A history of the San Diego City Schools from 1542 to 1942 with emphasis upon the curriculum

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A HISTORY OF THE SAN DIEGO CITY SCHOOLS FROM 1 5 4 2 TO 1 9 4 2 WITH EMPHASIS UPON THE CURRICULUM

A T h esis P resented to th e F a c u lty of th e School of E d u catio n The U n i v e r s i t y o f S o u t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a

In P a r tia l F u lfillm en t o f th e R equ irem en ts f o r t h e Degree M aster of Science in E du cation

by H a rla n L e f f in g w e ll W ilson

UMI Number: EP56467

All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Dissertation Publishing

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gdU H-5 71- 7 * 2

This thesis, writ ten under the direction of the Chairman of the candidate s Guida nce C o m m it te e and a p p r o v e d by all me m be rs of the C om m itt e e , has been pr es e nt e d to and a c ce pt e d by the F acu lty of the Sch oo l of Ed ucati on of T h e University of Southern California in p a r tia l fu lfillment of the requirements f o r the degree of M a s t e r of Science in Education. Date ^eP^em^er

19^2

I Guidance Committee

I r v in g K. Melbo Chairman

M. M. Thompson L. P . Thorpe

Dean

M.K,

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

STATEMENT OF THE P R O B L E M .................................................... The p r o b l e m a n d i t s

j u s t i f i c a t i o n ..........................

1

D e l i m i t a t i o n s o f t h e p r o b l e m ....................................

2

D e fin itio n s

2

..................................................................................

Sources of d a ta

.

. .

.........................................................

O rg an izatio n of th e p ro ceed in g ch ap ters II.

1

.

.

•

THE PRE-AMERICAN P E R I O D .........................

o f San D iego

4 6

The S a n D i e g o M i s s i o n ......................................................... The d i s c o v e r y

3

. . . . . . . .

6 6

The c o m i n g o f Y i s c a i n o ..............................................

7

The a d v e n t o f

8

F ath er

S erra

The u n c o o p e r a t i v e D i e g u e n o

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

The c o n c e n t r a t i o n p o l i c y .............................................

9 13

.....................

14

R elig io u s in s tru c tio n

...................................................

15

Academ ic i n s t r u c t i o n

....................................................

17

V ocatio n al ed u catio n

....................................................

19

The d a i l y s c h e d u l e .........................................................

20

The M i s s i o n o b j e c t i v e s

. . . . .

E f f e c t s o f M is s io n i n s t r u c t i o n upon th e Indians

.....................

21

E v a l u a t i o n o f M i s s i o n e d u c a t i o n ..........................

22

S e c u la r ed u catio n

..........................

. . . . .

.

*

.........................................

24

iii CHAPTER

PAGE C o n t r a s t b e tw e e n M i s s i o n and P r e s i d i o .

.

24

E a r l y g r o w t h o f t h e t o w n .........................................

£6

...............................

28

L i b e r a l i s m s u p p r e s s e d b y P a d r e s .....................

29

Needs f o r academ ic s k i l l s

31

N eglect o f s e c u la r e d u catio n

F irst

lim ited

. . . .

attem p t to s e c u la r iz e le a rn in g

San D ie g o ’ s f i r s t

school,

1795

.

. . .

35

..........................

L a t e r s c h o o ls convened i r r e g u l a r l y

• • • •

36 38

E c h e a n d ia ’ s e f f o r t s t o prom ote s e c u l a r s c h o o l s ............................................................................. F irst

c o n tr ib u tio n of m u n icip al

funds to

s c h o o l s .........................................................

40

R e e s ta b lis h m e n t o f s c h o o ls i n 1844 . . . .

41

C u r r i c u l u m .............................

42

Schoolroom p r o c e d u r e

...................................................

43

.............................................................................

45

S upplies

III.

39

C o u r s e o f s t u d y ...........................................................

46

C h a p t e r sum m ary

47

. .............................................. .

.

THE EARLY AMERICAN P E R I O D .............................................. San D iego becom es an A m erican v i l l a g e

. . .

No i m m e d i a t e e d u c a t i o n a l c h a n g e s a p p a r e n t .

48 48

.

49

...................................................................

51

N e g o t i a t i o n s to open t h e f i r s t p u b lic

school

A t t e m p t s t o f i n d a s c h o o l ro om

..........................

53

iv CHAPTER

PAGE I d e n t i t y o f t h e f i r s t t e a c h e r ...........

55

E f f o r t s t o b u i l d a s c h o o l h o u s e .......................... F ailu re A lu ll

o f schoolhouse p la n s

. . . . . . . .

i n e d u c a t i o n .....................................

New a g i t a t i o n f o r a s c h o o l

. . . . . . . . . 63

The f i r s t

t e a c h e r ....................................

63

F i n a n c i a l p r o b l e m s s o l v e d ......................

65

P o p u l a t i o n o f town and s c h o o l , 1855-1860

Tax p r o b l e m s San Diego i n t h e D ifficu lty

s i x t i e s .....................

in k eeping te a c h e rs

66

71 71

.............

72

...............................................

73

74

O t h e r s c h o o l m i s t r e s s e s .....................

75

school b u ild in g

61

70

o f a n e a r l y s c h o o l ................

The f i r s t

57

67

...................................

An e a r l y s c h o o l t e a c h e r P ictu re

1850. . . .

i n t h e d e c a d e ...........................

P o litic s

56

58

The f i r s t p e r m a n e n t s c h o o l ................

The p e r i o d ,

.

.........................................

77

S c h o o l d a y s u n d e r M r s . Mary 0 .

W alker M orse.

78

S c h o o l im provem ents u n d e r M rs.

Sherm an

82

The a r r i v a l o f " F a t h e r H o r t o n "

. . . . . . .

. . .

T h e v i s i o n o f a n ew c i t y .....................

84

New s c h o o l s a r e e s t a b l i s h e d ...........

88

S u m m a r i z a t i o n o f t h e d e c a d e ....................................

83

90

V

CHAPTER

PAGE The p r o j e c t e d r a i l r o a d t o S a n D i e g o .........

98

The S h e r m a n S c h o o l ..............................................................

93a

C o n t in u in g p r o s p e r i t y due t o t h e r a i l r o a d b o o m ................................................................... The new M a s o n S t r e e t S c h o o l ........................ T y p ical s a l a r i e s

93 b 94

...................................................................

94

P r i v a t e s c h o o l s d u r i n g t h e Boom P e r i o d . . .

95

School fin a n c e s in d i f f i c u l t i e s

..........................

96

..........................................

99

C o llap se of r a i l r o a d hopes

S c h o o ls c lo s e d due t o d w in d lin g p o p u l a t i o n and f i n a n c e s

.........................................

Town a g a i n i n m i d s t o f h e a l t h y g r o w t h . The R u s s S c h o o l

.

.

.

108

.................................... .....

.

103

I n t e r n a l s t a f f p r o b l e m s .................................. T eachers*

rig h ts

The f i r s t

th r o u g h t r a i n t o San D iego. . . .

106

...................................................................

Boomtown a g a i n f o r S a n D i e g o ........................ The C i t y C h a r t e r

100

109 11 0 110

........................................

113

Hew s c h o o l s d e v e l o p e d

....................................................

113

H igh s c h o o l o r g a n i z e d

....................................

114

T he k i n d e r g a r t e n i n t r o d u c e d ........................

1 15

C o llap se of th e

s e c o n d b o o m ........................

118

B e n e f i t s r e s u l t i n g f r o m t h e b o o m ..............

119

H igh c a l i b e r o f Board o f T r u s t e e s

. . . . .

119

vi CHAPTER

PAGE Decade 1890-1900:

stag n atio n p erio d

N ecessary school c lo su re s

.....................

12 1

...............................................

122

I n c l u s i o n o f Coronado s c h o o l i n t h e C i t y s y s t e m .........................

125 .......................

126

S c h o o l t a x e s c u t .................................... . ..............................

127

E s t a b l i s h m e n t o f t h e N o r m a l S c h o o l ..........................

128

School c u r r ic u la in th e decade

129

R ed u ctio n of t e a c h e r s ’ s a l a r i e s

*

....................................

B o a rd o f E d u c a t i o n a im s i n 1892 T eaching o f re a d in g

130

....................................

. . . . .

132

T each in g of geography

.........................................................

133

Books u s e d i n 1892

.........................

135

.

E stablish m ent of te a c h e r s ’ r a tin g

system . .

.

136

t h e C i t y C h a r t e r ...................................................................

157

S uccession of school s u p e rin te n d e n ts under

R ev isio n of the

IV .

s c h o o l c u r r i c u l u m ..........................

1 40

I n c i d e n t a l problem s in t h e .s c h o o l s . . . . . .

141

C h a p t e r s u m m a r y .........................

144

THE MODERN P E R I O D ........................................................................

147

T h e P a n a m a P a c i f i c E x p o s i t i o n ....................................

14 7

G r o w t h o f S a n D i e g o d ue t o t h e War . . . . .

148

School p o lic ie s

.

an d p r o b l e m s o f t h e

new c e n t u r y ............................................................................. L a w s u its and s p e c i a l e l e c t i o n s

....................................

148 149

v ii CHAPTER

PAGE C u r r i c u l u m r e v i s i o n w o r k ............................................. .

15 0

S ick b e n e f its f o r school s t a f f

151

P o litic s

. . . . . . .

in v o lv e the school su p e rin te n d e n c y .

S u p e r i n t e n d e n c y o f D u n c a n M a c K in n o n S trife

. . . .

15 2 153

b e tw e e n S c h o o l B o a rd and

S up erin ten d en t Chaos i n t h e

...................................................................

c ity

sc h o o l system

Losses in school personnel

156

..............................................................

157

...............................

157

...................................................................

159

The " G r e y C a s t l e on t h e H i l l ”

M arket c o lla p s e

155

..........................................

B u ild in g s h o rta g e s

T h e Boom o f 1 9 2 5

. . . . . .

154

o f 1929

160

The a d m i n s t r a t i o n o f S u p e r i n t e n d e n t H e n r y J o h n s o n ..................... ' C urriculum r e v i s io n

16 2

again undertaken

. . . .

163

B on d e l e c t i o n o f 1 9 2 8 f i n a n c e s new b u ild in g s

.........................................................

164

C u r r i c u l u m t r e n d s ..............................................................

166

T r e n d s i n p h i l o s o p h y .........................

167

The S e c o n d W o r l d War a n d i t s

im pact

u p o n S a n D i e g o ...................................................................

169

R ise of v o c a tio n a l e d u c a tio n to m eet w a r demands

.

..............................................

C u r r ic u lu m c h a n g e s n e c e s s i t a t e d by w ar

17 1 . . .

172

CHAPTER

PAGE Im provem ent of t e a c h i n g i n s k i l l

V.

su b jects.

.

173

The w a r t i m e b u i l d i n g p r o g r a m ....................................

174

CONCLUDING SUMMARY..................................................

.

177

The M i s s i o n P e r i o d ..............................................................

177

The Academ ic P e r i o d

....................................................

177

The A c a d e m i c - V o c a t i o n a l P e r i o d ...............................

178

C o n c l u s i o n ..................................................................................

179

.............................................................................

182

A P P E N D I X ............................................................................................................

193

BIBLIOGRAPHY

. .

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE

PRECEDING PAGE

1.

E a r l i e s t known p h o t o o f S a n D i e g o .........................

48

2.

o l d Town, t h e o r i g i n a l S a n D i e g o ,

71

3*

The f i r s t

schoolhouse

i n 1869

.

.

i n San Diego

The new Mason S t r e e t S c h o o l

. . . . . . . .

4.

The s i t e

5.

G o v e r n m e n t B a r r a c k s ........................

6.

The t h r e e P i n k S c h o o l s a t S i x t h & B

77

of H orton A d d itio n

84

T h e R u s s S c h o o l a n d Gymna sium

.

88

. . . . .

. . . . . . .

92

7.

O l d Town S a n D i e g o a b o u t 1 8 7 3

8.

R u s s S c h o o l ........................

103

9.

San D ieg o i n 1886

113

10.

San D iego i n th e

11.

L o w e l l S c h o o l ........................

12 1

12.

L o g a n S c h o o l .................................................................................

126

13.

Sherman S c h o o l

130

14.

L o o k i n g w e s t on M i d d l e t o w n S c h o o l

15.

U n iv e rs ity H eig hts School

.

16.

O l d Town S a n D i e g o i n 1 8 9 7

. . . . • • • • • .

17.

F r a n k l i n School 1903-1927

153

18.

S a n D i e g o N o r m a l S c h o o l B u i l d i n g ..............................

157

19.

G row th i n E n r o l l m e n t ,

20.

L i s t o f San Diego C i t y S c h o o l s , P a s t and P r e s e n t

e ig h ties

94

. . . . . . . . . .

115

....................................................... . . . . . .

135

. ...................................

141 147

San Diego C i t y S c h o o l s

.

.

194

195

L IST OF FIGURES

FIGURE

PRECEDING PAGE

I#

E a r l i e s t known p h o to o f San D ieg o

♦ * . , * . *

48

3*

Old-Town* t h e . o r i g i n a l San D ie g o , in I8 6 0 ... .

71

3.

The f i r s t se h o o lh o u se in San D ieg o The new Mason S t r e e t S c h o o l

•

* * ♦ * ' * .*■* :

77

# .

* •* > * » > *

84

* * * * * ;* *

88

4*

The s i t e o f H orton A d d itio n

5.

Government B a rra ck s

6*

The three." P ink S c h o o ls a t ' S i x t h &■ B; ■> ,*■ > >

* * , » * •

The Buss S c h o o l1and Gymnasium 7#

Old Town San D iego ab out 1873

8*

Russ S c h o o l

9*

San D ieg o i n 1886

* i# >■■;>■.> > > *

, * .

* * * *

■* * *

10*

San D ie g o In th e e i g h t i e s

11*

D ow ell S c h o o l ' *■'#■.*-■* # * ♦ .

13*

Logan S ch o o l . ■*

13.

92 94

.

103

*

113

-i

. . . . . . . . . .

115

• », .

+ + * . »

121

.

# * * * *

136

Sherman S c h o o l *

« . . * . .

130

14*

lo o k in g w e st on M iddletow n S c h o o l

. . . . . .

135

15.

U n iv e r s it y H e ig h ts S ch o o l

.

*

141

16.

Old Town San. D iego in 1897 .

.

147

17.

F r a n k lin S ch o o l 1 9 0 3 -1 9 2 7

18.

San D iego Normal S ch o o l B u ild in g

. • . « . . .

157

19.

Growth i n E nrollm ent* San D iego C ity S c h o o ls #

194

20.

L i s t o f San D iego C ity S ch o o ls* Fas-b. and P r e s e n t

g "

153

. V 'v . *

.

195

CHAPTER I STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The p r o b l e m a n d i t s among t h e

.ju stific a tio n .

ch ro n iclers of the

runs a cro ss b r ie f

p r e p a r i n g t h e way f o r t h e made b y t h i s

lo n g s t o r y o f San D ieg o ,

acco u n ts of "e d u c a tio n ” .

o n e f i n d a w r i t e r who t r e a t s

c ity .

H ere and t h e r e one

N o w h ere d o e s

ed u catio n as a v i t a l f a c to r in

c u l t u r a l and m a t e r i a l p r o g r e s s

The s t o r y o f e d u c a t i o n may l a c k t h e

drama o f s p i r i t u a l and m a t e r i a l

conquest,

but i t has been a

f o r c e t h a t h a s sto o d betw een chaos and c i v i l i z a t i o n . E d u c a t i o n h a s b e e n i n e x t r i c a b l y woven i n t o o f c o m m u n i ty p r o g r e s s .

I t h a s p a v e d t h e w ay f o r p r o g r e s s b y

p re p a rin g a c itiz e n r y ab le to on an e v e r h i g h e r p l a n e .

th e p a tte rn

a p p re c ia te , u n d e rs ta n d , and a c t

In tu rn ,

a more e n l i g h t e n e d c i t i z e n ­

r y h a s g i v e n t h e i n s t r u m e n t s o f e d u c a t i o n an i n c r e a s i n g l y im­ p o r ta n t p la c e in the

so cial stru c tu re .

T his study i s u n d e rta k e n w ith a tw o -fo ld p urpose m ind:

first,

to

c o l l e c t and com pile t h e v a r i o u s r e f e r e n c e s

to ed u catio n in th e second,

recorded s to ry of th e c ity

of San D iego;

t o exam ine t h e g ro w th o f t h e S a n Diego C ity S c h o o l s ,

w ith p a r t i c u l a r a t t e n t i o n given to th e

c u r r i c u l u m a n d how i t

dev elo p ed to meet th e needs of a c o l o n i a l s o c i e t y , v illa g e

in

so ciety ,

a fro n tie r

and a r a p i d l y e x p a n d i n g u r b a n s o c i e t y .

haps th ro u g h a b e t t e r u n derstanding

Per­

o f t h e background of the

2 s c h o o l s y s t e m and t h e c o m m u n i t y w h i c h i t come a k e e n e r v i s i o n

s e r v e s ' , ' t h e r e may

o f th e r o l e t o be p l a y e d by e d u c a t i o n

in th e fu tu re* D e l i m i t a t i o n s o f t h e problem * 1 . The s t u d y w i l l b e l i m i t e d t o t h e

schools th a t l i e

w i t h in t h e b o u n d a rie s o f th e c i t y of San D iego. 2 . The s t u d y w i l l c o n f i n e fo llo w in g t h e i r

i t s e l f to the p u b lic

a p p e a ra n c e i n San D ie g o .

schools

Up u n t i l 1 8 5 4 ,

edu­

c a t i o n i n S a n D i e g o w a s c a r r i e d on l a r g e l y t h r o u g h c h u r c h a n d p r i v a t e ag en cies*

These e d u c a t i o n a l a g e n c ie s sh o u ld be con­

s i d e r e d i n any acc o u n t o f t h e developm ent of t h e p u b l i c

sch o o ls,

b e ca u se o f t h e i r i n f l u e n c e upon t h e t h i n k i n g and m ores o f th e com m unity.

F ollow ing the appearance of p u b lic

sch o o ls,

th e

l i m i t a t i o n becomes d e s i r a b l e b e c a u s e of t h e grow ing com plex­ ity

o f t h e p r i v a t e and ch u rc h s c h o o l s t r u c t u r e s and t h e i n ­

cre asin g ly

s m a ll p a r t p l a y e d by t h e s e i n s h a p in g t h e p u b l i c

school c u rricu lu m . the p riv a te v i t a l to th e

There i s no d o u b t t h a t th e r o l e

and c h u r c h s c h o o l s i s com m unity,

p la y e d by

a n i m p o r t a n t o n e a n d one

b u t a s u r v e y of t h e s e a g e n c i e s and

t h e i r h ig h ly v a r ie d c u r r i c u l a r o f f e r i n g s i s a study in i t s e l f and w ou ld o n l y s e r v e t o c o n f u s e t h e p u r p o s e o f t h e p r e s e n t study,

a h isto ry

o f th e S an D iego C i ty S c h o o ls*

D e fin itio n s. 1 . C u rricu lu m w i l l be d e fin e d i n i t s

narrow sen se to

3 mean t h e

s u b je c t-m a tte r cu rricu lu m .

2 . P u b l i c s c h o o l s w i l l be d e f i n e d as t h o s e supported e n t i r e l y 3.

schools

by p u b l i c t a x l e v i e s .

"A m erican” w i l l be used i n th e

sense of b elo n g in g

t o th e U n ite d S t a t e s o f A m erica. Sources of d a t a . Prim ary d a ta ; 1.

In te rv ie w s w ith r e t i r e d and s u p e r in te n d e n ts .

2 . In te rv ie w s w ith e a rly sch o o ls.

teachers,

p rin cip als,

c i t i z e n s who w e r e p u p i l s

in the

3 . S e a rc h o f the f i l e s new spaper.

o f t h e San D iego U n io n

4. S earch of th e f i l e s lic a tio n .

of n ew spapers o u t o f p u b ­

5'.

Search of rec o rd s

of C ity C l e r k 's

6.

S earch o f records

o f C o u n t y R e c o r d e r 1s O f f i c e .

7.

Search of records

o f County A s s e s s o r s O f f i c e .

8.

O ffice.

S e a r c h o f r e c o r d s o f t h e San D iego County Sup­ e r in te n d e n t of S c h o o ls.

9 . S e a r c h o f t h e m in u te s and r e c o r d s o f t h e San D ie g o C i t y Board o f E d u c a t i o n . 10. S earch of th e reco rd s of th e o f f i c e of th e S ta te S u p erin ten d en t of P u b lic I n s t r u c t i o n . 11. E xam ination of th e d i a r i e s of p io n e e r r e s i ­ d e n t s and t r a v e l e r s f o r d a t a on t h e e a r l y scho o ls. 1 2 . E x a m i n a t i o n o f d o c u m e n t s a n d p a p e r s now h e l d by t h e museums, l i b r a r i e s , a n d s o c i e t i e s i n San D iego a n d Los A n g e l e s .

4 Secondary d a ta : 1 . Books by e m i n e n t and r e p u t a b l e h i s t o r i a n s . 2 . T r a n s l a t i o n s by r e p u t a b l e itie s. 3. A rtic le s

s tu d e n ts and a u th o r ­

in p e r i o d i c a l s by q u a l i f i e d w r i t e r s .

