Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 14

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.

I wasn’t able to locate pictures of Sheffield School. I am hoping someone might have some. The same goes for Burbank, although I think the school looks pretty much the same now as it was built in 1950.

Update January 17, 2020

Burbank School

In 1928 plans for the new Burbank School on 64th Avenue in East Oakland were approved. The new six-room brick structure was to cost $60,000 and house 270 students.

 

The school is named after Luther Burbank, a botanist and horticulturist who made his home in Northern California.

 
Oakland Tribune Dec 8, 1928

 

Oakland Tribune Dec 28, 1928

New School

In 1948 plans for a new school and the reconstruction of the old school, the building was approved. They added an auditorium and a couple more classrooms. Hudspeth and Cerruti were the architects.

Oakland Tribune November 16, 1950

The new $297,777 Luther Burbank Elementary School was dedicated on November 15, 1950. The building is a one-story and had a capacity of 315 students.

 

Oakland Tribune Nov 16, 1950

School Song

High Upon a hill near home, there’s a school my very, very own
Its name is Burbank Elementary, and of all the schools in Oakland, It’s the only one for me
Burbank School, where we study hard each day
Burbank School, where we have some fun and play
Burbank School, you’re the best in every way
So we give three cheers for Burbank School
Hurray, Hurray, Hurray!

Burbank Today

 

Burbank Today – OUSD

 

Burbank Today – OUSD

Burbank was closed by the Oakland Unified School District in 2004.

In September 2010, Burbank Preschool Center was opened.

Burbank is a special place in OUSD that supports infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with special needs through exemplary special education programming as well as related services

 

Burbank Today – OUSD

More Info:

It is located at 3550 64th Ave.

Burbank School – Oakland Local Wiki

Burckhalter Elementary School

 

Oakland Tribune Aug 30, 1925

In 1923 a new one-room school was built on Sunkist Drive; the school was called Columbia Park (Columbian Park). Susie Thompson was the custodian of the school for three years. She lived next door to the school at 6868 Sunkist.

 

Oakland Tribune Aug 18, 1925

In the obituary of Susie Thompson, it is reported that a wind storm destroyed the first school, which was replaced by a new building in 1925.

 

New School

In September of 1948, they broke ground for the new Burckhalter School.

 

Oakland Tribune Sep 16, 1948

Burckhalter Today

 

Burckhalter Today – OUSD photo

 

Burckhalter Today – OUSD photo

 

Burckhalter Today – OUSD photo

More Info:

The school is located at 3994 Burckhalter Avenue, Oakland, CA, 94605

Burckhalter School Website – OUSD

Carl B Munck Elementary

Plans were approved for the new Redwood Road Elementary School at 5000 Redwood Road. E. Geoffrey Bangs was the architect. The site included a field for the Oakland Recreation Department.

 

Oakland Tribune Nov 18, 1959
  • 12 Classrooms
  • Administration Offices
  • Library
  • Multipurpose Room

The new school opened in 1960. The name was changed to honor Carl B Munck, who was the president of the school board (five times), was president of the California School Board, and was the president of the National School Boards Association in 1958.

 

Oakland Tribune Apr 1962

On a rare snow day in 1962, icicles formed on the shrubs after a sprinkler was left on.

 

Oakland Tribune Jan 22, 1962

In 1962 five local Girl Scout troops they donated a Colorado blue spruce tree to the school in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts.

 

Oakland Tribune Mar 27, 1962

Bus Service

In 1965 students were able to ride the bus to school. The bus made six to seven trips daily.

 

Oakland Tribune Sep 14, 1966

In 1966 without warning, the service was ended at the beginning of the school year as part of the Oakland School Board’s effort to make ends meet. Parents were concerned with the safety of children who couldn’t get a ride to school.

The young fourth-grader walks about a mile to school every day, up a steep and winding Redwood Road.

Mrs. Niall Quinn – Sep 1966

Mrs. Niall Quinn – Sep 1966

Munck Today

 

Munck Today OUSD

 

Munck Today OUSD

 

Munck Today OUSD

More Info:

The school is located at 11900 Campus Drive.

Howard Elementary School

Before being named Howard Elementary School, it was called King Elementary School. The ground was broken for the school in March of 1959.

