Murray School District and DUSD Chronology

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.