A Brief History of the Washington Unified School District

2,000 BC

The Patwin tribe lived in West Sacramento.  They were hunters and gatherers who fished in the river and used acorns for their staple carbohydrate.  They lived close to the river in villages on high ground and built dome-shaped lodges of tule and mud.

1820

The Missouri Compromise banned slavery west of the Mississippi River and north of the 36°30’ latitude, except in Missouri.

1825

The Erie Canal opened, linking New York City with the Great Lakes.

1829-1837

Andrew Jackson is President of the United States.

1823

The Monroe Doctrine warned European countries not to interfere in the Americas.

1833

A malaria epidemic killed many of the Patwins.

1839

John Sutter arrived in Sacramento.

1844

John Swart settled in West Sacramento.  He was joined by his brother, and they fished for salmon, raised livestock, and grew potatoes and melons to sell.

1845

John McDowell, an adventurer, purchased 600 acres from John Swart in the Broderick area, and built a log cabin for his wife Margaret and their three daughters.  Later, the McDowells had two more children.

1846-1848

Mexico was defeated and the Unites States took control of the Republic of Texas and of Mexican territories in the West.

1848

Gold was discovered in California, leading to a rush of 80,000 people going to look for gold.

1849

Colonel Joseph B. Chiles and his son-in-law Jerome C. Davis ran a rope ferry for miners near the current location of the I St. Bridge.  They also had a dairy, but when the ferry franchise was lost and the cows drowned in a flood, Davis moved west to Putah Creek where UC Davis is now.

1850

The widowed Mrs. Margaret McDowell (Taylor) laid out a town to be called Washington after the president.  She had 600 acres surveyed, and divided the space into town blocks.

1850

Isaac Newton Hoag and William Carlyle started a steam-powered ferry to take passengers and freight across the Sacramento River.

1851

Mrs. McDowell married Dr. Enos Taylor and they sold city lots and built a city hall. 

1852

Peter McGregor started a dairy near the intersection of Linden Road and Jefferson Road.  He also ran a ferry across the river.  By 1897, there were thirteen dairies in the area.

1853

Mike Bryte purchased a dairy in what is now Bryte.

1854

The Washington Post Office opened, but burned down two years later and was closed.

1856

Residents organized the Washington Public School District.  The Taylors donated two lots on Elizabeth Street for the school.

1858

The first bridge, a swingspan bridge made of wood that opened to permit ship traffic, was built across the river where the I Street Bridge is today.  Ferry traffic dropped, and travelers spent less time in West Sacramento.

1859

The California Steamship Navigation Company purchased the shipyard.

1860

Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.

1861

The Monument Bend School opened, five miles upriver from Washington.  There was severe flooding this year, with water over eight feet deep in much of the town.

1864

The Sacramento River School opened three miles downriver from Washington, near McGregor’s ferry.  Charles Wesley Reed’s Washington Nursery grew fruit trees and ornamentals.

1865

The Civil War ended.

1869

The first railroad connecting the east and west coasts of the United States was completed.

1870

California Pacific Rail Service replaced the wooden bridge built in 1858 with one suitable for trains.

1875

Ruben Merkeley planted hops in the Monument Bend area, northwest of Bryte.

1891

Washington had a one-room schoolhouse, with one teacher/principal, and 64 students ages 4 through 18, including 11 orphans.

1896

A fire district was established in Washington because of the danger from having many wooden buildings close together.

1898

The United States won the Spanish-American War and gained control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

1901

The Yolo Independent newspaper began publication.

1903

The Panama Canal was begun. It was finished in 1914.

1907

A severe flood put most of Washington under twelve feet of water.

1908

Henry Ford introduced the Model T car, priced at $850.

1911

The Sacramento Northern Railroad built the M Street Bridge to accommodate trains.  A lower deck was added to the I Street Bridge for trains.

1912

Riverbank, which became Bryte, was settled by Russians, Portuguese, and Japanese.

1914

The town of Washington changed its name to Broderick.  The Riverbank School on Lisbon Street opened.  It was a K-8 school.

