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| James H. Cox Elementary School, Fountain Valley |
James Hubert Cox and his twin brother, Samuel, were born in 1847 in Nailsea, Somerset, England to Isaac and Hannah Cox. The family arrived in the U.S. in 1856 or 1861, and farmed near Fremont, Iowa. Hannah died in 1897, and Isaac followed a year later. By 1900, James had moved to Orange County, California, and in 1903 he married Sara Laurina “Lennie” Christ in the town of Talbert (now Fountain Valley). James was a farmer, growing alfalfa and sugar beets. By 1917, he’d also planted some of the first lima bean fields in the area -- a crop that later became key to the local economy. In 1907, he banded together with his neighbors to petition for the inclusion of their farmlands in the Talbert Drainage District.
In early 1923, Cox got into the dairy business, purchasing twelve cows. It was a bit ironic, as he'd had trouble in the past with neighbors' cows breaking onto his property and damaging his alfalfa fields. As the saying goes, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
His house, west of the village of Talbert and near Talbert Ave., was finally wired for electricity in December 1925.
According to James H. Cox Elementary School’s website, Cox “played a critical role in creating jobs and connecting community members through his ten-acre agricultural farm and mail delivery service.”
James and Lennie had eight children over 39 years. James died in Orange County after a prolonged illness on Sept. 8, 1934, at the age of 87 and is buried at Westminster Memorial Park.
Construction of the James H. Cox Elementary School at 17615 Los Jardines East began January 13, 1969, with plans to open in September of that same year. But progress was slowed significantly by one of the rainiest seasons Orange County had seen in decades, followed by labor strikes. Ultimately, the school was dedicated in March 1970.
The school was designed for an enrollment of 780 students and featured the then-popular but ultimately disastrous "open classroom" plan. As in many Fountain Valley schools, interior walls were soon added to make actual education possible.
Many Fountain Valley schools are named for local farmers and many feature portraits of those farmers in their office. Cox, for some reason, does not, and the search is on for any kind of images of James Hubert Cox. If you have any leads or if you know more about Mr. Cox's life story please leave a comment or send me an email.
Thanks for the post, Chris!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I do not have further info on Cox. I went to elementary school in Garden Grove.
ReplyDeleteMy late wife first taught at Arevalos school. After it closed, then many years at Moiola. Both named after local people. Moiola closed after she retired in 2008 with 38 years. She loved the FV District.
ReplyDeleteAlso Wardlow School in HB. Now destroyed and given to million dollar homes. So much for the public good. Who needs more open space in HB? Wardlow was part of the Fountain Valley School district at the time. All these new schools rising in new developments from farmer's fields like Glen Mar were also often called "Sputnik Schools" The US government funded new schools to support science and math. These schools were another outcome of the space rac. Which is why so many civilian contractors and NASA employees, including my family, moved to OC.
ReplyDeleteSorry one more comment about Wardlow, Chris? As you mentioned the late 60s 'open classroom' design. Opened in 65, Wardlow was designed I think by education people from UCLA and involved in math education somehow, Many of these area schools were very similar. Wardlow was not 'a real school building' they often said. Wardlow was a collection of what they called at the time 'pods' with a cheap metal cover and sidewalk linking the pods. One pod for each group of grades. The Wardlow pods were six sided buildings while the admin building was 5 sided in the center, interesting enough. Also the pods had what they called 'cores.' From this central shared room there was a mostly glass wall which looked into all of the 6 pod classrooms. Teachers could be in them to do teacher prep and copies etc. and keep an eye on their class, or one teacher could keep tabs on several classrooms. But they were really designed to have professors and math coaches at the time observe the classes when they taught the newest thing, 'new math.' Naturally the teachers rebelled and covered the glass completely over so other teachers and admin or parents or anybody could not see in. The parents freaked out over new math.
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