The first recorded school in California was opened in 1795 by Manuel de Vargas, a retired sergeant, in San Jose.[1][2]
1847
The first English-language school in California opened at Mission Santa Clara in 1847. It was founded by Olive Mann Isbell, who started the school with 25 pupils in a small adobe at the Mission Santa Clara for $2 a month. The school later moved that spring to Monterey.[3]
1849
Following the establishment of a public school system in the 1849 Constitution (debated and written in Colton Hall), Colton Hall in Monterey served as the area's public school 1849-1851. Built from 1847 to 1849 as Monterey's town hall and school house from 1847 to 1849, it also served as the public school from 1872 to 1896.
1851
California Wesleyan College is founded. California Wesleyan later became College of the Pacific, and is now known as University of the Pacific in Stockton. It is the first and oldest chartered university in California; its date of charter is July 10, 1851. Its original campus was in Santa Clara; it then moved to College Park in San Jose which is now Bellarmine College Preparatory.[4]
Santa Clara College is founded, which later became University of Santa Clara and is now known as Santa Clara University in Santa Clara. Although it did not receive its charter for several years, Santa Clara was the first institution of higher education in California to enroll students.
College of Notre Dame in Belmont, now known as Notre Dame de Namur University, is founded. This was the first women's college in California. The university is now co-ed.
The pre-collegiate division of Santa Clara College later became Santa Clara Preparatory and then Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. This is the first oldest high school in California.[5]
Notre Dame High School in San Jose is founded. This is first all-girls high school was founded in Santa Clara to complement the College of Santa Clara.
1852
Spring Valley Science School in San Francisco. This is the oldest public school in California. It is the only one of the original 7 gold rush schools in San Francisco that is still in existence.
Mills College, the oldest women's college west of the Rockies, is founded in Benicia, California. It moved to its current location in Oakland in 1871.
Ophir School in Ophir Ca was founded. It was the 1st school in Placer County. The school burned down in 1873 and at that time was a one room school. In 1873 a new school was built on the present site. in 1881 there were 69 boys and 68 girls but only 2 teachers. It is still in operation today.
University of San Francisco is founded as Saint Ignatius Academy. It is the first university in San Francisco.[8] The high school would later separate from the university in 1927.
Burnett Elementary School in Morgan Hill. The school is named after Peter Burnett, pioneer and first governor of California.
Linda Elementary School in Linda, California.
Camptonville Union in Camptonville California.
1856
St. Clare School in Santa Clara is founded. It is the second oldest primary school in California still operating.
Orchard School began as a school for settlers in San Jose in 1856.
Lowell High School in San Francisco is founded. It is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi, and still operating.
Sacramento High School in Sacramento is the second oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River, and it is still operating.
1857
Minns' Evening Normal School was founded as a private school in San Francisco. It became First Normal School, a public institution, by an act of the California State Legislature on May 2, 1862,[9] and ultimately became San Jose State University.
Dunbar Elementary School was established in 1857 near its present location.[10]
Vernon School was established in what is now Verona, Sutter County, California in 1857. The school was housed in a hotel and then the town bowling alley. In 1863 a "new" schoolhouse was built which is still standing. It is possibly the oldest standing schoolhouse in the state.
Covina High School was founded in 1857, originally as Union High School in Covina, CA. It is the oldest school in the San Gabriel Valley.<covinahigh.net>
1858
Little Shasta Elementary Two Room School in Montague (Siskiyou County) is still operating today. It houses approximately 30 students ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade and it is first Elementary School in State of California.
Chapman University, one of the oldest institutions of higher education in California, is founded under the name Hesperian College, in Woodland, near Sacramento.
1862
Holy Cross Elementary School was founded by the Daughters of Charity and was originally housed in the adobe of the Santa Cruz Mission. It now resides nearby. It continues to offer a comprehensive Catholic and educational program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
1863
Saint Mary's College of California is founded in San Francisco. It later moved to Oakland, and moved again in 1928 to its current location in Moraga.
Heald College was founded in San Francisco. Eventually, Heald College expanded to twelve campuses in California, Oregon and Hawaii before ceasing operation in 2015.[11]
Outside Creek School District, located in Tulare County, is founded. The school district is still in operation serving grades K-8.
