Northside - City of Riverside

Fremont Elementary School (constructed from 1917-1970), Orange Street frontage
The 1960s altered school campuses throughout the City as many historic school
buildings were investigated for structural soundness in compliance with the 1933
Field Act (updated), which, on the heels of a series of devastating earthquakes,
mandated school building construction, remodeling, and relocation for earthquake
safety. This local effort preempted a more widespread move in 1976 to phase out or
retrofit pre-Field Act buildings and ushered in the portable classroom era in
Riverside. Many historic school buildings were demolished during this time or
shortly after. For each wave of portable classroom construction and distribution to
district schools, Fremont Elementary School received a couple beginning in 1966
when contractor B.M. Wilkerson constructed 27 portable classrooms throughout the
district. In 1968, the district gained 33 additional portables constructed by contractor
Foresberg & Gregory, and in 1969, 19 portable classrooms added to the district by
Avalon Construction Company. In August 1970, the district purchased five larger,
air-conditioned units. As is indicated in the name, portable classroom facilitated
campus growth and alteration by their transferable nature, and, beginning in 1970,
the newly acquired portable classrooms were moved, relocated, demolished, or
upgraded to suit the growing needs of Fremont Elementary (Department of
Schoolhouse Planning 1978:n.p).
The parcel configuration of the school campus has expanded to the north over time
from a basically rectangular lot to an odd-shaped parcel that runs behind the rear
lots of residential development to the north along Orange, Main and Strong Streets
(1908 Sanborn Map, updated 1941). The addition of the northwest corner of the
campus was acquired in 1969, and an approximately 50x 150’ strip off Orange Street
was deeded to the district by Riverside County Flood Control after completion of a
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