The Villa Park Elementary School historic structures are the oldest public buildings in Villa Park. In 1880, Mountain View School was established in a small shed on the James M. Smith ranch. Mrs. Julie Foster, an aunt of the Smiths, was the first teacher. There were only four students, one of whom was only four years old at the time (Irving Clark). Enrollment soon reached 20 students.

In 1882, the Board of Trustees of the Mountain View School accepted the offer of Joel Park to build the school at the northwest corner of Lincoln and Center Streets, the current school site. The original building was completed in 1883 and consisted of two rooms. Mr. Collins planted pepper trees along Lincoln Street and on the school grounds. Several still remain on the campus.

In 1910, Mountain View School, a name inspired by the mountain panorama east of the school, found it necessary to change its name. This occurred because the community of Mountain View made application for a post office, but the application was denied because there already was another community named Mountain View in California. On March 20, 1888, a new application for a post office was made with the name "Villa Park". This application was granted. The first post office was located in J. H. Adam's store on the corner of Center Street and Villa Park Road.

By this time, the school consisted of two rooms, a "little room" for the first five grades and a "big room" for the last four grades. Each room was heated by its own cast iron wood stove.

With the need for a larger school evident, a two room Spanish style stucco school was built. In addition, a primary room was built in 1924. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the main building at 11:00 PM on February 12, 1926. Insurance money was used to restore the building on its old foundation and a small library was added.

By 1937, there were approximately 100 students in the four classroom school. By 1954, there were seven teachers and more than 150 students. That same year Villa Park School merged into the Orange Unified School District.