THE SITE OF THE FORMER EUREKA SCHOOLHOUSE ON SALT CREEK (1875-1980)

Above: the Eureka Schoolhouse is pictured here with Olive (Meyer) Chatham (1881-1980) standing beside it. She was educated here as a child, and later in life, she was employed here as a teacher. She was a daughter of Shasta County pioneers Frederick Valentine Meyer Sr., and Caroline Louise (Notten) Meyer of Cow Creek. This photograph was taken in 1974. This building was demolished in 1980. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

The Eureka School District, of Shasta County, held this school's grand opening on August 3, 1875, which pre-dated the establishment of the town of Bella Vista. The Eureka schoolhouse was a one-room clapboard style structure with a stove. The property included a well on the lot it stood on, and an outhouse. Today, nothing remains of these additions. This building was built primarily for education purposes and community meetings in the Cow Creek region. This area at that location was an agricultural area before it evolved into a busy lumber community known today as Bella Vista. 

This building was located a few hundred feet north of Salt Creek and in between the Meyer and Lemm family ranches. It was the only school within the boundaries of the Eureka School District. By the 1970s, the building was left abandoned, and the structure was not brought up to county code and regulations for it to be salvaged. Then in 1980 this schoolhouse was demolished after it was in existence for 105 years. Today, the lot this schoolhouse formerly occupied remains vacant however the landscape hasn’t changed much over the years.

The following is a partial listing of known schoolteachers at the Eureka Schoolhouse:

1887 - Mary (Meyer) Love 

1891 - Mary (Meyer) Love

1895 - Annie Durkee

1897 - Mary (Meyer) Love

1899 - Alma Sheppard

1906-1907 - Katherine (Smith) Lemm

1908 - Donna Dennis

1911-1912 - Olive (Meyer) Chatham

1912-1913 - Franklin R. Love

1915 - Ethel M. Williams

Above: formerly located on this flat surface of grassy land just off of Blue Sky Road (formerly Aloha Road) outside of Bella Vista, and a few hundred feet north of Salt Creek is the site belonging to former Eureka Schoolhouse. This land is located on private property. This photograph was taken by Jeremy Tuggle on September 27, 2022.

Resources:

Shasta County School Districts Plan Merger - The Chico Record newspaper of Chico, March 20, 1920

School Districts of Shasta County, 1853-1955

The Meyer Family written by Edna (Chatham) Wallace and Suzanne Kershaw, The Covered Wagon 1974, published by Shasta Historical Society.

The Meyer Family Memories of Olive (Meyer) Chatham written by an unknown author, date unknown. Available at the Shasta Historical Society.

VF 979.424 Bella Vista on file at Shasta Historical Society

Shasta County’s Historical Rural School Eureka School by Ruth Martin and Jane Long PF 371.9 Martin (available at the Shasta Historical Society.)