Alvin Fingalo and George Kern, with David Horn, designed the school.

Oakland Tribune December 10, 1958
School Opens – September 06, 1960
School Opens September 06, 1960

The new Howard School was dedicated on December 13, 1960. It was named after Charles P. Howard, a civic leader.

 

Oakland tribune Dec 13, 1960

 

Oakland tribune Dec 13, 1960

Howard Today

 

Howard Today – OUSD

 

Howard Today – OUSD

Today it is the Sojourner Truth Independent Study (K-12), an alternative public school.

Sojourner Truth website – OUSD

More Info:

The school is located at 8755 Fontaine Street

Kaiser Elementary School

Oakland Tribune Feb 1962

The school was named in honor of Henry J. Kaiser Jr., an industrialist and civic leader.

 

Oakland Tribune Feb 05, 1964

Integration Bus Program

 

Oakland Tribune Sept 12, 1966

 

Oakland Tribune Sept 12, 1966

Kaiser Today

The school is located at 25 South Hill Court

 

Kaiser Today – OUSD

More Info:

Markham Elementary School

The Krause Avenue School (Webster Annex) was formally dedicated in November 1928.

 

Oakland Tribune Jul 31, 1928

The “Krause Avenue School” before being demolished to make room for the new school in 1956.

Oakland Tribune February 04, 1956

In March of 1929, the Oakland Board of Education changed the name of the Webster Annex school to Edwin Markham School in honor of the widely known California poet and educator. Edwin Markin was principal of the Tompkins School from 1891-1899

New School

 

Oakland Tribune Oct 14, 1949

In 1949 a new $450,000 school building with ten classrooms, an auditorium, and a kindergarten was dedicated. The building has a capacity of 385 students and was designed by Edward T. Foulkes.

 

Oakland Tribune Oct 14, 1949

 

Oakland Tribune Oct 23, 1949

 

Oakland Tribune Apr 1958

Markham Today

 

More Info:

Located at 7220 Krause Avenue.

Sheffield Village School

Note: I have not been able to locate any pictures of the school

 

Oakland Tribune March 1950

The Sheffield Village School opened in March 1950. The four-classroom building was designed by C.A. Whitten, Dir. of Architecture for the Oakland Public Schools. The school cost $40 300.

The school closed in 1964, and the students were transferred to the San Leandro School District. The site is now used as a park and the Sheffield Recreation Center.

The school site today

More Info:

The school was located at 241(251) Marlow Drive.

The End

Melrose Highlands- Part 2

Oakland Tribune

In 1935 Phil Heraty, a local real estate agent and developer, took over the sales of Melrose Highlands.

Colonial Village – 1935

A type of English brick was used on the exterior of a few houses that were built in 1935.

Oakland Tribune June 19357773 Greenly Drive

Oakland Tribune July 1935

Oakland Tribune July 19357765 Greenly Drive

Oakland Tribune July 7, 1935

Both the houses are on Greenly Drive, they are side by side at 7765 and 7775.

Google Maps – 7775 Greenly Drive

Heraty to Build 100 Homes – Jan 1940

Oakland Tribune Jan 14, 1940
Oakland Tribune 1940

Cape Cod Colonial – 7776 Sterling Drive

Six generous sized rooms with light-filled upstairs bedrooms. Downstairs has the living room, dinette, and kitchen. Detached Garage. Price $4150.00.

Oakland Tribune 1940

The present-day photo below. I see they made a room out of the garage.

7776 Sterling Drive – Google Maps

Oakland Tribune 1940

7225 Sterling Drive – 1940

Oakland Tribune Mar 1940

Oakland Tribune Mar 1940
7725 Sterling – Google MAPS

Heraty Homes – Greenly Drive

Forty new -home owners have moved into Melrose Highlands since his organization became the selling agents

said Heraty – Oakland Tribune Sept 08, 1940

said Heraty – Oakland Tribune Sept 08, 1940
Oakland Tribune Sept 08, 1940

New Economy Home at 8108 Greenly Drive – 1940

Oakland Tribune Aug 18, 1940

8108 Greenly Drive – REDFIN.Com

Building Progress in Melrose Highlands

Below is about 8032 Fontaine Street, which was lost due to the construction of the freeway.

