South Tule School began at this location on May 6, 1874, and became part of a broader school history in which Citrus Elementary School, founded in 1897, merged with South Tule in 1932, and La Motte School, founded in 1894, was annexed to the district in 1936. The original Citrus School site now lies below the high water line of Lake Success, and La Motte School, after removal from its original site and renovation, stands at the Tulare County Museum in Mooney Grove. These schools served the children of area ranchers, black granite quarry workers immediately to the south, and magnesite miners across the south fork of the Tule River. During World War I, a major part of the nation's supply of magnesite, an industrial mineral essential to the war effort, came from this area.