at the rear of the school on 10th Ave and E16th. The cost is $40,000.

Oakland Tribune Nov 7, 1926

In 1943, the school’s address was 1530 Ninth Avenue.

In 1953, the 1906 brick building was declared unsafe. In 1955, it was demolished to make way for a new building. The new school was a principal part of the Clinton Park Urban Renewal Project. The school opened in Sept 1956 and was dedicated in Jan of 1957. The new school cost $467,000.

In 1956, a man, while remodeling his store, found an old report card from 1875.

Oakland Tribune Dec 20, 1959
Franklin Today –

More Info:

The school is located at 915 Foothill Blvd

Fremont High School

The John. C. Fremont High School was the successor of Fruitvale High School and was organized in 1905 by Frank Stuart Rosseter.

Oakland Tribune May 2, 1910
Fremont High School circa 1915 – Cheney Photo Advertising

The old building was destroyed in an arson fire on the night of January 01, 1930.

 

Oakland Tribune Jan 2, 1930
Oakland Tribune Jan 3, 1930

New School

Oakland Tribune July 29, 1931
Oakland Tribune January 10, 1932

The school reopened on April 19, 1932. It was constructed with the assistance of the federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds.

Fremont Today

Fremont School

More Info:

Frick Junior High

Frick was built on the Boulevard between Baker and Bay View (now Foothill and 62nd). The school takes its name from W.P. Frick, who donated the lot the school is to be built on. It was then part of the Lockwood District. The school was dedicated on March 17, 1909.

Oakland Tribune Sept 20, 1908

The first school was kindergarten through the seventh grade. The building had eight rooms. With the rapid growth of the area around Frick School, it was decided to make Frick School a junior high in 1923.

Frick Grammar School circa 1915 – Cheney Photo Advertising

New School

Oakland Tribune May 30, 1926

In 1927 a new school was built on adjoining land and was called Frick Jr. High School. The style of the new building is Spanish and Moorish architecture.

Oakland Tribune June 05, 1927

Another New School

In 1953, it was determined that the 1927 building was an earthquake risk. In 1957, the was broken for a new school fronting Brann Street. The old building was razed during the summer of 1960. The present school has been in use since 1960-61.

It is now called Frick Impact Academy

More Info:

Hamilton Junior High School

Alexander Hamilton Junior High was built in 1922. The school is located at 2101 35th Avenue.

It was named after Calvin Simmons sometime in the early to mid-1980s. The school was renamed United for Success Academy in 2006.

Google Maps

More Info:

Horace Mann Grammar School

Horace Mann was built in about 1910-1912. The school is located at 5222 Ygnacio Avenue. It was known as Melrose Heights School first.

Horace Mann Grammar School

Groundbreaking for the new Horace Mann school after it was determined to be not earthquake-safe was in 1959. The new school was formally dedicated in 1961.

 

Oakland Tribune May 11, 1959

Horace Mann today – Google Maps

More Info:

Sequoia Elementary School

Sequoia Elementary School is located on Lincoln Avenue at Scenic Avenue. It was built in 1910. Ida M. Hammond was the first principal. The building below is facing Scenic Avenue. The address of the school is 3730 Lincoln Avenue.

Original Sequoia School
Lincoln Avenue and Scenic Street

Cheney Photo Advertising Company circa 1910

In 1926, a new school building was built adjoining the original. The new building will have 13 to 14 rooms and an auditorium. It will face Lincoln Avenue, as seen below.

The original building is razed to make room for a new $235,880 addition. The addition added seven classrooms and a cafeteria.

Oakland Tribune November 28, 1958

Sequoia School today. Google maps

More Info:

Please see Part 1 B for University High School

The End

Then & Now – Old Lockwood School

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Updated August 2024

Oakland Tribune Oct 10, 1965, and Pg.2

In 1858, Miss Julia Aldrich was contracted to run a small private school on Isaac (Issac) Yoakum’s farm. Yoakum had built his house on the site of the present Lockwood School. The house was moved and replaced with a small building to be used as a school (see above).

The schoolhouse remained in use for another 42 years, with a small addition in 1892.

The school was located at the intersection of East 14th Street (County Road No. 1525 and now International Blvd), Mary Street, then 68th Avenue, and later 69th Avenue.

Map from 1912 – the red line is East 14th (now International Blvd)

In the first year, Lockwood had twelve students enrolled.

