New school during flu pandemic with Red Cross flag on roof.
The increased activity at Mare Island attributed to World War I produced a population boom in Vallejo — and in St. Vincent’s parish. The city’s 1910 population of 11,340 almost doubled to 21,107 by 1920. To accommodate the growing number of students, the building we fondly recall as St. Vincent Ferrer High School was constructed in 1916-17. Classes commenced in September 1917 as planned. But circumstances would make the following school year very different.
New school during flu pandemic with Red Cross flag on roof.
A serious epidemic of influenza reached the West Coast in the fall of 1918. By October the epidemic had reached such proportions that all public meeting places, including churches, schools and libraries, were ordered closed. Newspaper accounts of the period show that, on one occasion at least, permission was granted by the Board of Health for two Sunday Masses at St. Vincent’s. The Board stipulated that the Masses be said on the front steps outside of the church and that all worshipper wear masks. Archbishop Hanna of San Francisco responded to the crisis by permitting all church property to be placed at the disposal of medical teams fighting the epidemic. Since hospitals in the area were crowded, the City of Vallejo gladly accepted when the Dominican Sisters offered the use of the new school as an emergency hospital. Drawing on her prior nursing experience and assisted by other Sisters from her community, Sister M. Eulalia took charge of the wards for women and children. The records note that, in addition to the Sisters, a lady by the name of Emile Savage (Strichen) also worked as a nurse in St. Vincent’s hospita1.
Caring for flu victims hospitalized in school building.
The number of flu patients continued to climb from twenty-five on November 4 to seventy-one on November 14. On November 7 the Navy took charge of the hospital. and Captain Harry George expressed his appreciation to the parishioners of St. Vincent’s for their generosity in providing the building for care of the sick. When the question of reopening the public schools was discussed in November, Dr. J. J. Hogan stated that the Navy would protest against such opening as long as St. Vincent’s remained in use as a hospital. Mayor Roney supported his statement. By the end of November, however, the epidemic seemed to be under control, and St. Vincent’s Naval Hospital was closed down, although it was reopened briefly in January when another outburst of the disease occurred. On behalf of the Navy, Commander J. L. Nelson. Yard Surgeon, expressed his thanks to the people of the parish for use of the building and to the Sisters for their work in nursing the sick. The November 27th meeting of the City Council passed resolutions of thanks to Father O’Brien, pastor of St. Vincent’s parish, and to the Dominican Sisters for their generosity during the epidemic.
| The information and photos in this article are lifted, mostly verbatim, from Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish, Vallejo, California, A History of One Hundred Twenty-Five Years, 1855-1980. We thank the anonymous author and publisher for their dedicated scholarship. |