La Verne Sites

Petrachrome mural by Grace Clements. "Damien High is renovating their physical plant and the music building was one of the structures that needed some T.L.C. While removing the stucco that covered the building's facade the mural was uncovered. What the workers had found was Grace Clements' The Spirit of Music... This mural utilizes a technique called "petra-chrome," which was invented by Stanton Macdonald-Wright for the Federal Art Programs. It is concrete that is colored to create a permanent and weather resistant art work. It is a cousin of tile and opus sectile, but one that is more affordable and uniquely suited to...

Then the Bonita Union High School, this school received extensive WPA support after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. According the a 1939 WPA Accomplishment Report for Southern California, the federal government spent $63,927 on the school out of a total of $92,406. The WPA constructed three new reinforced concrete buildings on the site: a library and classroom building, girls gym, and music building. They also developed 7.22 acres for athletic and playground purposes (grading and seeding, handball courts with concrete floor and walls). When Bonita High School moved in 1959, the site was sold to the Catholic Diocese and became an...

The WPA first demolished the original school, which had been condemned as a fire hazard. New buildings included a seven classroom frame and stucco building, with and auditorium and library, ground improvements, and the conversion of an older building into a cafeteria.

"Project #1 B4 662 Lincoln School La Verne Opened Nov 27, 34 Closed March 20, 35 Attached pictures are views taken at Lincoln School, and are typical of the various school jobs accomplished under this project." 5 photos depict landscaping around the front of the building, playground equipment, a "chandelier made by L.A.C.R.A. (Los Angeles County Relief Agency) for the Music room.", and electrical light fixtures in the auditorium made by the same man who made the chandelier Lincoln school is now know as J. Marion Roynon Elementary School. The school depicted in the WPA photos was replaced in the 1950's.

"Established in 1933, the San Dimas Experimental Forest is the only such forest in southern California. It covers 6,945 ha in the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains, located about 50 km northeast of Los Angeles. Originally established as an outdoor hydrologic laboratory to document and quantify the water cycle in semi-arid steeplands, most of the facilities were constructed by the depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and Work Projects Administration labor programs. San Dimas has a long history as a research site in the fields of hydrology and ecology and is recognized as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO's Man and...