Archives
 |
 Sierra Mesa School |
ARCHIVES NEWS
The Sierra Madre Historical Archives is actively seeking the following:
Photographs of Sierra Mesa School
Sierra Mesa School is slated for demolition this summer. SMHPS is actively working with PUSD and Sierra Madre School faculty to document the campus before it is demolished. SMHPS finds that Sierra Mesa School is a good example of postwar architecture designed with simplicity and functional beauty.
Here is some background information about Sierra Mesa School. The postwar population boom prompted school construction as Sierra Madre grew by 2,000 people during the 1950s. The school was built in 1954 and the budget was approximately $242,000. This included purchase of the Hall estate. The architect was Howard Morgridge (a Sierra Madre resident) and a member of the LA firm of Marsh, Smith, & Powell. A school bond measure passed by a healthy margin in May 1953 to fund the project. A second bond measure for the amount of $300,000 passed in October 1957 funding the second phase of construction (six classrooms, 2 kindergarten rooms, and a multi-purpose room).
In addition to documenting the existing structure in 2010, we are also looking for images of the school taken by Sierra Madre families. These can be snapshots or even 35 mm slides (black & white or color). We'd like to borrow the images for scanning so we can beef up our archival holdings relating to Sierra Mesa School.Issues of the Sierra Madre Weekly
We need to fill in the gaps in order to microfilm and preserve Sierra Madre newsworthy events. Please notify the Archivist if you have saved any of the following Sierra Madre Weekly issues:
v. 13 no. 23 June 5-11, 2008 v. 13 no. 32? Aug. 22-27, 2008
v. 13 no. 49 Dec. 18-24, 2008 v. 14 no. 28 Nov. 26-Dec. 2, 2009
If you have newspaper issues or photographs of Sierra Mesa School that you'd be willing to lend, please contact Debbie Henderson, Associate Librarian, Archival Collection, at (626)355-7186 or via e-mail at dhenderson@cityofsierramadre.com.