Most people assume that McKinley School has always been located on Fourth Street, but that was not the case. First a little background history. By 1920 the growth created by the arrival of the railroad and subsequent establishment of the lumber mills was more than Susanville’s one school could handle. That year the voters in the school district were asked to pass an $83,000 bond measure to build a second school. The school district trustees were stymied on the issue of where to build the second school. It was finally decided to build next to the current school. The district bought the Nathan residence on the corner of Cottage and Gay Streets and the house was moved across the street, which is now Elise’s Barbershop. In 1947, the Susanville Grammar now known as Washington was condemned and officials thought it was a matter of time McKinley would suffer the same fate. In 1950 a new McKinley school was built at the Fourth Street location.