Oakland Tribune Aug 1940

Oakland Tribune May 11, 1941

Beautiful Melrose Highlands – 1941

In May of 1941, a furnished “Model Home’ opened in Melrose Highlands at 8033 Fontaine Street.

8033 Fontaine Street – Google Maps

Oakland Tribune May 11, 1941

Built to Order in Melrose Highlands – 1941

A Garden Showplace on Greenly Drive

The home of R.E. Derby on 7757 Greenly Drive was featured in the garden section on the Oakland Tribune in July of 1939.

their principal concern was, what to do with the “mud hole” in the backyard.

R.E Derby – July 16, 1939

R.E Derby – July 16, 1939

Oakland Tribune July 16, 1939
Oakland Tribune July 16, 1939
Oakland Tribune July 16, 1939

The End

Melrose Highlands is Healthier!

Melrose Highlands is the area off Keller Avenue to the King Estates Open Space, Field Street, and Crest Avenue – The area is now called Eastmont Hills.

Melrose Highlands to Open

Melrose Highlands is a part of the ‘old Houston ranch” (I have to find out more about Houston, I think it might be Hewston), and a portion of the property was used by the National Guard as a rifle range ( see my blog here).  It lies between Leona Heights and Sequoia Country Club and the Upper San Leandro filter plant (7700 Greenly Drive) on the west side.

Oakland Tribune July 17, 1925

The tract opened on July 19, 1925

C.P. Murdock was the developer and sales agent for Melrose Highlands.

Oakland Tribune July 12, 1925

Melrose Highlands location was ideal for the people to be employed in the industrial plants of East Oakland. It was up the hill from the Chevrolet Assembly plant that opened a few years before.

Oakland Tribune July 26, 1925

They offered a lot and a completely built home on easy terms. A homesite and building material, or just a homesite, could be purchased.

3 Offers to pick from

  1. House and homesite complete – $100 down and $1 a day.
  2. Homesite and material for a house – $50 down and 75c. a day
  3. Homesite – $25 down and 50c.a day

These homes were complete and comfortable, from the concrete foundations to the plastered walls. A sink, wash basin, toilet, and bathtub are included in the price. The kitchens had built-in cabinets.

On Keller Avenue – Oakland Tribune August 23, 1925
Oakland Tribune November 8, 1925

A group of 12 homes was almost complete. Oakland Tribune – July 26, 1925

In Melrose Highlands we are going to give the working man a chance to get the sort of house to which he has long looked for

  C.P. Murdock, Inc.
Oakland Tribune – July 12, 1925

 

Transportation

CP Murdock established a bus line that ran on a regular schedule designed to appeal to the wage earners of the industrial district.

Oakland Tribune August 23, 1925

“Men can reach their work, women can go shopping, and children can get to high school, from Melrose Highlands”

August 23, 1925
Oakland Tribune January 15, 1926

A.J. Krajnc and His Home In Melrose Highlands

In September 1925, Anton J. Krajnc moved into his new home with his wife and daughter. This was his first time buying a home and the first family on Earl Street.

“It’s Paying Me To Live In Melrose Highlands”

A.J. Krajnc

From the 1928 Directory – 234 is now 7957 Earl Steet
Oakland Tribune 1925
The House Today Google Maps

The Adams home on Earl Street

The new home of William E. Adams on Earl Street. Their home was located at lot No. 232, now 7941 Earl Street, but the houses don’t look the same.

Oakland Tribune November 29, 1925
7941 Earl Street -Google Maps

“Croup Cured by Warm Climate of Melrose Highlands”

“I am so glad we moved to Melrose Highlands,” states Mrs. W Booth. “Over on 64th Avenue, I was up almost every night taking care of one or more children suffering from croup.”

Oakland Tribune January 17, 1926

“Melrose Highlands is healtier.”

Mrs Boothe 1926
1927 Directory – Anderson Street is now Kelller Avenue
The Booth Home today 7908 Earl Street – Google Maps

Moved from San Francisco to Melrose Highlands

“I still work in San Francisco as a molder, and find that by taking my car over to the Seminary Southern Pacific Station I get home at night by 5:45.”

