Carbon Canyon Historical Artifact #63: Olinda School, ca. 1910s

Can't let the year end without at least one more post sharing a historical object connected to Carbon Canyon history, so here's a great real photo postcard, probably from the 1910s, of Olinda School, which was built, as clearly displayed on the structure, in 1909 and was the second iteration of the institution.  The location is at the east end of Olinda Regional Park, south of Carbon Canyon Road and next to Carbon Creek, not far from where the state historic landmark plaque is near the old park entrance.

The opening was a dozen years after Edward Doheny, working on a lease with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which was converting its motive power to oil, brought in Orange County's first oil well a short distance away where the Olinda Oil Museum is now situated in the Olinda Ranch subdivision.  The name Olinda came from William H. Bailey's ownership starting the 1880s and came from his missionary family's ranch on the slopes of Mount Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Mau'i.  In turn, the name "Olinda" has Brazilian origins.

Los Angeles Times, 9 April 1899

The Olinda School District was established in the spring of 1899 as the Los Angeles Times reported in its 9 April edition that "the country in the northeastern portion of the county has become so thickly settled the past year" that a new school district was required and "will be known as the Olinda school district."

There was reference in the 19 July 1901 issue of the Los Angeles Times to a $2,000 school house being built in Olinda.  On 4 October, the paper noted that the structure, paid for with bonds approved by residents within the district, was to be on the Charles Victor Hall lease, but the Fullerton Consolidated Oil Company refused to sell or lease an acre centrally located within the community.  The firm of Graham and Loftus and the Olinda Oil Company offered to donate the land and the latter's site was selected so that "the building will be erected near the Hall oil wells at once."  On 2 March 1902, the paper reported that the building was recently finished.

Times, 2 March 1902.

As for the second schoolhouse, the 2 September 1908 edition of the Santa Ana Register reported that $5,000 in bonds were sold to the Los Angeles Trust Company.  In May 1909, the Times noted that it was nearly unanimous to vote for building a new school house, because, whereas a few years before, only one teacher was needed, the upcoming 1909-1910 year required four instructors. the Times of 20 June 1909 reported that the four-room frame structure was designed by A.C. Smith of Los Angeles, who seems to have specialized in school architecture.

The photo shows the main building with its central bell tower surmounted by an American flag and the name and founding date on different sections of the tower.  About ten children and an adult stand or sit on the entrance steps or near it. To the left, or east, is a smaller building with a projecting covered entrance and what may be a completion date of 1910 on the front.  About a half-dozen young trees are planted in front of both structures.  The view is looking southeast with a tall hill looming behind the campus.

Times, 20 June 1909.

The substantial output of crude from Olinda, soon followed by that of Brea Canyon to the west, and both considered part of what was termed the Fullerton Oil Field, meant that there was a growing population of oil workers and their families residing on the various leases, almost always in company-owned rental units.  So, in the 1900 census, 123 persons were counted at Olinda, but, a decade later, the population shot up to well over 1,400—ample reason for the much larger and more impressive school to have been completed the year prior to the 1910 count!

Not only that, but, because school districts were allotted funds based on the assessed value of property within the district, those in oil regions were particularly loaded with dollars and this was especially noteworthy because, per student, the amounts were astronomical compare to bigger nearby towns and cities, like Fullerton or Anaheim.  There is no surprise, then, that the Olinda School was much more handsome and well-equipped than those in adjacent communities.

In subsequent years, with mobility increasing because of the car and with oil workers and their families living away from the field, the student population at Olinda School declined, even if the district's funding continued to be ample because of those property values.  In 1920, there were 950 residents (though a $15,000 auditorium, doubling as a community center, was added to the structure in 1924); a decade later the number plummeted to less than half, at 460; in 1940, another drop of about 50% took place, so that were just above 230 people living at Olinda.  In 2022, the 1950 census will be publicly avilable (the info is released 72 years after the enumeration) and we'll see how much lower the total was.

In its issue of 11 June 1959, the Times ran a feature noting that Olinda School was readying to close at the end of the week as it only had 29 students between the first and eighth grades, and, notably, the article referred to the fact that the structure was two rooms.  The completion of Carbon Canyon Dam that year was also a prime factor in the school's closure.  A photo appears to show the smaller of the two buildings in the featured image here, so the larger must've been torn down as the student body diminished.  The school then operated in space rented from the El Rodeo Riding Club, then located south off Imperial Highway but now across Carbon Canyon Road from the park and original school site.

Times, 11 June 1959.

The remaining building was saved and moved to Brea for community purposes, such as a senior center, until it was demolished.  In 1964, a new Olinda School opened in the recently developed Olinda Village tract east of the old school site, and operated there until 2011 when it was closed and a new school (version 4.0) completed on Birch Street next to the city's just-opened sports park.

Best wishes for the new year and we'll try to offer a few more posts in 2022!