4 . P am phlets o f h i s t o r i c a l learn ed groups.

so c ietie s

and o t h e r

O rg an izatio n of th e p ro ce ed in g c h a p te r s . "The P r e - A m e r i c a n P e r i o d " , i n San D iego from t h e

1847.

tr a c e s th e b eg in n in g s o f ed u catio n

d ate of i t s

hundred y e a rs ago, to th e

C h a p t e r Two,

d is c o v e r y by C a b r i l l o ,

four

tim e o f t h e A m erican o c c u p a ti o n i n

T h is l o n g p e r i o d w i l l be d i v i d e d i n t o two p a r t s :

first,

" T h e S a n D i e g o M i s s i o n " , when e d u c a t i o n w a s c e n t e r e d a b o u t a co lo n ial so ciety , cala;

second,

d o m in a te d by t h e M i s s i o n San D iego de A l­

"S e c u la r E d u catio n ",

w h ic h was m arked by c h a o t i c

d a t i n g fro m 1822 t o

1847,

c o n d itio n s in the p u b lic a f f a i r s

o f San D iego and i n f a c t a l l o f C a l i f o r n i a . C h ap ter T hree,

"The E a r l y A m e ric a n P e r i o d " ,

concerns

i t s e l f w i t h t h e b e g i n n i n g s o f Newtown S a n D i e g o a n d t h e p u b l i c scho ol system .

T h is f i f t y - t h r e e - y e a r p e r i o d was an e v e n t f u l

one f o r e d u c a tio n , what w i t h r a i l r o a d p a i r , w ars,

booms,

high hopes,

des­

and c o l l a p s e s , w i t h a l l t h e p r o b le m s t h e s e

ev ents brought to th e p u b lic C hapter P our, th ree p a rts .

dream s,

school cu rricu lu m .

"The Modern P e r i o d " ,

The f i r s t

is

d iv id ed in to

concerns i t s e l f w ith th e

slow , h e a l th y

5 grow th of t h e

schools in a r e s o r t

t r a c e s th e p ro g re s s of the

c ity .

The s e c o n d p a r t

sc h o o ls through th o se

s t r e s s e s and

s t r a i n s o f a p e r i o d m ark ed b y t h e f i r s t W orld W ar, w i t h t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f g r e a t a rm y a n d n a v y t r a i n i n g

cen ters,

fo l­

l o w e d b y a p e r i o d o f v e r y r a p i d e x p a n s i o n and t h e m a r k e t c o l ­ la p s e of 1929.

The t h i r d p a r t o f t h i s

la s t te n years,

and th e m a jo r a d ju s tm e n ts n e c e s s a r y because

of th e d ep ressio n cw ith i t s

c h ap ter d e a ls w ith th e

a tte n d a n t problem s,

among w h i c h

was t h e p r o b l e m o f low s c h o o l r e v e n u e and a r a p i d l y i n c r e a s ­ in g p o p u la tio n .

'T h is ,

c o u p le d w i t h c o n c e r t e d a t t a c k s on e d u ­

c a tio n c o s ts and s e r v ic e s ,

taxed th e a d a p ta b ility

o f th e San

D i e g o e d u c a t i o n a l . s y s t e m a n d t h o s e who s h a p e d i t s p o l i c i e s . T h is p e r i o d , t o o , was a tim e o f i n t e n s e a c t i v i t y reo rg an izatio n

of th e

i n s t u d y and

c u rr ic u lu m and t h e i n a u g u r a t i o n o f a

"pay as you go” sc h o o l b u i l d i n g program . C h a p t e r F i v e l f " S u m m ary ” , c o n c e r n s i t s e l f w i t h b r i n g i n g t o g e t h e r th o se t r e n d s evidenced in th e p a s t decades o f th e grow th in t h e San D iego C ity S c h o o ls , tren d s

in to the f u t u r e .

and i n p r o j e c t i n g t h o s e

CHAPTER I I

THE PRE^AMERICAN PERIOD I. The p u b l i c u n til

THE SAN DIEGO MISSION

s c h o o l a s we know i t

today d id not b e g in

a f t e r t h e o c c u p a tio n o f C a l i f o r n i a by th e A m ericans.

A lthough th e p u b l ic tern ed p r e tty

s c h o o l s y s t e m i n New C a l i f o r n i a w a s p a t ­

l a r g e l y on t h a t o f e a s t e r n U n i t e d S t a t e s ,

yet

t h r e e h u n d red y e a r s o f S p an ish -M e x iea n custom a n d t r a d i t i o n w e r e c e r t a i n t o make t h e m s e l v e s f e l t

on an i n s t i t u t i o n

c lo se to th e p eo p le as th e ed u ca tio n

of t h e i r c h i l d r e n .

It

is d esirab le,

th e n , to review th e

course

as

of educa­

t i o n ov er th e th r e e hundred y e a r p e rio d p r i o r to th e

annexa­

t i o n o f C a l i f o r n i a by t h e U n ite d S t a t e s . The d i s c o v e r y o f S a n D i e g o . brought h is

cranky l i t t l e

Juan R odriguez C a b r illo

sh ip s out o f the

sto m

in to

t e r e d w a t e r s o f San D ie g o Bay on S e p te m b e r 8 8 , 1 5 4 8 .

the

shel

I f any

man k n e w a g o o d h a r b o r w h e n h e sa w o n e , C a b r i l l o w a s t h a t m a n . We c a n o n l y g u e s s a t h i s

em otions as he w atched th e a n c h o r ’ s

p l u n g e down t h r o u g h t h e s t i l l , beyond t h e

c l e a r w a t e r s of t h e bay w h i l e

s h e l t e r o f P o i n t Loma a t y p i c a l f a l l s t o r m r a g e d .

He n o t e d f o r a l l w e a t h e r c o n s c i o u s m a r i n e r s i n c e n ­ tu r ie s to

come t h a t h e r e w a s a h a v e n — , " a l a n d l o c k e d and

7

v e ry good h a r b o r ” .

i

It

is

had b een g i f t e d w ith th e

s a f e t o assum e t h a t

C ab rillo

i m a g i n a t i o n o f a Da Y i n c i , h e c o u l d

n o t have seen in th e h i l l s

c o v e r e d w i t h low u n d e r b r u s h ,

and p a r c h e d a t

th e h e ig h t of th e dry

the b ir th p la c e

o f a g o ld en em pire, and th a t

season,

w ould one d a y b e te e m in g w i t h a l i e n p e o p l e wondrous v e h i c l e s ,

even i f

on l a n d ,

sear

t h a t h e r e was t h e s e sa m e h i l l s

scu rry in g about in

on t h e w a t e r s o f t h e b a y ,

and in

t h e h e a v e n s a b o v e ; p e o p l e whose m ost commonplace n e c e s s i t i e s w o u l d h a v e s t r i c k e n t h i s m a r i n e r dumb w i t h w o n d e r m e n t * S a n M i g u e l w a s t h e name g i v e n t o t h e b a y , a n d S a n M i g u e l it

r e m a i n e d f o r s i x t y y e a r s - - u n t i l t h e n e x t w h i t e man d r o p p e d

anchor in sid e th e

s h e l t e r o f P o i n t Loma.

The c o m i n g o f Y i s c a i n o . man b o r n b e f o r e h i s t i m e .

C a l i f o r n i a o f a l a t e r p e r io d could

w e l l h a v e u s e d a man w i t h h i s knew t h e v a l u e

Don S e b a s t i a n Y i s c a i n o w a s a

s k i l l as a p re s s ag en t.

o f t h e p r i n t e d w o r d a n d h e sa w t o i t

He

th at h is

r e c o r d s i n w hich he p la y e d a f a v o r a b l e r o l e re a c h e d th e hands of those le a s t

a p t to k eep them s e c r e t .

C h a rac te ristic ally ,

he o v e rlo o k e d t h e names bestow ed

upon lan d m ark s by C a b r i l l o . ogy o r a qualm .

He r e n a m e d t h e m w i t h o u t an a p o l ­

San M iguel d id n o t e sca p e t h e f a t e

a n o t h e r C a b r i l l o - g i v e n name.

o f many

Y i s c a i n o b e s t o w e d t h e name,

1 W illia m E . Sm ythe, H i s t o r y o f San D iego (San D iego: S a n D i e g o Com pany , 1 9 0 8 ) , v o l . 1 , p . 2 8 .

8 "San D ieg o ", upon t h i s v en ien t,

h a r b o r , "w hich a p p e a re d s p a c i o u s , P and w e l l s h e l t e r e d " .

The a d v e n t o f F a t h e r S e r r a .

con-

I t was one h u n d re d s i x t y -

sev en y e a r s a f t e r V is c a in o * s v i s i t t o San D iego b e f o r e t h e w h i t e men a g a i n c am e.

T his tim e ,

The w h i t e man h a d come t o M exico,

stay .

how ever,

i t was d i f f e r e n t .

Two e x p e d i t i o n s

s e t out from

o n e by l a n d and o ne b y s e a . Among t h e m e m b e r s o f t h e l a n d p a r t y w a s o n e i n t h e

r o b e s o f a F r a n c i s c a n who w a s d e s t i n e d t o b e c o m e C a l i f o m i a ' s p atro n s a in t, its

the f i r s t

e d u c a tio n a l program .

S a n D iego on J u l y 1, p e d i t i o n and t h e

g reat te a c h e r in a s ta te

renow ned f o r

F a th e r Junipero S erra a rriv e d in

17 6 9 t o m e e t t h e t w o s h i p s o f t h e s e a e x ­

advance group o f t h e

no s c h o o l m a s t e r e v e r s u r v e y e d h i s

land p a r t y .

P robably

s t u d e n t s on o p e n i n g d a y w i t h

m ore hope and p e r h a p s t r e p i d a t i o n t h a n d id F a t h e r S e r r a th e I n d i a n s who came t o

see th e s tra n g e a c t i v i t i e s .

As C h a r l e s

Lummis t r a n s l a t e s F a t h e r S e r r a * s w o r d s , w h a t h e s a w he t h o u g h t good. I n m i d a f t e r n o o n g e n t i l e s a p p e a r e d , a n d j u s t two came t o u s a n d p r e s e n t l y a s many a s e l e v e n , v e r y t a m e a n d hum­ b le. We r e g a l e d t h e m m u c h a n d g a v e t h e m t o e a t . L ik e­ w i s e t h e y b r o u g h t t h e i r clow n a n d t h e y w ere g i v e n t o b a c c o , and a f t e r a tim e th e y d e p a r t e d v e ry c o n t e n t . And I e x t o l ­ l e d God o u r L o r d t h a t I h a d s e e n c r e a t u r e s s o h u m b l e a n d so w i t h o u t o b s t a c l e to t h e i r r e c e i v i n g th e H oly G o s p e l .3 3 I b id ..

p.

33.

3 A r t h u r B. B u rto n , San D iego Y e s t e r d a y s (San D ieg o : S a n D i e g o C h a p t e r D. A . R . , C i t y P r i n t i n g C o . , 1 9 2 4 ) , c i t i n g F a t h e r S e r r a * s D i a r y , e d i t e d by C h a r l e s Lumm is, p . 1 4 .

9 The u n c o o p e r a t i v e D i e g u e n o .

The a w a k e n i n g came s o o n .

The

D i e g u e n o I n d i a n s w e r e d e s t i n e d t o "become t h e p r o b l e m c h i l d r e n of th e C a l i f o r n i a M ission

sy stem , and t h e y w a sted l i t t l e

i n m aking t h e i r p r o s p e c t i v e t e a c h e r , F a t h e r S e r r a ,

tim e

aw are of

th is. E v e n t h e n t h e y b o t h e r e d me t o g i v e t h e m my s p e c t a c l e s . And b e c a u s e f o r o n e w h o s e a c t i o n i t s e e m e d t o me s i g n i ­ f i e d t h a t I l e n d them t o him t o s e e w h a t i t w a s, and I t o o k t h e m o f f , God k n o w s w h a t i t c o s t me t o r e c o v e r t h e m . At l a s t a f t e r a t h o u s a n d d i f f i c u l t i e s I r e c o v e r e d them a f t e r t h e y h a d b e e n i n t h e h a n d s o f t h e women who h a n k e r ­ ed f o r th e m .4 As f o r t h e s e

" h u m b l e c r e a t u r e s " who s e e m e d t o F a t h e r

S e r r a a t f i r s t m e e tin g "so w ith o u t o b s ta c le in g t h e H oly G o s p e l" , sed fa th e r s

i t was a lm o s t a y e a r b e f o r e t h e h a r a s ­

succeeded in b a p tis in g th e f i r s t

re c o rd e r- of th e tim e

to t h e i r re c e iv ­

one.

As one

says,

S u c h w a s t h e s t a t e o f t h e M i s s i o n o n t h e 24 o f J a n u a r y 1 7 7 0 , " t h e d a y wh en t h e e x p e d i t i o n a r r i v e d f r o m S a n F r a n ­ c is c o , i t had n o t reduced or b a p tis e d a s in g le h eath en , f o r alth o u g h th e f a t h e r s d id e v e ry th in g p o s s ib le to con­ v e r t them and had in d u c e d th e p a r e n t s o f a l i t t l e g i r l t o g i v e t h e i r c o n s e n t t h a t she be b a p t i s e d , and to be p r e s e n t a t t h e cerem o n y o f b a p t i s m i n t h e c h a p e l , when t h e R e v e re n d F a t h e r P r e s i d e n t was a b o u t to p o u r t h e h o l y w a t e r on h e r t h e h e a t h e n s n a t c h e d h e r away a n d r a n o f f w ith h e r, leav in g th e F ath er c h a g rin e d .5 T h ere seem ed no l i m i t t o t h e p e r v e r s i t y

o f t h e D ieg-

4 I b i d . , p. 17. 5 H. E . B o l t o n , F a l o u * s Hew C a l i f o r n i a ( B e r k e l e y : U n iv e rs ity of C a li f o r n ia P r e s s , 1926), v o l. I I , p . 271.

10

u e n o I n d i a n , who w a s a m em b er o f t h e Yuman g r o u p . man s t r a i n w a s c o n f i n e d t o ty ,

the

sou thern area,

thence eastw ard in to A rizo n a.

T h i s Yu-

San D ie g o Coun­

B o th W i l l i a m S . Smythe and

H. C. H o p k i n s h o l d s m a l l r e g a r d f o r t h e D i e g u e n o s . says,

"W hile m ost o f th e

C a lifo rn ia

H opkins

I n d i a n s a r e o f a low

order,

t h o s e a b o u t San D iego w ere f a r b e lo w t h e r e s t

of t h e i r

race.

I n w r i t i n g t h i s we f e e l a s e n s e o f r e g r e t * " 8

Smythe

says, No o n e e v e r c a l l e d t h e S a n D i e g o I n d i a n " t h e n o b l e r e d m an", f o r h e was n e i t h e r n o b l e n o r r e d , b u t a c o v e t o u s , t h i e v i s h , a n d s n e a k i n g c r e a t u r e , o f a b r o w n i s h compl& xion som ething l i k e th e s o i l . T h e r e w e r e n o o r a t o r s among t h e m , a n d , i t i s t o b e f e a r e d , v e r y f e w b r a v e m e n , f o r when th e y fo u g h t th ey a c te d l ik e a pack of co w ard s.7 H opkins s a y s t h a t t h e M is s io n f a t h e r s n e v e r spoke h a rsh ly of th e

I n d i a n , 8 b u t F a th e r Z ephyrin E n g e lh a rd t q u o tes

F a t h e r Boscana as s a y in g , F o r b e n e f i t s r e c e i v e d he i s n e v e r g r a t e f u l ; and i n ­ s t e a d o f lo o k in g upon t h a t w hich i s g i v e n , he b e h o ld s o n ly t h a t w hich i s w i t h h e l d . H is eyes a re n e v e r u p l i f t e d but l i k e th o s e o f th e sw ine, a re c a s t to e a r t h . T ruth i s n o t i n h i m u n l e s s t o t h e i n j u r y o f a n o t h e r , a n d he i s e x c e e d ­ i n g l y f a l s e .'v The I n d i a n s o f C a l i f o r n i a may be c o m p a r e d t o o f a p e ; f o r i n n a u g h t do t h e y e x p r e s s i n t e r e s t , i m i t a t i n g a c t i o n s o f o t h e r s , b u t i n d o i n g so a r e to choose v ic e in p r e f e r e n c e to v i r t u e . T h is i s

a specie save in careful th e re -

6 h . C. H o p k i n s , H i s t o r y o f S a n D i e g o ( S a n D i e g o : C ity P r i n t i n g C o., 1 9 2 9 ), p . 56. 7 Sm ythe, H i s t o r y o f San D ie g o . 8 H opkins,

op. p i t . ,

p.

55.

v o l.

1, p. 48.

11

s u i t no d o u b t o f t h e i r As i f

t h a t did n o t p r i n t a d ark enough p i c t u r e

M ission F athers* p ictu re

c o r r u p t and n a t u r a l d i s p o s i t i o n . 9

inten d ed p u p ils ,

o f d e p r a v i t y when h e s a y s ,

of th e

F a th e r Boscana com pletes t h e a s E n g e l h a r d t q u o t e s him ,

T hat th e n a t u r a l d iv in e p re c e p ts im p lan ted in th e h e a r t o f man b y h i s c r e a t o r a r e b y I n d i a n s o b s e r v e d i n a r e t r o ­ grade m anner, or in th e o p p o s ite s e n s e , t h a t i s t o say t h e a f f i r m a t i v e w i t h th e m i s t h e n e g a t i v e and t h e n e g a ­ t i v e i s th e a f f i r m a t i v e ; and t h i s o p p o s i t i o n a p p e a rs i n ­ b o r n among a l l c l a s s e s . I n h i s g r a v e , humble and r e t i r e d m a n n e r, t h e I n d i a n c o n c e a l s a h y p o c r i t i c a l and t r e a c h e r ­ o u s d i s p o s i t i o n . . . . 10 fran k lin saying, in g s,

T u t h i l l a d d s h i s v o i c e t o t h e a n v i l c h o r u s by

n0 f a l l t h e w r e t c h e d l y d e b a s e d and u t t e r l y b r u t a l b e ­

t h e I n d ia n s of C a l i f o r n i a w ere th e f a r t h e s t f a l l e n b e ­

l o w t h e a v e r a g e I n d i a n t y p e .**11 Not a l l

c h ro n ic le rs of the p a st

agree t h a t th e s e poor

I n d i a n s w e r e s o l a c k i n g i n v i r t u e a s t o b e c l a s s e d a s hu m an verm in.

T h e re were v o i c e s r a i s e d

in t h e i r defense*

Hunt and

Sanchez say , f o r in s ta n c e , . . . t h a t t h e y w e r e b y n o m e a n s d u l l b r a i n e d i s shown by th e s u r p r i s i n g f a c i l i t y w ith w hich th e y a c q u i r e v a r i ­ ous b ra n c h e s of know ledge. . . . T h e ir a b i l i t y to a c ­ q u ire m echanical a r t s f in d s a s i l e n t bu t im p re ssiv e w it­ n e s s i n t h e r e m a in s of th e c h u rc h b u i l d i n g s . . . , and t h e r e w e re no b e t t e r c a t t l e h e r d e r s i n t h e w o r l d , n o t 9 F a th e r Z ephyrin E n g e lh a rd t, M issio n s & M is s io n a rie s o f C a l i f o r n i a ( S a n F r a n c i s c o : J a m e s H. B a r r y Co."^ 1 9 1 8 ) , p . £ 6 , c i t i n g B o s c a n a , C h i n i g c h i n i c h , C h a p . XVI. 10 L o c . c i t . cisco :

H F ra n k lin T u t h i l l , H is to ry of C a lif o r n ia S. F. B a n c ro ft, 1866), p p . 88-90.

(San F r a n ­

IS w i t h s t a n d i n g t h a t t h e y h a d n e v e r s e e n a h o r s e o r cow b e ­ f o r e t h e p o m in g o f t h e S p a n i a r d s . One a l m o s t f e e l s t h a t t h e r e i s r e a s o n t o f e e l amazed a t t h e i r c a p a c i t y r a t h e r t h a n s h o c k e d a t t h e i r l a c k o f i t . 12 Y i s c a i n o g i v e s a good p h y s i c a l d e s c r i p t i o n

as P ro fe sso r

Q uinn q u o t e s him a s w r i t i n g i n a l e t t e r t o t h e K ing o f S p a i n d a t e d a t t h e C i t y o f M e x i c o , May S 3 , 1 6 0 3 , " T h e I n d i a n s a r e o f good s t a t u r e and f a i r less

c o m p l e x i o n , t h e women b e i n g so m e w h at

i n s i z e t h a n t h e m en , a n d o f p l e a s i n g c o u n t e n a n c e . " 1 3 John S te v e n M cG roarty,

in h is

defense o f the

I n d i a n g o e s some d i s t a n c e b e y o n d f a c t w h e n h e s a y s , d i a n s h a d no r e l i g i o n a n d t h e l e a s t r e s was t o

C a lifo rn ia "The I n ­

d if f ic u lt task of th e pad­

eon v e r t them t o C h r i s t i a n i t y .

