Manteca Unified is in the process of building a pair of two-story structures to house classrooms — one at East Union High and the other at Manteca High.
They won’t be Manteca’s first fully dedicated two-story school structures.
The first school in Manteca per se that also happened to be two stories was Yosemite School.
Students in the Manteca townsite attended East Union School to the east.
In 1910 Manteca had 80 residents. But by 1912 East Union was overcrowded as Manteca was growing.
Townsite residents — six years before Manteca was incorporated as a city — approved a $1,200 special tax in July of 1912 to fund a new school.
Classes started on Sept. 9, 1912 with 30 students attending the new school on the second floor of the Board of Trade building in the 200 block of West Yosemite.
Residents almost immediately started debating about whether a free standing school should be built.
In 1913 as an election for a $17,000 bond to build a school was approaching the East Union School burned down.
Voters approved the bond. Three acres were bought from J.J. Overshiner for $1,500 along West Yosemite Avenue.
Construction then started on the original two-story, 10-room brick Yosemite School.
The barn and restroom building from East Union was moved into place behind the new school opened for classes on Dec. 1, 1914.
Records show J.M. Luck and his wife Claudia were hired to teacher with the husband serving as principal. It was a job that paid $125 a month. The couple lived in the school house.
The Manteca School District’s first kindergarten class opened in 1924 in a house in the 700 block of West Yosemite Avenue across from Yosemite School.
A fire on Aug. 7, 1948 destroyed Yosemite School.
School began that September with students in classes at the MRPS Hall, FESM Hall, and American Legion Hall. By chance, Lincoln School was under construction at the time.
The current Yosemite School that now houses Manteca Online Academy was completed for $135,000 in 1950.
The second two-story school building was constructed in 1926 for the Manteca High campus. The structure containing the auditorium included a 2-story tower that housed limited classroom space.
The Tower — the dominate structure that symbolized Manteca High for 43 years that the school’s yearbook is named after — was the only two-story building on campus until it was torn down on Oct. 3, 1969.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