1915

The town of Riverbank changed its name to Bryte (after Mike Bryte) to avoid confusion with the Riverbank post office in Stanislaus County. Riverbank Grammar School was built.  It later was renamed Bryte Grammar School.  Alyce Norman began teaching here in 1915 and was a teacher/principal for 40 years.  The school was located on Lisbon Avenue.  Before its construction, children attended Washington Elementary School in Washington.

1916

Levees were built to reduce flooding.

1917

After a $40,000 school bond passed, a new Washington Grammar School was built between 3rd and 4th Streets on C Street to replace the school built in 1856.  This site is now Metro Place at Washington Square.

1918

The Allies won World War I.

1920s

The Delta King and Delta Queen carried passengers and freight between San Francisco and Sacramento.

1923

After a $3,500 bond drive, the Sacramento River School, built in 1864, was moved to West Sacramento, to E Street between 3rd and 4th Streets.  It was renamed West Sacramento Elementary School.

1926

West Acres Elementary School opened.  The M Street Bridge was completed.

1928

Hughes Popsicle plant made popsicles and shipped them packed in dry ice as far away as Redding, Modesto, and Reno. 

1929

The stock market crashed, marking the beginning of the Great Depression.

1932

A suspicious fire destroyed 14 wooden river boats.

1933

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President of the United States.

1934

The old M Street Bridge was replaced by the Tower Bridge, which was painted a grayish green.  The bridge was the first vertical lift bridge in the California highway system, and was designed to handle traffic from heavy military vehicles in case of war.

1935

George and Louisa Palamidessi purchased the Hideaway Café.

1940

The El Rancho Motel opened, and quickly became a popular spot for high school and college proms, retaining its popularity until the late 1950s.

1945

There were four public elementary schools:
• Bryte School in Bryte School District (now an apartment building)
• Washington and West Acres schools in the Washington School District
• West Sacramento School in the West Sacramento School District in Southport

There were no high schools.  Southport students went to Clarksburg High School, and Bryte, Broderick, and West Sacramento students went to Woodland High School.

1946

West Acres School was enlarged.  It was enlarged again in 1948.  The Palamidessi’s added to their café and renamed it Club Pheasant.  Bob Watts and Jack Rich built the Capitol Inn, which had a dome like California’s capitol building, and opened the Capitol Sky Park, which had a runway so small airplanes could fly in.  In 1960, the sky park relocated and became Executive Airport in Sacramento.

1947-1955

Several subdivisions were built, including Linden Acres, Westfield Village, Westmore Oaks, Elkhorn Village, and Arlington Oaks.  In the 1960s, homes were built in Southport.

1949

West Sacramento School District built a new West Sacramento Elementary School.

1952

The Washington School District built Westmore Oaks Elementary School.  Woodland Unified School District passed a $975,000 bond and built James Marshall High School, the first high school in the area.  The school is now River City High School.

1954

In Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United States ended racial segregation in public schools.  The Bryte District built Bryte Elementary School.  The Washington School District built Westfield Village and Elkhorn Village Elementary Schools.  Washington Elementary closed because Elkhorn Village opened.

1955

Washington School District built a new Washington Elementary School.

1956

Washington Union School District was formed from joining the Washington and Bryte districts.  West Sacramento School District built Arlington Oaks Elementary School.

1957

Washington Union School District took in James Marshall High School and became the Washington Unified School District.

1958

Washington School District built Evergreen Elementary School.

1960

Washington School District built Alyce Norman Elementary School.  The Post Office moved to its current Merkeley Avenue location.

1961

John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States.

1962

Washington High School (now Golden State Middle School) was built.

1963

The Deep Water Channel project was completed.

1966

West Sacramento voted to annex their district to Washington Unified, and the area had a single school district.  West Sacramento Elementary closed, and Arlington Oaks became the only school south of the canal.

1969

U.S. Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.

1971

The Bryte Bend Bridge (takes I-80 over the river) was completed.

1974

The California Highway Patrol opened their training academy on 454 acres west of the bridge.

1986

The City of West Sacramento was incorporated.

1996

Southport Elementary School opened on Linden Road.

2002

Bridgeway Island Elementary School opened in the Bridgeway Lakes subdivision.

2002

The Tower Bridge was painted in its current bright gold, replacing the weathered gold applied in 1976.  The color is intended to match the dome on the State Capitol.