They w i l l i n g l y and

e v e n e a g e r l y a c c e p t e d t h e g la m o ro u s c r e e d of C h r i s t i a n i t y . ”14 A ccording t o th e C a th o lic E n cy c lo p e d ia, The c o n d i t i o n s i n u p p e r C a l i f o r n i a w e r e much m o r e f a v o r ­ a b l e t o t h e s y s t e m u n d e r w h i c h i t was i n t e n d e d t o c o n v e r t and c i v i l i z e th e n a t i v e s , and th e l a t t e r w ere found l e s s d u l l and b r u t i s h th a n th o s e of th e p e n in s u la . The I n d i a n s ab o u t San D iego, hoifever, s tu b b o r n ly r e s i s t e d th e G o sp el, e v e n b y f o r c e o f a r m s , so t h a t p r i o r t o 1 7 7 0 , a f u l l y e a r a f t e r th e appearance o f th e f i r s t m issio n a ry , F a th e r S e rra and h i s com panions, w i t h a l l t h e i r k i n d n e s s , p e r s u a s i v e ­ n e s s and p r e s e n t s , d id n o t s u c c e e d i n g a i n i n g a s i n g l e s o u l . 15 R o c k w e l l D. H u n t & N e l l i e Yan De G r i f £ S a n c h e z , A. S h o r t H i s t o r y o f C a l i f o r n i a (New Y o r k : Thomas Y . C r o w e l l , 19£9), p . 74. 13 I . M. G u i n n , H i s t o r i c a l B i o g r a p h i c a l R e c o r d o f S o u t h ­ e rn C a l i f o r n i a (C hicago: Chapman P u b l i s h i n g C o . , 1 9 0 2 T 7 P« 47 • 14 J o h n S t e v e n M c G ro a rty , M i s s i o n M em ories Neuner C o rp ., 1929), p . 10. P ress,

1 5 r®xe C a t h o l i c E n c y c l o p e d i a (New Y o r k : I n c . , 1913), v o l. I l l , p . 180.

(Los A n g e l e s :

E ncyclopedia

13 As c a n b e s e e n , m o s t o f t h e w r i t e r s

d isc u ssin g th e prob

lem o f t h e M is s io n I n d i a n a r e t o o a p t t o g e n e r a l i z e . . to tak e

The f a i l

i n t o a c c o u n t t h e v e r y r e a l d i f f e r e n c e s among t h e

ous t r i b e s .

v a ri­

The I n d i a n s a b o u t S a n D i e g o w e r e q u i t e d i f f e r e n t

from th e I n d ia n s i n th e v i c i n i t y

of t h e n o r t h e r n m i s s i o n s .

The D i e g u e n o s , a s we h a v e p o i n t e d o u t , w e r e Yuman s t o c k . ferences in t h e i r re lig io n ,

cu sto m s and te m p e ra m e n t i t s e l f

s e t them a p a r t as an e n t i r e l y to th e n o rth .

D if­

sep arate

r a c e from th e t r i b e s

As A . L . K r o e b e r p o i n t s o u t ,

The s p i r i t o f t h e D i e g u e n o t o w a r d t h e m i s s i o n a r i e s w a s c e r t a i n l y q u i t e d i f f e r e n t from t h e p a s s i v e n e s s w ith w hich t h e o t h e r C a l i f o r n i a n s r e c e i v e d t h e n ew r e l i g i o n a n d l i f e . They a r e d e s c r i b e d a s r a u e o r o u s , b o a s t f u l , c o v e t o u s g i v e n t o j e s t s and q u a r r e l s , p a s s i o n a t e l y d e v o te d to th e c u s t ­ oms o f t h e i r f a t h e r s , a n d h a r d t o h a n d l e . 16 The c o n c e n t r a t i o n p o l i c y .

Perhaps the p ad res * g r e a t e s t

w e a k n e ss i n w o rk in g w i t h t h e D ieg u en o s was t h e i r f a i l u r e take in to p assio n ate fath e rs.

a c c o u n t and t o g i v e d e v o tio n o f the C oupled w ith

th e I n d ia n s i n M ission

sym p athetic u n d e rs ta n d in g to

In d ian s to th e

t h i s was t h e p o l i c y

the

custom s o f t h e i r of c o n c e n t r a t i n g

c o n f i n e s much l i k e p r i s o n e r s .

p o l i c y w o r k e d w e l l w i t h m any t r i b e s , i t h in d e r e d a tte m p ts to

to

T his

but w ith t h e D ieguenos

b r i n g them e n l i g h t e n m e n t .

The c o n c e n t r a t i o n p o l i c y s e e m s t o h a v e b e e n a u n i v e r - : 16 A. L . K r o e b e r , H a n d b o o k o f t h e I n d i a n s o f C a l i f o r n i a (S m ith so n ian I n s t i t u t e , W ashington: Government P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , 1 9 2 5), Chap. 49, p p . 709-726.

14 s a l M ission p o lic y . Quevedo, t h e f i r s t

I t p r o b a b l y d a t e s b a c k t o 1 5 19 w h e n B i s h o p o f t h e -American c o n t i n e n t ,

p o r t e d by E n g e l h a r d t t o hav e t o l d

is

re­

th e K ing of S p a in ,

A l l t h e p e o p l e o f t h e New W o r l d whom h e h a d s e e n e i t h ­ e r on t h e c o n t i n e n t o r t h e i s l a n d s a p p e a r e d t o him a r a c e o f men whom i t w o u l d b e i m p o s s i b l e t o i n s t r u c t o r im prove u n l e s s th e y w ere c o l l e c t e d i n v i l l a g e s and k e p t u n d e r c o n t i n u a l s u p e r v i s i o n . 17 T he M i s s i o n o b j e c t i v e s .

I t w o u ld seem, h o w e v e r,

th e s u c c e s s o f t h e M issio n program i t s e l f

th at

depended upon th e

m ain ten an ce o f th e M ission In d ia n group as a c lo s e ly k n i t comm unity u n d e r t h e

a l e r t eyes o f th e F ath ers*

w e r e s e n t i n t o C a l i f o r n i a f o r two p u r p o s e s . m ost i m p o r t a n t was t o h o ld th e and the C a th o lic

co untry

church a g a in s t the

R u s s i a n s , E n g l i s h and -Am ericans. ia n iz e the n a tiv e s

The M i s s i o n s

The f i r s t

and

f o r t h e King o f S p a i n

c o lo n ia l f o r a y s o f the

T he s e c o n d w a s t o C h r i s t ­

i n l i n e w ith th e p o l i c y of th e C a th o lic

church. The M i s s i o n s w e re e x p e c t e d t o b e p r a c t i c a l l y supp o rtin g .

T his s t a t e

self-

co u ld o nly be a c h ie v e d th ro u g h th e

u s e o f c o m m u n i t y c o o p e r a t i o n b y m any c o n v e r t s u n d e r t h e guardianship

of th e M ission F a th e r s .

A lthough t h e th e n ativ es

v o l.

San B iego M is s io n was slo w i n c o n v e r t i n g

(fifty -fiv e

y e a r s p a s s e d b e f o r e t h e p e a k was

17 E n g e l h a r d t , M i s s i o n s & M i s s i o n a r i e s o f C a l i f o r n i a , I I , p p . £46-247.

15 reached), a fter

it

is

also

tru e th at

it

reta in e d

i t s peak long

th e o t h e r m is s io n s had begun to f a l l o f f i n p o p u l a t i o n .

T h i s may h a v e b e e n d u e t o t h e b e n e f i c i a l w o r k i n g o f t h e D i e g u e n o 's v e n e r a tio n f o r "custom s o f h i s

f a t h e r s " t h a t K roeber

m entioned. How w o u l d we t o d a y s e t u p an e d u c a t i o n a l p r o g r a m t o meet t h e n e e d s of s o c i e t y and p u p i l s w h ich f a c e d t h e M iss io n F athers? We m u s t k e e p i n m i n d t h a t t h e P a d r e s h a d two m a j o r o b jec tiv e s.

One w a s t h e

th e m aintenance of fo o d , com m unity.

sa lv a tio n of th e

so u l;

th e

o t h e r wa s

c l o t h i n g and s h e l t e r f o r t h e M is s io n

A ll e d u c a ti o n had t o

be b u i l t

a r o u n d t h e s e two

o b jectiv es. It

is

c l e a r enough t h a t any b ran eh o f l e a r n i n g ,

even

r e a d i n g and w r i t i n g , w ould o n ly be c o n s id e r e d n e c e s s a r y i n th e M ission c u rric u lu m i f ing th e d o c trin e

it

and r i t u a l

co n trib u ted d ir e c tly to le a rn ­ of t h e

church.

C e rtain ly th ese

b ra n c h e s o f l e a r n i n g w ould n o t be c o n s id e r e d n e c e s s a r y a cq u irin g

sk ill

ten an ce of th e

in th e v ario u s c ra fts

As s o o n a s p o s s i b l e t h e new

p u p i l was p u t t o work l e a r n i n g t h e fu n ctio n al,

over again th e

r e q u i s i t e to th e m ain­

com m unity.

R elig io u s i n s t r u c t i o n .

th is

in

To make

h e l e a r n e d t h e l a n g u a g e by r e c i t i n g o v e r and

catech ism ,

of church r i t u a l .

S panish la n g u a g e.

names o f s a i n t s ,

and o th e r p a r t s

F o rb e s g iv e s an i n t e r e s t i n g account o f th e

16 ed u catio n al experience of In d ian

c h ild ren in

a M ission s c h o o l.

They w e re c l o t h e d i n b l a n k e t s a n d a r r a n g e d i n a row b e f o r e a b l i n d I n d i a n , who u n d e r s t o o d t h e i r d i a l e c t , and was a s s i s t e d by a n a l c a l d e to k e e p o r d e r . T h e i r t u t o r b eg an by d e s i r i n g them t o k n e e l , i n f o r m ­ i n g t h e m t h a t h e w as g o in g t o t e a c h them t h e nam es o f t h e p e r s o n s com posing t h e T r i n i t y , a n d t h a t t h e y w e r e to r e ­ p e a t i n S p a n is h what he d i c t a t e d . The n e o p h y t e s b e i n g th u s a rra n g e d , th e sp eak er began, "S an tisim a T r in id a d - B io s , J e s u G r i s t o , E s p i r i t u S a n to ” , p a u s in g betw een each na me t o l i s t e n i f t h e s i m p l e I n d i a n s who h a d n e v e r s p o k e n a word o f S p a n is h b e f o r e , p ro n o u n c e d i t c o r r e c t l y o r a n y ­ t h i n g n e a r th e m ark. A f t e r t h e y had r e p e a t e d t h e s e names s a t i s f a c t o r i l y , t h e i r b l i n d t u t o r , a f t e r a p a u se added ” S a n t o s ” , a n d r e c a p i t u l a t e d t h e n a m e s o f a g r e a t many s a i n t s ,- w h i c h f u r n is h e d t h e m o rn in g 's t u it i o n .^ - 8 The c h i e f e m p h a s i s was l a i d have had i t s

advantages,

on memory w o i k .

esp ecially

T h i s may

in te a c h in g th e S panish

l a n g u a g e , b u t t h e p r i m a r y b a s i s f o r mem ory w o r k a s a t e a c h ­ in g dev ice i s

the p o lic y

of t h e C h u rc h i t s e l f .

E n c y c lo p e d ia g i v e s a good i d e a of t h e r e a s o n s

The C a t h o l i c ju stify in g

it.

To t h e s c h o l a r a c a t e c h i s m g i v e s i n b r i e f f o r m a sum­ mary of w h a t t h e t e a c h e r h a s b e e n i m p a r t i n g t o him ; and b y c o m m i t t i n g i t t o m em ory h e c a n b e s u r e t h a t h e h a s grasped th e su b stan ce of h is le s s o n . As a l r e a d y o b s e r v e d , t h i s i s n o t a d i f f i c u l t m a tte r w here th e r e a re G a th o lic s c h o o ls u n d e r t r a i n e d , e x p e r t t e a c h e r s accustom ed t o m a k i n g t h e c h i l d r e n l e a r n b y h e a r t ; . . . .3-9 The g o a l o f t h i s

in stru ctio n ,

m ittin g of th e D o ctrin a to h e a r t.

of course,

w a s t h e com­

T h a t t h i s w a s no s i m p l e

3-8 A l e x a n d e r F o r b e s , C a l i f o r n i a ; a H i s t o r y o f U p p e r & Lower C a l i f o r n i a (L o n d o n : Thomas C. R u s s e l l , 1 9 1 9 , r e p r i n t ­ ed f r o m o r i g i n a l , L o n d o n : Sm ith, E ld e r & C o ., 1839), p . 202. ^

C a t h o l i c E n c y c l o p e d i a , v o l . Y, p . 8 6 .

17 f e a t e v e n f o r one f a m i l i a r with, t h e o f some d e g r e e o f i n t e l l i g e n c e

l a n g u a g e a n d i n command

c a n b e s e e n w he n we q u o t e f r o m

E ngelhardt th a t, The c a t e c h u m e n w a s l e d s t e p b y s t e p , s o t h a t t h e p r a c ­ t i c e o f d a i l y r e c i t i n g i n common e v e r y t h i n g t h a t h a d b e e n l e a r n e d a t l a s t i m p r e s s e d t h e D o c t r i n a on t h e d u l l e d m ind. T h is D o c t r i n a c o m p r is e d .th e Sign o f t h e C ro ss, th e L o r d f s P r a y e r , t h e H a i l Mary, t h e C re e d , t h e C o n f i t r o r , t h e A ct o f C o n t r i t i o n , t h e A c t s o f F a i t h , Hope and C h a r i t y , t h e T e n Commandments o f C od , t h e P r e c e p t s o f t h e C h u r c h , th e Seven Sac " ix necessary P o in ts of F a ith , and t h e F o u r ”A good l e s s o n clo p ed ia,

in C a te c h is m ,” say s th e C a th o lic Ency­

”s h o u l d t a k e a b o u t two h o u r s . ” ^1

Academ ic i n s t r u c t i o n . ing to

We p u t

so much s t r e s s

in le a rn -

r e a d a n d w r i t e t h a t t o d a y we c a n n o t c o n c e i v e o f a

s c h o o l o r an e d u c a t i o n a l p ro g ram i n w hich t h e s e a b i l i t i e s n o t given th e m ajor em p h a sis.

W ithout t h e s e

s id e r a person to be i l l i t e r a t e .

sk ills,

are

we c o n ­

Y e t , w he n we b r i n g u n d e r ­

s ta n d in g t o th e problem s c o n fro n tin g th e M issio n t e a c h e r s , we a p p r e c i a t e why r e a d i n g a n d w r i t i n g w e r e n o t c o n s i d e r e d im p o rtan t.

So l o n g a s t h e s e

d i r e c t l y tow ard the co n trib u te to alon g w ith o u t.

l e a r n in g s did n o t c o n tr i b u te

s a lv a tio n of the

s o u l or th e a b i l i t y

s u p p o r t o f t h e com m unity, t h e y

to

co u ld be g o tte n

Boys o f e x c e p t i o n a l p r o m i s e , h o w e v e r , w e r e

E n g e lh a rd t, M issions & M is s io n a rie s of C a lif o r n ia p.

273 21 The C a t h o l i c E n c y c l o p e d i a , v o l . V, p . 84

18 g iv e n th e

o p p o rtu n ity o f le a rn in g

to

r e a d a n d t o becom e a l ­

t a r boys* "H ence i t w a s ," s a y s E n g e l h a r d t , o ffered

th e o p p o rtu n ity o f le a rn in g

such boys a s m a n ife s te d a d e s i r e

" th a t th e m is s io n a rie s

t o r e a d and w r i t e o n ly t o

and a p t i t u d e to l e a m , w h e re ­

a s t h e y i n s i s t e d u p o n m a n u a l w o r k f o r a l l w i t h o u t e x c e p t i o n . " 22 We m u s t n o t

ju d g e t h e s e M is s io n F a t h e r s to o h a r s h l y

f o r w ith h o ld in g th e o p p o r tu n itie s o f le a rn in g w rite to

a l l th e

c h i l d r e n ; we a r e n o t a l l

e ffic a c y even in t h i s l a t e m ack i n t h e h a l l s

day.

to re a d and

c o n v in c e d a s t o

its

The re m a rk s o f S e n a to r C a r­

o f g o v e rn m e n t j u s t a q u a r t e r o f a c e n tu r y

a g o e x p r e s s e s t h e t h i n k i n g o f m any who h a v e g o n e b e f o r e a n d m any who a r e e v e n y e t a b r o a d i n t h e can tra n s fo rm th e is th e w ild e s t, flitte d

la n d .

"T he i d e a t h a t

c h a r a c te r of a ra c e by te a c h in g

c ra z ie st,

th e m ost f a n t a s t i c

t h r o u g h a l u n a t i c ’ s b r a i n . " 23

th e m t o

you read

dream t h a t e v e r

E n g e lh a rd t fo llo w s t h i s

up w i t h , The m i s s i o n a r i e s e s t a b l i s h e d t h e m i s s i o n s i n o r d e r t o tr a n s f o r m s a v a g e s in to C h r i s t i a n s an d law a b id in g s u b j e c t s o f th e S ta te . L ik e S e n a t o r C arm ack, t h e y p e r c e i v e d t h a t book l e a r n i n g c o u ld n o t a c c o m p lis h t h a t o b j e c t , even i f i t had b e e n p o s s i b l e t o in d u c e th e I n d i a n s to a v a i l th e m ­ se lv e s of i t . T h e y a im e d t o l e a d t h e i r w a r d s t o a b a n d o n b r u t i s h w ays and t o l i v e h a p p i l y , d e c e n t l y a n d u s e f u l l y . 24 22 E n g e l h a r d t , 23 I b i d . .

lo c . c i t ♦

p . 289.

2 4 L oc « c i t .

19 V o c a tio n a l e d u c a tio n .

The v o c a t i o n a l e d u c a t i o n a l p r o ­

g ra m w a s c e r t a i n l y

a d e q u a te t o t h e tim e s and one c a n n o t b u t

a d m ire th e v a r i e t y

of i t s

tra in in g

and i t s

a c h ie v in g th e g o a l o f a s e lf -s u p p o r tin g th e o p p o rtu n ity

e ffe c tiv e n e ss in

c o m m u n ity .

o f c h o o sin g any o f a lo n g l i s t

B o ys h a d

of tra d e s

such

as: b ric k m a k in g tile m a k in g p o t t e r y m a k in g ro ck la y in g b ric k la y in g c a rp e n try sh o e m ak in g s a d d l e m 'a k i n g h a t m a k in g c l o t h e s m ak in g c a n d l ©m aker cow boy

sheep s h e a r in g h id e ta n n in g c o m b in g a n d s p i n n i n g w o o l b la c k sm ith in g w e av in g b l a n k e t s , c l o t h e s , r u g s o re h a rd ist tin n e r g ild e r farm er a rts: c a r v in g , p a i n t i n g , m e ta l w ork i r o n w ork

The g i r l s w e r e n o t f o r g o t t e n

in t h i s

p ro g ram ,

and th e y

had a c h o ic e o f : e m b ro id ery b a sk e try d y ew orker p o t t e r y o r n a m e n tin g and m ak in g c o o k in g ^ 5

se w in g g rin d in g co rn sp in n in g w e av in g l a c e m ak in g r u g m ak in g T h is , i n S an D ieg o ,

t h e n , w as t h e b e g i n n i n g o f t e c h n i c a l if

n o t i n t h e w h o le o f t h e n a t i o n .

i t w o u ld be h a r d t o

C e rta in ly

im a g in e su c h t r a i n i n g b e in g g iv e n t o t h e

I n d i a n s on t h e A t l a n t i c s e a b o a r d .

25 I b i d . , p .

tra in in g

275.

T he d a i l y s c h e d u l e . was s e v e r e l y r e g i m e n t e d . id le n e s s to

g e t in

its

T he d a i l y

life

o f th e s e p e o p le

T h e re w as l i t t l e

o p p o rtu n ity f o r

d e a d ly w o rk ..

T he M i s s i o n m u s t h a v e

been a s ig h t to se e w ith a l l th e b u s tle id e a o f th e p la n n in g

and a c t i v i t y .

Some

t h a t w en t i n t o m ak in g t h e p ro g r a m r u n

sm o o th ly can be g a in e d fro m r e v ie w in g a day a t t h e M is s io n . At s u n r is e a b e l l c a l l e d

a l l o v e r n in e y e a r s of age*

W h ile one F a t h e r c e l e b r a t e d H o ly M ass, a n o t h e r r e c i t e d a l o u d th e p r a y e r s and th e D o c t r i n a w ith t h e I n d i a n s . was su n g t o

c o n c lu d e th e

year in stru c tio n

se rv ic e s.

The

At c e r t a i n tim e s of th e

in S p a n is h fo llo w e d t h e H o ly M ass.

A f t e r b r e a k f a s t , w h ic h l a s t e d

a b o u t a n h o u r , t h e men

an d l a r g e r b o y s w e n t t o t h e w ork a s s i g n e d i n t h e p a stu re s

^ la b a d o

or shops.

fie ld s,

The women a n d g i r l s w o r k e d a t t h e i r t a s k s

u n d e r th e m a tro n . A t noon th e A n g e lu s B e l l a n n o u n ced tim e f o r d i n n e r . A f t e r a tw o h o u r p e r i o d f o r r e s t w o r k w as r e s u m e d . to

At f i v e

and r e l a x a t i o n t h e m o r n in g ’ s

o ’ c lo c k t h e w h o le p o p u l a t i o n w ent

ch u rch f o r th e r e c i t a t i o n

o f th e D o c trin a and r e l i g i o u s

d e v o tio n . At s i x

s u p p e r was s e r v e d ,

and th e r e s t o f t h e e v e n in g

w as d e v o te d t o w h a te v e r fo rm o f r e c r e a t i o n t h e w ith in lim its

o f " d e c e n c y and C h r i s t i a n m o d e s ty " .

