Serious but beguiling eyes look toward the camera in this 1914 photo from McKinley School at Seventh and “G.” The school replaced the venerable Union School which was closed down just a decade earlier. With the growth of industry within and around the Alkali in the teens and twenties, the school’s enrollment, by 1921, swelled to being one of the largest in the city at nearly 700 pupils, necessitating the annexation of the old Southern Pacific Hospital and Crocker home as a playground, clubhouse and “amusement building.” However, with the deepening economic depression, Southern Pacific Company’s purchase of residential units to the west of the school, the closing of a nearby cannery, and the allure of nearby St. Joseph’s School, by 1932, numbers had dropped to 306 and the school had been abandoned as a teaching place, saving the school district $16,000, annually.
This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.
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