Wolfsen
Ranch
The earliest record
found to date of a school in Merced dates back to 1926 with
school being held on the Wolfsen’s ranch. The first teacher of
the Seventh-day Adventist School, was Doris Jorgenson. The
following year, Mrs. Owens taught the students.
20th
& H Streets
During the 1929/1930 school year, the school was was moved to the
Adventist Church at the corner of 20th
& H Streets, where classes
were held in the
back of the church with two teachers.
During the 1930s into the early 1940s school was held upstairs in the
church and money was raised to purchase about 1 acre for a seperate
school.
13th
Streeth
In 1941 a school building was put
up at W Street and 13th
Street (Highway 140), near where
Home Depot
is today. (These former school grounds
are currently being used by the Church of God). Clifford Emde led
out in the building of this facility. After the school was
completed a cottage was built next door for the teacher. This
cottage was later used by the Pathfinders and for Dorcas.
In 1942 there were ten grades in the school, with Pastor Leslie Morril
serving as
principal and Jean Stevens (daughter of Amos and Sandie Wolfsen
Stevens), as
teacher. By 1943 or 1944 more classes were needed so a wing was added
to the original building making three rooms for classes. It was during
the latter part of the 1940s that the school's name was changed to
"Merced Jr. Academy." In
1950 there were ten grades and three
teachers. However,
by 1955 there was only one teacher and 12 students.
Church membership had reached 123
on January 15, 1956, with 18 students in the school. A year and a
half
later, the first record of a Pathfinder Club is found. The school
had
grown to 13 students in the lower grades and 16 as upper
classmen. This
included several students from the community.
Loughborough
Drive
In the early 1960’s (with school
tuition only $18 per month) fundraising began for a new church
building.
This was accomplished on May 30, 1970, when the Auditorium/Gym on M
Street
(near Loughborough Drive) was used for the first time for a worship
service. Sometime before 1972, the school was moved to the
gym from over on W and 13 Streets
and plans were made to construct a
church on the corner of Loughborough and M at a later date.
Enrollment continued to fluctuate for
Merced’s school in the 1970’s. A high
of 43 took place in 1971, but by 1975, enrollment had dropped to
27. In
1980, the school was closed with just two students.
Olive
Avenue & McKee Road
In 1981, after many attempts to sell
the M Street property, through the providence of God, the
Auditorium/Gym and
the six and one-half acres of land that remained was sold to a business
developer for $1,085,000 cash. With these funds, our current
facilities
(located at the corner of East Olive Avenue and McKee Road, in Merced)
were
constructed. “Ground Breaking” was held on Sabbath afternoon, May
8,
1982, with a Land Dedication Service instead of the usual shovels and
turning
of dirt.
Construction began in June, and the school
opened in September of 1982, with 35 students and three teachers, under
the name
“Christian Cooperative Educational Center – A Seventh-day Adventist
School.” In the early 1990’s, the school’s name was changed to
“Olive
East Christian School.” Then, in 1998, the school’s name was
again
changed again, this time to “Merced
Adventist School,” the name it
retains
today.