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Municipal Reports
THE SAN FRANCISCO
EARTHQUAKE Board of Education On the morning of the great calamity, April 18, 1906, members of the Board of Education, consisting of Directors Aaron Altmann, president; David Oliver Jr., Thomas F. Boyle and Lawrence F. Walsh, with Superintendent of Schools Alfred Roncovieri (ex-officio member), E. C. Leffingwell, Secretary of the Board of Education, and all employees of the Department, reported at the repair shop of the Board of Education, corner Pine and Larkin streets, for duty. They spent that day and the following days in efforts to guard the property of the Department and assist in the relief of the distressed of the city, looking up teachers of the Department, and seeing that they were properly housed, etc. Out of a total of 74 school buildings that were in use up to the day of the calamity, 29 of these were destroyed by fire, and many of the remainder were seriously damaged by the severity of the earthquake. The Girls' High School, one of the best school buildings, situated at Scott and O'Farrell streets was totally wrecked by the temblor, and the splendid Mission High School, at Eighteenth and Dolores streets was badly damaged. In other sections of the city, the Board of Education succeeded in housing the Health Department, Police Judges, Justices of the Peace, Board of Election Commissioners and Fire Department in various school buildings, where they continued to remain until the opening of school on July 23, 1906. In addition the Board proffered all its school buildings to the military authorities and the Relief Committee, and many buildings were used as storehouses, hospitals and relief stations. Many of the outlying schools were used to accommodate families that were rendered homeless by the disaster. Immediately after the calamity the parks of the city, and particularly Golden Gate Park, were used to accommodate many thousands of families, embracing large numbers of school children. The Board realized that some action should be taken to provide for the assemblage of these pupils in temporary schools, the parents being in full accord. As a result tents were furnished by the United States government and equipped with desks, and were maintained as classrooms, teachers volunteering their services to take charge of these children. For three months the Board of Education worked unceasingly, and in this time had erected 36 temporary buildings containing 256 classrooms, affording accommodation for 8,000 school children, and had partially equipped the same, being hampered by a lack of funds. The Department sustained a loss in buildings alone of $1,276,000. |