Oldest schools in California

Here is a partial list of the oldest schools in California.

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^[1].

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 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.^[2]
• College of Santa Clara is founded, which later became University of Santa Clara and is now known as Santa Clara University in Santa Clara.
• 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.
• A portion of College of Santa Clara later became Santa Clara Preparatory, and then Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. This is the oldest private high school for boys in California.^[3]
• Notre Dame High School in San Jose is founded. This all-girls high school was originally located in Santa Clara to complement the College of Santa Clara.

1852

• Spring Valley Science Magnet 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 first women's college west of the Rockies, is founded in Benicia, California. It moved to its current location in Oakland in 1871.

1854

• Oak Grove Elementary School in Sebastopol. ^[4]

1855

• Burnett Elementary School in Morgan Hill. The school is named after Peter Burnett, pioneer and first governor of California.

1856

• St. Clare School in Santa Clara is founded. It is the second oldest primary school in California still operating.
• 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 still operating.

1857

• Minns' Evening Normal School was founded as a private school. It became First Normal School, a public institution by the California State Legislature on May 2, 1862. ^[5] and later known as San Jose State University.

1861

• Chapman University, one of the oldest institutions of higher education in California, is founded.

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.
• San Jose High Academy, the oldest public high school in San Jose, is founded.

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.

1868

• University of California at Berkeley is founded; it is the flagship institution of the UC system.

1873

• Los Angeles High School, the oldest public high school in Southern California and in the Los Angeles Unified School District, is founded.

1875

• Santa Barbara High School is founded; it is the oldest high school in Santa Barbara County.

1876

• St. Mary's High School is founded in Stockton.

1880

• University of Southern California, California's oldest private research university.

1882

• Pacific Union College is founded as Healdsburg Academy in Healdsburg, California.
• The Academy of Our Lady of Peace is founded; it is the first and oldest school in San Diego, California.
• San Diego High School, the oldest public high school in San Diego and San Diego County, is founded.

1883

• San Bernardino High School, San Bernardino, California, is the oldest high school in San Bernardino County.
• Modesto High School, Modesto, California.

1885

• Chaffey High School, founded by William and George Chaffey in Ontario, California.

1887

• Pomona College, the founding institution of the Claremont Consortium, is founded in Pomona. It moved to Claremont in 1889.

• Chico Normal School (now California State University, Chico) is founded in Chico, California, the second normal school in California.

1888

• Santa Barbara Business College, California's oldest technical school, is founded in Santa Barbara.

1889

• The Thacher School, California's oldest coed boarding school, is founded in Ojai by Sherman Day Thacher.
• Santa Ana High School, the oldest high school in Orange County, is founded.
• Fresno High School is founded.

1890

• Tulare Union High School is founded in Tulare.

1891

• Washington High School is founded in Fremont.
• Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto. Commonly called Stanford University.
• Sonoma Valley High School is founded in Sonoma. It was meant to be a feeder school for UC Berkeley.
• 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.

1892

• Lompoc High School is founded in Lompoc.
• Hayward High School, Hayward, California

1893

• Bakersfield High School is founded as Kern County High School.
• Santa Maria High School in Santa Maria is founded. It is the second-oldest high school functioning on its original site.

1894

• Madera High School is founded.

See also

• List of colleges and universities in California
• List of high schools in California
• List of school districts in California

Notes

1. ^ Clark, Shannon: "The Alameda, the beautiful way", page 50. BR Printers, 2006
2. ^ Clark, Shannon: "The Alameda, the beautiful way", page 44. BR Printers, 2006
3. ^ Clark, Shannon: "The Alameda, the beautiful way", page 49. BR Printers, 2006
4. ^ http://www.oakgroveunionschools.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=63
5. ^ Santa Clara