Schools
The earliest public school in what is today the incorporated City of Menlo Park was the Creek School (1874), organized under the Redwood City School District on land in the Willows that was donated by Col. McKendry. The next school was at the corner of Oak Grove and Crane (1875) was also organized under the Redwood City School District. By 1880 there were enough students to organize the Menlo Park School District that covers much of today's Menlo Park and Atherton. The new District proceeded to build a new school on El Camino Real. Meanwhile, the area to the east of Middlefield formed the Ravenswood City School District in 1892 and proceeded to build a new Creek School in the Willows. The Willows was annexed by Menlo Park just after WWII but the area remained in the Ravenswood City School District until 1983. The area of Menlo Park to the east of 101 remains in the Ravenswood City School District along with all of the City of East Palo Alto.
Abbreviations:
LLSD - Los Lomitas School District
MPCSD - Menlo Park City School District
RWCSD Redwood City School District
RCSD - Ravenswood City School District
SUHSD - Sequoia Union High School District
Time Line:
1861 Reconstructed Redwood City School District (RWCSD) formed [8]
1872 12 students met behind St. Bridgit's Catholic Church (today in Atherton) on Middlefield Rd opposite Ravenswood Ave, (RWCSD or was it a subscription school?)
1874 Creek School opened on Oak St (now Gilbert Ave) near today's Nova Ln, RWCSD [7]
1875 New MP school house constructed at corner of Oak Grove and Crane St., RWCSD
1876 MP has 60 students
1880 Menlo Park School District (now MPCSD) formed
1891 Stanford University opens
1892 Ravenswood School District (now RCSD) formed [7]
1892 Menlo Park Grammer School opened on El Camino Real just southeast of Glenwood Ave, MPCSD
1893 Old MP school on Oak Grove sawed in half to make two homes (these homes have since been demolished)
1893 New Creek School opened near Bay Road [exactly where?], RCSD [7]
1895 Sequoia High School opened, SUHSD
1904 Los Lomitas School District (LLSD) formed and Los Lomitas School (in Atherton) opened
1912 MP Grammer School destroyed by fire, students met in Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (then on Santa Cruz Ave near Chestnut) until new school built
1914 Central School opened at same location as the destroyed Menlo Park Grammar School (1300 El Camino Real)
1916 Branch of San Mateo County Library opened in new Central School.
1917 Chinese School opened in Wo Sing Building (on north side of Glenwood just west of RR)
1918 One-room school house [the "New" Creek School] on Oak [now Gilbert] Street in North Palo Alto replaced by Ravenswood School fronting on Donohoe Street in Runnymede area [6]
1927 Incorporation of City of Menlo Park
1927 Fremont School opened
1944 Willow (now Willow Oaks) Elementary School constructed, RCSD
1948 Belle Haven School constructed
1948 Encinal School (in Atherton) opened
1949 Hillview School opened
1951 Menlo-Atherton High School (in Atherton) opened
1952 Oak Knoll School opened
1954 St Raymond Catholic School opened
1957 O'Connor School (RCSD) opened
1959 Laurel School (in Atherton) opened
1963 Central School demolished (replaced by Shepard Cadillac and in 2014 is an empty lot)
1971 Fremont School ceases as a school (demolished in 2000, replaced by Rosener House)
1979 Mid-Peninsula High School opens in Palo Alto
1983 O'Connor School transferred from RCSD to MPCSD
2003 Mid-Peninsula High School moves to Menlo Park
Listing of current Menlo Park schools
Refs:
[1] Menlo Park Recorder and Gazette (11/2/1950)
[2] Palo Alto Times (2/9/1967)
[3] Menlo Park City School District history
[4] Centennial Memories: The Story of Los Lomitas
[5] Fremont School Era Draws To A Close, Menlo Park Recorder (6/16/71)
[6] History of the Ravenswood City School District, Ravenswood Report Newsletter Col. II, No. 1 (Nov 13, 1956)
[7] The History of Ravenswood by Werner C. Foss, Jr., San Mateo Junior College (1942), unpublished.
[8] A Short History of Public Schools in Redwood City by Richard N. Schellens (May 1, 1967)