SCHOOLS

PUENTE SCHOOLS,  1956 and earlier.

                                                         THIS SECTION IN PROGRESS

During the 1940's and early 1950's, the La Puente Valley was relatively sparsely populated. Much of the area was covered by orange, avocado, and walnuts groves, with field crops in the flatter parts of the valley.  By 1955, housing tracts were spreading rapidly eastward from metropolitan los Angeles, and the area quickly lost its rural character. By 1960 it was urban or suburban in all but a few corners.

The former "Puente" post-office designation is now split among the current cities and communities of La Puente (formerly Puente), Hacienda Heights (formerly North Whittier Heights), Rowland Heights (formerly Rowland), Walnut, Valinda, Avocado Heights, City of Industry, and some others. 

The school system of La Puente Valley dates back to 1887, when the Hudson School District was formed; in 1888 there were only 16 students in the one-room building resembling a church. In 1915, the La Puente Union High School District was formed and Puente Union High School was opened, saving high-school students from train rides to other schools in the San Gabriel Valley.

(Click on the map to enlarge it, then hit ESC to return to normal view)

The school district which fed Puente Union High School extended from the San Bernardino County line south of Pomona, then along the Puente Hills north of the Orange County line, westward almost to the San Gabriel River. The north limit of the district was in the San Jose Hills, bounded on the north by the West Covina, Covina, and Baldwin Park districts. The district occupied the heart of the Rancho de la Puente, a Mexican land grant to John Rowland and William Workman in the 1840's.

The district grew over the years, surviving Depression-era cutbacks and the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. The quake prompted state laws governing quake-proof construction, and some school buildings were condemned. Post-war population influx create a crisis in school capacity, and new schools were opened every few years thereafter. During the 1970's, growth had reached the point that the district was divided into three independent districts: Hacienda-La Puente on the west, Rowland in the center, and Walnut on the east.

During the period covered by this website in the 40's and early 50's, these schools operated in the district:
    
       Puente Union High School (PUHS). Renamed La Puente High School (LPHS) in 1956, when the core Puente town area was incorporated as the city of La Puente. LPHS remained the only high school until January 1959, when Los Altos High School opened in North Whittier Heights, with freshman and sophomore classes only. The 1960 class at LPHS was the last to graduate all seniors in the district, as by 1961, Los Altos graduated its first seniors Other new high schools followed in succeeding years; first Nogales High School, and then others in rapid succession as the district's enrollment  swelled.

       Hudson School. The Hudson School District was formed in 1887, and in 1888 a one-room school opened. In the 1920's a modern, multi-building school was constructed, per the photo on the Home page. In the 1940's, Hudson was an elementary school (grades K-8) but in the early 1950's was a middle or junior high school, with only grades 6-7-8. By the mid-1970's, the school was antiquated and was torn down, replaced by commercial properties.

       Central School was located in the southeast part of the old downtown Puente area. Built in 1920 as a series of inexpensive wood-frame building, for many years it served only Hispanic students from the adjacent "barrio" or "Old Town" of Puente. There was little landscaping or playground equipment. Beginning in the fall of 1947, Hispanic students were integrated into classes at Hudson, and from 1949 Central served the general population. When new schools (Workman, Hillgrove, and Fairgrove) became operational, the antiquated Central School was closed and demolished, about 1955.

       Workman Elementary School.  This school, at 16000 Workman Street in La Puente, was opened in the fall of 1948. It is still operating.

       St. Joseph Catholic School. Located at 15616 E. Temple Avenue, La Puente, this school was founded in September 1950 by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, as an adjunct to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Puente. The school started with six grades, later extended to grades 1 to 8. In 2010, kindergarten classes were added.

       Fairgrove Elementary School. Located north of "downtown" Puente at15540 Fairgrove Ave., Fairgrove opened about 1952. It is still in use.

The above schools are shown on the map below, which was printed in 1953, when the area was still sparsely-developed:

       Hillgrove Elementary School. It  opened in early 1953 in the Hillgrove section of North Whittier Heights (now Hacienda Heights). At that time, Hillgrove was a K-6 elementary school.

The map below, dated 1953, shows a "Palm Ave. School" where Hillgrove School was located. (The patterned area indicates fruit groves, mostly oranges.) This name is somewhat of a mystery, as the school was not known as Palm Avenue School after it opened; perhaps this was provisional name, in use during construction when this map was published. Currently there is a "Palm Canyon School" on part of the former grounds of Hillgrove School; this school serves a small number of special-education high-school students. Sine 1980 there has also been a "Palm Elementary School" (K-5) a few block away, at the southeast corner of the intersection of Palm Avenue and 7th Avenue.

        Rowland Elementary School.  The 1953 map below shows Rowland, named after John A. Rowland, one of the original owners of the Rancho de la Puente, starting in 1841 during Mexican California days. I don't have much history on the school, located in what is now the city of Roland Heights, east of La Puente. . 

       Walnut Elementary School.  A one-room school was built in 1890 to serve an entirely rural area referred to as Walnut, southwest of Pomona. Later it was expanded to four classrooms. Until 1947 it offered only grades 1 to 8. In Fall, 1947, kindergarten classes were added. The current Walnut Elementary School, much expanded, lies at 841 S. Glenwick Avenue, Walnut, CA 91789.  This is immediately north of the original school site, which is now a private academy. The base map below is from 1949.

     Bishop Amat Memorial High School.  Located at 14301 Fairgrove Ave, La Puente,  CA 91746. This was the first Catholic high school in the La Puente area, opening in late 1957.  Thus it is outside the scope of this website.

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