Seiad, Calif., once had a school at Schoolhouse Gulch, where if it existed today Hwy 96 would cross its front porch.
In 1915, state law required that when the number of students in an area reached seven, a school house had to be built. An earlier Seiad school, built before 1900, was known as the Nolton School. It burned down and children went to school in a variety of buildings until 1900 when Seiad joined the Lowden School District.
The Schoolhouse Gulch school hired a new teacher each year until Lena Crabtree stayed for four years from 1936 through 1939. She was rehired in 1941 to teach 32 teenage Alabama boys from the Civilian Conservation Corps.
A teacher named Allyn Taylor recorded a sad incident at the school. He [cq] wrote that a student, Kenneth Lyle Raymond, fell to his death on April 2, 1929, while trying to pick a bluebell flower alongside the road on his way home from school. Taylor wrote, “There was, there is, no braver, worthier brighter boy.”
Seiad School served the small community until 1952. It was purchased in 1958 and the property became a recreation vehicle park.
Source: Helsaple, Brian. “The Beginnings of Seiad Elementary School.” Helsaple, Brian. "The Beginnings of Seiad Elementary School." Siskiyou Pioneer Vol. 8 2002: 42-60. Print.
