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