Note: Photo of Orange Glen 1914 provided by the Escondido Library from the Frances Beven Ryan collection.

In 1892, the second grammar school was built in northeast Escondido. The school was nestled in a grove of oak trees and was appropriately called the Oak Glen School. The school was short-lived, however. A fire in 1894 razed the building.

The ashes of Oak Glen School were still smoldering when the townspeople pitched in to change the situation. Through their united effort, the school was reconstructed within a matter of months. However, the oak trees of 1892 were no longer abundant. Orange trees belonging to the orchard of B.F. Dixon replaced them, and the school became Orange Glen School.

Orange Glen and a school across town, the Fifth Avenue School (1910) enjoyed a short period of bliss as parts of the same school district. Three years after Fifth Avenue School's construction, however, the two schools began to battle over the distribution of taxes. The rift began to widen and pretty soon it couldn't be closed. In 1914, Orange Glen School withdrew from the Escondido Grammar School District and formed its own system, the Orange Glen District.

The 1970's started off with a happy occasion for the Escondido Union School District. It reunited with the Orange Glen District, some 56 years after their separation.

The Orange Glen District had about 1,100 students in two schools: Orange Glen Junior High and Glen View School. Its area was about 17 square miles and it would soon have too few schools and an increasing tax rate. The Orange Glen Trustees petitioned the Escondido schools in 1969 for annexation. The question was taken to the voters on December 9 and was approved. On July 1, 1970, Orange Glen and Escondido became one district again.

Text adapted from: Our District History