styuyvesant high school
One hundred years ago today … Stuyvesant High School was located at 345 East 15 Street, in a now-landmarked building.
Stuyvesant High School, 1920. Board of Education, NYC. Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy. New York Public Library.
The beaux-arts building was built in 1905-1907, designed by Charles B.J. Snyder, who was Superintendent of School Buildings for the Board of Education from 1891 to 1922.
Note: See our September 11 post about Snyder and his innovations to school design, incorporating light and air circulation.
Stuyvesant High School moved to the location in 1907 from its site at 225 East 23 Street, and stayed until 1992. (See NYC-Architecture.com.)
The school had been established in 1904 as a school for manual labor training. It thrived academically and in 1919 started administering admissions exams. (See “The Campaign for Stuyvesant.”)
Stuyvesant was in the news a few times in 1920, mostly for sports, including its May 26 Field Day event, featuring gunny sacks.
Daily News, 27 May 1920, p. 20. Chronicling America.
Then there was the time the News claimed to be showing a photo of Stuyvesant students rehearsing for a music festival.
Only problem? Stuyvesant only admitted male students at the time. (The paper later admitted its mistake.)
Unsurprisingly, all the students in these photos are white (apparently). These days, Stuyvesant is known as much for the racism inherent in its admissions practices as it is for academics.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
TAGS: high school, sports, admissions, architecture, manual labor