Built in 1878 by John Harley, who ran the Gertrude Mine, he named the school after his wife. The school was originally located across the Fresno River in Fresno County, before it was relocated to the Crooks Ranch in Ahwahnee in 1893 and was replaced by a new school in 1913. The school was remodeled and considered quite modern for 1937, when the school had 40 students in attendance. In June of 1962, Ms. Carol Pritchard was the last eighth-grader to graduate and the school closed in November of 1964.

In the 1970’s the property the school stood on was owned by Harry Baker, then-president of Sierra Telephone, who agreed to lease the Gertrude School to Yosemite Western Artists for a small fee on a yearly basis.

In 2020, the school was torn down, as it was structurally unsound. However, the Little Schoolhouse Winery is planning on building their new building to look like the original school as well as providing a space for the Yosemite Western Artists with a meeting room and gallery and is due to open sometime in 2022.