History
1861 – Present
From a one-room schoolhouse on Joe Moraga's property to one of California's most respected school districts.
Orinda's first school stood on Joe Moraga's property, between what's now Glorietta Boulevard and Moraga Way. Built in 1861, it lasted until the early 1920s. Enrollment never topped 20 students, for which the teacher was paid around $20 a month.
The Moraga School, photographed around 1890. Built in 1861, it served Orinda's children for over sixty years.
Just over twenty years after the Moraga School opened, the Orinda Park School was built on land donated by General Theodore Wagner, close to present-day San Pablo Dam Road. Miss Nettie Parkhurst, the school's first teacher, was paid $60 a month, a meaningful raise from the Moraga School's wages. Within two years, the school burned down. Once rebuilt, it served the community until the new Orinda Union School District (OUSD) opened a more modern facility in 1925
The two-classroom Orinda Union School opened in 1925 and was extensively rebuilt in 1939 to keep up with a growing population of younger students. The original building eventually became the Orinda Community Center in 1973. Even with the new elementary school, Orinda still had no high school of its own. Teenagers had to make their way to Richmond, Mt. Diablo, or Oakland for secondary education until Acalanes High School opened in 1940.
The Orinda Union School in 1925, the year it opened. The building became the Orinda Community Center in 1973.
By the end of the 1940s, school construction was taking off at a rapid pace. Over the next dozen years,
Orinda gained:
-Glorietta Elementary
-Sleepy Hollow Elementary
-Del Rey Elementary
-Inland Valley Elementary
-Inland Valley Intermediate
-Pine Grove Intermediate
-Miramonte High School
Wagner Ranch School, Orinda's sixth elementary, opened in 1969.
The Wagner Ranch opening was followed almost immediately by a marked decline in student population. The OUSD found itself closing schools as quickly as it had built them. Pine Grove Intermediate and Inland Valley Elementary both closed in 1975, and the Inland Valley campus consolidated into a single merged school: Orinda Intermediate. By 1982, Wagner Ranch Elementary had also fallen prey to shrinking enrollment.
As out-of-town house-hunters with young families began discovering Orinda's school system, demand grew again. In 1997, a beautifully renovated Wagner Ranch was granted a second lease on life. Today, Orinda's schools consistently rank among the highest-performing in California, drawing families from across the region.
Browse school photos in the Photo Archive →
Orinda's neighborhoods, organized by elementary school district →
