Another photograph of the Los Cerritos School south has just surfaced found in the Vignes family photo album in the possession of the descendants of Amelia Vignes, youngest daughter of John and Mary Kent Vignes. John and Mary Vignes were one of the earliest residents in the current Los Cerritos neighborhood which was subdivided in 1906. The Los Cerritos school district had petitioned the county for a school in 1878 (yes, before Long Beach existed!) and the first school opened at 1415 West Willow Street in 1881. As the number of children grew, a newer building was built. This is the second building that was built at 1445 West Willow Street. This photo is likely dated 1906 (see the comments below) and the one published in Long Beach’s Los Cerritos was probably around 1904-1905. I have never seen a photograph of this school with the water tower in the front. This school later became know as Los Cerritos School south when another school to serve the current neighborhood of Los Cerritos was built at Pine and San Antonio, opening in 1914.
What corner of San Antonio and Pine was the Los Cerritos school on? Would love to see a pic.
The photo of the original one room school house at San Antonio and Pine is in my book. But I will be posting photos from the book over time so watch for it. It was moved to the current Los Cerritos site and demolished in the 1970’s. But the original school bell is still at the current Los Cerritos school as part of a monument.
What a wonderful photo — and yes, there’s Amelia Vignes kneeling in the front row, second from the right. Looks like the children are working on some sort of gardening project?? Also notice the ubiquitous eucalyptus trees in the background, and I recognize Marguerite Vignes’s (my grandmother) handwriting on the label!
Thank for for confirming that Amelia is in the picture because it helps date this photo since we know she was born in 1901. However I thought that Amelia was the girl who is marked in the photo. I assumes that your grandmother wrote Amelia and put the x by her name and then put a mark on the photo to indicate which child is Amelia. Although the mark on the child is not really an x, it looks like it was done with pen like the x was. The girl with the ink mark looks about 5 years old. The one you point out as Amelia looks a bit older. I was thinking the photo might be about 1906- what do you think?
Ellen Collins has responded to my question. Here is her response:
” The ‘X’ I was seeing is the child with the hat’s hand holding the handle of a tool — it looks kind of like a light-colored X, but not an X made with a pen. The dark ‘squiggle’ on the stomach of the little girl in a plaid or checked dress sitting on the ground has to be indicating Amelia — pale skin, dark hair, and yes, about 5 years old.”
So the identity of Amelia Vignes is confirmed and if she is about 5 years old, this photo would be around 1906.
Well, thanks to a careful analysis of this school photo by Stephen Dudley, I have to agree with him that this photo is likely older than the photo of the same building that appears on page 53 of Long Beach Los Cerritos. I stated in my post it was earlier and have corrected that. He believes and I concur that the water tank would have come later (there is no water tank in the picture in the book) and that there is no real vegetation in the picture in the book. If the photo above is from about 1906 and the photo in the book cannot be older than 1904 when the building was built, then we can safely conclude the photo in the book was likely done 1904-1905 and the one above would be about a year or two later when vegetation has filled in and there appears to be enough water for the children to make a garden.
As an additional comment on the water supply, the water tank shown in the later picture would have provided a good volume when needed and, raised up as it was, the water would have had a degree of pressure. There is a good chance that this allowed them to install running water within the building itself (versus having a hand pump out in the yard). Although it is not shown clearly in the picture, there are hints of something installed above the tank — possibly a windmill that might have kept the tank full.
Interesting. I see African American children at this school. Los Cerritos must have been a diverse community. What changed throughout the years after this picture?
Great Question Dee. I don’t think I can answer it other than the first Los Cerritos school covered a large geographic area, from Los Cerritos down to the ocean and then north of the neighborhood up to the Dominguez school district. There were no Long Beach Schools when the Los Cerritos School started. Over time, as more schools were added, I would expect the demographics of the school would have represented a smaller geographic area until we got to the point where there was a school in every neighborhood. Based on later photos I have of the school kids, there were times when the population in the neighborhood was predominately white and that too would have been reflected in the school population. But today there are many African-American families in Los Cerritos and I am sure that is reflected in the school population.
Hello Geraldine Knatz,
As Westside resident since the early 1980s, appreciate this high quality photo of the former ‘South Los Cerritios School’ on Willow street. Enjoyed your book ‘Long Beach Los Cerrtos’, its amazing how much the area of the ‘Westside’ was connected to the early farming days to Rancho Los Cerritos, you wouldn’t expect geography-wise.
Below is an impromptu video inside the school today hosted by the wonderful people of the Willow Street Church of God celebrating their luncheon. I’m sure the interior has been more modernised but you still get a sense of the turn of the century- architecture back then.
https://youtu.be/23SaOpctQwI
Thank you so much for sending this. I never saw the inside of the building before!