75th Anniversary Trivia
- Bishop O'Dowd High School
- 4 hours ago
- 1 min read
Celebrate our 75th anniversary with us! Each month on social media and in our O’Dowd In Brief newsletter, we will have a trivia related to our school’s history and community. The answers and information about the trivia will be shared here.
August
What was the originally planned name for our school?
A: Bishop O’Dowd High School
B: East Oakland Catholic High School
C: Archbishop Mitty High School of the East Bay
The originally planned name for our school was East Oakland Catholic High School. In the late 1940s, the Archdiocese of San Francisco purchased land that was a former rock quarry to expand the diocesan education in the East Bay. The vision of the school, which was originally planned to be named East Oakland Catholic High School, was led by Bishop James T. O’Dowd. As the head of the archdiocese’s education department, Bishop O’Dowd worked to plan and oversee construction of “the school on the hill.” In 1950, Bishop O’Dowd tragically died after his stalled car was hit by a train. To honor his legacy, Archbishop Mitty, the archbishop of San Francisco, renamed the school Bishop O’Dowd High School.
