The first school in Coalinga oilfields

The first school in Coalinga oilfields

Coalinga (Calif.) -- Photographs.

First school in Coalinga oil field. Located on Confidence Oil Company lease near West Side discovery well, Confidence No. 2, in fall of 1900. Schoolhouse, an abandoned homesteader's cabin moved there for the purpose of being a school. Teacher was paid by subscriptions from parents. Desks and other equipment secured from lapsed school districts in the valley. School was given public school status by Fresno County Superintendent of Schools. The school was the forerunner of the Alpha School District formed a couple of years later and a schoolhouse built a mile further south. The teacher was Maude Applegarth. Picture was taken by Besley LeFever, who drilled in the discovery well, on last day of school in spring of 1901. Only five of the pupils can now be identified: Back row, boy with bow tie, Charles W. (Waldo) Cleary, girl Louise Zipperlin. Front row, boy in kneex pants, Leslie A. Cleary, boy sitting on steps Arnett LeFever and next to him Irene LeFever.

LeFever, Besley.

1 photograph : b&w ; 5 x 7 in.

San Joaquin Valley Library System

1901

Coalinga-Huron District Library

For more information about acquiring copies of these images (in photographic and/or digital form), please contact the R. C. Baker Memorial Museum, Inc., Helen Cowan, Curator, 297 West Elm, Coalinga, CA 93210; (559) 935-1914

R. C. Baker Memorial Museum, Inc.

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1901