Bonds built AUHS

OVERCROWDED: Even after adding a second story in 1912, Anderson High School was deemed too small for its rapidly growing enrollment by 1916.

The founding of the first Anderson Union High School was in 1908 following the approval of a petition by a vote of 294 in favor and one person voting against.

Prior to its founding, teenagers from Anderson, Cottonwood and surrounding areas either did not go beyond grammar school or attended Shasta County High school in Redding.

To govern the new high school district, the Shasta County Superintendent of Schools appointed one trustee from each of the 16 subsidiary elementary school districts. The school areas were Anderson, Antelope, Bear Creek, Beckwith, Cloverdale, Inwood, Latona, Lone Tree, Oak Knoll, Olinda, Parkville, Pine View, Prairie, Sacramento River, Sheldon and Sheridan.

The number of trustees serving the high school district was later reduced to five when California passed a special law in 1909.

The high school began its first term in the fall of 1909 with 45 pupils. The new school was located on the east corner of South Street and East Street on property the trustees purchased in 1910. A second story was added to the building in 1912, but even then the school's capacity was not able to keep up with student growth.

As a result, a petition to build a new school was circulated in 1916 with a bond sale proposed for $60,000. The first two attempts to pass a bond issue for a new school building did not pass.

Rivalry between the Cottonwood and Anderson was the major reason for the failure. Cottonwood residents wanted a school built in their own community and the first proposal was deemed to be of too high a cost.

A second bond proposal - this time for $40,000 - prompted a mass protest meeting in which the Cottonwood people served notice that they desired their own high school and called for the defeat of the Anderson proposal. Even though it carried in Anderson and other areas, Cottonwood voted 65-1 against the bond issue.

Following the second failure of the bond issue, the matter went before the Shasta County Board of Supervisors. They discussed the matter and found that the school issue could be built by a direct tax levied by the Board of Supervisors.

Finally a compromise was made and a bond proposal for $35,000 was put before the voters on July 28, 1917. This third bond measure passed by a vote of 277-40.

The contractors estimated that the new Spanish-style building would take three months to complete, however it was opened in March of 1918 so that students attending classes at the first school were transferred up the hill to their new campus.

The new high school building was located on a beautiful, 6-acre site on a hill overlooking the community of Anderson. The property was donated to the school district by several Anderson businessmen.

<B>Editor's Note: </B>For more about Anderson High School's history, check the special section in today's newspaper.