Three years after being dedicated during the Centennial celebration of First Avenue Middle School in October 2007 (see video below), the Historical Marker presented by the Arcadia Historical Society was installed Tuesday by the Arcadia School District at the corner of the school’s new music building that didn’t even exist a couple years ago.
The marker is on the southwest corner of the intersection at First Avenue and California Street, visible from all four directions at the intersection and easily readable from the sidewalks at the corner, as will be evident when you see frequent passersby stopping to look at the photos and read the fascinating evolution of the school under the Society’s “History Lives Here” banner.
The caption with the photo of the original yellow clapboard Grammar school that opened in 1907 indicates the building had two classrooms and a library to accommodate 65 students and two teachers encompassing students in grades 1 – 8.
The first part of the building still standing today opened in 1919 to serve 209 students and was considered to be one of the finest examples of school architecture in the state with eight classrooms, a library, assembly hall, and swimming pool. Expansions came in 1921 and in 1939, the latter of which included a more modern exterior. The school, by then called First Avenue School, survived serious damage during the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, and had to have major reconstruction following a disastrous fire in May 1979.
Among the expansion and improvements during the past couple of years is a new track and field stretching from the westside of the building to the property line along Santa Anita Ave., and a refurbished and newly landscaped front entrance and the new music building on the northeast corner of the lot, the latter two of which were the reason the Marker installation was delayed.
The Marker was the first in what has become a series of six (so far) “History Lives Here” signs denoting locations of historical buildings and activities that either still exist or did at one time. Another is one block south on the east side of First Avenue at the Woman’s Club on the corner of Diamond Street, and another is a couple blocks north at Huntington Drive on the northwest corner depicting the majestic marbled City Hall that once stood there. A fourth is also within a short walk to L.A. County’s Arcadia Park near the Peacock fountain at Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue.
Further west on Huntington Drive is a Marker at the entrance to the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, and the most recently dedicated Marker is across the street from the Chamber at Santa Anita Park just inside the east entrance gate.
Click video below to see the 2007 Centennial celebration and dedication of the Historical Marker…
Get the Flash Player to see this content. By Scott Hettrick