Lincoln History
Lincoln Elementary School is one of the oldest schools in Oakland Unified School District. The school had several incarnations before becoming Lincoln Elementary School in its current location at 225 11th St. in Oakland.
August 1865
The Board of Education purchased land at Alice and 6th Street and built Alice Street School for 60 students – this is the school’s origin. Soon after, the school was moved to Harrison Street and renamed the Harrison Primary School.
1874
Renamed Lincoln School.
1872
Moved into a new building at 10th and Alice Streets and the student body grew to 400 students.
1906
The Board of Education began constructing a new building (completion was delayed due to the 1906 Earthquake).
1961
The 1906 building was torn down due to seismic safety concerns.
1962
A new building was erected. The school grew in size and began to use portable classrooms to accommodate the new students.
2004
Caroline (Chin) Yee, a graduate of Lincoln Elementary, became principal of the school. Caroline Yee pushed forward a vision to replace the 11 portable classrooms with a permanent building that allowed for student body growth. Ms. Yee passed away shortly before the new Education Annex building was completed, and it’s now dedicated to her memory and vision.
2006
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2007
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2008
Lincoln Elementary is named a California Distinguished School and wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2009
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2010
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award and named a National Blue Ribbon School.
2011
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2012
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2019
Today, Lincoln Elementary serves over 700 TK-5 students.
2020
Lincoln Elementary wins a Title 1 Academic Achievement Award.
2022
Lincoln receives the 2022 Pivotal Practice Award for outstanding service to the community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lincoln’s alumni include famous Oaklanders: Raymond Eng (first Chinese-American elected to Oakland’s city council), James Yimm Lee (author and student of Bruce Lee) Benjamin Fong-Torres (famous rock journalist and author), and Jean Quan (the first woman and Asian-American mayor of Oakland) is the daughter of a Lincoln alumni.
The school has a long history of serving families in the Oakland Chinatown neighborhood as well as children from other parts of Oakland. Today, the majority of the children at Lincoln come from immigrant families from across the globe. To learn more about the history of Lincoln Elementary, please visit Oakland Museum of CA collections and Oakland Chinatown Chamber’s History of Oakland Chinatown.