HISTORIC MERRITT TRACE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - 1926 to 1971
In August 1971, Historic Merritt Trace Elementary School was unceremoniously demolished as a result of the 1930 Field Act and the 1971 San Fernando earthquake (see more history in Merritt Trace Elementary School - Through the Years, Page 14). It took almost a month to demolish the building, using a wrecking ball and excavator. Instead of waste materials being ground up and sorted as done today, a much cruder method was used. The pile was smashed with the wrecking ball and then the excavator was used to pick up and dump the debris into an end dump truck to be hauled away to landfill.
In August 2011, Jere Potter, Project Supervisor at Swinerton Builders contacted the Authors to assist in mapping the footprint of the historic Trace Elementary School Site, after the remains of 'The Pod' was removed, prior to excavation. As a result, the original basement was located and removed along with tons of metal and other debris buried from the 1971 demolition. As Potter later put it, "I was beginning to think we were mining for iron rather then excavating for a new building." In the mix of all the metal unearthed, a couple of significant historic pieces were found. These pieces were forwarded to the Authors, along with the location where they were unearthed after being buried for 40 years under 'The Pod' foundation. Below are photographs of each of the pieces found and the corresponding building locations based on their unearthing.
The Torch of Learning
On the Historic Merritt Trace Building there were two Torches of Learning, one at each door on the front of the building. This Torch was unearthed on the South end of the footprint.
North Facade
In 1971, building demolitions were handled much differently than today. People were allowed to enter condemned buildings and remove pieces that the demolition contractor considered of no value. This was allowed during the Trace demolition. A person knowing the Historic building with a keen eye can walk through the neighborhoods bordering Trace and find pieces of the historic building adorning homes both inside and out. Below are some pieces passed to the authors when the history project was announced to be put on display:
The following items were retrieved from the North end of the historic building
ROOF TILES HALLWAY FLOOR
If you have any artifacts from the Historic Merritt Trace Elementary School demolition in 1971 and would like them displayed on our website, we would be happy to include them. Please contact The Authors for more information.