Twenty-eight boys and ten girls were enrolled in the school in February 1876. Alonzo Crawford was the teacher.

Oakland Tribune Mar 1, 1876

In August 1876 (typo in the newspaper), 20 boys and 21 girls were enrolled.

Oakland Tribune Aug 22, 1876
  • The Damon Family owned a general store at the corner of E.14th & 66th
  • The Kinsell Family lived on 94th Avenue just below E. 14th
  • The A.H. Merritt family lived on 66th Avenue
  • The Moss home was at 82nd and Foothill
  • The Silva’s owned a saloon at 84th and E. 14th

New School – 1902

The new school was built on the corner of East 14th Street and 68th Avenue in 1902. Charles H. Greenman was the principal. The school was demolished (I need to verify this) in 1936.

Oakland Tribune Nov 20, 1902
The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California Gift of ANG Newspapers circa 1917

Greenman died while fighting a fire in the school playground in 1919. In the 1950s, they named the athletic field after Greenman.

Oakland Tribune Sep 15, 1919
Oakland Tribune Dec 7, 1909

Across from the school was the 282-acre dairy belonging to William Manchido. The big pasture was later used as the landing field of Weldon Cooke, an early Oakland aviator. In 1910, Wickham Havens subdivided the land into what we now know as Havenscourt.

Oakland Tribune Nov 03, 1957

Old School is Sold – 1903

Oakland Tribune Feb 3, 1903

Class of 1904

Oakland Tribune May 1948

Lockwood Junior High

In 1913, Supervising Architect J.J. Donovan announced that a new Lockwood school building would be built at East 14th between 66th and 68th Avenues.

The school was to be one story in height, built in the early California style around a courtyard and Mission architecture. The wings were arranged to house a social center, a neighborhood meeting place, a cafeteria, and other modern innovations.

Old Timers Reunions

For many years, the former students of the school held an annual reunion for all graduates.

Oakland Tribune Feb 18, 1932
Oakland Tribune Jul 16, 1951
Oakland Tribune May 13, 1959

The Lockwood Quill

Oakland Tribune May 11, 1919

Lockwood School Band

Oakland Tribune May 1947
Oakland Tribune May 1947
Oakland Tribune Aug 5, 1909

Traffic Reserve

The first traffic reserve unit was formed at Lockwood in February 1928.

Oakland Tribune May 18, 1947

More Info:

Also known as Havenscourt Junior High

Now the Coliseum College Prep Academy – OUSD

The present Lockwood School building was built in 1953-54

In 2007, Futures Elementary School opened as a small school on the historic Lockwood campus, which had been home to students for over 100 years.

  • Futures Elementary School – OUSD

The End

Royal E. Towns – Engine Company No. 22

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 Royal Edward Towns (February 10, 1899–July 23, 1990) was one of the first African American firefighters in Oakland. He was born in Oakland in 1899.

Royal E. Towns

He joined the OFD in 1927 and was assigned to Engine Company No. 22, a segregated firehouse in West Oakland. The station is located at 3320 Magnolia Street. He helped train many other black applicants to pass the test and was a scoutmaster for a Boy Scout troop that included Sam Golden, who became the first African American fire chief in Oakland.

The exterior of Engine No 22 firehouse

Royal Towns was the 11th black Oakland fireman hired in 1927. They didn’t employ the 12th for another 15 years.

Royal E. Towns (center) and his colleagues with Engine Company No. 22
of the racially segregated Oakland Fire Department. (1943)
Royal E. Towns and his colleagues with Engine Company No. 22 of the racially segregated Oakland Fire Department. (1943)

In 1971 there were only 35 black firefighters.

Towns became the first to be promoted in the OFD. He became a chief operator in 1941 and retired as a lieutenant in 1962.

Royal Towns on the left with Oakland firefighters standing in front of fire engine no. 22 – Circa 1943

Royal Towns was instrumental in helping desegregate the fire department. He helped train many other black applicants to pass the fire department test.

Personal Life

Royal Towns was born in Oakland on February 10, 1899, to William Towns and Elizabeth Towns.

Towns married Lucille Dennis on May 26, 1920. Together they had three children. The family lived in various locations within Oakland.