I n t h e m e a n ti m e a l l to re c e iv e

In d ia n s d e s ire d

in stru c tio n

c h ild re n

o v e r f i v e w ere e x p e c te d

at th e hahds o f th e F a th e rs f o r a

21 w h ile i n th e m o rn in g and a g a in i n t h e a f t e r n o o n , an d "none s h a l l h e a b s e n t * " 26 E f f e c t s o f M issio n i n s t r u c t i o n upon th e

In d ia n s *

T here

i s n o d o u b t t h a t t h e S a n D ie g o M i s s i o n I n d i a n s w e r e w e l l i n ­ stru c te d

i n t h o s e l i n e s i n w h ic h i n s t r u c t i o n w as g iv e n *

th e sh o rt

sp a n o f a g e n e r a t i o n th e y w ere b ro u g h t fro m a s t a t e

o f s a v a g e r y i n w h ic h t h e y h a d l i v e d m ore l i k e in se c ts

and s e e d s ,

s k ille d tra d e

to

a p o i n t w h e re t h e y

e a tin g a

At th e h e ig h t

th e se

c re a tu re s

a s p e c i e o f a p e , " w e re c a r r y i n g on t h e w ork o f a

c o m m u n ity w h o s e w e a l t h

and p r o d u c t i v i t y w ere th e envy o f u n ­

s c r u p u l o u s " g e n t e de r a z o n " th r o u g h It

a n im a ls,

c o u ld p r a c t i c e

and s p e a k w e l l i n tw o t o n g u e s .

o f th e M iss io n in f lu e n c e th e s e D ie g u e n o s, " m o re l i k e

In

th e t e r r i t o r y .

i s a m oot q u e s t i o n w h e th e r t h e l o t o f th e D ie g u e n o s--

o r o f a l l A m e r i c a n I n d i a n s f o r t h a t m a t t e r — w o u ld n o t h a v e b e en im m e asu ra b ly b e t t e r i f r i e d on th e r e a l i s t i c I t is

th e A m e ric an g o v ern m en t h a d c a r ­

tra in in g

e v id e n t th a t th e se

w ard in d e p e n d e n c e an d u s e f u l

sta rte d

by t h e M issio n F a t h e r s .

s a v a g e s m ade m o re p r o g r e s s t o ­

c itiz e n s h ip

y e a rs th a n in th e hundred y e a rs fo llo w in g M issio n sy ste m .

in th e f i r s t

fifty

c o lla p s e o f th e

T he p o l i c y o f t h e g o v e r n m e n t i n p a u p e r i z i n g

a r a c e w h ic h show ed such r e m a r k a b le p ro m is e s h o u ld be c a u se 26 JLoc.

c it.

22

enough f o r u s to pause

and w o n d e r .

E v a lu a tio n o f M issio n e d u c a ti o n .

An e v a l u a t i o n o f

th e

n o n - v o e a t i o n a l p h a s e o f t h e D i e g u e n o Ts e d u c a t i o n m u s t t a k e in to

acco u n t th e f e e l i n g

la n d s and u n d e r a l l t o b lo o m , an d t h e p o sitio n .

to w a rd l e a r n i n g by t h e m a s s e s i n a l l

re lig io n s .

L i b e r a l i s m was j u s t

o d o r w as q u i t e

As E n g e l h a r d t s a y s ,

b e g in n in g

d i s t a s t e f u l t o m o s t m en o f

"T he m i s s i o n a r i e s c e r t a i n l y

c o u l d n o t n e g l e c t m o re i m p o r t a n t a n d m o re p r e s s i n g d u t i e s i n o rd e r to

assum e t h e r o l e of s c h o o l m a s t e r . ”27

T h e r e a r e t h o s e who p a i n t a n i d e a l i s t i c

p ic tu re

o f th e

M issio n

s y s t e m ; we h a v e q u o t e d J o h n S t e v e n M c G r o a r t y who

p a in te d

a p ic tu re

w ith open arm s.

o f th e n a t i v e s r e c e i v i n g th e M iss io n sy s te m On t h e

o t h e r h a n d , E . S . C apron m e n tio n s

t h a t t h e M i s s i o n was n o t a b o v e s e n d i n g o u t r a i d i n g p a r t i e s , th o u g h o f c o u rs e n o t u n d e r any su c h b a l d - f a c e d t i t l e

as t h a t,

in o rd e r to

T hey e x ­

c ite d

g e t new m e m b e rs f o r t h e M i s s i o n

c o lo n y .

q u a r r e l s am ong t h e t r i b e s a n d t o o k o f f t h e p r i s o n e r s

a n d " a s m any women a n d c h i l d r e n P erh ap s th e

a s t h e y c o u l d s e i z e ” . 28

g r e a t e s t w eakness o f th e

sy s te m w as t h e

r a p i d i t y w ith w h ic h t h e v a l u e s b u i l t up e v a p o r a t e d o n ce th e M is s io n sy ste m

c o lla p s e d .

A lth o u g h t h e M is s io n l a n d s w ere

27 I b i d . . p . 4 7 3 . 2® E . S . G a p r o n , H i s t o r y o f C a l i f o r n i a f r o m i t s D i s ­ c o v ery to th e P r e s e n t (B o sto n : J o h n P . J e w e l l G o ., 1 8 5 4 ) , p . 13.

23

su p p o sed to have b e lo n g e d to th e In d ia n s

as a g ro u p ,

m e n t c o m p u l s i o n w as a b s e n t , p r o d u c t i v e n e s s w ere f o r g o t t e n ,

ceased.

G e n t e De R a z o n h a d i n s u c h a b u n d a n c e .

ren .

s o u l s w ere i n

In a s h o r t tim e th e s e

a l o n e r e d u c e d t h e i r m e m b e rs a t a s t a g ­

I n s h o r t , t h e p a t e r n a l i s t i c M issio n

su c c e s s fu l as lo n g as i t o m ic s e c u r i t y

e v i l s th e

f a r w orse c o n d itio n th a n t h e i r w ild b r e t h ­

V en ereal d is e a s e

g e rin g r a t e .

T rades

t h e M is s io n D ie g u e n o s w ere h e l p l e s s — w orse

t h a n h e l p l e s s f o r t h e y s p e e d i l y em braced- a l l t h e

lo st

t h e m&6

o p e ra te d .

sy ste m w as

But t h e v e r y f a c t o f e c o n ­

c o n ta in e d th e seed s o f s la v e ry , m e n ta l, p h y s ic a l

an d e c o n o m ic . R o b e rt S o u th e y i n d e s c r i b i n g m is s i o n sy ste m s o f c o lo n ­ i a l P aragu ay t e l l s

o f trh e r e l a t i o n o f t h e P a d r e s t o t h e i r

c h a r g e s , w h ic h m ig h t b e t r u e

o f th e

S an D ieg o M i s s i o n a s w e l l .

He s a y s , The b l i s s i s t h e r e i n o f t h a t e n t i r e d e p e n d e n c e t h a t p r e p a r e s e n t i r e s u b m i s s i o n , l e t w h a t may b e f a l l . Ho f o r e ­ c a s t s , no a n x i e t i e s h a v e t h e y : t h e J e s u i t g o v e r n s and c o n s t r u c t s and g u i d e s ; f o o d , ra im e n t,, s h e l t e r , s a f e t y , he p r o v id e s : t h e i r p a r t i s t o h o n o r and obey l i k e c h i l d ­ r e n u n d e r w i s e p a t e r n a l s w a y . 29 W h ic h i s

a l l v ery w e ll— u n t i l th e p a te r n a l fo rc e i s

w ith d ra w n and t h e s e c o lo rle s s

sh e lte re d

c re a tu re s lik e th e

s ig h tle ss ,

c r e a t u r e s fo u n d in u n d erg ro u n d c a v e rn s su d d e n ly

t h r o w n i n t o . t h e m any p e r i l s

of th e

s u n l i t w o rld , a r e

sw ept

29 R o b e rt S o u th e y , ”A T a le o f P a r a g u a y " , Poem s o f R o b e rt S o u th ey (L ondon: O x ford U n iv e r s ity P r e s s , 1 9 0 9 7 7 C a n to IV , p . 7 , 8 .

24 a s i d e b y r e a l i t i e s t h e y h a v e n e v e r h a d t o m e e t* As a m a t t e r o f f a c t , t o d a y who p r a t e

o f th e

th e re

a re w e ll e d u c a te d p e o p le

b le ssin g s o f s e c u rity .

T h ey t e l l u s

o f th e b l e s s i n g s to . be d e r iv e d fro m g o v ern m en t w h ic h d o e s o u r t h i n k i n g , m akes o u r d e c i s i o n , us. to

feed s,

c lo th e s and s h e lte rs

A l o o k a t t h e f a t e o f t h e M i s s i o n I n d i a n who w as p r e p a r e d face l i f e

in a l l ,

and in d e p e n d e n c e ,

b u t la c k in g th e

te m p e r o f s e l f - r e l i a n c e

a n d we w o u l d e s c a p e t h e m i s e r a b l e f a t e

of

k e p t m en. T he e d u c a t i o n a l p r o g r a m o f t h e M i s s i o n F a t h e r s l e f t f e w m o n u m e n ts a n d t h e s e w e r e a l l m o n u m e n ts t o t h e sh ip o f s k i l l e d

a rtisa n s.

c ra ftsm a n ­

The P a d r e Bam i s a m onum ent t h a t

h a s w i t h s t o o d one h u n d r e d f i f t y

y ears of flo o d s .

The M i s s i o n

b u ild in g s have w ith s to o d a c e n tu ry and a h a l f of th e ra v a g e s o f summer h e a t a n d w i n t e r r a i n s — a n d t h e and even in i t s had b u i l t

in to

ru in e d s ta te it

is

sco u rg e o f v a n d a ls—

t h e m a je s ty and b e a u t y i t

e v id e n t.

But w h ere a r e th e w orks o f l i t e r a t u r e ? c re a tiv e a r t, to th e

s c i e n c e , m u sic?

The w o r k s o f

The a b s e n c e o f a n y y m o n u m en t s

i n t e l l e c t o f th e s e p u p ils of th e P a d re s i s

d ic a tiv e

once

o f a n arro w , II.

in te lle c t-sta rv in g

su re ly

in ­

e d u c a tio n a l p la n .

SECULAR EDUCATION

C o n t r a s t b e tw e e n M is s io n and P r e s i d i o . c o m m u n ity w a s p r a c t i c a l l y

se lf-su sta in in g

As t h e M i s s i o n

and i s o l a t e d

from

as th e P re s id io

e sta b lish m e n t,

q u ite se p a ra te fu l a c tiv ity

and d i s t i n c t .

e d u c a t i o n i n t h e tw o w e r e a l s o The c a r e f u l p l a n n i n g a n d p u r p o s e ­

o f t h e M is s io n w as i n c o n s i d e r a b le

th e g en eral l i f e

c o n t r a s t to

o f th e P r e s id io o r p u e b lo .

E u d e s k e t c h e s o f t h e e a r l y B an D i e g o h a v e come down to u s th ro u g h th e to rs

d i a r i e s and r e p o r ts o f e a r ly s e t t l e r s ,

and s u r v e y o r s .

T he b e s t d e s c r i p t i o n s

i n g c o n d i t i o n s d u r i n g t h e M e x ica n p e r i o d . by A l f r e d R o b in so n th e P re s id io

in h is book, B ife

d u rin g th e g o v e rn o rsh ip

i t m ig h t j u s t a s w e l l h av e b een t r u e y ears b e fo re .

In te llin g

v isi­

are th o s e d e p ic t ­ The d e s c r i p t i o n

in C a li f o r n ia , p ic tu r e s o f E c h e a n d ia .

H ow ever,

of c o n d itio n s t h i r t y

of h is v i s i t

t o G o vern or E c h e a n d ia ,

R o b in so n s a y s , H i s h o u s e w as l o c a t e d i n t h e c e n t e r o f a l a r g e s q u a r e o f b u i ld i n g s o c c u p ie d by h i s o f f i c e r s , and o r e le v a t e d as t o o v e r l o o k t h e m a l l a n d command a v i e w o f t h e s e a . On t h e r i g h t h a n d was a s m a ll G o th ic c h a p e l , w i t h i t s cem e­ t e r y , and im m e d ia te ly i n f r o n t , c l o s e t o th e m ain e n t r a n c e w a s t h e g u a r d ro o m w h e r e t h e s o l d i e r s w e r e a m u s in g t h e m ­ s e l v e s ; some s e a t e d on t h e g r o u n d p l a y i n g c a r d s a n d sm ok­ i n g , w h ile o t h e r s w ere d a n c in g t o th e m u sic o f a g u i t a r ; t h e w h o le w as s u r r o u n d e d by a h i g h w a l l , o r i g i n a l l y i n ­ te n d e d as a d e fe n s e a g a in s t th e In d ia n s . A t t h e g a t e s t o o d a s e n t i n a l , w i t h a s l o u c h e d h a t and b l a n k e t th ro w n o v e r one s h o u l d e r , h i s o l d S p a n is h m u s k e t r e s t i n g on t h e o t h e r ; h i s p a n t a l o o n s b u t t o n e d a n d o r n a ­ m en ted a t t h e k n e e , b e lo w w h ic h h i s l e g s w ere p r o t e c t e d by le g g in g s o f d r e s s e d id e e r s k in se c u re d w ith sp a n g le d g a ite rs . On t h e l a w n b e n e a t h t h e h i l l i n w h i c h t h e p r e s i d i o i s b u i l t s t o o d a b o u t t h i r t y h o u s e s o f r.ude a p p e a r a n c e , m o s t ­ l y o c c u p i e d b y r e t i r e d v e t e r a n s , n o t so w e l l c o n s t r u c t e d i n r e s p e c t to e i t h e r b e a u ty o r s t a b i l i t y a s th e h o u se s o f M o n te rey w i t h t h e e x c e p tio n o f t h a t b e lo n g in g to o u r

26 " a d m i n i s t r a d o r " , Don J u a n B a n d i n i , w h o s e m a n s i o n , t h e n i n a n u n f i n i s h e d s t a t e * b a d e f a i r w h en c o m p l e t e t o s u r p a s s any i n th e c o u n tr y . 0 P a r l y g ro w th o f th e to w n .

D o u g l a s s Gunn s a y s t h a t i n

1 8 0 0 t h e P r e s i d i o h a d a c h i e v e d a p o p u l a t i o n o f 167 p e r s o n s . I n 1821 t h e r e w ere o n ly f i v e h o u se s t h e r e w e re t h i r t e e n h o u s e s . ^1

i n O ld Town a n d i n 1 8 3 0

F o rb es s a y s ,

S an D ie g o i s a good h a r b o u r and v e r y s e c u r e ; i t i s q u ite s u f f i c i e n t f o r t h e r e c e p tio n o f m erch an t v e s s e l s , b u t i s o f m uch l e s s c a p a c i t y t h a n S a n F r a n c i s c o . T h e r e i s no w a t e r t o b e g o t h e r e e x c e p t a t t h e p r e s i ­ d i o ; i t i s b r o u g h t down t o t h e b e a c h i n c a r t s . 32 Not a l l fle a -rid d e n

d e sc rip tio n s of

San D ie g o p i c t u r e d

c o l l e c t i o n o f shabby ad o b es in

u a l d r o u th and

d re a rin e ss.

th e

a lan d of p e rp e t-

W. H . D a v i s i n h i s b o o k , Mfc

S e v e n ty - f iv e Y ears

in C a lifo rn ia , p a in ts

" I t w a s ,"

" q u ite a liv e ly

says h e,

i t as

q u ite a n o th e r p i c t u r e .

to w n ."

T he p o p u l a t i o n h a d b y t h i s t i m e boom ed t o some 4 0 0 o r 500 p e r s o n s . D a v is.

”. . .

q u ite a la rg e p la c e ,"

" T h e re was a good d e a l o f g a i e t y

The p e o p le w e re t h e e l i t e

c o n t i n u e s M r.

and re fin e m e n t h e r e .

of t h i s p o r t io n o f th e d e p a rtm e n t

of C a lifo rn ia ." 30 A l f r e d R o b i n s o n , L i f e i n C a l i f o r n i a . P u r i n g a R e s i ­ d e n c e o f S e v e r a l Y e a r s ( S a n . F r a n c i s c o : Win. D o x e y , 1 8 9 1 ) , p . 3 1 . D o u g la s s Gunn, P i c t u r e s q u e S an D ie g o K n ig h t an d L e o n a rd C o ., 1 8 8 7 ), p p 7 2 7 -3 1 .

(C h ic a g o :

32 A l e x a n d e r F o r b e s , C a l i f o r n i a : A H i s t o r y o f U p p e r & Low er C a l i f . (S an F r a n c i s c o : J o h n H e n r y N a s h , 1 9 3 9 T 7 P* 1 0 3 .

27 The c i t y m u st h a v e r e a c h e d a p o p u l a t i o n p l a t e a u , c a u se i n 1838 t h e r e had b e en v e r y l i t t l e n. .

be­

f u r t h e r g ro w th ,

• w i t h p o s s i b l y a n a t u r a l i n c r e a s e . ” 33 M u n ic ip a l p r o g r e s s had a p p a r e n tly

sta g n a te d because in

1 8 4 6 M a j o r E m ory o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s Army, t a k i n g o v e r C a l i ­ f o r n i a f o r t h e S t a r s an d S t r i p e s ,

in d ic a te d th a t l i t t l e

g ro w th

had o c cu rred sin c e 1831. The to w n c o n s i s t s o f a f e w a d o b e h o u s e s t w o o r t h r e e o f w h ich o n ly h a v e p la n k f l o o r s . I t i s s i t u a t e d a t th e f o o t o f a h i g h h i l l on a s a n d f l a t tw o m i l e s w i d e , r e a c h ­ i n g f r o m t h e h e a d o f S a n D ie g o Bay t o F a l s e B a y . A t p r e s e n t San D ieg o i s , a l l t h i n g s c o n s i d e r e d , p e r ­ h a p s o n e o f t h e b e s t h a r b o u r s on t h e c o a s t f r o m C a l l a o t o P u g e t ’ s S o u n d , w i t h t h e one s i n g l e e x c e p t i o n , t h a t o f S a n F ra n c isc o . I n t h e o p i n i o n o f some i n t e l l i g e n t n a v y o f f i c ­ e r s , i t i s p r e f e r a b l e even to t h i s . T he h a r b o u r o f S a n F r a n c i s c o h a s m o r e w a t e r b u t t h a t o f S a n D i e g o h a s a m o re u n ifo rm c lim a te , b e t t e r a n ch o rag e, and p e r f e c t s e c u r i t y f r o m w in d s i n any d i r e c t i o n . H ow ever, th e co m m erc ial m e t r o p o l i s m u s t b e a t S a n F r a n c i s c o o w in g t o t h e g r e a t e r e x t e n t and s u p e r i o r i t y o f th e c o u n tr y a d j a c e n t , w a te r e d by t h e r i v e r s S a c ra m e n to and San J o a c h im , u n l e s s in d e e d San D i e g o s h o u l d b e m ade t h e t e r m i n u s o f a r a i l r o a d l e a d i n g by th e r o u te of t h e G ila t o t h e D el N o rte , and th e n c e to t h e M i s s i s s i p p i a n d t h e A t l a n t i c . 34 L i f e a t t h e S a n D ie g o P r e s i d i o h a d c h a n g e d l i t t l e 1780 u n t i l

t h e A m erican o c c u p a t i o n .

from

T he c h a n g e w r o u g h t b y t h e

s u c c e s s f u l s t r u g g l e f o r i n d e p e n d e n c e M e x ic o m ade a g a i n s t t h e S p a n is h E m p ire d i d n o t s t r i k e

d e e p ly in to th e P r e s id io l i f e .

S an D ie g o a s i n d e e d a l l o f C a l i f o r n i a r e m a in e d a s o r t 33 C h ica g o : fo rn ia

of o r -

W. H . D a v i s , My S e v e n t y - f i v e Y e a r s i n C a l i f o r n i a The L a k e s i d e P r e s s , 1 9 2 9 ) , p . 3 4 .

34 C o l . F r e m o n t & M a j o r E m o ry , N o t e s o f T r a v e l i n C a l i ­ (D u b lin : Jam es M cG lash an , 1 8 4 9 ) , p . 252.

88

phan in th e th in g ,

f a m i l y o f L a t i n A m eric an s e t t l e m e n t s .

If

any­

S a n D ie g o g r e w m o r e n e g l e c t e d a f t e r M e x ic o b e c a m e t h e

s e a t o f g o v e rn m e n t. T he g r e a t e s t o f th e M issio n

change, of

c o u r s e , w as t h e

i n 1 8 3 8 , w h ic h c o m p le te d t h e

s e c u la riz a tio n

d e stru c tio n of

th e M iss io n . N e g le c t o f s e c u l a r e d u c a tio n . fo r th e

l a c k " *1 f

^

'

. -v-^v','.TKfffiy£>.j>yX«J’j r ^K>>ST*3111

V w *•«n hh **[r

FIGURE 2

OLD T O W N : THE O RIG IN A L

SAN DIEGO, IN 1869.

j

71

San Diego?" The Herald o b v io u sly d i d ,52 Tax problem s, o f San D iego,

Tax problems a s s a ile d th e good people

School ta x e s were a se r io u s problem, and when

th e Superintendent o f S ch ools f a i l e d to send in a report to th e S ta te S uperintendent o f I n s tr u c tio n in 1859, th ereb y l o s ­ in g S ta te money, th e sch ool was once again in danger o f c l o s ­ in g i t s d o o rs.

Only the assumption of th e burden by lo c a l taxpayers saved th e day, 53 San Diego in th e s i x t i e s ,

The year 1860 began th e de­

cade in which were to m a te r ia liz e many o f th e b r ig h t prom ises San Diegans had been a n t ic ip a t in g .

