In 1853, the Methodist Church housed the first group of school children taught by Seneca Carroll in the village of Pajaro (later known as Watsonville).
The church was on the corner of Main and East Fourth (now East Lake).
Ten years later in 1863, the first school building was constructed on East Fourth between Main and Brennan. This was the Pajaro School; however, the name was later changed to the Primary School. By 1866, this two-room school was bulging at the seams. Lucius Holbrook was contracted to add four more rooms at a cost of $1,920.
The addition was completed on May 5, 1866. The school house bell, valued at $100, arrived from San Francisco and according to the Pajaro Valley Times, “now occupies the ‘swinging’ position for which it was destined… It is a beautiful toned piece of metal.” Most of the money was raised through a concert given by the pupils of the school.
On August 25, 1866, the Pajaro Valley Times reported: “Civil Rights Bill in Pajaro — Monday last when the public school opened in Pajaro [Watsonville] a colored citizen appeared at the schoolhouse and demanded admission for his children on the grounds that he was taxed for the support of the school. No one will doubt that his demand is well based. Movement afoot to provide them school advantages in a separate building from the white children.”
The person asking to have his children admitted to the public school was Robert Johnson, a black farmer from Tennessee. A special tax to build the school was approved by the School Trustees and local people contributed to the fund. They raised $1,303 for the small building.
In January 1867, the Santa Cruz newspaper published an article signed by “A Visitor” that praised Watsonville for starting a school for black children. A short excerpt of the article follows:
“This school … attended by about a dozen colored children, is taught by an accomplished lady teacher, and their progress in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, physiology, and other branches taught, is certainly surprising, when we take into consideration the very short time the school has been in operation… But all praise is due to the people of Watsonville for having overcome this prejudice in so far as to provide them with school facilities in no way inferior to those provided for the whites…In this the people of Watsonville have taken a step in advance of most places in this State…”
This one-room schoolhouse had 18 students in 1870 and the teacher was Miss Mary Bell. Eight of these students had grades of 90% and three had marks of 100%. By 1873, the school had 25 students and the teacher was Miss Ruth Keith. Fannie Gallagher was the teacher in 1878 with 18 students. This school closed in 1878. The Black community had filed a petition to end the separate-but-equal education policy, but the trustees denied it. The Black community then boycotted the school and it was closed. The building stood until the 1989 earthquake. A doorknob from this building was donated to PVHA and is currently on display in the Borina Archive.Watsonville; Memories that Linger by local historian Betty Lewis includes a chapter on “Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic.” More information about these schools and many others can be found in this book, available for purchase at Pajaro Valley History.
