Montecito Union Elem School

Public schooling in Montecito started in the 1830s when community-minded Victor Juarez started gathering together Montecito's kids, all of whom were Spanish-speaking at the time, in his adobe for instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic. His efforts became recognized as important when the numbers grew, and, in 1859 the City of Santa Barbara came up with ten acres of land on San Ysidro Road where a one-room schoolhouse was constructed. The school's population soon outgrew this facility. By 1868, the school's population was reported to be over 200 students and rooms were added to the school.