The Early Schools of Santa Cruz and London Nelson’s Legacy

The 1875 Mission Hill school, which replaced the three-room school that London Nelson knew in the 1860s. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
The Mission Hill School built in 1875. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

Mission Hill was home to many of Santa Cruz’s early schools. One of the earliest, Mission Hill School, was at what is today’s 133 Mission Street. In the 1860s there was a two-room wooden school house there. It struggled with funding and was not able to stay open all the time.

133 Mission Street in 2014.
133 Mission Street in 2014. Note the considerably older retaining wall.

London Nelson: An ex-Slave Funds the Schools

Behind where the post office is today was the farm of London Nelson. He came to the Californian Gold Rush as a slave, and purchased his freedom by working in mines. He settled in Santa Cruz and bought a small plot of land near the river where he grew vegetables and worked as a cobbler.

The story is told that in the 1860s, Nelson used to enjoy watching the school children walk past his cabin on their way to school on Mission Hill. He could also see the top of the school where sessions at some point stopped due to lack of money.

At that time, Nelson was only in his early fifties but he became very sick. He made a will, giving “his fortune” to the public school system to benefit the children of Santa Cruz. After he died his friend Elihu Anthony handled the estate, but did not settle Nelson’s affairs until 1875. By then, the school had been rebuilt and reopened with public and private funds. Anthony used the $300 from the sale of Nelson’s estate to purchase a small lot on Mission Hill near the school, giving access to an administration building.

Mission street as it was circa 1880 between the Lower and Upper Plazas. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
Mission Street circa 1880. Note Mission Hill School in the upper left. The cupola and third story shown in this photo was lost in a fire by the time the photo above was taken, but the steps leading up to the school remain to this day. Photo courtesy of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.
The old steps to the public school. At the top now resides a monument to London Nelson.
The old steps to the public school. At the top now resides a monument to London Nelson.

Nelson has been honored for his generosity in several ways by the citizens of Santa Cruz. First, according to a 1942 Sentinel article, children from Mission Hill Middle School used to make an annual field trip to clean and decorate his grave site at Evergreen Cemetery where a large headstone says, “He was a colored man and willed all his property to Santa Cruz School District No. 1. Rest in peace.” Second, there is a memorial at the top of the stairs to the old Mission Hill School. Finally, the Louden Nelson community center is named in his honor.

All the Nelson’s commemorations perpetuate an unfortunate typographical error. Historians have concluded that sometime in the 1930s someone misread a handwritten notation of his first name, and transcribed “Loudon” instead of the correct name of “London.” The error persisted.

The grave stone for London Nelson at Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Cruz, California.
The grave stone for London Nelson at Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Cruz, California.

Schools Come and Go

Mission Hill School was both the grammar and high school until a new high school was built on Walnut Avenue in 1893. It was then just the grammar school until todays Mission Hill Middle School was built in the 1920s. In 1929 the old Mission Hill School was torn down.

Right across the street was Holy Cross School. For generations, children in Santa Cruz, Catholic and Protestant, went to school across the street from each other, and both schools were prominent landmarks on Mission Hill.

Holy Cross School. xxxx. The steps to the school, as well as the handrail, remain. The steps on the right have been removed.
The original Holy Cross School. The steps to the school, as well as the handrail, remain. The steps on the right have been removed.
Holy Cross School today. The steps to Holy Cross school are gated now. There is another staircase up to the Mission Adobe park which is also closed.
Holy Cross School today.

Many thanks to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History for use of their historical photos.

Take the Self-Guided Mobile Tour

This piece is part of the Mission Hill Staircase Tour made possible by local history researcher Linda Rosewood. Download the free app with many tours of the Santa Cruz area and beyond.

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Go to Mobile Ranger Guides in the Apple App Store
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  1. Sources Used

    • Lot Was Next to Leslie Building, Santa Cruz Sentinel, May 3, 1942.
    • Old Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 19, 1952.
    • A Brief Biography of London Nelson, Phil Reader, MAH Research Forum,
      accessed April 5, 2015.



About The Author

Linda Rosewood

Linda Rosewood loves to research Santa Cruz history and has lived in downtown Santa Cruz for over 30 years. She loves to walk everywhere; that way she can find the next interesting local landmark to research. She posts her discoveries at her blog, History Right Here.

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