"Around 1840 a school for Spanish boys was established in San Juan Bautista. The first teacher's name was Hilario Ortiz. He had 12 pupils in his school. The school building was very small. It was made of sticks and mud. The boys began school a the age of five. They learned to read and write. Mr. Ortiz was very severe, but the boys learned in his school. The punishments used in the school were the same as Mr. Ortiz had learned when he was a soldier in the Army. One of his punishments was to strike the pupil's hand with a smooth side of the wooden mallet. There were many schools started in San Benito County in the early days. The first public school was build in 1859. This school was built near San Juan Bautista on the Rocks Road just beyond the cemetary.
     Before this school was build, the parents of the pupils rented buildings at different times. This meant the school was not always in the same place.
     In the early schools, all the teachers were men. Often these teachers were ministers and lawyers who taught school while studying. These free schools were open four or five months each year." (p. 35-36: San Benito County Long Ago and Today)

Old Mission Portland Cement Co. erected a cement plant just outside the town of San Juan Bautista in 1903. This helped keep open the Saloon in San Juan Bautista. This is one of several stories I tell the tourists and locals who come into our Saloon. A couple railroads were established to transport the lime from three locations in San Benito County. A narrowgauge railroad was establish, and later a broadgauge railroad from the plant to Chittenden on the Southern Pacific Central Railroad.
(quarriesandbeyond.org)

The information was compiled by Peggy B. Perazzo and the web master is George (Pat) Perazzo.