California, Fresno County, Coalinga
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Coalinga School built in 1908 was five times larger than Coalinga’s first school. Over the years it became affectionately known as the Polk Street school. Not long after the school was first built, a fire burned the original bell tower. The replacement tower is on display at the Baker Museum in Coalinga.
A November 28, 1941 article in the Coalinga Daily Record headlines “Polk Street Pupils Go To New School” (The Sunset School of today). While the Polk Street school is being terminated as a public school building it will not be abandoned. The Board of Education plans to transfer the Youth Community Center from the old Sunset to Polk Street and dispose of the old Sunset property.
(Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Coalinga School built in 1908 was five times larger than Coalinga’s first school. Over the years it became affectionately known as the Polk Street school. Not long after the school was first built, a fire burned the original bell tower. The replacement tower is on display at the Baker Museum in Coalinga.A November 28, 1941 article in the Coalinga Daily Record headlines “Polk Street Pupils Go To New School” (The Sunset School of today). While the Polk Street school is being terminated as a public school building it will not be abandoned. The Board of Education plans to transfer the Youth Community Center from the old Sunset to Polk Street and dispose of the old Sunset property.
(Education) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Harry Watanabe was 19 years old when he came to Coalinga from Japan in 1915. Watanabe first worked at Ayers Drug Store and the Sullivan Hotel. It was in 1928 that Watanabe found his niche in life and the vocation that left his mark on Coalinga. Watanabe had a natural instinct for gardening and was destined to play a considerable part in making Coalinga a gem – an oasis in what was nearly a hostile desert. The first settlers were faced with a brackish, hard water from local wells and planted chinaberry, salt cedar and cottonwood trees for shade, the only trees that would grow.
This pumping unit, known as a wooden walking beam, was one of the oldest and last remaining in actual use within the Coalinga oil fields. Put into service in July of 1918, it was in continuous use until November 1979. Initial production was 170 barrels per day with an overall lifetime production of 275,000 barrels of oil.
We Remember
The northwest region of Alachua County was probably first settled on a permanent basis by English
speaking people during the late 1830's. One of the earliest settlements `in the vicinity was at Crockett
Springs, located about three miles east of present day High Springs. Settlers who were living there
during the 1840's included Fernando Underwood and Marshal Blanton. No town developed in the area
before the latter part of the nineteenth century. In 1884, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad was
extended from Live Oak to Gainesville. A post office and station were established here in that year under
the name of Santaffey, which was a common spelling of the name of the nearby Santa Fe River. The town
was also known unofficially as Orion before the name was changed in 1888 to High Springs. In the next
few years, High Springs boomed as a result of the development of phosphate mining in the area. In 1892,
the town was incorporated. During the next year, the Savannah, Florida, and Western Railroad completed
its South Florida Division which connected High Springs with Port Tampa. By the beginning of the
twentieth century, High Springs was known as an important railroad center. In later years, High Springs
has been the focus for the surrounding agricultural region.
Mr. Robert “Bob” Schatt purchased a lot at this location in 1938. The lot was bought from a Mr. Tom Glenchur for the purpose of building a “Union Oil” service station.
During its short life, the Coalinga Opera House presented the top entertainers of the time. Coalinga was a boomtown with considerable wealth and the town’s people could afford the very best. Located directly across the street was the Grand Central Hotel. No doubt it housed many fine performers. Explosion of gasoline in the rear of the “Seaman Bros. Dyeing and Cleaning Establishment” caused a fire that burned a quarter of Coalinga’s busiest business section. Some seventeen business houses and offices were burned. Among those burned were the Opera House and the firehouse. According to the “Coalinga Oil Record” on July 30, 1910, the flames were fanned by a strong breeze and unretarded by an insufficient supply of water. Although the Opera house burned, the stage was saved, and for many years concerts and boxing matches continued in the open air as the “Operadome”.
