Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph courtesy of Doug Neale

Picture from the Past

John S. Baggerly

Miss Van Meter was a teacher to remember

Van Meter School on Los Gatos Boulevard memorializes Louise Van Meter, who taught in the classroom pictured here for 35 years. The photograph shows what was called "Miss Van Meter's room" on the ground floor of the town's first complete school on University Avenue. Van Meter taught there from 1885 to 1920.

Before this two-story structure with bell tower was built, the three R's were taught in private homes.

The photograph is loaned by Doug Neale, local auctioneer and owner of Neale's Hollow in Saratoga. It shows first-graders celebrating Thanksgiving Day, 1899.

According to George G. Bruntz's History of Los Gatos, Van Meter previously taught in the Union and Pacheco school districts and brought with her a conviction that kindergarten should be taught in tax-supported schools. There was opposition, but in 1916, Los Gatos had a kindergarten.

This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, September 4, 1996.
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