In 1882 the people of Sonora realized that their town was more than just a dusty mining town, and like any respectable metropolis they needed a public elementary school. So they acquired some land and buildings above the town on Barretta St. and opened the Sonora Public Elementary School. The number of children needing education kept increasing, as they often do, so that by 1906 the school consisted of four buildings; a red wood building, a red brick building, a white wood building and the neighbor’s hay loft of indeterminate color. The second grade children learned to read and write accompanied by animal sounds from the barn below the loft. There was a cupola on the roof of one of the buildings and a bell was installed to call the children to school. The townspeople could set their watches by the tolling of the 8 o’clock school bell.
SHOW OLD PHOTOGRAPH OF THE DOME
In 1907 it was again necessary to expand, so the School District issued bonds to raise $50,000, and began the planning of a more substantial structure. In 1909 the building we know as the Dome was opened for class, and the bell was move to this new building. However, in the 1960s it was determined that the Dome did not meet the State standards for seismic survivability for an elementary school and a new, modern school campus was planned. The new elementary school on Greenly Rd was opened in 1968 and the bell was moved from the Dome to where it is now encased in a red brick wall at the entrance to the school.
SHOW PHOTO OF THE BELL
The Sonora Union High School District purchased the Dome, other buildings, and surrounding land, from the Sonora Elementary School District in 1973. The Dome was then used as the District Superintendent’s office and also as the Tuolumne County Schools office. But, by 2010 both the Sonora Union High School District and Tuolumne County Schools had move out and the building has been essentially empty and neglected since then. There is currently only one room in the basement being occupied. This is the studio and transmitter room for the KAAD-LP public radio station. The Tuolumne County Historical Society also rents a few rooms for storage and several other rooms are used by the High School District also for storage.
The Sonora Union High School District designated the Dome building and the two classroom wings north of the build, as surplus property in February of 2018 and again in August of 2022, making these buildings eligible for sale or lease.