The town of Berenda began when the Central Pacific Railroad first crossed the Fresno River in 1872. When the railroad reached the location that would become known as Berenda on March 5, 1872, the railroad installed a 20,000-gallon wooden water tank for its steam locomotives and, just like that, a town was born. As the village began to thrive, hotels, general stores, a blacksmith shop, a laundry, saloons, and a school were added. The town had a brief moment of notoriety when President Theodore Roosevelt took the train from Berenda to Raymond in 1903, on his way to Yosemite.

By 1907, the town of Berenda suffered a debilitating blow when the Yosemite traffic was lost to the Yosemite Valley Railroad that was built from Merced to El Portal and farming interest in the area began conducting their business in Madera. Also, the copper miners stopped bringing ore to the Berenda depot for shipment.

On August 31, 1935, the Berenda post office was closed and the town died. All of the buildings on the west side of the railroad tracks, with the exception of the schoolhouse, were moved to the east side to pave the way for the construction of Highway 99 in 1914. When Highway 99 became four lanes in the 1940s the Berenda School was moved further west.

Like most community school buildings, the school was a place to hold church services, hoe-downs, community suppers, spelling bees, Christmas parties, and lectures. In the beginning, attendance was voluntary, and depending on the weather and need for labor at home, attendance varied on a day to day basis. Quite often children would be sent to school before the age of six. This not only got them out of the house, it was also thought that school was a better place for children to spend their day.

At the beginning, students at the Berenda school were ungraded and seated according to their ability level, with the youngest students in the from and the older students in the back. Students would be promoted to the next level only when the teacher believed they were ready.