[Browns Elementary School]*located in East nicolaus California is the oldest elementary school in Sutter County, California.
1865
Loyola High School (Los Angeles, California) was founded in 1865 as St. Vincent's College. In 1919, the Vincentians agreed to transfer management of the school to the Jesuits. It is the oldest continuously run educational institution in Southern California.
Lincoln School, founded in what is now the town of Cupertino in Santa Clara County at the southeast corner of Prospect and Mountain View-Saratoga Roads (presently Saratoga Sunnyvale Road). Lincoln would eventually be incorporated into Cupertino Union School District.
1866
San Pedro Street School is founded in Los Angeles by the predecessor of LAUSD. As of 2021 it remains open at its original site, and is thus the oldest school of any kind in the LAUSD system.
1867
San Antonio School, founded in what is now on the border of Cupertino and South Los Altos in Santa Clara County near the northwest corner of Foothill Bvld. and Cristo Rey Dr. San Antonio would eventually be incorporated into Cupertino Union School District.
Lee School was founded three miles south of the town of Nicolaus, Sutter County and six miles north of the town Vernon on the Garden Highway. It stayed in operation until 1939. One of the early instructors was Harriett Stoddard Lee who is given credit as the founder of Mother's Day in California.
Collins School, founded in what is now the city of Cupertino at the intersection of Homestead Rd. and Sunnyvale Saratoga Rd. Collins would eventually be incorporated into Cupertino Union School District. The original schoolhouse was replaced by a larger facility in 1889 which is used still today by the Cupertino De Oro Club and is on the city's register of Historical Sites. Collins school would eventually be incorporated into the Cupertino Union School District.
Prescott Elementary School (Oakland, California), was established in 1869 to serve students and families in historic West Oakland. Ida Louise Jackson, Oakland’s first African-American teacher, taught here starting in 1925–13 years before any other school hired a black teacher.
1870
St. Vincent Ferrer, one of the oldest schools in Solano County, is established as the Catholic Free School in Vallejo, California. Its first diplomas were received in 1880. It was co-educational until 1968 when the campus was split between St. Vincent's (all girls) and St. Patrick's (all boys). In the Fall of 1987, the school was fully relocated to Benicia Road in Vallejo, CA and renamed St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School. The original high school building remains on Florida Street in Vallejo as a parish building.
Santa Rosa High School is founded, opening the doors to its current location in 1924. It is the 9th school chartered in California history.
Alameda High School is established by the Alameda Board of Education, starting in several locations before moving to its current location in 1926 to meet a growing student population.
Notre Dame Academy for girls high school is established by the sisters of Notre Dame in Alameda, CA. In 1932 St. Joseph's High School for boys was established by the Brothers of Mary on the same block of Chestnut St. In 1985 the schools combined into a co-ed high school now called Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School.
Pacific Union College is founded as Healdsburg Academy in Healdsburg, California and moved to Angwin, California in 1909. Pacific Union College is the only college in Napa County.
Doyle School, located at the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd and Doyle Rd (now paved over by Hwy 280). Doyle was the last of the "original 4" one-room school houses in what later became Cupertino Union School District.
1883
Sierra Normal College (now Placer High School) in Auburn is the oldest high school in Placer County.
Sonoma Valley High School is founded in the town of Sonoma (Sonoma County.) It opens in a building that formerly housed the Presbyterian-affiliated Cumberland College, founded 1859 but which had ceased operations. The high school moves to its current location in 1922.
Redlands High School is founded. It is the oldest public high school in the state of California still functioning on its original site, and the first "unified high school" formed from three elementary school districts. Its campus includes the historic Clock Auditorium, built in 1928.
Santa Paula High School, founded in 1889 as the Santa Paula Academy, a private school run by the Congregational Church Association. In 1891 the city agreed with the association to convert the Academy to a public school and renamed it Santa Paula High School.
Fairfax school district
Elsinore High School, in Wildomar, California, was established in 1891.
Armijo Union High School, now Armijo High School, opened in 1891 in Fairfield (Solano County).
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). www.usfca.edu. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 24, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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