Rancho Alamitos High School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

---

Rancho Alamitos High School is located in Garden Grove, California. It is member of the Garden Grove Unified School District.

The school's student body is known as the Vaqueros, a Spanish type of cowboy figure, though Rancho students tend to shorten its name to "Vaq." Until the mid-70's the school mascot had been "Poco," a cartoon of a short male dressed in a large poncho with a throw blanket over one shoulder and a large sombrero on his head, covering the eyes. It was at this time that the Hispanic club, Mecca, decided it was time to protest the stereotype of Mexicans and change the mascot. Poco was soon replaced with the politically-correct logo of a "boot spur" that you might see today, although a rather large bold "V" seems to be more visible, usually.

---

one of several renditions of the historical Poco image	Rancho Alamitos High School "unofficial" ALL alumni web site	one of many renditions of the Rancho Alamitos Shield	one of the more dominate Rancho logos
	Besides the official web site for this high school listed below, there is also a "unofficial" ALL alumni web site that is being created and managed by former students ... Rancho Alamitos ALL Alumni

---

History of Rancho Alamitos High School

Rancho's History goes back to the 18th century ... copied from the 1977 RAHS yearbook

The ground which became the campus of a Spanish-named high school, Rancho Alamitos High School, first had an owner as part of a large Spanish land grant to Manuel Nietos, in 1784. This Rancho Los Nietos, including the land from the foothills to the Pacific Ocean and from the Santa Ana River to what is now the Los Angeles River, some 200,000 acres, was divided in 1804 among Nietos heirs. One division, Rancho Los Coyotes included what is now the high school campus. In 1842 most of the old Rancho Los Nietos was sold to land baron Abel Stearns, an American from Maine. Later flood and drought ruined Stearns' empire, and he sold most of his land to a syndicate called The Robinson Trust. The Robinson Trust started a publicity campaign to sell the land to interested farmers. The campaign spread throughout the United States and foreign countries. Prices ranged from $8 to $20 per acre.

In 1894, a certain Elmer Miller and his wife Nellie Hansler Miller and their ten children were contacted in this campaign in their home in Canada near the Niagara Falls. They took an "immigrant train" and in 1896 had settled 40 acres they had bought in California. The land was bounded by the Rancho Los Coyotes - Rancho Los Alamitos boundary (now the diagonal south edge of the campus) in the south, the dirt track that became Dale Street on the east, and the line that became Kattela Avenue on the north. Mr. Miller built a house and engaged in "dry" farming. In 1904 the Pacific Electric Railroad Company obtained the present railroad track site, and the one and on-half acres to the north north was sold. In 1926 the Miller's sold part of their property to their daughter, now married, Mrs. Ethel M. Evens, and her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Miller built a Spanish-style home on the property in 1929 to replace the house that stood since 1896. This home stood where the Homemaking rooms stand now, and is presently located across Dale from the Music rooms, where it was moved in 1956. The Miller's also sold ten acres, where the Industrial Arts buildings are now, to Mr. Rudy Rez in 1929. 1937 saw the Evans build a home on their property. It stood even after the property was bought for a school, serving as the nurse's office and a snack bar until the second round of construction began at Rancho.

The Garden Grove Union High School District bought the property in 1955, and construction on the first buildings began in 1956-57. These buildings included the Administration, Math, Business, English, Industrial Arts, and Science buildings; the library, snack bar, and the tennis and basketball courts. Temporary quonset huts were used to house the other classes. Until these were finished, the Miller's home was used as a homemaking classroom and the Evan's home for a Nurse's office and snack bar. A second round of construction in 1958-59 included building of the boy's and girl's Gymnasium, the Cafeteria and snack bar, the Social Studies, Art, Agriculture, Language, Music and second half of the Industrial Arts buildings ...

---

Official website: Rancho Alamitos High School