Formal schooling began in Point Arena in 1860. The first high school building was erected in 1907.

As the number of students grew in the 1920s, the 1907 building became increasingly crowded. In the 1930s, state funds were allocated to school construction as a consequence of the Long Beach earthquake, while federal assistance became available under New Deal programs. As a result of this outside help, the school district was able to construct a new high school building on the north side of town.

The design is a subdued rendering of the international style with stucco exterior, horizontal banding, and many banks of industrial casement windows. The building aspired to a monumentality that has since been lost in American school construction.

When it opened in 1936, the building was not only the largest civic building in the community but the largest building of any sort. This is a distinction it has retained throughout its fifty years as the center of public education in Point Arena.

Excerpted from the NRHP Nomination.