Then & Now

In celebration of the first day of the Davis public schools, here is the latest installment of our Then & Now series. You may recognize this building and know its current use, but do you know why it was originally built?

This brick Romanesque Revival structure, located at 23 Russell Boulevard, was constructed in 1927 as the first Davis Joint Union High School. Prior to 1924, when high school classes were offered in the elementary school, high school students from Davis enrolled in schools in Woodland, Dixon, Sacramento, or other districts.

The Davis High School occupied the building from 1927 until 1960 when the new Davis Senior High was completed. The classroom wing was then used as administrative offices for the Davis Joint Unified School District. In the 1980s the building was remodeled as the City of Davis City Hall.

The historic image below, from our Eastman Originals Collection, was taken in 1944.