Old photographs intrigue me. For all my talk about the power of historic objects to transport the viewer back in time, old photographs are themselves windows to the past. Granted, most historic photographs are staged — the outfits, posture and gaze of those pictured carefully arranged by either the photographer, the photographed or both. But some pictures seem to actually capture an authentic moment in time; we, the viewers, are dropped in the middle of things, no longer historical voyeurs but active participants in the scene itself.
At least this is the sense I have when I look at pictures like the one shown here. On the surface, the tableau isn’t all that interesting: a group of young men and women with a banner and signs pose for a picture. Stitched on the banner are the letters C.L.U.H. and “VOTE YES” is written in block letters on the signs each student holds. The young man standing at the end of the line looks to be holding a bird house on the end of a pole and the girl next to him, a smaller one. But looks, as the saying goes, can be deceiving. Rather than a boring class photo, this picture actually captures an important moment in the history of education in Lake County: the building of the first modern high school.
Before 1901 the 8th grade marked the end of most students’ education in rural California. Although public high schools did exist in some areas, until 1892 state law dictated that high school districts could only be created (and funded) by a single school district. This worked fine for high-density urban centers where a single district had enough students of high school age and enough property to tax that creating a high school posed no significant problem. But in rural counties like Lake County, where districts often served fewer than 15 children and were funded from state taxes, the dream of opening a high school seemed distant. This changed in 1892 when the California legislature passed a law that allowed multiple districts to pool their resources together for the common good of building a shared high school.
Nearly a decade later, 19 different school districts in Lake County proposed to unify for such a cause. Before they could, however, the voters in each district needed to have their say. It was a close call, with only five votes carrying the day in favor of unification — Lakeport nearly unanimously voted for and Upper Lake nearly unanimously against. A further vote, divided along the same lines, decided the location of the new high school in favor of Lakeport over Upper Lake. In the fall of 1901, the new Clear Lake Union High (CLUH) School held class in an old private-school building on a hill overlooking the eponymous lake. The dormitories of the old school were kept, since students coming from the outlying districts often had to stay overnight rather than make the long trek back home at the end of each school day.
After more than a decade of operating out of the old building, the now-cramped high school needed more space. By the 1910s, the tried and true method of fundraising for school construction was the issuing of bonds. With enough money upfront from the sale of these bonds, the district could build a school and pay back the bonds over several years by raising taxes or hosting fundraisers. In 1914 the CLUH district put the bond issue to vote. Several concerned citizens wrote letters to the Record Bee during the months leading up to voting day pleading one side of the issue or the other.
Tensions rose.
The problem, as the citizens of Upper Lake and its environs were concerned, was the distance their children had to travel to get to school in the first place. According to one person writing a few years later, less than one-third of 8th grade graduates from these outlying districts could afford to attend the high school. Why, then, should they have to pay more taxes for a brand new building that would largely be used by the students of Lakeport and Kelseyville? Those in favor of the bond issue pleaded the need for modern classrooms and a better learning environment for all.
Voting day arrived. The polls closed. Both sides of the debate waited anxiously for the results. The votes were tallied.
The bond issue had failed.
This must have been the final straw since, less than a year later, the same districts that had voted against the bond issue separated from the CLUH district and created their own: Upper Lake Unified High School. With the naysayers no longer a part of the equation, CLUH hoped to finally succeed in gathering enough money and in 1916 they put the issue to vote once more.
This time, they would leave nothing to chance. The student body of CLUH rallied. With banners and “Vote yes” signs, these students marched in the streets of Lakeport in support of the bond issue. One young man even attached to the end of a pole, not a bird house, but a model of the new high school that would be built with the bond money. We can imagine a proud teacher fussing over them, gathering them together for a picture before they set out to march. The students move their signs to the front, one adjusting the small tag pinned to his lapel that declares “I AM FOR THE BONDS.” On closer inspection we see a similar tag pinned to the smaller model schoolhouse that a young woman is holding.
Voting day. The polls open, a flurry of activity and they close. Votes are tallied.
The bond issue has passed!
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Tony Pierucci is Curator of Lake County Museums
