About

Cram History

Cram School was established in 1869, creating a new school district out of the Warm Springs District.

In 1869, Lewis F. Cram saw a need for a school in the eastern part of the valley. He had two sons of his own, and more families were settling in the area of Cramville, (where the Village Lakes development is today).  The new school district was separated from the Warm Springs district, and Lewis Cram donated land south of Base Line and under the point of the bluff.  Neighbors came with hammers and saws to help build the first, one-room, clapboard schoolhouse. 

The increase in the citrus industry and the population rendered the 1882 Cram school outdated and outgrown. A Mission-style building was constructed on the same site, in front of the earlier building. Eight grades were taught at the Cram School until 1907, when the Cram high school students attended Redlands High School. Another change occurred in 1917, when seventh and eighth graders attended Redlands Jr. High School for the first time.

The Cram School District was administered by an elected school board under the San Bernardino Schools system until 1957, when it was absorbed into the Redlands School District.  In 1958, 56 years after the construction of the 1902 school building, a new school was erected. It was situated below the 1902 site, with the entrance facing Elder Gulch Road. The new schoolhouse was a one-story building with six classrooms. Portable classrooms were brought in later to handle the growing needs of the school. But the school could not keep up with the demands of the growing population.

Cram School was closed in 1991, after the construction of the new Arroyo Verde Elementary School, which was dedicated Jan. 21 of the same year.  The Cram school building was burned as a training exercise for the Forestry Department.  Cram School, however, was not closed for long.  In 1996, plans were made for a new Cram School building on Aplin and Water Streets. Sept. 9, 1997, Cram School was open for the first day of school of the 1997-98 academic years, and continues in this location today.