Old Harmony School

Old Harmony School. . , The original Harmony School opened August 5, 1871, was among the first to serve pioneer families who settled west along the Tule River. The first school building was a one-room one-sided wooden structure. It was located some 100 feet south of this corner near the two oak trees. In 1918 a new two-room structure was built of which the remaining arch was a part. Among the families served was that of Julius Orton, a Forty-Niner and a veteran of the Mexican War. In 1857 he homesteaded 160 acres east of here and brought his family and small herd of cattle 230 miles cross country from Soquel. The David McGees were among the earliest landowners in the area, along with the Hunsakers, Callisons, Kirbys, Yavers, Roths, Lewises, Monroe, Spuhlers, Vosslers and Stones. Cattle ranching was the main occupation in the lush prairie between Four Creeks and White River, where filagree grew as high as the stirrups of a saddle. Floods, drought, disease were threats. In the 1877 diphtheria epidemic, two children in the Blair family died within an hour of each other. The "No Fence Law" of 1877 curtailed use of the open range and settlers turned to other forms of farming. Harmon became a part of the Sunnyside District in 1945. The 1918 building was used as a community center until it burned on July 27, 1983. Only the arch remains.