Oakland Tribune January 31, 1926
A similar house to theirs – Google Maps

Homes and Life in Melrose Highlands

Oakland Tribune Apr 1926
Oakland Tribune August 29, 1926

Many New Homes

Oakland Tribune January 17, 1926

New School for Melrose Highlands

In 1923  the “Columbia Park School” was built on Sunkist Drive.  It was next to the home of Susie Thompson and her husband Roy, who lived at 6886 Sunkist Drive.

Oakland Tribune 1925

Mrs. Thompson was the custodian of the one-room school building for three years when only 14 families lived in the area.

The school was later destroyed in a high wind, replaced by a new school (down the street), and then renamed the Charles Burckhalter School. Oakland Tribune, May 10, 1969.

Glad I Moved to Melrose Highlands

In January 1927, a new store was opened by John G. Koch. The store was located at 7979 Macarthur (give or take a few numbers). The building was later in the way of construction of the MacArthur Freeway (580).

“We have a fast-growing community here, and as fine a place to live as any could want”

J. Koch, the first grocer in Melrose Highlands

Oakland Tribune March 13, 1927

More Melrose Highlands Homes

Oakland Tribune January 3, 1926

The picture below shows the progress of Melrose Highlands as of June 1926. The streets with the most homes are Earl Street, Winthrop Street, Keller Avenue, and Greenly Drive.

Oakland Tribune July 11, 1926

More Info:

To be continued with the next phase of homes built in the 1930s to 1940s

Updated June 2023

The End

State Rifle Range at Leona Heights

Updated with new map – May 11, 2019

From Google maps – go here to see more of the map

Every day while taking my kids to school, we would pass a street called Rifle Lane. I thought that was a weird name, and I wondered why (they named it that), as I do many times as I drive around Oakland.

Fast forward a few years later. I looked up the history of the area. I lived in the area until 2012. The area is now called the Eastmont Hills (kind of boring). It goes back to 1925 when the C.P Murdock Company sold it as Melrose Highlands. It was just up the hill from the new Chevrolet Assembly Plant (now Eastmont Town Center). An excellent place to live if you work at the plant.

Oakland Tribune July 17, 1925

In my research, I came across the following article from July 1925. The Upper San Leandro filter plant (7700 Greenly Drive) and the State Rifle Range are adjacent to Melrose Highlands. I thought, wow, there was a rifle range right about where Rifle Lane is now. Solved that one. Well, not really, but…close.

Oakland Tribune Jul 26, 1925

Maybe now, some of the smart people who read this blog can help me figure out where the range was located. Maybe someone remembers it.

From the Oakland Tribune Oct 29, 1929 – Major fire in the Oakland Hills – threatens the rifle range. Map of the fire below –

Rifle Range
Oakland Tribune Oct 29, 1929

A bit of history

The range has been called the following:

  • National Guard rifle Range
  • California National Guard rifle range
  • State Rifle Range at Leona Heights
  • Leona Heights Rifle Range
Target range
Oakland Tribune Apr 11, 1917

In 1917 the National Guard rifle range was transferred from Marin County to Leona Heights in Oakland. They had purchased “140 acres of land directly back of the quarry for the purpose”. The land was formally the property of the Realty Syndicate. The range opened in 1920. The location varies. Close to Mills College, 2 miles from Mills College, a top of Seminary Drive, and the back of the Leona Quarry.

SF Examiner Mar 13,1921

In July 1921, a major fire destroyed most of the range. For more on the fire – Oakland Tribune Jul 04, 1921

Oakland Tribune Jul 4, 1921

It may have also been the location of the stables of the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment. I know there were horse stables there.

Oakland Tribune Mar 10, 1927

The California Guardmans highlighted the rifle range in their Feb-March 1925 issue. You can see it here.

“A California National Guard range and local training area located in the Oakland Hills of Alameda County. It may have also been the location of the stables of the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment. The site was developed approximately 1919 and was actively used until at least 1941. The site supported elements of the 143rd Field Artillery, 159th Infantry, and 250th Coast Artillery Regiments. The April 1919 edition of The American Rifleman, stated that there were 60 firing points for rifles with targets placed between 200 and 600 yards. There was also a pistol range with 14 firing points. The range was described as one of the finest ranges west of Camp Perry, Ohio.”

Military Museum site.
Oakland Tribune Dec 10, 1923

More Info:

The End