"JR", as he was known to his friends, attended Alameda Park Street Primary School, Hopkins Academy, a private school in Oakland, where he began his own newspaper. During this time Knowland also spent summers working at the Oakland Enquirer and the Alameda Argus. He entered with the class of 1895, the California Wesleyan College at San Jose. The school was later renamed College of the Pacific of Stockton. From an early age he had an interest in journalism and history. His father being from New York and his mother from Maine, Knowland was raised under the influence of northern political belief. He wrote stories for the "Alameda Argus" and "Oakland Enquirer" on California history and Republican politics.