I t began t o lo o k very much

as though a r a ilr o a d would be b u ilt to th e p o rt o f San Diego in th e e a r ly p art o f th e I 8 6 0 1s .

The hopes o f many C a lifo r ­

n ian s th a t Lower C a lifo r n ia would be annexed seemed c lo s e to r e a liz a t io n .

P r o sp e r ity looked to be c lo s e at hand.

However,

th e se e th in g o f p o l i t i c a l problems ju st below the su rface dur­ in g th e years 1850-1860 now began to burst fo r th and now in p la c e o f the g re a t surge of p ro g ress c o n fid e n tly exp ected by San D iegans, came in ste a d th e C iv i l War and f o r San Diego smashed hopes and sta g n a tio n . 32 News item in th e San Diego H erald . A p ril 30, 1859. 53 I b i d ., Februazy 19, 1859.

72

R ailroad dreams of t h i s p eriod were t i e d up w ith South­ ern prom oters.

I t i s q u ite p o s s ib le th a t one of th ese p ro­

j e c t s would have ca r ried over in to r e a l i t y , but fo r th e w ar. With the r a ilr o a d went San D ieg o ’ s dreams of m e tr o p o lis. The p o p u lation o f San Diego in 1860 was s e t a t 731, o f which only a sm all p a rt were Am ericans.

The r a te o f growth

fo r th e decade was slow as in d ic a te d by the estim a ted popula­ tio n o f 1 ,0 0 0 fo r 1869. D i f f i c u l t y in keeping te a c h e r s.

Education was a c t iv e

a t t h i s tim e n ot on ly in preparing ch ild r en in th o se apprec­ ia t io n s and am bitions which were l a t e r to gain such momentum in making the c ity a ce n te r of commercial and c u ltu r a l a c t i ­ v ity .

Perhaps the g r e a te s t b e n e fit the sch ool te a c h e r s b e s­

towed upon th e v i l l a g e was in marrying men who had an im port­ ant v o ic e in th e communityTs a f f a i r s .

Many o f e d u c a tio n ’ s

ab le su p p orters in the next tw e n ty -fiv e years were men who su c­ ceeded in marrying sch o o l te a c h e r s. That t h is was a problem we have th e word of D an iel C levelan d , a p io n eer San Diego a tto r n e y , who s a id , The p eo p le of Old Town complained th a t they could not keep t h e ir te a c h e r s . They would s p e e d ily be dragged o f f to th e a lt a r by some d i s s a t i s f i e d b a ch elo r, who was eager to change h is co n d itio n fo r b e tte r or worse I Marcus S c h i ll e r , the su p erin ten d en t of sc h o o ls, found th e g e t t in g and k eep in g ( e s p e c ia lly th e keeping) o f one te a c h e r fo r th e one p u b lic sch o o l in the County a p erp lex in g d u ty .54 54 D an iel C levelan d , quoted in The San Diego Union, Dec. 1 3 , 1925.

73

An e a r ly sch o o l te a c h e r .

I t i s in t e r e s t in g to r e c e iv e

a word p ic tu r e o f th e s e e a r ly te a ch ers and th e sc h o o ls in which th ey worked.

Mrs. Luey Wentworth i s one p io n eer who r e ­

c a lle d her e a r ly sch o o l d ays. The f i r s t sch oolhou se I went to was th e Couts house next (n orth o f) the Lopez Adobe here in Old Town. I must have been a l i t t l e over f i v e years old (1 8 6 8 ). I remem­ ber th e te a c h e r , M iss Mary B. T eb b etts, had on a pink d ress very f u l l over a hoop s k ir t w ith f u l l la c e under s le e v e s and she wore p a n t a le t t e s trimmed w ith l a c e . They showed down to her a n k le s. . . .55 The measurements fo r th e "Couts house” sch o o l were the same as fo r th e p reced in g "Plaza” s c h o o l. th ey were one and the same.

I t i s p o s s ib le th a t

Measurements given in the P u b lic

School Teacher* s Report were t h i r t y by twenty f e e t w ith a ten fo o t c e i l i n g — b u ild in g m a te ria l ad ob e.86 M iss T ebbetts in her annual rep o rt owned up to b ein g tw e n ty -fiv e years o ld and having had e ig h t years te a ch in g e x ­ p e r ie n c e . 57 The sch o o l term fo r 1863 was e ig h t m onths.

Miss Teb­

b e t t s taught h a lf o f t h i s tim e and th e te a c h e r who taught the o th er h a lf was, according to Mrs. Wentworth, Mrs. V ic to r ia Pedrorena Magee, although some a u t h o r it ie s , n o ta b ly B lack, say i t was V icto r P . M agee.88 55 Ada York and W inifred D avidson, 1861.

ojd.

c i t ♦,

pp.

3 64-65.

86 Mary B. T eb b e tts, P u b lic School T eacher1s Report, 57 k o c+ c i t . 58 S . T. B lack, H isto ry o f San Diego County, p . 233.

74

P ic tu r e o f an e a r ly s c h o o l.

We have no d e sc r ip tio n o f

the fu r n ish in g s o f t h i s sch o o lh o u se, but th ey were probably meager enough.

We do have a d e sc r ip tio n o f a sch o o l o f t h i s

p erio d in an oth er p a rt o f C a lifo r n ia which i s t y p ic a l enough to perm it us to gain some id ea o f what th e Old Town sch ool a sp ired to in th e way o f equipment. There were benches fo r th e c h ild r e n ; a ta b le and one ch a ir fo r th e te a c h e r ; no blackboard o r map.

There was a

wooden p a il and a t i n dipper fo r d rin k in g w a ter.

The ch ild r en

fu rn ish ed t h e ir own ink b o t t l e s , pens and paper. A side from th e crude p a in tin g of a s a in t and th e D is ­ c i p l in e , th er e i s very l i t t l e to d is t in g u is h t h i s sch ool o f th e middle o f th e century from th o se of th e f i r s t days of the cen ­ tu r y .

The g re a t d iffe r e n c e , however, la y in th e teach ers and

th e p h ilosop h y o f te a ch in g th ey brough to th e c h ild r e n in t h e ir ca r e. The sch o o l was undoubtedly moved out of th e "Couts House" in 1863.

Lucy Brown Wentworth t e l l s o f Mrs. V ic to r ia

Pedrorena Magee te a ch in g sch o o l ". . . ih th e room th a t had been used fo r a church f o r a few y e a r s."

Mrs. Magee liv e d

in one h a lf o f the old E s tu d illo house w h ile Lucy Brown Went­ w orth, her p a ren ts, b ro th ers and s i s t e r s liv e d in th e part ^ John S w ett, H isto ry o f the P u b lic School System in C a lifo r n ia (New York: American Book C o., 19 1 1 ), p . 105.

60 Lucy Brown Wentworth, N o te s.

75

n ea re st th e Bandini h ou se. The measurements of the sch o o l room given by Mrs. Magee in her te a c h e r ’ s rep ort were fo r ty f e e t by twenty f e e t w ith a tw elve fo o t c e i l i n g .

B u ild in g m a te r ia l was ad o b e.61

This sch o o l room was probably a room in the E s tu d illo house— now q u ite ro m a n tica lly c a lle d "Ramona’ s Marriage P la c e ” . There are s e v e r a l pay orders made out by th e C ity C ouncil to V ic to r ia D. E s tu d illo f o r ren t at $5 a m onth,62

a fa r cry from

th e #60 a month ren t paid Marshal Harasthy some tw elv e years b e fo r e .

The room in th e E s tu d illo house used as a church fo r

a tim e would be admirably s u ite d in arrangement and s iz e fo r a sch o o l room. Other sch o o l m is t r e s s e s .

When Mrs. Magee went away,

her p la ce was taken by Mrs. Maria M a cG illiv ra y .

As Lucy Went­

worth d e s c r ib e s h er, "She was a chunky Englishwoman and wore her h a ir in c u r ls .

She loved to dance.

She boarded at th e

F ran k lin House."**® I f we are to c r e d it the word of an ey e w itn ess, t h i s young la d y a lso b oasted a good r ig h t arm.

L illia n C. Whaley

t e l l s u s, 61 V ic to r ia Pedrorena Magee, P u b lic School T eacher’ s Report fo r 1865. 62 Rent orders on d isp la y at Ramona’ s Marriage P la ce; a ls o some in San Diego H is t o r ic a l S o c ie t y ’ s B iograp h ical F i l e s under " E stu d illo Fam ily” . 63 Ada York and W inifred D avidson,

ojd.

c i t . , p . 365.

76

She g ot hold o f my b r o th e r . . . but could n ot get th e b e st of th a t plucky l i t t l e d e v i l. One boy had done some­ th in g bad. . . p art Mexican he w as. . . . and she thought Frank had done i t . She t r ie d to make Frank admit he had done i t or to break a law among th e boys th a t they m ustn’t t e l l on one a n oth er. She got so mad th at she jerked him a cro ss th e room and cut h is arm .64 Mrs. Wentworth remembered Mrs. M acG illivray b ecau se, ". . . when she got mad at th e bad ch ild r en she would g r i t her te e th and whip us w ith th e le a d p e n c il a cro ss the back o f the h and.”65 Mrs. M acG illivray, in an attem pt to en rich th e c u rr ic u ­ lum by e n l i s t i n g o u tsid e t a le n t to stim u la te th e y ou n gsters, ra th er overdid h e r s e lf , as Mrs. Wentworth r e c a l l s , when she brought in a Mr. S tev e n s, who had come to San Diego to te a ch m u sic.

"Mrs. M acG illivray got him to come to the l i t t l e

sch o o l-h o u se to te a c h m usic. a l l over th e f lo o r ."

He would chew tob acco and s p it

The te a ch er was probably q u ite content

th a t th e gentlem an was u n r e lia b le and showed up more and more in fr e q u e n tly . 66 A schoolhouse must have been b u i l t during th e y ea r, 1864-65, s in c e Mrs. Wentworth s t a t e s th a t fo llo w in g Mrs. Maria M acG illivray, "Miss Mary C. Walker came to te a c h in th e l i t t l e 64 W inifred D avidson, N o te s, quoting from in terv iew w ith L i ll i a n C. Whaley. 65 Lucy Brown Wentworth, N o te s. S e p t. 20, 1931, p . 4 5 . 66 Loc. c i t .

The first schoolhouse in San Biego Built in 1864-65

The new Meson Street School Built in 1873 FIOURS 3

77

schoolhouse near Jack S tew a rt’ s house (now a t the Tamale Fac­ to r y , Whitman and Taylor S t r e e t s )." 67 The f i r s t sch o o l b u ild in g .

In th e m atter of t h i s sc h o o l-

house, th e r e i s some varian ce o f o p in io n among th o se who have recorded th e h isto r y o f th e San Diego i n s t i t u t i o n .

Smythe

s t a t e s th at by the y ea r, 1860, a sch oolh ou se had been b u i l t . ”I t c o n s is te d o f one room tw en ty -fo u r by t h ir t y f e e t with a te n f o o t c e i l i n g . T h i s ,

however, must have been th e room

in th e Couts house mentioned by Mrs. Wentworth, ra th er than th e f i r s t Mason S tr e e t S ch o o l. The measurements were s im ila r t o th o se o f th e o ld Mas­ on S tr e e t S c h o o l.

Mary T eb b etts, however, in her P ublic School

T eacher’s Report fo r 1861 d e sc r ib e s th e room in which she taught as s i z e t h ir t y by tw enty by ten f e e t and con stru cted o f a d ob e.69

The f i r s t Mason S tr e e t School was co n stru cted o f

wood. Mrs. Wentworth’ s statem ent would p la ce t h i s o r ig in a l sch o o l around 1864-1865.

N eed less to say th a t w ith a perman­

ent b u ild in g con stru cted to carry on an ed u cation al program b u ilt and supported by ta x m onies, ed u ca tio n had d e f i n i t e l y 6? Ada York and W inifred Davidson, l o c . c i t . 68 Smythe, H isto ry o f San D iego, p . 572. 69 Mary B. T eb b etts, P u b lic School T eacher’ s Report fo r 1861.

78

a rriv ed on th e l i s t of community "musts*. School days under Mrs. Mary G_. Walker M orse.

Mrs. Mary

C. Walker Morse in her r e c o lle c t io n s o f e a r ly e x p e r ie n c e s in San D iego, recorded her f e e l in g s upon a r r iv a l.

The ex p er ie n ­

ce s and s e n sa tio n s o f t h is young New England g i r l coming to San Diego in th o se lon g ago days must have been t y p ic a l o f th e ed u ca tio n a l m is s io n a r ie s who gave up fr ie n d s and com forts to brin g guidance to young Americans o f many r a c e s . As she d e s c r ib e s Old San D iego, th e f e e lin g i s stron g th a t here was an a lto g e t h e r dreary, su n b la ste d , p o in t o f de­ parture fo r nowhere*

Crude mud houses in f e s t e d w ith vermin

crowded a barren square in d iso r d e r .

Only a New England g i r l

could have f e l t th e f u l l c o n tr a st o f the scene w ith th a t o f th e trim New England town grouped about th e green common, w ith gardens and t r e e s on eve;ry hand.

She soon d isc o v e r e d , how­

e v e r , th a t w ith in th o se crude e x t e r io r s reig n ed g a ie ty and h o s p ita lity .

S o c i a l ly , San Diego was a " liv e" town.

Mrs. Morse t e l l s of her coming w ith th e good humor the p assage o f time o fte n c o n fe r s upon d is t r e s s in g e x p e r ie n c e s . As t h i s g i r l s e t out fo r her new assignm ent in San D iego, she must have had f e e l in g s o f mixed p rid e and m is g iv in g s .

"The

area o f the County o f San Diego a t th a t time was la r g e r than the area of th e whole s t a t e of M assachusetts and I was to tea ch the on ly sch o o l in the County." Then th e day came at l a s t when she would see her new

79

home.

How e a g e r ly she must have scanned th e sh ores fo r her

f i r s t s ig h t o f San Diego as th e ship swept p a st P o in t Loma and up th e Bay to th e anchorage*

There on shore were a few crude

s h e lte r s . I s a id to the ca p ta in in dismay, " Is t h is San D iego?n He r e p lie d , "No, the town i s fo u r m ile s away." I saw a merry tw in k le in h is ey e, which I afterw ards in te r p r e te d as meaning, "Won’t t h i s Yankee sch o o l ma’ am he su rp rised when she s e e s the town!" Wild lo o k in g horsemen f lo u r is h ­ in g t h e ir r ia t a s were coming from d if f e r e n t d ir e c tio n s t o ­ wards the la n d in g . The very g a it o f th e h orses seemed d i f ­ fe r e n t than anything I had ever seen b e fo r e . I was d riven to th e h o te l which was to be my boarding p la c e . T his was a frame str u c tu r e o f two s t o r i e s , sin c e burned. The f i r s t n ig h t at th e h o t e l a donkey came under my window and s a lu te d me w ith an u n ea rth ly b ray. . . . The f l e a s were p l e n t i f u l and hungry. The m osquitos were a ls o in a tten d a n ce. The cooking at th e h o t e l was q u ite u n lik e th e cooking at th e Del Coronado at the p r e s ­ ent tim e . I sa t a t a ta b le alone (b ein g the only woman in th e h o u se ). An Indian man did the cooking and an I r is h boy w aited on me at the ta b le and a lso gave me news o f th e town. A man had been shot the p rev io u s day, he s a id , e t c . The la n d lo r d , an I r is h gentlem an, k in d ly t o ld me th at I could go in to th e k itc h e n and cook v^iatever I wished i f I did not l i k e the In d ia n s’ s t y l e o f cook in g. I a v a ile d my­ s e l f o f th e p r iv ile g e and w h ile th er e made some i n t e r e s t ­ in g d is c o v e r ie s . The cook was s i t t i n g on a bench in fr o n t o f an open sack of f lo u r . He was v ig o r o u sly sc r a tc h in g h i s head. T his brought u n p leasan t su g g e stio n s to my mind as a ls o did h is s t i r r in g o f food v faile cooking on th e sto v e w ith h is lon g h a ir over i t . I t r ie d to fin d board in a p r iv a te fa m ily as th e accomo­ d a tio n s were so poor a t th e h o t e l, but w ith ou t s u c c e s s . No one would tak e "La Maestra" as a b oard er. At th e end of a week Mrs. Robinson k in d ly o ffe r e d me two unoccupied r o o m s in th e second sto r y o f h er home on th e P la z a . . . .70 70 San Diego H is t o r ic a l S o c ie ty , B io g ra p h ica l F i l e s in Serra Museum, unpublished memoirs o f Mary"!: 7 Walker Morse.

80

Mrs. Wentworth says o f M iss Walker, "But Miss Mary C. Walker did not remain w ith us lo n g as a te a c h e r , fo r th e sch o o l t r u s t e e , Mr. 2 . W. Morse, m arried h er." 71x

The sto ry behind th e

"retirem ent" t e l l s much of th e s t i l l hot embers of th e r e c ­ ent C iv il War* I t seems, accord in g to Smythe, M iss Mary C. Walker a rriv ed in San Diego on th e morning o f Ju ly 5, 1865, having been sen t from San F ran cisco by the S ta te Superintendent to f i l l a vacancy as te a c h e r . She was a n a tiv e o f New England and e n te r ta in e d no p r e ju d ic e s a g a in st n e g r o e s. On th e voyage firom San F ra n cisco , she s u ffe r e d from mal de mer and was attend ed by th e stew ard­ e s s , a quadroon. Some weeks l a t e r , lAhile her sch o o l was in p r o g r e ss, she found t h i s n eg ress in M anasse’ s sto r e e a tin g a lunch o f crackers and ch eese and f e e l i n g a fr ie n d ly in ­ t e r e s t in th e woman in v it e d h er t o take dinner w ith her a t th e F ran k lin H ouse. When th ey en tered th e d in in g room and sa t down a t th e t a b le to g e th e r , a number of p eop le who were th ere a t once g ot up and l e f t . M iss Walker and her g u est had the ta b le and the room to th e m se lv e s. There was a storm , at on ce. The te a c h e r ’ s d is m is s a l was demanded and most o f th e ch ild ren were taken out of s c h o o l. The Yankee sch o o l ma’ am did not understand th in g s c le a r ly , and made th e m atter worse by some unguarded r e ­ marks comparing th e com plexion o f c e r ta in o f the p r o t e s t ­ in g C a lifo r n ia n s w ith th a t o f her g u e s t. The sch o o l t r u s t e e s of the tim e were Dr. B. B. Hoffman, E. W. Morse and Robert D. I s r a e l . Hoffman f e l t th at what­ ever th e m e r its o f the c a s e , th e sch ool money could not be w asted keeping an empty schoolroom open. I s r a e l was an old s o ld ie r and R epublican, and h is sen tim en ts are b e st ex p re s­ sed in h is own words, "Morse," sa id I , " I ’ l l be damned i f I wouldn’ t take th a t sch o o l money and throw i t in the bay as fa r as I could send i t b efo re I would d ism iss the te a c h ­ er to p le a s e th e se copperheads. You may do as you p le a s e , 71 Lucy Brown Wentworth, N o te s, p . 4 1.

81

but I w i l l never con sen t t o h er d is m is s a l." I t i s easy t o b e lie v e th a t the Captain would have stood h is ground but th e th ir d t r u s t e e , Morse, was a diplom at* He was then a widower and had m atrim onial d e sig n s upon the tea ch er* She ten d ered her r e s ig n a tio n and became Mrs* E. W. Morse and th u s the country was saved once more*7** Mr. Morse h im self had been a sch o o l te a c h e r in th e East b efo re ta k in g the t r a i l o f go ld to the W est.

He had a rrived

in San Diego in 1850 to become one of th e most i n f l u e n t ia l and p r o g r e ssiv e c i t i z e n s o f th e town.

Speaking o f h er teach in g

ex p e r ie n c e , Mrs. Morse sa y s, I aimed to te a c h what would be most u s e f u l, namely, rea d in g , s p e llin g , a rith m etic and how to w r ite l e t t e r s . At r e c e s s th e Spanish g i r l s smoked c ig a r it o s and th e boys amused th em selves by la s s o in g p ig s and h en s. The Spanish ch ild r en were very ir r e g u la r in t h e ir attendance at sch ool on account of so many f i e s t a s and amusements o f v a rio u s kinds . 73 In t h i s one paragraph Mrs. Morse has portrayed th e dom­ in a n t f a c e t s o f San Diego l i f e in the 1860f s .

The sen se o f

is o l a t i o n from fr ie n d s and r e la t iv e s in th e East must have been keen, fo r San Diego was the very corner o f the nethermost fr in g e of th e fa r flu n g new lan d of w estern .America*

The a b i l ­

i t y to communicate through l e t t e r w r itin g would be a f e l t need to every San Diego newcomer.

N ative C aliforn ian s* g r e a te r in ­

t e r e s t in th e f i e s t a and th e rodeo over book le a r n in g was q u ite u nd erstan dab le— and how modern sound th e a c t i v i t i e s of 72 Smyth e. op . c i t . . p . 237. 73 ¥ /in ifr ed Davidson, N o te s, quoting from th e San Diego U nion. December 12, 1937.

82

th e sch o o l g i r l s e ig h ty years ago. In Mary C. Walker*s P u b lic School Teacher* s Report f or 1865, she wrote in th e space reserv ed fo r "tim es tardy", t h a t , "Clocks not g e n e r a lly used by the heads o f f a m ilie s fo r mark­ in g tim e .

