Notre Dame High School was founded by the
Congregation of Holy Cross. At that time, some Holy Cross brothers were already on the staff at a
Long Beach parish high school,
St. Anthony, and have had a presence in the area since the 1850's. There was only one Catholic high school in the San Fernando Valley,
Corvallis High School for girls run by the
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, hence the decision to establish a school there to educate local boys.
Father Cavanaugh, the newly-appointed president of the
University of Notre Dame and two local priests visited the Riverside Drive location and purchased the land in 1945. Plans were drawn up immediately and the campus was to be built in the
Mission style, the buildings modeling various Spanish Missions along the coast of California. The school opened on September 15, 1947 with 120 boys. During the 1970s, Notre Dame went through a tumultuous period where enrollment dipped dangerously low, as was the trend throughout the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles at that time. The buildings needed upgrading and there were discussions about selling the valuable property and moving to another site. ==Demographics==