The Irving Murray Scott School, the oldest surviving public schoolhouse in San Francisco, stands in the flatlands between Potrero Hill and the Bay along the Third Street Corridor in an old, traditionally blue-collar neighborhood known as Dogpatch.

In 1877, the San Francisco School Department built an eight-room schoolhouse on this property to accommodate the expanding workforce of heavy industries on the waterfront: Tubbs Cordage Company, San Francisco Gas Light Company, Union Iron Works, American Barrel Company, Western Sugar Refinery, Pacific Rolling Mills.

In 1895 the school was expanded with the construction of the surviving building and was renamed after the superintendent of Union Iron Works, Irving Murray Scott, who contributed money for its construction. The school served the needs of Dogpatch residents by emphasizing manual trades for the boys and homemaking skills for the girls.

Dogpatch rode out the 1906 Earthquake and Fire almost unscathed. An impressive number of 19th Century structures remain today, although the neighborhood was hard hit after World War II when heavy industry bagan to abandon San Francisco.

Residents of Dogpatch have applied for designation as a national historical district and have posted excellent supporting documentation at Pier 70 San Francisco.