A school district, established in 1896 by order of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to accommodate pupils resident in the Domenigoni or New Helvetia Valley. The name of the school district reflected the origin of a number of the valley landowners who had emigrated from Helvetia, the poetic name for Switzerland, the territory of the ancient Helvetia. The Riverside Press & Horticulturist,
November 7, 1896, reported completion of the new school house "located close by the residence of Frank Rier, three miles south of Winchester." Organization of the school district was credited to the efforts of Angelo Domenigoni,
who was first president of the Helvetia School District, an office he filled for nine years (Guinn 1907 p, 1487).
