Then & Now – Oakland Schools Part 2

This is the third in a series of posts on Oakland Schools. I intend to show Then and Now pictures of the schools, along with a bit of history of each school if. Some of the pictures are in the form of drawings, postcards or from pages in historical books.

Not all schools will be included in this series. Sometimes I might just post a picture of the school.

Campbell School

The school was built in 1869 as the Grove Street School. The name was changed in 1906 to Campbell School when it was named after Fred Campbell superintendent of Oakland schools from 1870-1870 and 1886-1890. He was state superintendent of schools 1880-1883.

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

In 1907 a new school was built . The Mission Style school was designed by Architect F.E. Voorhees. It contained seven classroom and office for the principal. It cost about $38,000 to build.

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

The school was located at 416 Grove Street.

• New Campbell School opens – Oakland Tribune Mar 30, 1907
• Miss Campbell Retires – Oakland Tribune Jun 09, 1926
• Old Campbell School – Oakland Tribune Jun 09, 1926
• Sale of School – Oakland Tribune May 1954

Cleveland School

In 1912 the first drawing for a new Peralta Heights school was submitted to the school board. John J. Donovan was the architect. 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.

Sometime during the late 50s or early 60s the old school was removed and a new replaced it.

Cleveland Elementary School is located at 745 Cleveland Street.

• New Peralta Heights School – Oakland Tribune Jul 09, 1912
• Cleveland School Website – OUSD

Cole Grammar School

Cole Grammar School was opened in 1885 in West Oakland on 10th Street between Union and Poplar Streets.

 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

Cole School was located at 1011 Union Street.

As of 2013 Cole School is the headquarters of the Chief of Police.

• Rector E Cole – A bit of History

Piedmont Avenue School

The Piedmont Avenue School as seen below was built in 1891. It was located on Piedmont Avenue at John Street and across the street from where the school is now located.

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

The school at that time was used by both children from Piedmont and Oakland. The building was designed by William Kirk and cost about $10,000 to build. The school had 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.

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

In July of 1938 while the students were on summer break the school was destroyed by fire that was considered arson. Ten fireman were injured four of them seriously.

The new school was dedicated in March of 1941.

• New Piedmont School – Oakland Tribune Feb 13, 1892
• Firebug Hunt is On – Oakland Tribune July 25, 1938
• School Burns – Oakland Tribune July 25 1938
• School to Be Rebuilt – Oakland Tribune Aug 02, 1938
• Piedmont Avenue School – OUSD

Prescott School

Prescott School started in 1866 as a one room primary school. It was located at Ninth and Campbell Streets which was dirt roads surrounded by woods. In 1869 a new two-story building with four classrooms on each floor opened the largest and it was the most up to date school in Oakland.

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

New School

Prescott Primary school was constructed in record time of 187 work days by Lawton & Vezey, a local contractor.

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

Unsafe and Condemned

In 1954 Prescott Junior High (somewhere in time it was changed?) was condemned for being unsafe and a hazard to the students. At that time there was no money in the budget to replaced it.

Prescott is located at 920 Campbell St.

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

• 150 Years of Prescott – OUSD
• Prescott website- OUSD
• Place@Prescott website – OUSD

Swett Grammar School

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

Woodrow Wilson Junior High

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

In 1926 they laid the cornerstone for a new school.

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

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

The school is located at 4521 Webster St.

• Odd Fellows to Dedicate School – Oakland Tribune Oct 29, 1926
• School Dedicated – Oakland Tribune Aug 20, 1927
• Mosswood Junior High – Oakland Tribune Jan 03, 1949

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

The End

Updated October 27, 2019