In the early 1940s, Mrs. Mary Rogers was asked by the Downey Unified School Superintendent to establish a nursery school to fill the needs of working parents during WWII. After the war, she and her husband opened Downey Child Care Center, the campus on Brookshire Ave. In 1966, the Rodgers family sold the preschool to Bill and Connie Kirkwood, who made it their mission to care for the community by partnering with working families to support them in raising Christ-centered children.

In the early 2000s, the Board of Directors of Downey Child Care Center, Inc. realized through prayer and the Lord’s leading that running a Christian Corporation in the state of California was not the ministry the Lord wanted them to continue running. As a result the Board unanimously voted to transition the school into a 501c3 religious non-profit and change the current names of the school and ministry to Kirkwood Christian Schools. For two years, the Board of Directors through the leadership of Dr. Kirkwood and Marjorie Kirkwood, Esq. on the business and legal end and Jennifer Kirkwood Hartl, M.A. on the educational and ministry end worked with the state of California, the IRS, and the Department of Social Services to make this a smooth transition. After two years of hard work and prayer, Downey Child Care Center and Kirkwood Educational Center became Kirkwood Christian Schools, a non-profit religious organization. As a 501c3 Kirkwood has been able to unapologetically spread the gospel of Christ, disciple the next generation of believers, and partner with families in the education of their children.