Killefer School
For many, the Killefer School stands as one of the most historically significant buildings in Orange and Orange County. The school desegregated three years before the landmark Méndez vs. Westminster case forced school integration. The school was originally constructed to serve the Anglo population of the Cypress Street Barrio, with the nearby Cypress Street School designated as the Mexican school. The Spanish Colonial Revival schoolhouse, named for Lydia Killefer, was built in 1931. Killefer taught in Orange from 1895 to 1931, when she was made principal of the school. The Orange school district declared the building surplus property in 2014. Chapman University was successful in a public auction that attracted bids four housing developers who wanted to build apartments on the property. The school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Orange, Orange County
Photographer: John Bare
In 2014, Chapman University was the successful bidder in a public auction to acquire Killefer School in Orange. The school was the antithesis of the Cypress Street Schoolhouse in the history of desegregation in the city and county. When we posted about the school in May 2023, the only indications of protecting the building were boards over the doors and windows. Several visits in 2024 show that renovation work is moving forward and a new structure has been added to the north side of the campus.
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt