The Origin of Galileo High School
By R. Schnitzer, Galileo historian & teacher (written for the 2020 Telescope, yearbook)
A New School
The first mention in the media of what would eventually become Galileo High School was in the San Francisco Chronicle. Dated June 6, 1909, a report on a previous evening’s meeting of the school board said that a need to establish a second polytechnic high school (better known today as a vocational education school) needed consideration. The City already had one such school and, according to Superintendent of Schools Alfred Roncovieri, there was a need for another.
The idea was, apparently, studied. Slowly. The San Francisco Call gave more details on September 15, 1911. The school would be an intermediate school consisting of grades 7-10 and would give both boys and girls an industrial and domestic education for both the workforce and the home. Courses of study would include “decorative and mechanical drawing, designing and modeling, making simple architectural drawings, sewing, dress making, millinery, home cooking, invalid cooking and care of the sick, care and feeding of children, economical marketing, metal and forge work, wood work, elements of plumbing and electrical work and such other mental and hand training as may prepare the boy or girl of 16 or 17 to earn a living or complete an apprenticeship.” School would run “from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 to 4 p. m., and that the shops be opened from 8:30 to 12 noon Saturdays and that not less than three hours’ work each day be devoted to the manual arts.”
Further discussions urged the school to be located in the vicinity of Hyde and Bush Streets (March 1912) or North Beach (June 1913)
Creating the New School
If, after four years of discussion about a school, for which there still wasn’t even a set location, seems a bit slow, you may be right. We need to go back a few years.
According to the 1910 census, San Francisco had a population of 416,912 making it the largest city and the most important seaport on the West Coast. The city was rapidly rebuilding from the 1906 earthquake and fire and there were plans to expand into undeveloped areas. There were, however, only five public high schools: Lowell, Polytechnic, Commerce, Mission and Girls’ High. Ten years earlier in 1900, the City’s population was 342,782 but there were still the same number of high schools.
Citizens were concerned about the state of education in San Francisco and in 1914 the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Public Education Society requested the Federal Bureau of Education (what the federal Department of Education was named at the time) to do an audit of the San Francisco public schools. P.P. Claxton, U.S. Commissioner of Education, agreed and the results were presented in 1917. They were not complimentary. Amongst the findings: not enough high schools and the existing ones were poorly distributed. On June 20, 1917, the Chronicle reported that Superintendent Roncovieri had received the report and would not comment until he had “digested” it. (By December, however, he had digested it and had much to say, little of it positive.) In an August 7, 1917 Chronicle article City Engineer M.M. O’Shaughnessy recommended $500,000 to the construction of Galileo High School to be located somewhere east of Van Ness and north of Clay. The building would consist of 20 classrooms plus “other rooms”. An additional $150,000 was recommended for purchase of the land on which to build the school.
Location for the New School
On December 6, 1919, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the sale of land for Galileo High School. The property, located between Van Ness, Bay, Polk and Francisco Streets, was praised for the ocean views, proximity for the planned Aquatic Park, and for the abundance of transportation, mainly streetcar lines that connected to all parts of the city.
It was also significant for an area of the city that was about to be developed.
The 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition celebrated the completion the previous year of the Panama Canal and, as the center for all shipping trade in the Pacific, San Francisco was the logical place to hold the celebration. Besides, having rebounded from the 1906 earthquake and fire, the City had much to show off. Marshland on the northern waterfront between Van Ness Avenue and the Presidio Army Base was selected as the Expo site and filled in. When the exposition ended, a new neighborhood, the Marina District, would be created and they’d certainly need new schools.
Galileo’s immediate neighborhood was primarily industrial. Fisherman’s Wharf was devoted entirely to the fishing industry, both catching and processing. No restaurants or tourists yet. Just incoming seafood. With the Golden Gate Bridge not yet built, ferries to and from Sausalito docked at the Hyde Street Pier. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was located a block from the new school site. Fort Mason, an army base, was across Van Ness. The first structure ever built on Galileo’s new site was the streetcar terminal for the Expo. And there were a few houses in the area.
Assembling the New School
The board of education officially sanctioned Galileo High School in the fall of 1919.
A former Red Cross building at Civic Center was remodeled for Galileo’s temporary use. City architect John Reid, Jr. began designing the new school.
Joseph P. Nourse was selected as Galileo’s principal. Nourse began his career with San Francisco schools teaching greek and latin at Lowell High School. In 1919, with the approval of both the Board Education and the US War Department (now Department of Defense), Nourse organized what is now the JROTC program. He received the rank of major. Nourse was the principal of Polytechnic High when the board appointed him as principal and organizer of Galileo where he would remain until 1936 when he became San Francisco Superintendent of Schools. Nourse, described as a well-liked, mild-mannered man, retired in 1943 and died in 1954, aged 80.
Opening the New School
San Francisco’s public schools opened the 1921-22 school year on August 1, severely overcrowded. (Mission High, which had planned on 250 students, was now expecting 1300, not counting first of the school year registrations.) Galileo opened on August 3 with 400 students registered but could take up to 600 if necessary. There was an opening ceremony with speeches from various politicians and members of the Board of Education, including school board member Dr. A. A. d’Ancona who explained the choice of Galileo as the name for the school. This, he said, was a scientific age and that from now on they should help to push forward the progress of “mind” rather than “might”. (Considering Nourse’s ROTC work, there might be some irony.)
Meanwhile, at the other end of Van Ness, preparations were underway for Galileo’s new building. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on November 5, 1921 with Mayor James Rolph turning the first bit of ground. A crowd of hundreds had gathered, the entire Galileo community among them. Speeches from various politicians and members of the education community again were given and the next day work began. The building was expected to be ready, according to Supervisor Ralph McLaren, in July, 1923.
Opening the New Building
Galileo opened on January 2, 1924.
Well…actually, the Van Ness building opened that day. The main entrance opened onto a field that would, if needed, be used for additional construction. It was quickly evident this would be the case and the Polk Street building, or annex, as it was originally called, opened on August 15, 1927.
The Van Ness gym, located across Bay Street, opened in 1925. This was not part of the original plan since the gym in the Van Ness building was believed sufficient for the entire student body. Apparently overcrowding forced a number of changes.
The last major change for the original Galileo High School came in the mid-30’s. With the new Marina District neighborhood came increased automobile traffic and once the Golden Gate Bridge opened even more cars passed Galileo. Bay Street became a main auto route and no longer as safe to cross as it might have been ten years earlier. And so the Bay Street tunnel was built.
Galileo High School, since 1921