Royal E. Towns died July 23, 1990, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery

More Photos

The photos are courtesy of the Royal E. Towns papers, MS 26, African American Museum and Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California. Photos at Calisphere

3320 Magnolia Street Oakland – Then and Now
It is no longer a Fire Station
Rolling Hoses in front of Engine No 22
Two firefighters attaching hoses to a fire hydrant, firefighters practicing with fire hoses in the park in the background – on Peralta Street
Today Google Maps
Firefighters holding a fire hose in the street next to
Gleason and Company building and today
Firefighters are holding a fire hose in the street next to Gleason and Company building.
Circa 1950s – 34th and Magnolia
Firefighters are holding a fire hose in the street next to Gleason and Company building.
Circa 1950s – 34th and Magnolia and today
Looking down Magnolia towards 34th St
A fireman jumping off the ladder
Dog climbing ladder to get an apple

More on Royal E. Towns

The End

Oakland and Surroundings – Then and Now

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A few of the illustrations from the 1885 Oakland and Surrounding compared to modern-day or an earlier date.

Nichol Block

The Nichol Block was built in 1878 and is now a part of “Old Oakland.” It is located at the northeast corner of 9th Street and Washington.

Northeast corner of 9th and Washington Streets. Arlington Hotel in circa 1937
Downtown Property Owner’s Association.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
Present Day
From Old Oakland Wikipedia

Galindo Hotel

  • Built 1877
  • 8th and Franklin
  • B. Wright Proprietor
  • J.C. Matthews & Sons Architects
  • 1972 Destroyed by fire
Galindo Hotel
Date after 1933
Historic American Building Survey
Survey No HABS CA-1898

Cole School

  • Built circa 1885 to circa 1923
  • 10th Street between Union and Poplar
  • Named for Rector E. Cole
  • Jack London attended the school
Circa 1885
Front doors of the Cole School building
with several children standing on the sidewalk.
Date 1908
Huntington Library Jack London Collection

Pacific Press Publishing House

Under the direction of James White, the leader of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Pacific Press building was erected in 1875 as a publishing and printing firm. It was destroyed by fire in 1977, arson was suspected. The building was in the way of the Grove -Shafter Freeway (980).

Circa 1885
Pacific Press Building
Circa 1975
Images from the Ellen G. White estate http://ellenwhite.org/
Pacific Press Building
Circa 1977
Images from the Ellen G. White estate http://ellenwhite.org/

More Info:

Homes near Fruitvale…

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Some time ago, I found this picture on the Oakland History Room online site.

Homes near Fruitvale Avenue and Hopkins Street (later MacArthur Boulevard) in the Dimond district of Oakland, California. A large vegetable garden dominates the foreground, and Higgins Church on Hopkins Street is in view towards the back. DATE: [circa 1905] Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

I love to try and figure out the who, what and where. I would instead try to figure it out all by myself before asking for help. That is the fun part for me. Sometimes it is effortless. Other times it is not.

The biggest clue to this photo was the Higgins Church on Hopkins, which is now MacArthur Blvd. I started there.

I started looking into the Higgins Church. The church in 1898 was located near Fruitvale Ave and Hopkins in the old Fruitvale School building. It had some connection to the Fred Finch Orphanage.

Oakland Tribune Mar 1896

Oakland Tribune Mar 1896

In 1907 they laid the cornerstone for a new church at the corner of School St and Boston. The church was renamed Fruitvale ME Church. Joaquin Miller read a poem at the groundbreaking. The church building was dedicated in 1908.

The church building is still there with a few additions or modifications and is located at 3111 Boston. It now called the First Samoan Congregation Christian Church

Oakland Tribune May 1907

Oakland Tribune 1907
San Francisco Call July 1908

A couple days ago, I found a Knave article “Memories linger for Dimond District Pioneers” in the Oakland Tribune in November 1970. The 2nd page of the article included this same picture with some new clues.

Oakland Tribune Nov 1970

I now have clues for the house and a different church. So off I went to find out more.

The house is located at 3231 Boston Ave at Harold Street.
From Google maps – 3231 Boston Ave today from Goggle maps -2460 Palmetto – today
The church is located at 2464 Palmetto St. While it is no longer a church, I believe this is the same building. See below
The Church today

I think the location has been solved. I thought the house was moved or demolished due to building the freeway, and it almost was. I am so glad it is still there.

From Google maps – The area today– Thanks, Morgan!

The End