It was 28 years ago in June that Martha Farnum Elementary School at 4275 Cass St., the present site of the Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library, closed. The school was shuttered after serving the Pacific Beach area for 30 years — its demise triggered by low enrollment. The reason for the low enrollment was a decrease in the number of elementary school-age children in the area, which also included five elementary schools at Bayview Terrace, Crown Point, Kate Sessions and Pacific Beach elementaries. The process of closing Farnum did not occur overnight, but instead began in early 1980. According to a published report from Feb. 29, 1980, the San Diego Unified School District conducted a study to find out what school closures would be financially beneficial to the school district. A Palo Alto consulting firm was paid $25,000 to create the list of schools, the end result being 21 elementary schools and three junior high schools. The list was divided into first- and second-priority schools. Farnum was placed on the second-priority list. In stark contrast to the demographics in the Pacific Beach area during the early 1980s, the early 1950s told a much different story, when Farnum was hastily approved and opened to serve the increasing number of families who had moved to Pacific Beach during the post-World War II period on the site of what was then the Deluxe Trailer Park. A published report from Nov. 29, 1953 described Farnum’s opening as a way to relieve crowded conditions in other Pacific Beach elementary schools. Bayview Terrace, Crown Point, Kate Sessions and Mission Beach Elementary (closed before Farnum) were also opened at the same time. Farnum was named in honor of a former city schools teacher, principal and assistant superintendent of schools who had passed away in August 1952. The article also outlined Farnum’s original boundaries as Mission Bay and San Rafael Place to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west, Chalcedony Street to the north and Fanuel/Gresham streets to the east. The physical layout of the school was Cass Street to the west, Dawes Street to the east, Reed Street to the south and Thomas Street to the north. The entrance was located on the west side between Reed and Thomas streets, while the playground took up the entire eastern half of the property and was fenced off from the streets. Directly east of the entrance was a courtyard and flagpole. An auditorium and cafeteria were located on the northwest side. The classrooms were located east of the flagpole, auditorium and cafeteria, facing the middle of the school with three additional classrooms located on the Thomas Street side. Pacific Beach resident Charles Lazzaro worked as Farnum’s principal between 1975 and 1979 remembered the school fondly. “I liked working there,” Lazzaro said. “It was my favorite school of the four schools where I served as I principal because it was in my neighborhood and it had a ‘gifted’ program, which was good.” Lazzaro also established a variety of student programs and activities during his tenure, which included an art show, a track meet, a good citizenship award and a student council featuring the election of a student president. As the outgoing principal just before Farnum was placed on the list of possible school closures, Lazzaro sheds more light on why it was closed. “I know that it came down to us or Crown Point Elementary, where only one school would remain open. Crown Point was chosen over us because they could expand. Our school was maxed out and limited by the streets around us,” Lazzaro said. Another Pacific Beach resident, Rosalie Martin, attended Farnum from 1968 through 1975 in kindergarten through sixth grade. “Farnum was great,” Martin said. “I loved the school and my teachers were all so wonderful and so were the kids. Most of them, anyways.” Martin also recalls when the PTA hosted an annual Halloween carnival at the school. “The carnival was a way to keep the kids in a safe area during Halloween and included a safe area where we could go trick-or-treating,” Martin said. Although Farnum was in a residential area, the streets around it could be dangerous, she said. Prior to 2000, there was no stop sign at the intersection of Thomas and Cass streets near the west entrance. After Farnum closed in 1983, Mission Bay Montessori temporarily moved on to the property for two years until it moved to its present location in University City in the summer of 1985. Between 1985 and 1996, the old Farnum property was vacant until construction began on the Pacific Beach/Taylor Branch Library. The library was completed and opened on April 26, 1997.