C onsequently ta r d in e s s i s th e r u le and not th e ex ­

cep tio n among th e p u p ils." * ^ San Diego was s t i l l en joyin g i t s suspension in th e va­ cuum of tim e .

No ca len d a r, no se a so n s, no h ours.

I t was very

much a land o f "manana", in s p it e of th e b u s tle of a few e n te r ­ p r is in g Yankees. School improvements under Mrs. Sherman.

F ollow ing th e

b r ie f and h e c t ic tea ch in g tenure o f M iss Walker, came Miss Augusta B a r r e tt. very lo n g .

As Mrs. Wentworth sa y s , "She did n ot teach

She boarded w ith th e S c h i l l e r s .

Captain Sherman

married h e r ."75 Captain Sherman was s ta tio n e d at La P lay a and he drove h i s horse and buggy over to Old Town to carry on h is co u rt­ s h ip .

He, along w ith Morse and o th e r s, became converted to

th e cause o f e d u c a tio n , Sherman donating th e s i t e of th e Sher­ man S ch o o l, named fo r him. A ll r e fe r e n c e s examined agree th a t Mrs. Augusta Sher­ man gave up tea ch in g at th e tim e of her m arriage.

However,

she was te a c h in g in 1867, as she turned in a "Public School 74 Mary C. Walker, P u b lic School Teacher* s Report fo r 1865. 75 Lucy B. Wentworth, N o tes, p . 4 2 .

83

Teacher*s Report" fo r th a t y ea r .

In t h i s r e p o r t, under "Im­

provem ents", she n o te s , Yard has been made, window sh ades, maps, c h a r ts, a clo ck and a sch o o l lib r a r y fo r th e b e n e fit o f the s c h o l­ a r s . (s ix ty -o n e books) Each and every a r t i c l e i s a step p in g ston e to th e pro­ motion and advancement o f ed u ca tio n a l i n t e r e s t s . 76 M iss Kingsbury fo llo w ed Mrs. Sherman, and she too t e r ­ m inated her tenu re o f o f f i c e a b ru p tly , but fo r q u ite another rea so n .

As Mrs. Wentworth t e l l s i t ,

One day one o f th e g ir ls(L o r e n z a Serrano) put a l l c o l­ ors o f nature in her h a ir (and) made ua a l l laugh in s c h o o l. M iss Kingsbury was so mad she to ld th e g i r l to tak e a l l her books and go home and not come back to sch o o l any more. But th e g i r l ’ s b r o th e r -in -la w was a tr u s te e and he to ld M iss Kingsbury to take a l l her th in g s and not come back to te a c h sch o o l any more, so she went t o teach sch o o l a t Cave Couts* ra n ch .7” The a r r iv a l of "Father H orton".

I t was in t h is year

1867 th a t what was probably con sid ered as an i n s ig n if ic a n t i n ­ cid en t a c t u a lly became th e tu rn ing p o in t of San D ieg o ’ s h i s ­ to r y . The a r r iv a l o f Alonzo Horton probably caused no more i n t e r e s t than th a t cu stom arily bestowed upon non-heralded v i s i ­ to r s in a sm all p r o v in c ia l v i l l a g e .

Those men who were p in in g

away fo r a r a ilr o a d and bemoaning th e f a t e o f San Diego fo r the 76 Mrs. Augusta Sherman, P u blic School Teacher’ s Report f o r 1867. 77 Lucy Wentworth, N o te s. p . 4 3 .

T -'

-

-

lilA lM .

The site of Horton Addition, looking west, showing the barracks on Kettner and Market Streets near the wharf, used as a school in 1868 Photo taken in the eighties

FIGURE 4

84

la c k of one, f a i l e d t o see in th e a r r iv a l of t h i s ordinary lo o k in g man an even t g r e a te r than com pletion o f th e r a ilr o a d in the b u ild in g o f a g re a ter San D ieg o • i

The v is io n o f a new c i t y .

What t h i s man, H orton, brought

w ith him, energy, im a g in ation and courage, the r e s id e n ts o f San D iego lacked alm ost e n t i r e ly ,

Horton a t once saw p o s s i ­

b i l i t i e s fo r a c it y in the s i t e near D a v is’ F o lly , on p la in s a t th e e a ste r n edge o f th e bay.

In order to buy th e la n d , i t

had to be put up fo r a u ctio n and fo r t h i s an e le c t io n was need­ ed t o c le a r t i t l e ,

Horton was not at a l l dismayed by th e fa c t

th a t th ere was no p ro sp ect fo r an e l e c t io n .

Although one was

p a st due, no one bothered h is head over it* so one was not in p r o s p e c t.

Horton dug in to h is own p ock et and paid fo r an

e le c t io n ; then bid in a thousand a cres o f land on h is chosen s i t e fo r tw e n ty -s ix cen ts an a c r e . On one p a r c e l o f land Judge H o llis t e r overb id Horton, and when th e l a t t e r ceased b id d in g , H o llis t e r begged him to make another b id , which Horton did fo r tw e n ty -fiv e cen ts and took th e la n d .

Afterward H o l l i s t e r s a id , "You can have i t ; I

wouldn’t g iv e you a m ill an acre f o r a l l you’ve bought.

That

land has l a i n th er e a m illio n y ears and nobody has b u ilt a c i t y on i t y e t." To which Horton responded, "Yes, and i t would la y th ere a m illio n years lo n g e r w ith ou t any c it y b ein g b u ilt upon i t

85

i f i t depended upon you t o do i t * ” 7ft The v is io n o f Alonzo Horton was such th at he saw th in g s as th ey might h e.

While o th er s saw in t h i s v i l l a g e too much

th a t was shoddy and d rear, Horton looked beyond to th e sage f l a t s where he saw a new c i t y .

Others had th e same o p p o rtu n ity ,

such as G eneral J . F. R u slin g , who saw th e v i l l a g e and s a id , The general broken down, d ila p id a te d , p la y ed -o u t appear­ ance of th e town was c e r ta in ly most fo r lo r n . And y et th e San Diegan l i k e a l l good C a lifo r n ia n s , had s t i l l a profound f a i t h in t h e ir fu tu re and swore by t h e ir handsome bay as s t o u t ly as e v e r . . . . . . . the in h a b ita n ts c o n siste d m ainly o f n a tiv e fo r n ia n s in a l l s t a t e s o f im p e c u n io sity .

C a li­

As t o b u s in e s s , th e town r e a lly seemed to have none, excep t a l i t t l e m erchandising and whisky d r in k in g .79 Sven Mary Walker when she came to San Diego in 1865, landed f i r s t a t the fu tu re s i t e o f th e

new H orton’ s A d d ition ,

then went to th e v i l l a g e a t Old Town. Of a l l the d ila p id a te d , m isera b le look in g p la c e s I had ev er seen , t h i s was the w o rst. The b u ild in g s were n ea rly a l l adobe, one sto ry in h eigh t* w ith no chim neys. Some o f th e r o o fs were covered w ith t i l e s and some w ith e a r th .” M iss Walker a ls o d e sc r ib e s the land th a t Horton la t e r bought. The h i l l s were brown and barren; and not a t r e e or a green th in g was to be se e n . The on ly o b je c ts to g re et 17 Q

Smythe, H isto ry o f San D iego, p . 336.

79 W inifred Davidson, N o te s. 1931.

86

th e s ig h t were the government barracks and two or th ree h o u ses. I sa id to th e C aptain, "Is t h i s San Diego?"80 A Mr. B a r t le t t w rote in 1852 th a t ". . . th e r e i s no tim ber near and wood has to be brought e i ^ i t or te n m ile s . Without wood, water or arable land t h is p la c e can never r is e to im portance."8^ What was i t th at Horton saw th a t th e s e two and hundreds l e s s graphic than th ey f a i l e d t o see?

H ere, th en , w h ile a com­

munity slo w ly sank in to decay, hoping fo r a lucky break or a r a ilr o a d to brin g p r o s p e r ity , came a man to buy what was con­ sid ered th e o u ts id e edge of nowhere and to sa y , "Here I 111 b u ild a c i t y ." Horton was as good as h is word.

In th r e e y ea rs h is

sagebrush f l a t s had a p op u lation o f over 3 ,0 0 0 .

In s p it e of

the b i t t e r o p p o sitio n o f Old Town, H orton’ s New San D iego be­ came th e c it y and what had once been San Diego slumped under th e b lu f f s o f P r e s id io H i ll and r e la p sed in to th a t term used in C a lifo r n ia to d e sig n a te a c i v i c h a s-b e e n -- Old Town. Not th at Old San Diego assumed h er cloak o f s e n i l i t y g r a c e f u lly .

She d id n o t.

She r e s is t e d b ein g pushed in to th e

chimney corner, even t o th e use o f aimed fo r c e . 80 Smythe, p £ . c i t . , p . 249. 81

c i t . , p . 320.

When the time

87

came fo r removing th e government records to th e new s i t e , the e le c t e d o f f i c i a l s of Old Town fou gh t the move w ith court p ro­ cedure, tr ic k e r y and armed guards, to say nothing o f an old cannon. N e v e r th e le s s , the new town won o u t, and the v ic to r y topped w ith a f i r e in Old Town vdiich d estroyed many o f i t s b e t t e r b u ild in g s seemed t o crush th e s p i r i t out of C a lif o r n ia ’ s f i r s t town.

I t s e t t l e d back to bask in the c h ee rfu l l i g h t o f

ven erab le t r a d i t i o n .82 In 1867 San Diego had exp erienced t h ir t e e n continuous years of ed u ca tio n under a very p r o g r e ssiv e s t a t e ed u ca tio n a l system .

Yet San Diego County, which in clu d ed R iv ersid e and

Im perial C o u n ties, was s t i l l a s in g le sch ool d i s t r i c t .

This

great area contained but a s in g le sch o o l w ith one te a ch er and th ir ty -tw o p u p ils .

With th e tw enty-tw o who were atten d in g

p r iv a te sch o o l in San Diego and elsew h ere, th er e were but f i f t y fo u r ch ild ren in t o t a l a tten d an ce.

This c o n s titu te d but s i x ­

te en per cent of t h e sch o o l age p o p u la tio n . The growth of the sch ool in San Diego had been n e g lig ib le s in c e 1860.

As Guinn says somewhat f a c e t io u s ly , "The census

o f 1867 gave an in c r e a se o f only th r e e [ sch ool ch ild r en over the number in 1866] which would seem to in d ic a te a sh ort crop th a t y e a r .”®3 8 2 0 j) • c i t . ,

pp.

3 2 5 -3 5 1 .

83 J . M. Guinn, A H isto ry o f C a lifo r n ia , v o l. 1, p . 284.

10^70560

?VM*5 Government 3arracks First school in New Town San Diego held in this building Built 1850, used as school in 1868 Fhoto taken in the eighties

88

New sc h o o ls are e s t a b lis h e d . peared in New San D iego,

In 1868 a new sch o o l ap­

A Mrs, H. H, Dougherty taught sch o o l

in th e o ld government barracks 'which were b u ilt ih 1 8 5 0 ,84 According to F . B. Morse, t h i s was a p r iv a te sch o o l w ith s i x p u p i l s .86

In th e same year a sch o o l opened in H orton’ s Ad­

d it io n in rooms rented a t S ix th and B S t r e e t s , donated by Mr. H orton.

The te a c h e r s were Mr. Parker and M iss McGarrett fo r

1868-1869,

In 1869 the sch o o l ih the barracks was taught by

Mr. E c h e ls, w h ile in December o f th a t year Mrs. Maria MacGilliv r a y took up te a ch in g a t th e B S tr e e t s i t e . 86 Mr. Henry I s r a e l , one o f San D ieg o ’ s p io n eer c i t i z e n s , r e c a lle d the sch o o ls of the tim e .

From h is d e s c r ip tio n the

"school of hard knocks" h eld s e s s io n w ith in th e p o r ta ls of le a r n in g a s w e ll as w ith o u t,

t o . I s r a e l d e sc r ib e s an in c id e n t

th a t made a l a s t i n g im pression upon him. I attended th e l i t t l e o ld sch o o l th a t stood fa r th e r south on t h i s l o t , — about te n by tw e lv e . I have a very v iv id r e c o lle c t io n o f th e old te a ch er E c h e ls, a fla n n e l mouthed Irishm an. I b e lie v e I have marks on my back y et which he put th ere fo r no reason at a l l of co u rse. Pro­ bably in 1870. S ch ool l e t out a t fo u r p . m . At th r e e p . m. we had w r itin g le s s o n s . Loved to w r ite . He came along and put h is hand on my sh ou ld er and s a id , "Ah I" I jumped and made 84

s . T . B lack, H isto ry o f San Diego County, p . 233.

86 F . B. Morse, Scrapbook. 86 smythe, H isto ry o f San D iego, p . 573.

89

a b l o t . He sa id I d id i t on purpose and took me out and w ith a rawhide whip beat me. I had n othing on but a th in s h ir t and a p a ir o f p a n ts . I t was summer. I w ou ldn 't y e l l and he la id on. He f i n a l l y l e t me go and I marched s tr a ig h t out of sch o o l to my a u n ts. The in c id e n t turned out s a t i s f a c t o r i l y , according to Mr. I s r a e l , as h is fa th e r had a few w e ll chosen words w ith Mr. E ch els and as a r e s u lt th e boy, Henry, had th in g s p r e tty much h is own way a f t e r t h a t . This in c id e n t would in d ic a te th at Mr. E ch els was te a c h ­ in g at th e f i r s t Mason S tr e e t School in 1 8 70-71.

Mrs. Whaley

r e c a l l s one o f her f in e te a c h e r s . Mrs. Bush taught u s . She would sin g a v e r se of a song and then we would im ita te h er. We had no m u sical in s t r u ­ m ents. But we learn ed t o s in g . She was a very good teach e r . She knew how to handle c h ild r e n .88 P io n eer c i t i z e n s in r e c a llin g sch ooldays are prone to recount th e sp e c ta c u la r or amusing in c id e n t s . i s a day by day p ro cess o f gu id in g growth.

Good te a c h in g

That a g r e a t deal

o f very f in e te a ch in g took p la c e i s a t t e s t e d to by th e good l i v e s most o f our p io n e er c i t i z e n s are l i v i n g . Late in 1868 Horton gave a p lo t o f ground a t S ix th and B S t r e e t s fo r a s c h o o l.

The use of th e rented rooms, however,

continued through 1869. The l i t t l e one room sch o o l b u ild in g in Old Town San Diego was s t i l l the on ly ed u ca tio n a l stru ctu r e in th e la r g e s t 87 San Diego H is t o r ic a l S o c ie ty , "The I s r a e l Fam ily” , B io g ra p h ica l F i l e s , unpublished papers in Serra Museum. 88 W inifred D avidson, N o te s .

90

county in tlie U nited S t a t e s ,

As a m atter o f f a c t , i t was one

o f the f i v e wooden b u ild in g s in Old Town. C levelan d , p io n e e r , the f i v e were:

According to D a n iel

th e home of George A. Pen­

d le to n , the Sch oolhou se, th e home o f S . W. Morse, th e F ranklin House and th e American H ouse.89 Summarization of th e decade.

Although th e g r e a te r por­

t io n o f the 1860-1869 p eriod was marked by la ck o f e d u ca tio n a l p r o g r e s s, ed u ca tio n in San Diego did h old i t s own, and toward th e end of th e decade, in company w ith the community in gen er­ a l , quickened i t s a c t i v i t i e s . We do n ot know much about con ten t of th e curriculum o f th e p erio d excep t th a t i t was p r e tty much th e same as i t was in the f i f t i e s — orthography, geography, w r it in g , grammar, read­ in g and a r ith m e tic .

There was a quickened awareness in some in ­

f l u e n t i a l ed u cators toward th e f a u l t s o f curriculum m a teria ls* The remarks of John Sw ett in an address a t an e a r ly te a c h e r s * i n s t i t u t e would so in d ic a t e . Said Mr. Swett,"The grammars grown f a t on a l l oth er gram­ mars. . . are a n u isan ce and a bore when fo rced on l i t t l e

c h ild ­

ren ." He begged te a c h e r s not to l e t granmar be an in c e s s a n t te a r in g to p ie c e s o f o th er men’ s se n te n c e s; nor to l e t a r it h -

D a n iel C leveland, a r t i c l e in the San Diego Union. December 13, 1925.

91

m etic become th e nightm are o f the s c h o o ls , p o in tin g out in t h i s l a t t e r regard that n in e -te n th s o f a l l th a t the a r ith m e tic s con­ t a in i s worse than u s e l e s s .

He s a id a ls o ,

We s t u f f our ch ild r en w ith th e names of a thousand d ots we c a l l c i t i e s , and o f a hundred rambling l i n e s we c a l l r iv e r s , and then s e t them up as p r o f ic ie n t in geography. Nature e x p e lls n in e -te n th s o f i t from t h e ir minds as soon as they g e t out in to th e w orld . S w ett exp ressed a wish th at bookmakers be fo r c e d to le a r n th e c o n te n ts of t h e ir own books.

A g rea t deal taught in

sc h o o l, he s a id , should p rop erly be headed " th in g s worth f o r ­ g e t t i n g " .^ The indictm ent o f tea ch in g methods o f th e day sounds d is c o n c e r tin g ly modern.

The lea v en was in th e l o a f , however,

and th e lo n g , te d io u s s tr u g g le fo r improvements in ed u ca tio n a l te c h n iq u e s, th ou gh t, and m a te r ia ls was under way.

T his man,

John S w ett, whose p h ilo sop h y preceded th a t o f Dewey and our moderns by f o r t y y e a r s, by h is v ig o r o u s, e n lig h ten ed le a d e r ­ ship gave ed u cation throughout the S ta te th e o r ig in a l p r o g r e s­ s iv e im petus which i s f e l t to t h i s day in C a lifo r n ia * s high p la c e in the n a tio n a l e d u ca tio n a l p ic t u r e . From th e day o f Horton*s a r r iv a l in San D iego, th e tem­ po o f l i v i n g in th a t town was h eig h ten ed .

Even th e s i e s t a i n ­

fe c te d in h a b ita n ts o f Old Town caught th e f e v e r .

The t a lk o f

——

John S w e tt, H isto ry o f th e irublic School System in C a lif o r n ia . An address reported by Dr. T u th ill o f the San Franc is c o B u l l e t i n , 1863 (American Book Company, 1 9 1 1 , New York), pp. 1 6 2-63.

The three Pink Schools at Sixth & B First schools built in New San Diego 1870

The Russ School and Gymnasium Built in 1882 FIGURE 6

92

a term in a l fo r a tr a n s c o n tin e n ta l r a ilr o a d on San Diego Bay grew more and more h o p e fu l.

There were se v e r a l a b o r tiv e a t ­

tem pts to organ ize such a ven tu re, but they came to n o th in g . Then in 1871 came th e Tom S c o tt p r o j e c t . The pro je c te d r a ilr o a d to San D ieg o .

R igh ts of way were

o b ta in ed , a te im in a l was la i d o u t, and ev e ry th in g was in r e a d i­ n e ss fo r th e co n stru ctio n o f th e Texas and P a c if ic R ailroad to San D iego.

In f a c t , Father Horton turned th e f i r s t s h o v e lfu l

o f e a r th , and te n m ile s o f roadbed were graded— before the c o lla p s e due to th e Black Friday f in a n c ia l p a n ic . B efore the c o lla p s e , however, San Diego exp erien ced a r e a l boom.

P eople flo c k e d in to New Town, li v in g accom odations

were alm ost u n o b ta in a b le, l o t p r ic e s soared .

The sc h o o ls were

overwhelmed and b u ild in g s mushroomed up over th e sagebrush f l a t s o f H orton’ s A d d itio n . The Pink S c h o o ls.

In 1870 th e f i r s t sch o o l b u ild in g s

in New San D iego were e r ecte d on th e s i t e donated by Father H orton, a t S ix th and B S t r e e t s . b u i l t , each o f one room.

Three sm all s tr u c tu r e s were

They were made o f rough boards and

the cracks covered w ith b a tte n s .

The houses were f i r s t c o a t­

ed w ith th e in e v ita b le w hitew ash, then p a in te d red .

The r e ­

s u lt in g shade o f co lo r caused th e se e d ifa c e s o f enlightenm ent to be c a lle d the Pink S c h o o ls.

By t h i s time th ere were 243

c h ild r e n in New Town, th e la r g e m ajority o f whom did not a t -

93a

tend s c h o o l.9^The th r e e b u ild in g s housed th re e g ra d es.

The p r in c ip a l

was Mr. I . A. Spencer, th e in term ed ia te te a c h e r Miss Lithgow, qp

and the primary te a c h e r M iss McCoy. ^ In 1870 th e town p op u lation was 2,301 p erson s w ith 915 occupied h o u ses.

A lo n g way had been t r a v e lle d by th e new c i t y

in th re e y e a r s • Sherman S c h o o l.

In 1871 a new sch o o l was b u i l t on the

l o t s donated by Captain Sherman, and in honor o f the donor i t was c a lle d Sherman S c h o o l.

Mrs. Sherman p la ced the con­

s tr u c tio n o f the Sherman School a year e a r l i e r than th e B S tr e e t S c h o o ls.

She s a y s ,

During th e year 1868-1869 we p e titio n e d to th e Super­ v is o r s f o r a sch o o l d i s t r i c t . . . . I . S . Manasse and Company, m erchants, gave lumber, we gave land and money and b u ilt a sch o o l house on the corner o f T w e n ty -fir st and N S t r e e t s . We h ired a g i r l to tak e ch arge. . . th ere were l e s s than a dozen p u p i l s .93 S in ce th ere i s no supporting evid en ce fo r her sta tem en t, we must assume th a t Mrs. Sherman was in e r r o r .

