Junipero Serra High School

History

Established in 1950.

By Brother Charles Boglitz, SM (1989)

Junipero Serra High School, an archdiocesan school for boys located in Gardena, California, was established by Cardinal McIntyre, Archbishop of Los Angeles, in 1950, and confided to the Society of Mary (Marianists), an international religious Congregation, comprised of priests and Brothers, noted for its excellent schools. Of French origin, Father William Joseph Chaminade, a diocesan priest, at Bordeaux, France, founded the congregation in 1817.

The site selected for Serra High was a twenty-​four acre plot located on Van Ness Avenue, bounded by Compton Boulevard (now Marine Ave.) and 146^th Place. At the time of the purchase the land was being used as a truck garden with cabbages being the principal vegetable grown.