This post and video are dedicated to my Dad. A San Juan High School Alum Class of 1953.
In 1911 the need for a four-year high school was recognized. The original school was convened in a building in Fair Oaks with the Grammar School. That building is the Community Clubhouse now. The San Juan Union High School District was organized by 1913. It was composed of Sylvan, Orangevale, Fair Oaks, Roberts, and San Juan Districts. In 1913-1914 when the first classes were being held in the Grammar School, there were 46 students of whom 41 were freshmen. In June 1914 the first student graduated (Dorothy Gertrude Jerauld). 
By 1915, the decision was made to locate at the present site on Greenback Lane in Citrus Heights. The land for the school site was donated by Walter Trainor (the man who named Citrus Heights). In the summer of 1915 work was begun on the building. Enrollment swelled to 92 with a large group coming from Folsom (Folsom High was not built until 1922). The original building was a two-story school with a frame construction and a tile roof. This structure remained until the late 1950’s (since 1938 it was hidden behind the auditorium and the "A" and "B" wings of the present structure). At its inception, San Juan served all students living east of Fulton Ave., south of the Placer County line and north of the American River. Boys rode in a Tally Ho Mac Truck and girls in Pierce Arrow Stages. Some farm families transported students to the old Railroad Station south of Fair Oaks Village, where the bus met them. 
By 1940, two years after the "A" and "B" wings were built, the school enrollment totaled about 400. The old building, which had been nearly abandoned in the late 1930’s, was reoccupied room after room until it was in full use again. Following the end of World War II, it became possible to add the "H" wing (music) west of the auditorium. A gradual program of building shops, a gymnasium, and classroom wings was begun, which culminated in the late 1950’s with razing of the original building and the construction of "C" and "D" wings on its former site. The present enrollment at San Juan is approximately 800.
We are indebted to Phebe Cale, San Juan High School Librarian for 37 years before her retirement in 1977. No one person knew more about San Juan and it’s history.
Drawing from our rich history of academic excellence, San Juan High School is preparing for a dramatic new change to give students an excellent foundation in career and technical education as we enter the next 100 years of San Juan High School.
Info from the San Juan High School website.
Amazing how much it has changed over the years. My grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, my Mom and Dad all graduated from this historic school. My father met my Mom while driving a San Juan school bus, He was a senior at San Juan at the time, that would not happen in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteThank You Tim for another unique view of our history.
SO cool!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is amazing. It sure doesn't look like the same school I graduated from in 1969. We used to say it looked more like a prison than a school. It looks fantastic now.
ReplyDeleteMy mom aunt uncle and myself are all alumni it's amazing to see how the school has changed do much over the years. I wish they would have kept it as it was in terms of curriculum however because it is no longer a high school with a high school feeling it is a vocational school built on the fundamentals of getting a diploma and a certificate as a means to give the common students a means to make a living instead of pushing them to pursue a farther education
ReplyDeleteWow! Really nice video. My grandmother graduated from SJH in 1925, she was from Folsom, my mother graduated from SJH in 1950 and I graduated in 1979. Thank you for posting! :)
ReplyDeleteI must have been smoking too much weed (not really, didn't touch the stuff), but I'm surprised how much it hasn't changed since I was there 40+ years ago (class of 72). The long classroom buildings are still there with the shop building to the west side of them. Of course everything has been updated, but I expected everything to have been torn down and built new (the impression I got from the face lift out front). I've driven by at least once a year since graduation, but haven't been on campus since attending there. Surprised McArthur Field hasn't been updated to a new modern sports complex. Where we live now, my son's HS has a stadium that would make any college envious.
ReplyDeleteClass of 1990! The campus looks GREAT! Thanks much!
ReplyDeleteI WAS ENROLLED DURING THE LATE '50S CHANGES. I LOVED THAT SCHOOL. I ALSO LOVED Phoebe Cale, and so many teachers and coaches that were there. I missed the big trees in front when they came down. The art classes would sit under them and draw in Spring and Fall.
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