The f a c t r e ­

m ains, however, th at by 1871 th ere were th ree sc h o o ls in San D iego; Old Town, Pink S ch o o ls, and Sherman S ch o o l. D esp ite th e se ev id en ces of p r o g r e ss, not a l l was w e ll w ith the e d u ca tio n a l system in San D iego.

I t was sa id th a t

92 S . 'F. B lack , H istory o f San Diego County, p . 234. 93 W inifred Davidson, N o te s.

the sc h o o ls were in a "deplorable co n d itio n because the super­ in ten d en t was paid n o th in g , con seq u en tly did n o th in g ." 94

No­

th in g much was done about th e s it u a t io n because th e Texas and P a c if ic R ailroad ch a rter came through about th at tim e and no one in San Diego had much thought o f anything not run by steam -or hot a i r . C ontinuing p r o s p e r ity due to th e r a ilr o a d boom,

Tom

S c o t t , p resid en t o f th e P en n sylvania R ailroad and th e Texas and P a c if ic R ailroad v i s i t e d San Diego in company w ith a d i s ­ tin g u ish e d group o f men from C ongress,

Here they were met by

a "committee o f fo r ty " composed o f San D ieg o ’ s most p r e se n t­ a b le c i t i z e n s .

Both groups were s a t i s f i e d w ith th e r e s u lt o f

the n e g o tia tio n s and San Diegans were su re th e tim e had come fo r t h e ir s ta r to r i s e .

Many oth ers shared t h i s b e l i e f b e­

cause every ship brought hundreds o f v i s i t o r s to th e c it y w ith money in t h e ir p o ck ets which th ey hoped would f lo u r is h to a golden h a rv est under th e fa v o ra b le c o n d itio n s of tr a n s c o n tin ­ e n ta l r a ilr o a d term in al on a m atch less harbor. Major Emory’ s words were not fo r g o tte n .

"However th e

commercial m e tro p o lis must be at San F r a n c isc o , . . . u n le ss San D iego should be made th e term inus o f a r a ilr o a d le a d in g by th e rou te of th e G ila to the Del N orte, and th en ce to th e M is s is s ip p i and the A t la n t ic ." 9® 94 B lack , l o c . c i t . 95 Fremont & Emory, N otes o f T ravel in C a lifo r n ia , p . 252.

Old Town San Diego about 1873, looking west toward Point Loma Flaza in center of the photo. Casa Bandini ana Casa Estuaillo on left of Plaza. Second Mason Street School left center of picture in line with Casa Bandini west of the Plaza.

FIGURE 7

94

The new Mason S tr e e t S c h o o l. S tr e e t School was b u ilt in Old Town,

In 1873 th e new Mason I t had two rooms, one on

th e low er f lo o r and th e second d ir e c t ly above i t . ance at t h is sch o o l in 1873 was 14 7 .

The a tte n d ­

The opening of th e Mason

S tr e e t School was atten d ed by a d a n c e .96 Orthography, read in g, w r itin g , geography, a r ith m e tic , E n g lish grammar, h is t o r y , geom etry, a lg eb ra , French and Spanish were in clu d ed in th e curriculum .

T his sch o o l continued in u se

u n t i l th e p resen t Fremont School was c o n s tr u c te d .97 The year 1873 was a lso n o ta b le as th e date marking the f i r s t San Diego County Teachers* I n s t i t u t e .

T h irteen te a c h e r s

were p resen t to r e c e iv e in s p ir a t io n from th e le c t u r e s of S ta te Superintendent Bolander and Dr. G-. W. Barnes. T y p ica l s a l a r i e s .

S a la r ie s in 1873 were not high by our

sta n d a rd s, but were con sid ered s u b s t a n t ia l.

In the m inutes of

th e sch o o l board dated Ju ly 17, 1873, i t was agreed to "employ Reverend B. S . M cLafferty as p r in c ip a l o f th e sch o o ls at a s a l ­ ary o f #100 per month, su b je c t to an in c r e a se o f i t when funds should j u s t i f y i t . "9®

S in ce th ere was no fu rth er m ention of

t h i s generous adjustm ent in any o f the subsequent reco rd s o f 96 Lucy Wentworth, N o te s. ®7 W inifred Davidson, N o te s . 98 School Board Heoords. 187S -1886. Ju ly 17, 1873.

95

m eetin g s, i t i s probable Rev. M cLafferty h im self did not count on i t too h e a v ily . At the same tim e Rev. M cLafferty was h ir e d , oth er te a c h ­ e r s w ere,

"Miss Mary E. P ost as v ic e p r in c ip a l, Miss Frances V.

Bishop as tea ch er o f the in term ed ia te sc h o o l, Miss C arrie V L ith gow and M iss E. E. Smith as te a c h e r s in the primary department, each a t a sa la ry of e ig h ty d o lla r s per month fo r one

t e r m .

"99

The sch o o l term f o r 1873 was d iv id ed in to fou r p a r ts . The f i r s t term began Ju ly 28 and ended October 6; the second was from October 13 to December 22; th e th ir d extended from January 5 to March 16; and th e fo u rth from March 23 t o June 1. P r iv a te sc h o o ls during th e Boom P e r io d .

One cen ter o f

c u ltu r e in t h i s San Diego o f 1873 was the San Diego Academy. P r o fe s s o r Blackmer, who headed the sin g in g departm ent, took th e lea d in o rg a n izin g a "Philharmonic S o c ie ty which o ffe r e d the p u b lic an o c c a sio n a l r e c i t a l " .1 0 ° French and L atin were taught by Mrs. I . I . Sanborn, w h ile

Dr. Gregg and Dr. Remondino gave le c t u r e s on p h y sio lo g y

and anatomy. 101 One o f th e ev en ts o f th at year was a b e n e f it play given fo r th e Academy.

Mr. George Marston, one o f San D ieg o 's p io n -

99 Loc. c i t . Ad P earson, R em iniscences of An Old Timer (u n p u b lish ­ ed papers w r itte n in San D iego, 1928, in Serra Museum, San D ieg o ). 101 Anna Lee M arston, Records o f a C a lifo r n ia Family (San F ra n cisco : Johnck and S eeg er, 1928J, p . 270.

e e r s and a t th e p resen t time i t s le a d in g c i t i z e n , acted as John A lden.

Mrs. M arston-to-b e was P r i s c i l l a .

Perhaps th e

h ig h lig h t of the performance came when P r i s c i l l a was "trund­ le d o f f sta g e on the back o f a wooden cow".102 The Academy, d e s p ite th e e f f o r t s o f many p r o g r e ssiv e c i t i z e n s such as th e M arstons, c lo se d i t s doors in 1876.

Among

oth er c e n te r s o f le a r n in g e s ta b lis h e d during the lu sh p e r id , we fin d : San Diego Seminary fo r Young L ad ies, at E igh th , between C and D. Mrs. 0 . W. G ales, P r in c ip a l, In s tr u c tio n g iv en in E n g lish and "ornamental branches". E.

San D iego Seminary, between F ir s t and Second and D ana Boarding and day s c h o o l— la d ie s and gentlem en. Bev. D. F. MOFarland, P r in c ip a l. "A ll common and s c i e n t i f i c b ran ch es." Young L ad ies Academy, corner N inth and G. S . M. Gunn, P r in c ip a l. P riv a te S ch o o l, corner Tenth and S S t r e e t s . J . D. D orian, P r in c ip a l. According to B u sin ess D irecto ry o f 1874 t th e p u b lic

sch o o ls c o n s is te d of graded sch o o l w ith Primary, In term ed iate and Grammar departm ents.

The t o t a l en rollm en t was 282.

School fin a n c e s in d i f f i c u l t i e s .

The f in a n c ia l con d i­

t io n o f the sc h o o ls had improved not a t a l l s in c e 1871 when 102 Loc. c i t . A B u sin ess D irecto ry o f San D ie g o . 1874 (P u b lish ed by th e San Diego UnionT"!

97

th e c o n d itio n was f i r s t d escrib ed as " d ep lo ra b le” .

The s p e c ia l

county le v y was d ecla red u n c o n s titu tio n a l and th e sch ool board was l e f t in a p reca rio u s fin a n c ia l p o s it io n .

The q u estion o f

a s p e c ia l ta x le v y or a bond is s u e confronted board members. In th e School Trustees* R eport, A pril 24, 1874, we fin d th e s it u a t io n g r a p h ic a lly p ortrayed . In su b m ittin g to th e v o te r s o f New San Diego D i s t r ic t th e q u estio n o f a s p e c ia l ta x f o r th e m aintenance o f th e s c h o o ls , a summary o f the f in a n c ia l co n d itio n of th e d i s t r i c t i s due them. The fo llo w in g statem ent of the r e c e ip t s and exp en d i­ tu r e s from the begin nin g o f th e p rese n t sch o o l y ea r, Ju ly 1, 1873 to t h i s d a te, i s th e r e fo r e p rese n te d . Amount on hand July 1 , 1873: County fund County s p e c ia l fund S p e c ia l d i s t r i c t fund

#617.62 2158.12 546.30__________________ 3322.04

Apportionm ents s in c e : County fund S ta te fund S p e c ia l d i s t r i c t fund

1639.01 998.16 257.35 T otal

2894.51 6212.55

E x p en d itu res: B u ild in g and re p a irs F urniture & fr e ig h t S u p p lie s & S ta tio n e r y F u el 8c Water D elinquent ta x e s Teaching J a n ito r I n c id e n ta ls Balance on hand

#915.60 418.05 188.40 56.30 23.00 3475.00 134.50 3 7 .9 3 967.77

I t w i l l be seen by th e above th at o f th e # 6 ,2 1 6 f 55 ac

98

cruing to th e d i s t r i c t , but # 3 ,8 0 1 ,0 8 was from S ta te and County apportionm ents, and i t i s to th e se so u rces and spe­ c i a l ta x a tio n on ly th a t we can look fo r means to carry on th e sch o o ls th e coming y ea r, th e law by which a county s p e c ia l ta x has h e r e to fo r e been le v ie d having been d e c la r ­ ed u n c o n s t it u t io n a l. I t i s to meet t h i s d e fic ie n c y th a t th e s p e c ia l ta x i s proposed. W ithout i t we cannot resume our sc h o o ls t i l l near th e m iddle o f th e year w ith a p ros­ p e c t of t h e ir c o n tin u a tio n , and u n le ss they are m aintained a t l e a s t s i x months during th e year we s h a ll th e n ext year be deprived o f our pro r a ta o f th e S ta te S ch ool Fund. Near­ l y a l l th e departm ents o f th e sc h o o ls are f u l l to t h e ir u t­ most ca p a city and a d d itio n a l f a c i l i t i e s w i l l be g r e a tly needed th e coming y ea r , to accomodate the in c r e a s in g num­ b ers seek in g ad m ission . The balance now on hand w i l l be exhausted or very n ea rly so in th e payment o f s a la r ie s due on th e f i r s t o f June. A p ril 24, 1874, G. W. Barnes Clerk o f New San Diego D i s t r i c t ! ^ The p r o p o s itio n subm itted to the ta x p a y ers was in the form o f a lte r n a te p r o p o sa ls. I , to r a is e 3 ,0 0 0 d o lla r s which would be 30# on th e 100# v a lu a tio n o f prop erty in th e d i s t r i c t to m aintain sc h o o ls ; I I , to r a is e 7,000# which would be 70# on the 100# v a lu a tio n — th e d i s t r i c t to b u ild a sch o o l house and improve sch o o l grounds; I I I , to a u th o rize th e t r u s t e e s to s e l l and purchase sch o o l p ro p erty . On A p ril 22, the board, c o n s is tin g o f Gordon, H u b h ill and B arnes, d ecided to withdraw th e p r o p o sitio n to r a is e money to b u ild a sch o o l h ou se.

There must have been some p r e s e n t i­

ment o f th e f a t e a w a itin g such a p r o p o s itio n , as the move was undoubtedly made to safeguard th e one rem aining

money r a is in g

Report o f T ru stees o f New San Diego S ch ool D i s t r i c t , fo r sch o o l year b egin n in g Ju ly 1 , 1876 and ending June 30, 1877. 1 0 5 I b id .

99

p r o p o s a l.106 The boom had c o lla p se d by t h i s tim e, however, and the v o te r s were d ecid ed ly jaundiced when i t came to p a ssin g out any o f th e rem aining s to r e of t h e ir reduced f in a n c ia l r e s o u r c e s. The e le c t io n was h eld A p ril 25, 1874. E le c tio n a t p u b lic sch o o l house on q u e stio n o f s p e c ia l ta x r e s u lt in g in a la r g e m a jo rity a g a in st th e ta x and a lso a g a in st th e p r o p o s itio n o f t r u s t e e s fo r a u th o r ity to s e l l and purchase sch o o l p rop erty. Judges o f e le c t io n : C. R eed.107

J . Nash, C harles H ubbell, and D.

C ollap se o f r a ilr o a d h o p es.

By 1879 th e l a s t hope o f

th e r a ilr o a d had d ie d , and sorry days fo r th e u s u a lly o p tim is­ t i c San Diegans were a t hand.

Where thousands o f p eop le had

come fo r th e Golden H arvest, thousands now l e f t .

In 1875 on­

ly 1 ,5 0 0 remained and th ey too were anxious to be o f f to green­ er f i e l d s . Property was a drug on th e m arket.

Ad Pearson, "the

Mayor o f D u c k v ille " , t e l l s o f r e n tin g a b u ild in g f i f t y by one hundred f e e t a t Second and Broadway fo r f i v e d o lla r s per month. He a ls o d e sc r ib e s s ix room homes e le g a n tly fu r n ish e d , re n tin g fo r seven d o lla r s per month.

People le a v in g were hard p ressed

to fin d someone who would l i v e in t h e ir homes u n t i l a buyer could be fo u n d .108 106 I b id . 107 i b i d . 108 jbj P earson , R em iniscences o f an Old Timer.

100

Both Smythe and Black say th a t in 1878 th e r e was much com plaint about inadequacy o f accom odations and th a t in 1879 a f i f t y p ercen t in c r e a se in enrollm ent m a te r ia liz e d .10®,110 S ch ools c lo se d due to dw indling p op u lation and f in a n c e s . The School Board R ecords, however, do not in d ic a te th a t th e r e was any such in crea se d en ro llm en t.

In f a c t , an en try dated

July 8 , 1879, shows th a t th e Board "decided to c lo s e one of the s c h o o ls but l e f t th e Q uestion as to whether i t sou ld be th e high sch o o l or th e one in Sherman’ s A d d ition open fo r th e p r e s e n t i n

May, 1880, th e fo llo w in g en try appears:

During th e year se v e r a l inform al m eetin gs o f th e board were h e ld . Mrs. Cronyn was e le c t e d to a ct as p r in c ip a l a t #80 per month. As funds were low th e board d ecid ed to c lo s e th e sch o o l in Sherman’ s A d d itio n . And as a p rev en t­ iv e m easure, th e windows were covered w ith b oard s.112 M atters grew no b e tte r in 1881, s in c e th e Board, owing most o f th e money in th e sch o o l fund to Mr. M enefee, the p r in ­ c ip a l, on c o n tr a c t, d ecid ed to c lo s e th e sc h o o ls March 3 . S u b seq u en tly, however, i t was decided to open th e sc h o o ls on March 5 f o r two months w ith only Mr. Menefee and M iss Downs as te a c h e r s .

" It was agreed th a t a l l grades s h a ll be ta u g h t,

g iv in g a p a rt o f th e day to each grade and le a v in g d e t a i l s o f ^09 Smythe, H isto ry o f San D iego, p . 574. 110 B lack , H isto ry o f San D iego County, p . 234. 111 S ch ool Board H ecords. 1873-1886. Ju ly 8 , 1879. 113 i b i d . . May 1880.

101

th e arrangement to th e te a c h e r s ." 113 Ruth Cronyn C airns, daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Cronyn, and whose mother was e le c te d sch o o l p r in c ip a l in 1880, has d escrib ed th o se days when th e Cronyns had so l i t t l e y et l iv e d so f u l l y . was an ad ven tu re.

To th e Mrs.

l i t t l e g i r l s , every commonplace event Cairns p ic tu r e s the te a c h e r and th e

p u p il o f the 1880*3 when she w r it e s , Reidy and I went tw ic e to v i s i t Mother’ s sch o o l in San D ieg o . The f i r s t tim e i t was to th e lo n g , low y ello w sch oolhou se down in tow n-- on D S t r e e t , I th in k . A c e r ­ t a in Miss M e r r ill was a ls o te a ch in g th e r e . . . . When we v i s i t e d M other’ s sch ool a g a in , she was te a c h in g in the new Russ S ch o o l. O ften we had watched her s ta r t in g away in th e morning, w alk ing over th e mesas to th e f a r ­ away, grand, much ta lk e d -o f Russ S ch o o l. She u s u a lly wore a dark red ’’saoque” , and a voluminous b lack s k ir t . Hoop s k ir t s had gone o u t, but b u s t le s were very much in vogue, and draped o v e r - s k ir t s were q u ite th e proper th in g . I have a p ic tu r e o f Mother and her High School c l a s s , the boys and g i r l s whom she lo v e d , and who loved h er— N o v elle P la is t e d , Fanny Hubon, B e lle S tew art, one of the C o llie r b oys, John Simpson, "Monnie" L ew is, one o f th e K laubers, and o th er s whose names I do not remember. The g i r l s are w earing t i g h t , lon g "basques” , or sacques and much-draped long s k i r t s . 1^-4 The f i r s t day o f my sch o o l l i f e I have never fo r g o tte n . . . as I trudged alon e over th e m esas, a m ile and a h a lf to th e Russ S c h o o l. Mr. R ice was th e p r in c ip a l, as the High School and th e primary grades were a l l in th e same b u ild in g . He gave me a r e a ssu r in g sm ile as I rather tim id ­ l y went in to th e la r g e en tran ce h a l l . I remember my fr ie n d s sta re d a t me c u r io u s ly . They had been to sch ool a 113 I b id . . March 3 , 1881. Ruth Cronyn C airn s, "Reidy and I — C hildren o f San Diego in th e E ig h t ie s ” , unpublished m anuscript in Serra Mu­ seum, San D ieg o , p . 7 .

102

very lon g tim e— some o f them th r e e y e a r s. . . . My f i r s t te a c h e r was Miss F . th ir d and fo u r th g ra d es. . . .

She taught th e second,

Our F riday a ftern oon drawing c o n s is te d o f being allow ed to go to th e blackboard, . . . and making i n t r ic a t e d esig n s upon a frame work o f s ix te e n sq u a r es. Ox we might go to one o f th e windows which commanded an u nob structed view o f th e bay, and th ere sk etch P o in t Loma. The aftern oon u s u a lly ended w ith a grand s p e llin g match, and I had a whole c o lle c t io n o f "decalcomanias" which I had won in th e s e m atches. The p r iz e fo r stan d in g up the lo n g e s t was always one o f th e se d e sig n s , which we used fo r tr a n s fe r r in g to our autograph album, or upon g a ily decora­ ted s h e e ts o f p aper. . . . O cca sio n a lly Friday aftern oon e x e r c is e s were v a ried by s o lo s and d u e ts . . . . ^ 5 Town a gain in m idst of h ea lth y grow th.

I t i s probably

tru e th a t th e number o f c h ild r e n seek in g en rollm en t in th e sc h o o ls in crea se d s t e a d ily a f t e r 1873-1874.

The d i f f i c u l t y

la y in fin d in g money to pay fo r t h e i r e d u c a tio n . t io n o f th e town was once again on the upswing .

The popu la­ People were

coming to San Diego to make th e ir homes in ste a d of t h e ir f o r ­ tu n e s .

The in d e f a t ig ib le Father Horton was t e l l i n g the world

about San Diego and doing a l l in h is power to have th e c it y make a good im pression on th e incoming v i s i t o r s — even to pay­ in g fo r having th e s id e s of houses fa c in g th e bay w h itew a sh ed .il6 By now were gone th e dreams o f r a ilr o a d . 115 I b id . , p . 22. 116 Smythe,

0

£ . c i t . , p . 341.

Most o f the o ld

mmp f . I ' H F II rill

WMM

FIGURE S

Russ School.

—

11 ,

Built in 1882.

103

s e t t l e r s probably would have s c o ffe d i f th ey had seen an engine p u llin g a f u l l tr a in up Broadway w ith t h e ir own e y e s .

San D ie ­

go had q u ite d e f i n i t e l y become c y n ic a l over r a ilr o a d s . The p o p u la tio n o f San Diego in 1880 was approxim ately 2 ,6 0 0 .

The c it y was r e v iv in g from th e c o lla p s e o f th e Tom

S c o tt Boom.

A stea d y , h ea lth y growth was ta k in g p la c e .

Peo­

p le were coming in from the East to escap e th e r ig o r s o f the c lim a te .

At f i r s t t h i s movement was w eighted h e a v ily w ith in ­

v a l i d s , but by 1880 most o f th o se coming were as Van Dyke c a l ­ le d them, "Rich R efugees” The Russ S ch o o l♦

In s p it e o f the growth o f p o p u la tio n ,

th e sc h o o ls were s e r io u s ly pinched f i n a n c i a l l y .

Yet a t a tim e

when t a lk o f c lo s in g s c h o o ls was r i f e and one schoolhouse was boarded up, a Mr. I . Russ, lumberman, o ffe r e d to fu rn ish lum­ ber to b u ild a new sch o o lh ou se.

