Pioneers of Local Education and the Names Behind our Local Schools continued...
Prisk Elementary School 2375 Fanwood Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815 After one term in the State Senate, William Prisk quickly learned that he was better suited to make an impact through the newspaper industry. Prisk moved to SoCal in 1906 and bought the Long Beach Press with his brother, which today is the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Prisk, also known as “Mr. Long Beach,” was driven to make the city the greatest on the West Coast and poured over his typewriter calling for harbor improvement. He lived to see the initial steps that would shape the booming port Long Beach has today, and the opening of an elementary school with his name in the 1950s.
Stanford Middle School 5871 E Los Arcos St, Long Beach, CA 90815 Stanford Middle School was first built in 1953 and is named after Leland Stanford, an American politician and industrialist. Most notably, Stanford is remembered as one of the “Big Four” who built California’s Central Pacific Railroad. The construction of the railroad made way for development of the Western United States, as it connected to the Transcontinental Railroad through the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Stanford held significant influence in California, serving a term as governor and 8 years as the state’s senator.
Florence Bixby Elementary School 5251 E Stearns St, Long Beach, CA 90815 The Bixby name is difficult to escape in this city, which isn’t surprising because it traces back to a family who profoundly shaped Long Beach. The first Bixbys came to California during the 1850s, drawn to the state, like most, by the booming Gold Rush. As they settled in the Golden State, their presence would fuel significant commercial and agricultural development of Long Beach and surrounding areas. Florence Bixby was a modest woman, whose interests leaned toward writing and the arts as opposed to the ranch life loved by other Bixbys. Remaining evidence of Florence’s tastes are found in the gardens she developed in the 1920s at Rancho Los Alamitos, which contains an elegance that complements the site’s adobe.
Emerson Parkside Academy 2625 Josie Ave, Long Beach, CA 90815 Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist and leader of the Transcendentalist Movement.
Naples Bayside Academy 5537 E The Toledo, Long Beach, CA 90803 Naples Bayside Academy was first built in 1925 and sits on a sliver of the charming area of Long Beach known as Naples which consists of three islands divided by canals that open up to the Alamitos Bay.
McBride High School 7025 E Parkcrest St, Long Beach, CA 90808 A new addition to LBUSD is Ernest McBride High School, opening in 2013 and graduating its first senior class this past year. Ernest McBride was a community leader who co-founded the Long Beach chapter of the NAACP. McBride’s Long Beach home was a regular meeting place for civil rights activists. The home today is recognized as a historical landmark in the city and, like the high school, is tribute to the work McBride did in advancing societal discourses. Bancroft Middle School
5301 E Centralia St, Long Beach, CA 90808
Bancroft Middle School is named after 19th century historian Hubert Howe Bancroft. Bancroft’s research and books concentrated on the Pacific Coast, spanning across Central America to Alaska. By the time of his death he had authored 39 books and amassed a collection of more than 60,000 volumes. This collection was purchased by UC Berkley, making vast historic materials available to scholars and students alike. Bancroft Middle School’s origin dates back to 1942, when seventh and eighth graders from Lakewood Elementary moved into what would first be known as Lakewood Junior High. Its status as a junior high school was cemented with the additions of ninth graders in 1943. Bancroft was incorporated into LBUSD in 1945, but didn’t adopt its current name until a decade later.
