Los
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Biographies
REDONDO UNION HIGH SCHOOL
The Redondo Union High School is
located on Diamond and Elena streets at Redondo Beach, California. The high school district comprises the
elementary school district of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach,
Grant, and Perry.
The board of education is composed
of Carel Johnson, president, of Redondo Beach; George
H. Anderson, clerk, of Redondo Beach; Joseph G. Moodie,
of Redondo Beach; James C. Jenkins, of Hermosa Beach; and Merritt J. Crandall,
of Manhattan Beach. George H. Anderson
has served on the high school board continuously since 1908, or for a quarter
of a century.
Miss Florence Fortson was the first
principal of the high school, entering upon her duties in this connection in
1905. She was followed in 1906 by J. M.
Griffith, who also occupied the position for a year. The next principal, A. M. Brooks, had charge
of the high school from 1907 to 1910.
His successor, C. A. Langworthy, served from
1910 until June, 1925, and in September of that year his duties were assumed by
Mrs. Aileen S. Hammond, the present principal.
In 1905 when the high school was
established the faculty numbered one, the average daily attendance was twelve
and the school was operated on a budget of $3,000. In 1933, there are fifty-four members on the
faculty, the budget is $221,435 and by the end of the school year there was an
average daily attendance of about one thousand.
The Redondo Union High School Alumni
Association had one thousand four hundred thirty-eight members in 1933. In 1906 there were but one hundred
sixty-eight volumes in the high school library, which now contain seven
thousand six hundred volumes.
About twenty classes were held in
1910, when two courses of study were offered—college preparatory and
commercial. A course in domestic science
was added in 1910 and the manual training department was established in the
following year. A pipe organ was
installed in 1915, the second one to be installed at that time in a public high
school in the United Sates. Since 1916
pipe organ lessons with free instruction by a competent teacher have been given
in the music department of the high school.
In 1916 another department was added—that of physical training. In 1928 printing was introduced in a print
shop supplied with equipment purchased by the student body and the board of education. The school prints its own weekly school paper
and all programs, school forms, etc. In
1932 two hundred two classes were held and eight courses offered, namely: general college preparatory, engineering,
art, commercial, home economics, manual arts, science and music.
The original site, comprising the grounds
and Chautauqua building, was purchased for eight thousand dollars from bond
money in 1905, and the building was remodeled.
The main building was purchased in 1915 from a bond issue of one hundred
fifty thousand dollars, and in 1923 bonds amounting to one hundred ninety-five
thousand dollars was voted for school purposes.
In 1924 the athletic field grounds on Diamond Street were purchased from
a bond issue for thirty thousand, eight hundred thirty-two dollars. The gymnasium on Diamond Street and the
Lincoln building, devoted to classrooms, were erected in 1924 with funds
secured through bond issues. The music
hall and classroom additions were built in 1927 from funds of the regular
budget. From this source was also
secured the funds for the purchase of the manual arts site in 1928; the construction
of the athletic field bowl in 1929; the purchase of property on Diamond and
Francisca streets in 1930, and a portion of the manual arts site in the
following year. A bond issue of 1930
made possible the erection of a gymnasium near the bowl in 1931 and the
construction of the Manual Arts building on El Redondo Street in the same
years. The high school sites embrace an
area of thirty-two acres. In the
principal’s report of June, 1932, the total value of the school property was
estimated at $775,850.
The following is a list of the
honors won by the Redondo Union High School:
the Southern California interscholastic swimming relay and the Bay
league championship in water polo in 1917; the Southern California swimming
contest and the Bay League championship swimming contest in 1918; the first
award in drama at the Bay District Eisteddfod in 1925; the Bay League track
relay championship in 1928 and first place in the Southern California Chapter
of the American Chemical Society in the same year; the Bay League track
championship and the Bay league Invitational Golf Tournament in 1929; the Bay
League championship in Class A football, the Bay League championship in relay,
Class C, all in 1930; the Bay league championship, Class D, in basketball in
1931; and the Southern California shorthand transcription trophy in the same
year.
The Honor Society was inaugurated in
1922, and in 1926 this became Chapter 101 of the California Scholarship
Federation. In 1912 the Redondo Union
High School was accredited as a Class A school by the University of California
and has since had that rating. Colonel
Charles A. Lindbergh attended this high school during 1916 and 1917.
The school owns a part of the
archaeological collection discovered by Dr. F. M. Palmer in an Indian burying
ground located on South Catalina Street, Redondo Beach.
The Student Body Association has
four major activities: It operates the
cafeteria where lunches are served to pupils at as near cost as possible; it
manages a store where school supplies may be purchased; it finances the school paper
and school annual, and has charge of athletics.
The Redondo Evening High School was
organized in September, 1916. Classes in
both cultural and vocational work are held two evenings a week. A variety of subjects is offered under the
supervision of the day school principal with C. C. Martin, director.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 367-370, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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