Lodi Academy marks 100 years of 'service'

A century ago, the Lodi Academy was established on a 20-acre site southeast of Lodi on the north side of Kettleman Lane between Cherokee Lane and Central Avenue.

It was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church school for high school grades, some elementary classes for the teachers' children and a two-year program for training teachers. It was California's third school operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and Lodi's first private religious school.

Since its formation, nearly 8,000 students have attended the school that is now well within the city limits. Over its 100 years, 582 people have worked as faculty members, and 25 principals have led the school. Although the dormitories and teacher-training program are gone today, the Lodi Academy continues to educate young people and currently has 101 high school students enrolled.

The school's roots can be traced to the first organized gathering of Seventh-Day Adventists in Lodi.

In March 1905, 17 people met in a small tent to worship. The tent was the home of one of the families near the present site of Lawrence Park. The group of Seventh-Day Adventists organized as the Lodi Central Church with Elder T. C. Watson as pastor.

A month later the group met in a building the church shared with the Salvation Army. After awhile the group moved again outdoors and met under a eucalyptus tree at 350 West Pine St. By late summer 1905, the group decided to build a church with the German speaking Seventh-Day Adventists.

In 1906, the church was built and dedicated in the 500 block of East Lodi Avenue just east of Garfield Street. Elder D. T. Fero was pastor.

In early 1908, the California Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists selected Lodi as the site to build a teacher training facility. It was the conference's third facility in the state; the other locations were in Healdsburg and San Fernando. Lodi officials embraced the idea and the Chamber of Commerce pledged $9,000 to help the conference buy a building site and land for agriculture work.

The 20-acre site north of Kettleman Lane and west of Cherokee Lane was purchased, and three buildings were soon erected. All three buildings were three-story, mission-style structures. The administration building was 38 by 80 feet with a 38- by 52-foot wing. The other two buildings were a girls dormitory and a boys dormitory, each 45 by 50 feet. A cost of $20,000 was one figure mentioned in totaling the facility's expense.

When classroom sessions began for the 1908-09 school year, the school was called the Western Normal Institute. The word "normal" was attached to schools that taught students to become teachers. Many of these schools eventually evolved into today's colleges; for instance, San Jose Normal School is now San Jose State University. The Western Normal Institute in Lodi, however, specifically was to train teachers for Seventh-Day Adventist school positions.

The name must have gotten a little cumbersome and not helpful in stating the school's location. On July 10, 1910, the school board with P. J. Wolfsen as chairman decided to change the school's name to Lodi Normal Academy. Over the next 22 years, the school was called alternatively the Normal Institute, Lodi Academy and the Lodi Academy & Normal. But in 1932, the name of Lodi Academy became permanent. That year the teacher-training portion of the school was moved to Pacific Union College in Napa County.

A look at the school catalogue and other material from the late 1920s gives a good idea of what life was like at the Lodi Academy during the time when the teaching program was in full swing.

The girls dormitory was called Sylvia Hall after Principal Elton Sharpe's wife. The boys dormitory was named Elton Hall after the principal, but later was called North Hall. In 1926-27, students paid $6.50 a month for a finished room for two students, heat, light, washing, ironing and bathroom privileges. Students who wanted a single room paid $10 a month. Two 60-watt light bulbs were provided to each room.

Each student was expected to work off their room charges by working at the school and dorm. They worked in the laundry, the school's dairy, bakery and garden.

Hazel Hansen Lombardi remembered being paid 19 cents an hour and working four hours a week to pay off her room charges, according to the Lodi Historian winter 2000 issue.

Conduct and appearance were two other areas addressed in the 1926 school catalogue. The girls often were checked for their skirt length before they left the dorm in the morning. Skirts could be no shorter than 13 inches from the floor. One "free dress" day with no uniform was allowed, but clothing still had to meet requirements.

Older students were expected to "set good examples by pleasant words and actions" for younger students. In accordance with Seventh-Day Adventist practice, the bells rang for Sabbath on Friday and rang again Saturday evening at the close of Sabbath. Saturday Night Marches were held in the gym. Boys and girls could march together but not touch. Other conduct rules for general behavior included no smoking, drinking, late parties, unchaperoned automobile rides or inappropriate motion picture shows.

In 1926-27, Principal V.V. Wolfkill stressed that manual labor should be fundamental in education. Under his leadership, students worked in the school's agricultural pursuits that also helped sustain the school's needs. They worked in the dairy and orchards and learned manual arts such as woodworking, basketry, reed work, sewing and cooking to prepare them for life after school.

In 1932, the Normal portion of the Lodi Academy was moved to Pacific Union College in Napa County. Although teachers were no longer trained, the Lodi Academy remained a private high school for the Seventh-Day Adventists. Also, there were elementary grades, but it was for the children of the high school teachers.

In 1946, the elementary grade portion of Lodi Academy left the campus and established itself as a full-fledged school called SDA Elementary two blocks to the north on Garfield Street. Forty years later the elementary school moved back to the Lodi Academy campus.

In 1965, the Northern California Conference Committee decided the Lodi Academy needed to be rebuilt and modified. The dormitories were closed down, and students no longer lived on campus. Lodi Academy became a day school.

Over its 100 years, Lodi Academy has educated more than 8,000 students. Today as it was a century ago, the school follows its early motto of "The School That Trains for Service."

Vintage Lodi is a local history column that appears the first and third Saturday of the month. Information for this article came from the winter 2000 issue of the Lodi Historian and the News-Sentinel's April 28 article on the school.

Reader Feedback

Comments on this story are now closed.

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes

Lodi Academy marks 100 years of 'service'

Reader Feedback

Special Sections

Photo Reprints

Find Ads

Weather

Services

Contact Us

Office

Newsroom

Subscriptions

Advertising

Classifieds