The Milpitas Grammar School was completed in 1915. It
had offices,
at least four classrooms, and an auditorium. It replaced an
earlier two story Victorian
styled wooden schoolhouse that burned down in 1912. The earlier school,
which faced east toward modern Winsor Street, also utilized
the old Presberterian Church building next-door on the south side for
two classrooms.
Several classes of students had annual photographs taken in front of
this church.
Behind the old school was a carriage barn where students and teachers
kept their
buggies and horses while school was in session. It and a storage
building just to
the south both burned down with the school in 1912. For the three years
the new school
was under construction, students attended school in a building located
on the old
Weller Ranch about 200 feet north of the present site.
Classes were held in the new building until 1954 when the city was
incorporated.
For a few years it served as the city hall. It also was the city
library for a time.
Eventually, it became the Senior Center. In 1990, the
city undertook a rebuilding/restoration
of the school. In 1993, the school was listed
on the National Register of Historic Places. Construction for a new community library structure that
incorporates the old school began in 2006. Picture
is from July, 1997.