Danville Grammar School
In Danville the first school house was built in 1858, a mile south of town. The first Danville Grammar School trustees were R. O. Baldwin, James O. Boone and Jonathan Hoag. Baldwin remained trustee as long as he lived.
Evidently the Danville Grammar school district was created at that time (perhaps in 1865). Another school building constructed on Front Street which was closer to the growing village. It was referred to in a May 1867 Contra Costa Gazette:
A social reunion is to be given at the new School House near Danville for the benefit of the building fund. The desks have not yet been placed on the floor and it offers a tempting invitation to dancers. Good music, good company and a good time may be anticipated.
This building burned down in 1870. Then the original school building was moved to Front in 1871 and was used for twenty-five years. The accounts of these first buildings can be hard to decipher.
A Contra Costa Gazette article on Aug. 31, 1895 stated
We…want our school house to be one of the most prominent
buildings in the valley, located on such a street and facing
in a direction to attract attention from any transient traveler
or tourist through our valley. Let everybody know we have
an interest in education by looking at the building.
Dedicated in 1896, it had a bell tower, an elevated class room with a second room behind the steps. Teacher A. J. Young taught in the old and new school houses from 1883 to 1900. A Contra Costa Gazette article on Sept. 1, 1896, commented on the transition.
Mr. P. Madson has commenced to move our old school house off from the school lot and Mr. A. J. Young has led his little band into the new building, which is very much more comfortable… a second teacher for the lower grades is already being talked of.
By 1904, 80 students attended the school. When Hazel Arthur (later Wiester) taught in 1911, there were 8 ½ grades with 64 children. Since by that time state law required 2 teachers for that number of students, she taught grades 5-8 and Maryann Burell taught grades 1-4. There was no running water in the school. Arthur recalled there was an organ, a good-sized library and a huge pot-bellied stove located in the middle of the room.
On October 18, 2006, the San Ramon Valley Historical Society dedicated a plaque honoring the Danville Grammar School.
Beverly Lane 2019
Sources:
Wilson Close, History of the Danville Grammar School (handwritten) from Museum archives; Contra Costa County History Center, Schools notebook, Vol. IV (compiled by Bernard Freeman); Contra Costa County History – books published for 1882, 1917, 1921