The School Board m inutes fo r

A p ril 19, 1881, e x p la in th e o f f e r in d e ta il* Mr* I . Russ o f Humboldt, C a l i f . , a prominent lumber merchant, who does b u sin e ss in San D iego, a ls o having r e ­ c e n tly made a p r o p o s itio n to the c i t i z e n s of San Diego to fu r n ish lumber n ecessa ry to b u ild such a sch o o l house as i s needed, and having sa id d e f i n i t e l y th a t he was w illin g to fu r n ish lumber needed fo r a sch ool house c o s tin g #15,000, p u b lic m eetin gs were h eld A p ril 1, and A p ril 15 to co n sid ­ er th e o f f e r and d is c u s s p lan s* Mr. I . H. Simpson p r e s id ­ ed a t both m e e tin g s. At th e m eeting h eld A p ril 15, at the o f f i c e o f Morse, N o e ll and Whaley, i t was d ecided to ac­ cep t th e o f f e r o f Mr. Russ and th e m eeting by a tw o -th ir d s v o te of th o se p resen t in str u c te d th e board o f sch ool t r u s t ­ 117 I b i d .. p . 4X5.

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e e s to c a l l an e le c t io n to d ecid e whether bonds of th e d i s t r i c t should be issu e d in accordance w ith a re cen t law , fo r th e sum o f $ 1 ,2 0 0 , fo r th e purpose o f b u ild in g , Chas. L. H am ilton, Clerk11® The bond e le c t io n was h eld on May 2 1 ,

The r e s u lt s were

163 v o te s c a s t in favor o f th e bonds, fo r ty v o te s ca st a g a in st them. U S The very sm all v o te c a s t i s su r p r isin g in view o f a probable p o p u la tio n o f c lo s e to 3 ,0 0 0 in h a b ita n ts*

In f a c t ,

i t i s n ot much b e t t e r showing than th e f i r s t m unicipal e le c t io n in 1850* The p eop le o f San Diego determ ined to have a sch o o l s e ­ cond in grandness to no o th e r in the S t a t e ,

The s p e c if ic a t io n s

o f t h i s s tr u c tu r e were l i s t e d by th e School Board on September 18, 1881 In making th e s e p la n s and s p e c if ic a t io n s th e fo llo w in g c o n d itio n s must be ob served, v iz ; The b u ild in g must be capable o f accomodating 400 p u p ils ; th e t o t a l c o st th er e o f not t o exceed $15,000: th e founda­ t io n s to be co n stru cted o f b r ic k , and the su p erstru ctu re o f wood: th e in t e r i o r to be p la ste r e d and hard fin is h e d ; each room to be provided w ith b rick f l u e s and e f f i c i e n t means o f v e n t ila t io n ; th e e le v a tio n o f th e lower sto ry to be s ix te e n f e e t and th e upper fo u r te e n f e e t from f lo o r to c e i l i n g : th e c o n s tr u c tio n to be s u b s ta n tia l and thorought in every p a r tic u la r * 120 The p la n s subm itted by th e Stewart b roth ers were ai 1® School Board R ecords. 1873-1886. A p ril 19, 1881* 119 I*>id*. May 21, 1881. 130 i b i d . , September 18, 1881.

105

dopted.

As a m atter of f a c t , th e s e same p la n s served as a

s t y l e fo r se v e r a l o f th e new sc h o o ls su b seq u en tly b u il t in San D ieg o . Miss E dith McLeod who taught in the Russ School g iv e s us a good id ea o f th e a t t it u d e of th e g en era l p u b lic toward th e new sc h o o l. The community thought th a t e ig h t rooms never would be needed, but because th e lumber was a g i f t , decided to b u ild th a t many. A fter te a ch in g one week a t S ix te e n th and Mar­ k et S t r e e t s , I was se n t to the Russ S ch ool t o tak e charge o f the seventh grad e, which s u r p r is in g ly was f i l l i n g the l a s t room t h e r e .1 2^ T his was in 1886, at which tim e Mr. Andrews was th e p r in c ip a l. The s t a f f fo r th e new sch ool upon i t s opening were Mr. J . H. R ice, p r in c ip a l; M iss E. 0 . Osgood, h is a s s is t a n t ; M iss

E . R. M e r r ill, Miss Blanche Downs, and Mrs. A. C.V. S ch aeggs. A ll grades from one through e ig h t were ta u g h t. were 276 p u p ils .

In 1882 th ere

T h irty-tw o were turned away from lack of

room. The Russ b u ild in g was th e f i r s t good sch oolhou se con­ s tr u c te d .

I t was th e p rid e o f the community because o f i t s ad­

vanced d esig n and su p erio r c o n str u c tio n .

I t r e c e iv e d the name,

Russ S ch o o l, fo r th e man who con trib u ted so g en erou sly toward i t s c o n s tr u c tio n .

In t h is con n ectio n , Mr. Morse t e l l s a sto r y

121 Mabel S . O’F a r r e ll, F if t h H is t o r ic a l Year Book o f th e C a lifo r n ia R etired T each ers1 A s s o c ia tio n , 1938. 122 B lack , H isto r y o f San Diegp County, p . 234.

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on Mr. B uss, which i s in t e r e s t in g . Although th e g i f t of th e donor (Mr. Russ) did not con­ tem plate any m a te r ia l b e s id e s th e lumber, a f t e r th e doors and windows were a l l in p la ce th e b i l l fo r them was sen t to Mr. Russ, and a f t e r reco v erin g frgffi h is aston ishm en t, he p aid i t w ithout s e r io u s p r o t e s t .123 Although th e c o n str u c tio n o f t h is b u ild in g was consider ed e x c e lle n t , th e sch o o l board began paying b i l l s almost a t once fo r r e p a ir s and rep lacem en ts.

By 1885 th e roof was le a k ­

in g so badly th a t th e a r c h it e c t s were c a lle d in to examine the b u ild in g .

They "concluded th a t i f money h eld out in new y ea r,

to thoroughly r e p a ir th e b u ild in g ." I n te r n a l s t a f f problem s. was having i t s problems as w e l l .

1P4-

The s t a f f w ith in th e b u ild in g The term in 1882 was b a rely

two months along i»foen tr o u b le developed which caused the Board to tak e a c t io n . Com plaints o f the u n fitn e s s or lack o f order or d is c ip ­ l i n e of one o r more o f th e te a ch ers employed by th e t r u s ­ t e e s o f sc h o o ls o f Hew San Diego D i s t r i c t , having been made to th e tr u s t e e s by p a ren ts as w e ll as J . A. R ic e , p r in c ip a l o f th e s c h o o ls , i t was a fte r co n sid e ra tio n by the t r u s t e e s , ordered th a t c le r k o f the board cause th e f o l ­ low ing n o tic e to be served on Mrs. A. C. V. Schaeggs and M iss S te v e n s, which order was com plied w ith as given b e­ low , t o w it: San D iego, October 2, 1882, J . A. R ice , P r in c ip a l o f S c h o o ls :— P le a se g iv e n o t ic e to Mrs. A. C. Y. Schaeggs and Miss Augusta S teven s th a t a vacancy w i l l occur in t h e ir r e s ­ 123 H eilb ro n , H isto ry o f San Diego County, p . 366. School Board R ecords. 1875-1886. August 28, 1885.

10 7

p e c tiv e rooms on Friday next a f t e r the d is m is s a l o f sc h o o ls on th at day, and th a t t h e ir r e s ig n a tio n as te a c h e r s w i l l be r e c e iv e d by th e t r u s t e e s o f New San Diego School D is­ t r i c t at th at tim e . C. K. Sm ith, c l e r k .125 Ju st th ree days l a t e r th e Board reco n sid ered Miss S te ­ v e n s ’ d is m is s a l, and ordered her to re p o r t fo r duty on Mon­ day.

As to th e r e a l n atu re of th e d i f f i c u l t y we can read b e­

tween th e l i n e s o f the n ext communication addressed to th e sch o o l s t a f f by the board o f t r u s t e e s . To prevent any m isunderstanding at any fu tu re tim e be­ tween th e p r in c ip a l and te a c h e r s and between t r u s t e e s and te a c h e r s , the fo llo w in g r e s o lu tio n was, on m otion, adopt­ ed : R eso lv ed , th at J . A. R ice, as p r in c ip a l of the s c h o o ls in s a id D i s t r i c t , and th a t as P r in c ip a l o f the S ch ool in sa id D i s t r i c t , and th a t th e se v e r a l te a ch ers in sa id sc h o o ls be and are hereby req u ired to adopt and carry out in t h e i r in s t r u c t io n a l l modes o f te a ch in g and d is c i p li n e as sa id P r in c ip a l s h a ll from tim e to tim e, or a t any tim e, make, move and re q u ire; and a f a i lu r e of any teach er t o com­ p ly w ith such rea so n ab le req u est or f a i l in any manner to s a t i s f y th e t r u s t e e s in te a c h in g , d is c i p l i n e or o th e r w ise , s h a ll be su b ject to d i s c i p l i n e , as removal from te a c h in g , as sa id tr u s t e e s may a t any tim e choose and d ir e c t . T his r e s o lu tio n to be in f u l l fo r c e and e f f e c t from and a f t e r October 9, 1 8 8 £ . ^ 6 From th e fo r e g o in g , i t would appear th a t w hatever the q u a r r e l, Mr. R ice was v in d ica ted *

The p o s it io n o f th e sch o o l

board, although appearing a u to c r a tic in lig h t o f modern p o l125 sc h o o l Board B eco rd s. 1873-1886. October 2, 1882 126 i b i d . . October 9, 1882.

108

i c y , was q u ite high minded throughout, speaking w e ll f o r the q u a lity o f c i t i z e n chosen fo r t r u s t e e s h ip . Mr. R ice continued fo r a year; then in m id-term o f 1883 he r e sig n e d .

M iss Kate 0 . S e s s io n s o f Oakland was h ired

to f i l l the p la c e o f Mr. R ic e .

In 1885 she l e f t sch o o l work

and u n t i l her death in 1939 she le d th e f ig h t fo r a more beau­ t i f u l c ity .

The e x te n s iv e p la n tin g and lan d scap in g o f the

c i t y have in la r g e measure been due to t h i s e a r ly day sch o o l te a c h e r .

Mr. R ice returned to h is p o s it io n as p r in c ip a l o f

Russ School in 1885. A l i t t l e n ote appeared in the Board’ s record s f o r Nov­ ember 15, 1884, which read , "T rustees v i s i t e d a l l th e rooms." We can on ly gu ess what took p la c e as t h i s group o f "substan­ t i a l in d iv id u a ls" trooped from room t o room, sch o o l to s c h o o l.I 27 Some tim e l a t e r Mr. R ice was d ir e c te d , in view o f the g en era l sc h o o l c o n d itio n "to do more su perinten dence o f th e rooms o f a l l th e d i s t r i c t . " 128 As a r e s u lt o f one o f i t s " v is it s " th e Board n oted down in i t s record s fo r 1885 t h a t , "Miss Welman i s p h y s ic a lly u n f it to d isch a rg e her d u t ie s ."

At th e same tim e i t was n o t­

ed t h a t , "Miss Todd, Miss Fox and M iss Roberts are found to be doing most e x c e lle n t work."12^ S ch ool Board R ecords. 1873-1886. November 15, 1884. 128 Board o f Education M in u tes. 1886-1887. February 1 0 . 129 School Board R ecords. 1873-1886. September 30, 1885.

109

Teachers* r i g h t s .

I t i s h e a rten in g to n o te th a t the

te a c h e r s o f 1885 were made of firm f ib e r when i t ceme to the r ig h ts o f the in d iv id u a l.

On M.ay 2, 1885, th e c le r k o f the

Board w r it e s , The whole corps o f fem ale te a ch ers met at C lark e’ s o f ­ f i c e to demand B i l l o f R ig h ts , N o tice g iv en by T ru stees on A p r il 10, 1885, [ R efers to board n o t if y in g p r in c ip a l th a t " h e r e a fte r no d isco u n t w i l l be made on teach ers* ord­ e r s fo r cash— r e s ig n a tio n i f anyone d i s s a t i s f i e d herew ith would be a ccep ted ," ] Mr, S tew art g a lla n t ly C and we can be su r e , d ip lo m a tic a l l y ] , ex p la in ed th a t i t had refere n c e on ly to th e f u t u r e .1,50 So i t appears th e m ilit a n t "corps o f fem ale teach ers" came out o f the a f f a i r v ic t o r io u s l y . I t i s a ls o noted th a t a Mrs. Brockman and her son had a g riev a n ce a g a in st P r in c ip a l R ic e .

"The boy had paid f in e fo r

$ 1 .0 0 fo r in ju r y to a blackboard and $ 3 .5 0 fo r s t e a lin g a s ­ s is t a n t p r i n c i p a l ’s b o o k -- m atter heard and con sid ered and money. . . not re fu n d ed .**^*31 In t h i s y ea r, 1885, th e sch o o l census was as fo llo w s : C h ildren — w h ite — 5 to 17 years negro

boys g ir ls

397 556 653 1 654

Number of c h ild r e n a tten d in g p u b lic sch ool at any tim e during year— 439 Number o f ch ild r en a tte n d in g p r iv a te sch o o l (in San B iego or e lse w h e r e )— 86 130 I b id .'. May 2 , 1886. 131 I b i d . . August 13, 1885.

110

Number of c h ild r e n not a tten d in g any s c h o o l— w h ite 138 negro 1 ~ l3 9 " 132

The f i r s t through t r a in to San D iego.

In 1885 th e f i r s t

through t r a in from th e East a rriv ed in San D ieg o , v ia San Ber­ n ard in o.

The p eop le of San Diego now f e l t th a t at l a s t t h e ir

dreams were coming t r u e .

I t i s true th a t th e coming o f th e

r a ilr o a d had a great in flu e n c e on th e boom o f 1887; y e t the f u l l e f f e c t was le s s e n e d becau se o f the bad f a i t h o f th e Santa Fe R a ilroad C orporation.

Prom ises made to th e c i t i z e n s o f San

Diego in exchange fo r a l l th a t San D iegans had g iv e n , were f o r g o t te n .

The term inus o f a c o n tin e n ta l r a ilr o a d on San D ie­

go Bay evap orated .

R a il t r a f f i c to Los A ngeles from San Diego

Bay was str a n g le d by h igh r a t e s .

E verything th e town had

counted on, one by one, was removed to Los A ngeles where the co rp oration stood to g a in much by i t s development program. The f i r s t through t r a in caused a s t i r in San D iego, but n oth in g compared to what would have been a few years b e fo r e . The p eop le h ard ly seemed to b e lie v e t h e ir e y e s; t h e ir dreams seemed more s u b s ta n tia l th an the r e a l i t y . Boomtown again fo r San D ieg o .

By 1886 th e boom was

under way and in 1887 i t was in f u l l sw ing.

132 i b i d . . June 1 2, 1886.

T his boom of 1887

I ll

was a s o r t o f w eird lunacy th a t seemed t o r e s u lt when to o many f o o ls w ith too much money got caught in a mob s p i r i t of t h e ir own making.

In attem p tin g to h yp n otize the g u l li b l e stra n g er ,

to s e l l him a t h ir d -r a t e l o t at a f i r s t - r a t e p r ic e , the s e l l e r h ypn otized h im se lf and was soon b id d in g a g a in st the newcomer fo r the l o t he was tr y in g to palm o f f . The tow n 's p o p u la tio n leap ed in an in c r e d ib ly short tim e from about 5 ,000 p eop le in 1885 to an estim ated 30,000 in 1887, and 50,000 in 1888. In 1886 M iss E dith McLeod r e c a l l s th a t the sc h o o ls in San Diego were th e sp len d id new Russ b u ild in g , th e th ree pink sc h o o ls at S ix th and B S t r e e t s , a one room b u ild in g at S ix ­ te e n th and Market S t r e e t s , one in C h ollas V a lle y and one at Old Town.133 As p eo p le began to pour in on every steam er and t r a in , sch o o l f a c i l i t i e s became str a in e d to th e utmost .

D ouglass

Gunn says th a t in 1887 th e sc h o o l census l i s t e d 2,447 c h ild ­ ren, an in c r e a se of s e v e n t y - f iv e p ercen t over the p reviou s year.

He a ls o s t a t e s th a t tw e n ty -fiv e te a c h e r s were employed

to care f o r the heavy en rollm en t*134 I t appeared th a t in 1886-87-88 th e community had been 133 Mabel E. 0*F a r r e ll, F if t h H is t o r ic a l Year Book of th e C a lifo r n ia R etired T each ers* A s s o c ia tio n . 134 D ouglass Gunn, P ictu resq u e San Diego (Chicago: Knight and Leonard Company, 1 8 8 7 ), p • 3 1.

112

transform ed in to a madhouse.

P r o fe s s io n a l "boomers” came to

town; every phase o f San Diego clim a te and s it u a t io n was g l o r i ­ f i e d and broadcast by c ir c u la r s to th e East* came in f o r i t s share o f " g ild in g ” .

Even th e ra in

Rains come to o seldom to

San Diego as a r u le , but i t i s a f a c t th a t when th ey do come, th ere can be no doubt th a t a San D iego rain i s very much a r a in .

In th e c ir c u la r s sen t out by Howard and Lyons, r e a l e s ­

t a t e d e a le r s , and w r itte n by Thomas L. F itc h , the " s ilv e r to n g ued” o r a to r , a San Diego rainstorm was d escrib ed a s , "We knew i t would r a in , fo r a l l day 16ng a s p i r i t w ith slen d er ropes of m ist was dipping th e s i l v e r y buckets in to th e vapory am ethyst, . . .

W alter G ifford Smith d e sc r ib e s th e boom in th e s e

words, Land made on # 1 0,000 a p r ic e

advanced d a ily in s e l l i n g p r ic e and fo r tu n e s were m argins. A #5,000 s a le was q u ick ly fo llo w ed by a tr a n s fe r o f th e same p ro p erty , and in th re e months of #50,000 was reach ed .

Excitem ent became a kind o f lunacy and b u sin e ss men p e r ­ suaded th em selv es th a t San Diego would soon cover an area w hich, so b erly measured, was seen t o be la r g e r than th a t o f London. B u sin ess p rop erty th a t had been s e l l i n g by the l o t fo r #500 p assed through th e market a t from # 1 ,0 0 0 to #2,500 per fr o n t f o o t . Small corners on the rim of the com­ m e rcia l c e n ter s o ld fo r #40,000 and fo r th e c h o ic e s t h o ld ­ in g s th e p r ic e was p r o h ib it iv e . So g en era l was th e demand fo r homes and b u sin e ss quar­ t e r s th a t th e appearance o f a load of lumber on a vacant l o t drew a knot o f p eop le who wanted to le a s e th e s t r u c t ­ ure in advance, th en th e l e s s e e s camped out nearby w a itin g a chance to move i n . 135 Smythe, H isto ry o f San D iego, p . 423.

Three Pink S chools 6th & B S t s . R u ss S c h o o l

4th S t

C 3fc

FIGURE 9 San D i e g o i n 1886 L o o k i n g n o r t h f r o m r e a r o f H o r t o n House

113

The s p e c u la tio n in c i t y l o t s which soon went beyond i t s scope o f moderate re so u r ces in money and s k i l l , found ave­ nues to the country and fo r tw enty m ile s about th e town th e mesas and v a lle y s were checkered w ith t h i s or th a t man’ s " a d d itio n to San D iego". Numberless new to w n site s were n ea rly in a c c e s s ib le ; one was at th e bottom o f a r i v ­ er; two extended in to th e bay. In t h i s way a t l e a s t a q uarter o f a m illio n d o lla r s were thrown away upon a l k a li w a ste s, cob b leston e tr a c k , sand overflow ed la n d s and c a c tu s, th e p oorest land u s u a lly put down on th e to w n site m a rk et.I36 The f in a n c ia l madness th a t gripped th e c i t y was not a l l r e s u lt in g in the c r e a tio n o f in ta n g ib le a s s e t s .

Through the

fr e n z ie d buying and s e l l i n g , "The hammer and saw rang a l l day lo n g on every hand and improvements o f every kind went on ra ­ p id ly under t h i s in flu e n c e o f abundance of m oney."I 37 The C ity C h arter.

In 1886 th e c it y of San Diego was

granted a c h a rter, f i f t h c l a s s .

As a r e s u lt of g en er a l gov­

ernm ental r e o r g a n iz a tio n th e Board o f Education assumed i t s new d u t ie s on June 15, 1886.

George N. H itchcock was the

c le r k o f th e board se r v in g as su p erin ten d en t o f s c h o o l s .I 38 New s c h o o ls d ev elop ed .

There was co n sid era b le clamor

f o r a sch o o l in th e e a ste r n p art o f th e c i t y ; so on June 22, "The board unanimously in v it e d M essers Reed and Hubbell to donate s u it a b le l o t s to th e c i t y fo r the e r e c tio n o f a n e c e s s ­

D iego:

136 W alter G iffo rd Sm ith, The Story o f San Diego (San San Diego P r in tin g Company, 1892)

137 Smythe, op . c i t . , p . 421, c i t i n g Van Dyke, S to ry of th e Boom. 138 Board o f Education M in u tes. 1886-1887, June 1 5 .

114

ary sch o o l b u ild in g in th e Smith d i s t r i c t ."I*59 This su g g e stio n bore f r u i t , fo r on June 24, 1886, the m inutes read:

"R esolved th a t th e thanks of th e Board are here

by extended to M essers Reed and H ubbell fo r t h e ir generous do­ n a tio n o f l o t s f o r sch o o l purposes in South San D iego." ^ 4