The back of Monroe Union High School in 1911
Monroe Historical Society photo #186

Taken looking south from Hill Street, this photo shows the rear of Monroe Union High School as it nears completion. The back wing with the two-story arched windows was 40 x 70 feet and housed the gymnasium and the assembly room. The heating plant is the one-story wing at left. Later a three-story gymnasium annex was added to the east side (at left) and the back wing was converted to a study hall and library on the top with classrooms on the bottom. The building was condemned after the spring 1965 earthquake and torn down that summer, although this original part of the school proved much harder to demolish than the later gym annex. A new high school building was erected on the same site at the southeast corner of Hill and Kelsey Streets and opened in September 1967. It is now Monroe Middle School.