The Valley of Heart's Delight
HISTORY OF CASTILLEJA SCHOOL, Palo Alto, California
Prominent
among the well-known educational institutions of California which have
conferred distinction not only upon Santa Clara county, but upon
the great Pacific commonwealth as well, Castilleja school, now
completing its fifteen year, has contributed to extend the fame
of Palo Alto in particular, and to add another charm to the university
center already the admiration of thousand from all parts of the
world Its principal is Miss Mary Ishbel Lockey, A. B., of
Stanford University, and she is ably assisted by a corps of over thirty
well trained teachers. The school was founded in August, 1907;
and such has been its steady growth that it now has six buildings
occupying a block of about five acres; there are grouped and arranged
so that the pupils may practically live out of doors. A court,
250 feet broad, opening toward the south, gives freedom and privacy,
and the other half of the block is laid out in tennis, basket ball, and
volley ball courts, and general playgrounds.
The residence is an L-shaped structure, with fifty-three rooms, and two
large screened sleeping porches. A sunny infirmary, which can be
completely isolated in case of need, provides for illness; all the
living rooms are planned for entertaining and for comfort. The
school building has an assembly room and study hall, five rooms for the
intermediate and the lower schools, five recitation rooms for the upper
school, a book-store and offices, a study porch, and two sun porches
for the younger children. A pergola connects the recitation hall
with the gymnasium and auditorium; the latter has a modern,
well-appointed stage and is fitted with lockers and shower baths.
The Domestic Science bungalow is a model cottage where girls may learn
thoroughly and practically the art of home-making and
home-keeping. Recently an additional building, called the Lodge,
has been erected as a residence for the teachers. Orchard House
built in the summer of 1921, affords the Music and Art departments a
home having attractive and distinctly advantageous features.
The swimming pool, the latest addition to the equipment of Castilleja,
is one of the great sources of pleasure and physical development on the
grounds. It is a beautiful open air pool, built of white
concrete, with steam-heated dressing rooms. Swimming can be
indulged in throughout the year as the water is tempered to suit the
weather, and scientific instruction in swimming, diving and life saving
is part of the physical education work.
The purpose of Castilleja school is to give an education that is broad,
not merely academic, and though essentially a university preparatory
school, a general course is arranged for pupils not wishing to enter
college, and in every case an effort is made to develop systematic and
scholarly habits of thought. Graduates are admitted without
examination to Stanford University, the University of California, and
Mills College, and the school is accredited by Wellesley, Smith, Vassar
and Mt. Holyoke colleges. Adequate time and attention ar given to
English, and there are courses in Latin, French, Spanish History,
Mathematics, Science, Home Economics, Art, and Music. Believing
that every girl should be taught to manage a bank account and to live
within a specified income, the school instituted a bank of its own;
each girl is furnished a check book and required to pay her bills for
books, school supplies, sewing materials, chaperoning, concerts,
incidental expense etc . by check, and she is grande din this work as
in any other school subject. Special attention is given to the
physical condition of the girls, and it is the desire of the school to
have the pupils realize that future happiness and efficiency depend on
cultivating habits of health. The school is nonsectarian, but
gives definite training in ethics and religious principles.
Social service is emphasized, and each pupil is led to assume
responsibility for some particular branch of relief work.
Castilleja is situated in the best residence portion of Palo Alto, and
has an unbroken view of the beautiful and fertile Santa Clara Valley
extending on one side to San Francisco Bay and the Mount Diablo Range,
and on the other to the Santa Cruz Mountains beyond which lies the
Pacific Ocean. The equable, delightful climate makes out-of door life
possible throughout the year and invites frequent excursions to the
picturesque county about. On the other hand its nearness to San
Francisco (thirty miles) give opportunity for instruction and pleasure
through lectures, concerts, and dramatic entertainment's; thus the
pupils of the school have the unusual advantage of both town and
country life.
Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922.
Castilleja School is still in existence-----visit their official website here-----
RETURN TO PALO ALTO, California HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
SANTA CLARA COUNTY- The Valley of Heart;s Delight
July 19, 2005