cram school
Cram School was established in 1869, creating a new school district out of the
Warm Springs District. In 1869, Lewis F. Cram saw a need for a school in the
eastern part of the valley. He had two sons of his own, and more families were
settling in the area of Cramville, (where the Village Lakes development is
today). The new school district was separated from the Warm Springs district,
and Lewis Cram donated land south of Base Line and under the point of the bluff.
Neighbors came with hammers and saws to help build the first, one-room,
clapboard schoolhouse. The increase in the citrus industry and the population
rendered the 1882 Cram school outdated and outgrown. A Mission-style building
was constructed on the same site, in front of the earlier building. Eight grades
were taught at the Cram School until 1907, when the Cram high school students
attended Redlands High School. Another change occurred in 1917, when seventh and
eighth graders attended Redlands Jr. High School for the first time. The Cram
School District was administered by an elected school board under the San
Bernardino Schools system until 1957, when it was absorbed into the Redlands
School District. In 1958, 56 years after the construction of the 1902 school
building, a new school was erected. It was situated below the 1902 site, with
the entrance facing Elder Gulch Road. The new schoolhouse was a one-story
building with six classrooms. Portable classrooms were brought in later to
handle the growing needs of the school. But the school could not keep up with
the demands of the growing population.
