Historical Status Sought for San Juan Elementary

A state panel will consider giving historic status to San Juan Elementary.

The state’s Historical Resources Commission is set to meet May 1 in Anaheim, and on the agenda is what was once called simply San Juan School.

“It is the oldest school site in Orange/Los Angeles and the school was started by John (Juan) Forster when he and his family occupied the Mission,” said Ilse Byrnes, who nominated the school.

She said because of all the remodels throughout the years, it is ineligible for the National Register of Historic Place but still qualifies for state recognition, called the California Points of Historical Interest.

In 1850, the San Juan Elementary School District was one of five school districts in what was then Los Angeles County, according to the school’s application with the . The other schools were two in Los Angeles, one in El Monte and one in San Gabriel.

“In the first annual report of the County Superintendant of Schools 1855-1856 it states that there was only one school in Southern Los Angeles County- the one in San Juan Capistrano,” the application states.

The campus today features buildings constructed between the 1920s and 1990s. Of particular historical interest, according to the application is the “teacherage,” a duplex residence built in 1947, and a 1906 school bell mounted on a stand near the school entrance.

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