Shearer Elementary School originally opened on February 21, 1922, as John L. Shearer School. The school was named after Shearer, who was an educator during the 19th and 20th centuries in Napa County. Although now, Shearer Elementary is much larger and has multiple buildings, the school originally was a two-story brick building. The original building was torn down in the 1970s because it was deemed seismically unsafe.