If it is the proud boast of San Bernardino County that she possesses more school property in proportion to assessed valuation than does any other county of the State, Riverside may claim double eminence in this regard, since she leads by a great deal the rest of the county in the value and class of school property. The new High and Grammar school building at Riverside is justly ranked among the very best schoolhouses in California. It is a magnificent structure, massive, substantial, and admirably arranged for school uses, combining the greatest solidity and the best arrangement of rooms with the finest architectural results. It contains four rooms for high-school use, with capacity for 100 students. There are at present some seventy students, a number of whom are non-residents, under three teachers in this department. Moreover, five grammar classes have quarters in this building, with another soon to be organized, on account of the increased attendance. Besides the roomy vestibules and halls, there are rooms for the library, the office of the superintendent, a tenement for the janitor, and the necessary anterooms. A two-story brick addition will contain lavatories, closets, etc., to be supplied with artesian water from the city mains, and to have main sewer connections. Although this building is deemed almost fireproof, it is provided with apparatus to fight fires, with sufficient pressure to throw water over any part of the building. This building cost about $65,000.
The Sixth Street School is a four room wooden building, with a principal and three assistants, in charge of the primary grades.
The Arlington District School is a handsome wooden building, containing grammar, inter-mediate, and primary grades.
The Magnolia School is a mixed class, and there are two other primary schools in the city.
The minor schoolhouses of Riverside represent an aggregate cost of some $10,000.
Outside of the incorporated limits of the city are the following schools: the South Riverside district, having a beautiful two-story brick building, which cost over $20,000; the fine new building at East Riverside, which cost $15,000; and fine new buildings at Rincon District and South Riverside.
There are twenty teachers employed in the Riverside schools.
Source: An Illustrated History of Southern California: embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of lower California.