It might be hard to believe, but there was a time when Marin students had to leave the county or seek a private school to complete their secondary education. Luckily, in 1888, San Rafael High School was the first public school to offer a secondary level of education in Marin County. Yet, this high school was not as we know it today. The school began in one room on the upper floor of the existing B Street School at Fourth and Shaver streets in San Rafael. In 1890, 34 students were enrolled.
According to historian Florence Donnelly, in the Marin Independent Journal, on Sept. 19, 1970: “Only 11 students completed the first term. But students began coming by train from Novato, Sausalito and Ross Valley, while others rode horseback or walked into town from the nearby ranches.”
Eventually, the high school student body outgrew this space and funding was approved for a new building to be constructed on the site of an old cemetery on the west side of E Street between Third and Fourth streets — which would become Marin’s first public high school. Opening in the fall of 1889, it had 15 classrooms, a combination gym and assembly hall, and a library — yet there was no space for vocational classes, lockers or an auditorium. The Spanish Renaissance-style building was designed by the Cunningham Brothers — considered “specialist school builders” — with Thomas O’Connor as the contractor. In addition, it was also the first home of the San Rafael Public Library. The library would eventually move to its new building at Fifth Avenue and E Street in early 1909.
This lovely graduation ceremony in the Garden Theatre building at the E Street campus in June 1910 featured a graduating class of 18 students. Agnes Madsen Palmer, the class president, made the opening address, followed by Sidney Small, who spoke on “international peace.” Dr. W. J. Wickman presented the diplomas and music was performed by the San Rafael High School and Mill Valley orchestras.
Palmer — pictured in the lower right-hand corner — went on to be a teacher at San Rafael High School for 39 years. She lived her entire life in San Rafael, residing at 2022 Fifth Ave. She retired in 1956 and died 12 years later in 1968 at age 77.
Initially, the larger school was considered “grand” when it opened, but the school had drawbacks. Students remembered the dark, dungeon-like gymnasium in the basement and the uneven grounds littered with broken tombstones from the old cemetery.
Eventually, it too became overcrowded and obsolete, with the PTA complaining that Marin schools were “ramshackle, poorly ventilated and overcrowded and unsanitary.” In the case of San Rafael High School, these conditions caused a decline in enrollment. Eventually, funding for a new structure to be built was approved. In 1924, construction on a much larger San Rafael High School began on the current school campus between Third Street and Mission Avenue. The new San Rafael High School included 25 classrooms and an auditorium for $219,644. With the increased space, vocational education was added to the curriculum, including carpentry, landscape architecture, auto shop and other trades. In later years, adult committees met with students to discuss these industries in the job market.
When the current San Rafael High School on Mission Avenue opened in 1925, it was surrounded by farmlands on the outskirts of town. Today’s campus sits on 33 acres and will soon celebrate its 100th anniversary at this location.
(Originally published as History Watch article in the Marin Independent Journal)