H74.555.95B

"Ruins of Fremont High School from fire, ca. 1929" From the Oakland Heritage Alliance News, Summer 1984, pg.20, William Sturm. Oakland History Notes: Fremont High School To the brassy blair of the Melrose Coronet Band, and the somnolent sonorities of the high school glee club, the new Fremont High School was proudly dedicated on April 10, 1908. Located at 47th Ave. and Foothill Blvd. (site of the present building), the school began in 1901 as the Fruitvale Public School No. 2, later consolidating other district schools into Union High School. The new building, designed by Thomas Smith, housed 10 teachers and 300 pupils. It featured an auditorium - with upholstered leather seats - special lecture rooms, laboratories, a gymnasium, and an art department. A large room devoted to bookkeeping instruction was presided over by Miss Ella O'Connell, to whom the students affectionately dedicated the 1908 "Flame" yearbook. Gazing through her pince-nez out the classroom window, she could see "...the upper end of the athletic grounds, the outside of the magnificent auditorium, the street-car line to Leona Heights, and the home of Juaquin Miller in the distance." When, in 1909, Fruitvale was annexed to Oakland, Fremont High become part of the Oakland Public School system. On the evening of January 1, 1930, the building succumbed to the rapid intents of a local pyromaniac. The school survives in the memories of her graduates - and in the poetic effusions of student Winfield Whitney, class, of '09: As yhe days unroll before us, Help us one and all to see, That the John C. Fremont High School Stands for what was best in thee.