Hoover Elementary School, Burlingame, CA. Image online.
Gov't Can't, Kids Can! (circa 1945)
Kids rescue abandoned gov't project, ask President Hoover for support.
Learn how kids at Hoover Elementary School cut through red tape in Lynn Smith's Hoover Heads blog: Lou Henry Hoover Amphitheater.
ā[W]e raised the necessary funds ourselves by movies, dances, hot dog, candy, and ice cream sales.ā
Founded in Burlingame CA in 1932, Hoover Elementary was selected for a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1937 to build an amphitheater behind the school. Like many construction projects, it stopped mid-way. Terraces were built for seating, but that's it. Weeds took over the unfinished project and filled in the seats.
Student takeover! (of the projectā¦)
Frustrated by the lack of progress, students stepped up to take over the neglected space. On May 12, 1945, Hoover student Virginia Burns wrote to President on behalf of the 7th grade class and what they had done:
- cleared the weeds
- built a larger stage
- used existing terraces to construct seating for 500
She shared a fundraising update: āwe raised the necessary funds ourselves by movies, dances, hot dog, candy, and ice cream sales.ā
What was Hoover's connection to Burlingame, CA?
Burlingame is about 20 miles north of Palo Alto, where Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover lived for many decades.
Initial outreach: students' first "ask"
By the time Virginia wrote to Hoover, their project was nearly complete. Only one thing was missing, a name for the new amphitheater. Virginia asked for his permission to name it the āLou Henry Hoover Amphitheater." President Hoover responded: āOf course you can." He said he was moved by their idea and that "it is doubly touching because of the hard work and zeal which created it.ā
Second outreach and "ask":
Virginia again wrote to Hoover (9/29/1945), now on behalf of her 8th-grade class, inviting him to dedicate the Lou Henry Hoover Amphitheater. President Hoover was unable to attend, but asked Lou Hoover's longtime secretary, Dare Stark McMullin to attend and speak. Other event VIPs included the Mayor of Burlingame, the school Superintendent, and opera singer Alexandra Kovaleff.
Dare McMullin updated Hoover about the festivities: "It was all a darling event, the Lady would have loved it.ā President Hoover personally closed the loop with Virginia Burns, writing to congratulate her for āa job well done."
Quick update:
Due to declining enrollment, Hoover Elementary closed in 1979 and the building was sold. Thanks to a baby boom, the school was needed again in 2010. The school district purchased back the school, renovated it, and reopened the historic building to students in 2016.
Hoover Elementary School today, image online.
See also: First Lady Lou Hooverās Ode to Spring!
First Lady Lou Hoover welcomed spring with this poem, shared by archivist Matthew Schaefer in hisĀ Hoover HeadsĀ post,Ā Lou Hoover āSpringās Coming.ā
Excerpts:
Flower carpets, green slopes, meadowlarksā trills. Ā Spring in California! It is coming. We begin to prepare, in fancy, for the inevitable outings, when the call to adventure gets beyond control.
Afoot. Ā Ahorse. En auto. Ā We yield to the invitation of them all. Ā Even when we say, āthe motor goes too fast; it misses the charm of the wayside; we canāt tell what flowers they are, only their color.ā Ā Even then, we more often take the auto, because it gets us farther afield in less time...
Now it is green promise. Promise strengthened by a few gay poppy and mustard blooms on hardy year-old wayside plants, as one drives up Salinas valley. The Salinas valley, beautiful on a windless day, a soft hazy day, making the most lovely pastels of broad river flats, of almost leafless willows and poplars, of too closely cropped hillsides, and of blue mystic opalescent mountain distances.
