Recently I heard how public school students in Lower Manhattan had been displaced by the disaster, and it got me thinking: Some of those schools must be damn old! After all, it’s the oldest part of NYC. Even in L.A. we’ve got one elementary school that’s been on the same spot since 1866. Different building, though. So what about New York?
What are the oldest public schools there? And are the numbers related to the date of founding, i.e., is P.S. 1 the oldest?
I did spend a considerable amount of time rooting around on the web but found virtually nothing.
Needless to say, most school homepages are absurdly obsessed with youth and the future, not the past:D, so even older schools that I have identified have little if any interesting information to offer about their histories.
I’m hoping someone can tell me about a web site that specifically talks about the history of NYC’s public school system, what the pioneer schools were, and so on.
I’m not close to my reference sources (at home) so I can’t answer your Q outright, but I can put a little context to your question.
One thing you must keep in mind that NYC has not always existed in the state that we know it today. The city of Brooklyn and the various towns and villages in Queens, Westchester, and Richmond (S.I.) Counties that got absorbed into NYC (in 1874, 1895 and 1898) had primary public schools too, and some of them may be older than the ones that currently exist in Manhattan. (The whole system got unified in a citywide BOE in 1898.) Brooklyn, in particular, had a very strong education system; Erasmus Hall (of Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand fame), for example, long predates any public HS in Manhattan.
Also, residential lower Manhattan has undergone many “pave-overs” since the mid nineteenth century. There are not too many kids living on Wall Street! In fact, the financial district was, until recently, not zoned for residential living at all.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure (but not absolutely certain) that the school numbers do not relate to founding dates.
I’m home now and I’ve been rooting around some more. I still can’t definatively answer your Q, but you may be satisfied once you learn more about the aforementioned Erasmus Hall, in Brooklyn.
Now granted 1. it was not founded as a public school – though it has long been one and is one today, and 2. it is a high school, not an elemenary school (though it may have served younger grades at one time – I’m just not sure).
The thing is, **it was built in 1787 **(to educate the children of Dutch farmers) and the original central structure still exists! Adjoining buildings were added in the early twentieth century. It is the second oldest public school in the USA.
Thanks very much for your responses. This is the sort of thing I’m interested in. I assume they have a web site?
Two notable exceptions to the lack of interest in their past which is sometimes shown by schools, are Central High of Philadelphia and Los Angeles High. Both of those, especially the latter have extensive info on their history. L.A. High goes back to 1873 but has gone through several site and building changes. The current building looks about like a prison, yet, with supreme irony, the website uses its
old building (pre-1971 earthquake) in its banner.