On June 4, 1910, members of the Madera School Board determined to explore the possibility of building another school on the West side of town. Madera’s first school had been constructed east of the Southern Pacific railroad tracks, hence the name, Eastside School. In 1892, a second school was built, this time west of the railroad tracks. It was named Westwide School. In 1904, Madera High School was constructed. That left Madera with 2,500 inhabitants and just three schools to serve the community.
Facing a school population of 500 between five and seventeen, the Board put the measure to the public. The July 7, 1910 election resulted in a Yes vote for the school bond, 272 to 73.
It was decided that the new school would be built on blocks 29, 30, and 31 in Madera. It was an acceptable location with one exception. It ran through the middle of Madera’s Chinatown. In the preparation for building the new school, workers stumbled into a network of tunnels, which had served as opium dens for the Chinese. They also recovered the skeletal remains of several deceased residents of Chinatown.
After a few problems, construction began, and on Jan. 26, 1912, the Board accepted the new school, which they named Lincoln School. Harry Maxim served as the first principal. He was succeeded by M.M. Whiting, who held the position until 1916, at which time W. L. Williams became principal.
After Lincoln School was completed, there were a number of patrons who thought that the district had overextended itself and that the school was too big and would never be filled. A common expression heard around town was that the school board had built a university.
By 1919, however, Lincoln School, which had seemed so enormous in the beginning, was becoming overcrowded. Four more classrooms were added in addition to a manual training and domestic science building.
In time, other improvements were made. Sidewalks were laid; a bike rack erected. The heating system was converted to steam. A telephone was installed, and electric lights were put in.
Many strange entries appear in the old minutes of the Madera school board regarding Lincoln School. For instance, on one occasion the Ku Klux Klan wanted to use the auditorium of Lincoln School, and the board minutes read as follows: “The board seemed to feel that while the ideals of the Klan were high, due to the fact that they were strongly antagonistic to certain important groups among the patrons of the school, it was thought best to deny them the use of the building.”
On May 6, 1924, a disastrous fire swept Lincoln School. The manual training and domestic science building was destroyed. The irony of the situation lay in the fact that on that same day the board was meeting with an insurance agent on a plan to update the school’s policy.
In the early 1940s an earthquake struck Madera and caused considerable damage to Lincoln School.
In 1948 the inevitable happened. Overcrowding overcame Lincoln School. 1,150 showed up at the school, which had been built to house 630 pupils. With that, Lincoln School went on double sessions, but not for long.
With the opening of Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, Lincoln closed its doors in June 1953, but they wouldn’t stay closed. In 1994 an energetic young principal would open them again.
Carles Beckett, principal of Dixieland Elementary, was taking care of business when he received a visit from the district office. They brought some bitter-sweet news. He was leaving Dixieland School but he was opening up the new Lincoln School as principal. Beckett recently reflected on those days.
“Upon learning of my appointment as the principal of Lincoln School, my mind immediately began to put together a plan and a dream to make Lincoln School a safe place of learning and an exemplary school for my hometown, Madera. I wanted pride and excitement to be part of the environment from the beginning.”
“After the approval of boundaries by the MUSD School Board, a schedule was established to visit all the schools that were affected by the opening of Lincoln. There was lots of joy and anticipation throughout the community. Auditoriums and cafeterias were full throughout the district. Lots of happy people were joined by those who did not want to leave their home school. I was followed by groups of parents to all the schools to make sure all parents heard the same message. Questions at all the meetings were many and a large majority left the meeting excited to enroll at Lincoln. It was my job to give accurate information and create an atmosphere of ‘We can’t wait to go to Lincoln.’”
“Knowing that we were moving a total bilingual track, I invited two hundred students, parents and grandparents from Sierra Vista School before school opened to visit this beautiful new school. The buses rolled into Lincoln and clapping penetrated the parking lot. After lunch,we gathered in the gymnasium and I shared this message in Spanish “ESTE ESCUELA ES TU ESCUELA.” Tears of joy and amazement engulfed this special occasion. ‘HIS SCHOOL IS YOUR SCHOOL.’ I could feel the love and knew without a doubt that the road to success had begun at Lincoln Elementary.”
“Outstanding teachers were hired and it was time to enroll the students. Three days before registration, parents started a line to register their students. Campers and motor homes began to arrive. Parents took off work to join that line. For three days and two nights the line continued to get longer. So much excitement! The Fresno TV stations came out to see the action. These are memories I will hold forever. Pure joy!”