Wealthy merchants and businessmen, seeking an escape from the hurried life of downtown living, built this prosperous neighborhood in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Movement to the suburbs gained in popularity after the 1850s, but lack of transportation hindered rapid development. The early suburbanites were mostly well-to-do and could afford to be a few minutes late to work if their buggies got stuck in the mud or snow. With the installation of horse-drawn trolleys in the 1880s, the middle class began to move here.
Occupied 1834 by Chief Black Dog's Osage band on buffalo hunt. Gen. Henry Leavenworth and the First Dragoons, including officers Henry Dodge, S.W. Kearney, R.B. Mason, Jefferson Davis, Nathan Boone, and noted artist, George Catlin, camped here June 26, 1834, on expedition west to secure peace with Plains tribes.
The 1856 boundary between the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations was east of this site. Each spring and fall the Indians from both Nations met here to race horses and play games. This site was perfect because of the good spring water that fed the area. One of the most talked about games was played on a spring day in 1903. About 300 energetic people came and placed bets. This ancient game was played with a small ball that could be passed with a pair of ball sticks and was played on a field about 100 yards long with goal posts, about 15 feet high on each end. The first team with 12 points won. But medicine men and women affected play. A Choctaw got slammed with a ball stick and riled the entire crowd and started a fight. Light Horsemen and U.S. Marshals stopped the fight and the game was undecided.
Surveyed in October, 1844
The greatest ceremonial rite of Creek Indians was Green Corn Dance. It was held at time of year when before corn had fully matured and while grains were soft. Dance was celebration of harvest season and was of intense religious devotion.
Wild cranberry plants prefer low fields, meadows, bogs, and stream banks. Native Americans used the berries for food, medicinal purposes and dyes. In fact, they gave cranberries to the first European settlers as a sign of peace. Two centuries later, cranberry growers began cultivating the plants in the bogs of New Jersey’s Pinelands. By improving their hardiness and potential for commercial production, cranberry growers found a product that is enjoyed by nearly everybody. 
To experience the Pinelands National Reserve fully, you should spend a few days. It is a vast area that includes historic sites, natural areas, and recreational opportunities. Information is available at New Jersey state parks and forests and on the Internet at www.nj.gov/pinelands. 
Developed in response to the need to increase our national energy supplies and lessen our dependence on imported oil. 
Alexander Hamilton, with great vision, prompted the incorporation of the "society for establishing usefull [sic] manufactures" in 1791 to start America's economic and industrial independence. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, engineer and planner of the nation's capital, and Peter Colt designed a raceway and power system to harness the Passaic River at Great Falls and create America's first planned industrial city. That development sparked countless engineering and industrial innovations and progress including the Colt revolver, the Rogers other steam locomotives, the Holland submarine, the Curtis-Wright aircraft engine, along with textile and silk manufacturing made Paterson famous as the "silk city" of the world. 
Wharton State Forest, located in the heart of the Pinelands, is the largest single tract of state-owned land in New Jersey, containing well over 120,000 acres. Important natural resources, historic villages and recreational opportunities can be found at every turn. 
The Rogers Millwright Shop was built in 1869, partly with materials from its predecessor on the site, the Passaic Paper Mill. Millwright Shop built and maintained the machinery used in locomotive production. Originally built as almost a duplicate of the erecting shop, it took on its present appearance after a fire in 1879. 
The 1.1 million acre New Jersey Pinelands covering nearly one quarter of the state, is a region of varied resources and opportunities. The Pinelands is home to almost twelve hundred species of plants and animals, many unique natural environments, and a rich folklife based on its natural wealth. 
Dedicated on August 7, 1992, by E Company Veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated United States Army Unit of World War II. The all volunteer 442nd Combat Team was composed of Americans of Japanese ancestry, from the Territory of Hawaii, and the United States, many that volunteered from American concentration camps, into which these citizens had been forcefully evacuated by the United States Government in 1942.
