Schools in Whitmore during the 1850s were built and maintained by the residents. They regularly moved the school building to areas, often a mill operation, where there was a concentration of school age children. One teacher even brought her own very young children to school so there would be enough pupils to have a school. The residents of the area paid the teacher's wages.

Classes were kindergarten through eighth or ninth grade, usually with eight to twelve students. School was held in the summer when the children could walk to school. Vacation time was in the worst part of winter. A few families lived in the Sacramento Valley during the winter, so their children attended school during summer and winter.

Until the emergence of one elementary school for Whitmore in 1950, each school area was a separate Whitmore community. The great distances between ranches, the lack of transportation and absence of telephones kept residents isolated.

The local school was the center of social activity, even for those without children in school. The community turned out for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter plays, awards and graduation. Everyone helped at the social hours after these events and at the community dances and potlucks held at the school.

Before 1920 many children did not go on to high school. Many of the older boys in the family left school to help at home. The younger boys in the family were more likely to stay in school and then go into town to get a job. The girls stayed in school to get a teaching position or they got married. Because so many students did not go past the eighth or ninth grade, reading and writing were emphasized. Today we would probably say that the students who had completed the sixth grade in the 1920s were very literate.

Some Whitmore schools had been in existence for several years before they were formally acknowledged by the county. The official founding dates are the recorded County Schools Office dates. The numbers in parentheses show the order the school was founded compared to all Shasta County schools.

Whitmore schools and other schools of local interest:
Shasta, founded in 1853 (Number 1).

Pit River/Sierra,founded in 1854 (Number 7).

Sierra School, about a mile west of Shingletown.

Oak Run School, founded 1857 (Number 4), consolidated with Millville February 7, 1851.

Clover Creek School, from Sierra, founded August 5, 1858, (Number 5), a summer school. Clover Creek was calledOak Groveat one time. Originally it was near where West Fern comes into Whitmore Road, where it burned down. They moved Clover Creek School several times, once to just at the top of the other side of the Aldridge place, then they moved it over by Elbert Miller's Mill. Some people tore the old one down and built a private home with the lumber. The community later rebuilt the school as Mill Creek School.

Cow Creek, from Sierra, founded August 5, 1858 (Number 6).

Millville, founded May 9, 1860 (Number 14).

Round Mountain, founded August 6, 1872.

Klotz Mill, (in Shingletown), founded November 10, 1872.

Mill Creek School, from Clover Creek School, founded February 3, 1875, a summer and later a winter school. Located on Mill Creek Road, now South Cow Creek Road, near Mill Creek and next to Miller's mill. Blue Mountain Road goes back of the school site. A very old school, it was started sometime in the early eighteen sixties. They moved it at various times to several places on Mill Creek until finally Irv Atkins built the last Mill Creek School in 1901. At the time they built it the trustees were discussing whether they should bond the district, or levy a tax. They finally decided to have a tax and pay for it right away. They built the building for $1200, then they had it painted for $400. They used round poles (logs) for rafters instead of sawed square rafters, saving thousands of dollars. The school burned in 1952, and the children went to Whitmore Union.

Bear Creek School, from Sierra, founded February 3, 1875, a summer school. According to Beth Shuford in the 1959 Covered Wagon, it was first built in 1862. Where Black Butte School is now was Bear Creek School then. Inwood School was formerly called Bear Creek School.

Phillips School, founded August 5, 1880, a summer school, between Oak Run and Round Mountain.

Oak Grove School, founded August 2, 1881, a summer school. It burned and was rebuilt, then took the name Clover Creek School in 1858. The site was about a quarter of a mile from the Pawnee post office (on the Millville Plains) down on Old 44, and named after a grove of oaks there. It was a one-teacher, one-room school, with grades kindergarten to the ninth grade.

Mountain Grove School, founded May 8, 1878, a summer school. The site was one-half mile north of the German Cemetery, on Bateman Road, about one block south of where Bateman joins Tamarack Road. Later the children went to Whitmore Union.

Mason School, founded May 10, 1880, a summer school. Mason school was about a quarter mile off Fern Road West near Buckhorn ranch. It was west of the road, just north of the present large reservoir (that did not exist then). The deed states: revert to C.P.E.P. Co. if not used for school purposes. All evidence of the school site is gone.

Twin Valley School, founded May 10, 1888, on Fern Road East. The last school year was 1951. It was called a rural multi-graded classes school.

Atkins (Old Atkins) School, founded May 10, 1890, first on 500 Road, north of the Rough Diamond Ranch. It was moved to the George Hufford place, later known as Remi Vista.

Cedar Grove School, founded March 25, 1896, a summer school, (Cedar Creek School was in Round Mountain). Located south-southwest of the Ponderosa curve where Wildcat Canyon Road enters Ponderosa. All evidence of the school site is gone.

Shasta County High School, founded November 18, 1898.

Shasta Union High School, founded August 8, 1915 by an election.

Whitmore Union School, founded July 1, 1950 by combining Mountain Grove and Twin Valley.

Ellis School, at the south end of South Cow Creek, closed for lack of students. The building was moved to Whitmore Road just east of Old-forty-four and is the Millville Historical Society Building.

In the olden days:
Who would want to stay home and work when you
could go to school and play with your friends?

Stories from Whitmore students and teachers follow (for lists of students and teachers, see Chapter 31):. . .

For watercolors of Shasta County schools, go to http://www.localhistory.com

For information about Shasta County Schools and the Shasta County Office of Education, go to:

http://www.shastacoe.org

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