Murray School District and Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) Chronology
Steve Minniear
Dublin Historical Preservation Association
August 2016
Note: The following information was drawn from multiple sources, many of
which can be found in the Alameda County Library, Dublin Branch. It
is a work in progress. Local history, especially Dublin’s history,
can often have conflicting information and dates. Since much of this
information came from newspapers which often relied on only one or
two people’s recollections, please understand that some information
might not be accurate. This chronology also includes the year other,
non-public, schools opened in Dublin, in order to describe the larger
context of Dublin’s education history.
Any suggestions to correct or add information would be greatly appreciated. You can send corrections and suggestions to dhpaorg@gmail.com. Please include an explanation and a source or reference with any suggestion or correction.
1854 – Murray school started as the first school in eastern Alameda
County. Charles Crane started teaching in the old Francisco Alviso
adobe (Foothill Road, Pleasanton).i
1856 – Murray school may have opened on Flanagan Road, near what is now
Stoneridge Mall.
1860 – Murray school moved from Flanagan Road to the Dublin-Hayward
Road. This is now known as Dublin Canyon Road.
1866 – Local residents formed the Murray School District.
1869 – Murray School house opened. It was the first school in Alameda
County’s Murray Township after the state’s formation.ii
1870 – Dublin had two hotels, a general store and a wagon shop, a black
smithy and a shoemaker shop in addition to a church and school.
1874 – John F. Jordan taught at Murray school.iii
1880 – Murray school had 87 students. Murray Township had 1,414
students.iv
1882 – Murray school teacher Charles Jefferson Thom taught 94 students.
Murray Township had 1,340 students.v
1884 – According to the Livermore Herald: “The public school is well
patronized, and has nearly seventy pupils, with C. J. Thom as
teacher. The Trustees are J. C. McDermott, Clerk of the District,
Rod. Fallon and Wm. Martin, gentlemen well qualified to protect the
school interest.”vi
1911 – A small part of eastern Murray School District became the Antone
School District. That district built a small one room school house
later that year to take care of children living along Tassajara Road
and in the area on both sides of the border with Contra Costa
County.vii
1914 – A library opened in the general store.viii
Dublin had two hotels, two stores, shops, a school, and a church.ix
1921 – Murray school housed the local branch of the Alameda County
Library.x
1934 – Dublin had a school, a church, two hotels, a grocery store, a
blacksmith shop, five gas stations and a library. Dublin Boulevard,
then part of the Lincoln Highway (later Highway 50), had businesses
on both sides of the street.
1944 – Murray school used as a registration location for war ration book
distribution.xi
1952 – Newly constructed Murray school opened on Dublin Blvd. The
original school house was considered inadequate sometime before this.
1961 – Dublin Elementary School opened.
1963 – Brighton Elementary School opened.
1964 – Fallon Elementary School and Village Elementary Schools opened.
1965 – Nielsen Elementary School opened.xii
Village Elementary School closed.xiii
1966 – The third version of Murray Elementary School opened in January.xiv
The Valley Community Services District received the previous school
building on Dublin Blvd. for use as a recreation center. Nielsen
School opened. Brighton Elementary School closed.xv
1967 – C. F. (Christen Hansen) Fredericksen School opened.xvi
Lydiksen School opened.xvii
1968 – Bescoe Elementary School opened.xviii
Dublin
High School was established in the fall of 1968 as the second high
school in Pleasanton. It was part of the Amador Valley High School
District.xix
1969 – J. R. Cronin Intermediate School opened.xx
Dublin High School opened on Village Parkway.
1970 – The Dublin Public Library moved into new and larger quarters on
Village Parkway.xxi
Bescoe School became Donlon Elementary School.
1971 – T. D. (Thomas Dickerson) Wells Intermediate School opened.xxii
Valley Christian Church opened an elementary school in a surplus
school building. Dublin High School graduated
its first senior class in June.xxiii
1973 – St. Phillip Lutheran School opened in Dublin.xxiv
1975 – Concerned citizens started the Dublin Historical Preservation
Association (DHPA) in order to save the original Murray School
(located then on Dublin Canyon Road) which was at risk due to highway
construction. Caltrans donated the building to DHPA. It was moved
to stand next to old St. Raymond's Church near the Dublin Pioneer
Cemetery. The area is now the Dublin Heritage Park & Museums.
1979 – Dublin Elementary School closed.xxv
1982 – Dublin became a city. Valley Christian Church opened a high
school on its campus.
1983 – Fallon Elementary School closed.xxvi
1986 – St. Raymond's Catholic Church opened an elementary school at their
campus on Shannon Way.
1988 – Murray School District ended. The elementary and high schools
unified into a new district, the Dublin Unified School District.
