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HISTORY OF 
JOHN MUIR HIGH SCHOOL

    The John Muir Senior High School located at 1905 Lincoln Avenue, has had a long and varied historical development.  The name John Muir was first used in 1913 when the John Muir Junior High School was built on Walnut Street between Euclid and Los Robles Avenues.  In 1917 this school became known as John Muir Intermediate School; but in 1921 the name was again changed to the John Muir Junior High School.  Property on Lincoln Avenue was purchased by the elementary district for an "opportunity school" in 1922, and a portion of the present school was erected there. It opened March 10, 1923, as the Pasadena Vocational School, with F. J. Becker as the principal.  It continued as a vocational school until September 1926, when it became the John Muir Technical High School, with Mr. Rufus Mead as the principal.  A Parent-Teacher Association was organized at that time.

    When Muir Technical High School began, it had two grades, the ninth and lower tenth; a grade was added each year until June 1929, when the first twelfth grade class graduated.  In 1938 the school became the West Campus of the Pasadena Junior College, specializing in vocational courses not duplicated on the East Campus.  It functioned as such until 1943, at which time the campus became the headquarters for the Star Training Unit of the United States Army.  The school campus housed the Cal-Tech experimental project from 1944 until September 1946, at which time a junior college program was re-established and the school became know as John Muir College.  The Parent-Teacher Association was again established for the new junior college. In 1947 "army surplus" buildings were added to the campus.  The school functioned as a four-year junior college until 1954, when a change in school district organization necessitated its use as a high school.  Again, a new P.T.A. organization was formed, and in September 1954, John Muir High School opened with with an enrollment of 1303 eleventh grade [Class of 1956] and twelfth grade [Class of 1955] students.  In 1954, John Muir High School served three junior high schools: La CaÒada, Washington  and Eliot.  Two principals served the school at the Walnut Street location:  Paul E. Stewart, 1913-1918; Archie M. Turrell, 1946-54; and Frank R. Walkup, 1954 to 

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