Fallon School converted into district offices.xxvii
Lydiksen and Donlon elementary schools became part of the Pleasanton
Unified School District.
1997 – Dublin Elementary School opened.xxviii
2000 – James Witt Dougherty Elementary School opened.
2003 – J. R. Cronin School closed. Valley Continuation High School moved
into the campus.
2005 – Eleanor Murray Fallon Middle School opened.
2007 – John Green Elementary School opened.
2009 – Nielsen Elementary School closed.xxix
2014 – Harold William Kolb Elementary School opened.
2015 – Dublin Unified School District had 9,958 students in 11 schools
(six elementary, two middle, one comprehensive high school and one
alternative high school).xxx
Jose Maria Amador Elementary School opened.
Past and Present of Alameda County California, Joseph E.
Baker, editor, Volume 1, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1914, p. 475.
Past and Present of Alameda County, California, Joseph E.
Baker, editor, Volume 1, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1914, p. 475.
“Teachers’ Institute, Complete Roster of the Teachers of Alameda
County,” Oakland Tribune, September 22, 1974, p. 3.
Accessed through Newspapers.com on May 3, 2015.
Livermore Herald, Vol. 7, No. 25, July 15, 1880, p. 3.
These consisted of school age children, 5-17 years old. Livermore
Herald, Vo. 12, No. 1, July 13 1882, p. 3.
Livermore Herald, Volume 10, Number 5, 18 April 1884, “Valley
and Canyon,” p. 4. California Digital Newspaper Archive, (CDNC).
Accessed on December 18, 2014.
“Board of Supervisors,” Oakland Tribune, 19 Jan. 1911, p. 11.
“Board of Supervisors Regular meeting, Monday, June 5, 1911,”
Oakland Tribune, 12 June 1911, p. 7. The Alameda County Board of
Supervisors consolidated Antone School District into the Pleasanton
School District in 1944. “Board of Supervisors, Regular Meeting,
January 25, 1944,” Oakland Tribune, 3 Feb. 1943, p. 16.
In May 1914 an Alameda County branch library opened in the Green
Store. “Alameda County Library, A Century of Service: A Visual
History of the Dublin Library,”
http://guides.aclibrary.org/content.php?pid=121671&sid=4887738,
accessed September 28, 2014.
Past and Present of Alameda County California, p. 475.
“Barns, Chicken Houses, Branch Library Homes,” Oakland
Tribune, November 16, 1921, p. 28. Accessed through
Newspapers.com, February 19, 2015.
“Here’s List of Rationing Places in Eastbay And Contra Costa
County by Districts,” Oakland Tribune, 22 Feb. 1943, p. 6.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, pamphlet, circa 1988, no page indicated.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated.
This source says Murray School opened in 1965. “Murray School
District 1856-1988,” Murray School District History, circa
1988, no page indicated.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated. Brighton Elementary School was also
known as the Brighton Portables.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated.
This source says Frederiksen opened in 1966. “Murray School
District 1856-1988,” Murray School District History, no
page indicated.
Bescoe Elementary School may have been named after the developer of
the local housing subdivision. “John Brooks,” obituary,
Tri-Valley Times, 19 April 2015, p. B10.
Dublin High School (Dublin, California), Wikipedia,
accessed December 14, 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_High_School_(Dublin,_California)
Ramona Valencia, Headlines in Murray School District History,
1960-1970, p. 48. “Principal Gets Post,” Herald/News,
April 20, 1968, no page indicated.
The library opened on March 1, 1970. “Alameda County Library, A
Century of Service: A Visual History of the Dublin Library,”
http://guides.aclibrary.org/content.php?pid=121671&sid=4887738,
accessed September 28, 2014.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated.
Dublin High School (Dublin, California), Wikipedia,
accessed December 14, 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_High_School_(Dublin,_California).
St. Philip Lutheran School website.
http://stphiliplutheranschool.com/.
Accessed August 9, 2016.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated.
“Murray School District 1856-1988,” Murray School District
History, no page indicated.
Dublin Unified School District 7-11 Committee Meeting, April 22,
2013, Meeting Minutes – Approved. Accessed December 14, 2013.
http://www.dublin.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/CA01001424/Centricity/Domain/5/7-11%20Approved%20Mtg.%20Minutes%204-22-13.pdf.
Dublin Unified School District website. Accessed March 17, 2015.
Dublin Unified School District 7-11 Committee Meeting, April 22,
2013, Meeting Minutes – Approved. Accessed 12/14/2013.
http://www.dublin.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/CA01001424/Centricity/Domain/5/7-11%20Approved%20Mtg.%20Minutes%204-22-13.pdf.
“About our District, About Dublin Unified,” Dublin Unified
School District website. Accessed June 1, 2016.