CHAPTER XX.

HISTORICAL NOTES OF THE SCHOOLS.

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 1.

THE first school of the Public School Society was opened in a house in Bancker (now Madison) street, on the 17th of May, 1806, and continued there until removed to the Almshouse building in the Park. The necessity of enlarged accommodations had induced the Society to apply to the Corporation for a grant, and an old building, known as the Arsenal, was accordingly donated for the use of the Society. This, however, proved insufficient, and measures were taken to secure the erection of a commodious structure. The efforts of the trustees were successful, and, on the 11th of December, 1809, the building was publicly opened with appropriate exercises. The President of the Society, De Witt Clinton, delivered an address on the occasion. William Smith, teacher.

On the 18th of December, the committee met to receive applications for admission. A large number of pupils offered themselves, and the registering proceeded rapidly. On the 26th of January, 1810, an arrangement having been made with the Fire Department, a committee, consisting of Robert Wardell, Peter Sharp, and John Caldwell, attended to superintend the admission of pupils from that department. Fifty pupils were to be instructed in the school, the tuition fee being $6 each per annum. Forty-four were admitted on the 26th, and the remainder on the 29th of January.

The school was an object of great interest not only to citizens, but to strangers, and so frequent were their visits as to interfere with the operations of the school. A regulation appointing Thursday morning for visitors was adopted—none being

admitted at other hours, except by the special request of a

trustee.

On the 22d of January, 1810, John Missing, afterward principal of No. 2, was employed as an assistant in No. 1. In April, 1810, Shepherd Johnston, afterward principal of No. 3, was employed as a monitor, together with William McAlpin, both pupils in the school.

At the end of a year the school numbered 550 pupils.

In 1816, Lloyd D. Windsor was appointed principal, in place of William Smith.

On February 2d, 1813, a committee of twenty-four ladies, of the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Associate Reformed, and Reformed Dutch Churches, attended to.catechise the children. On the 9th, thirty, and on the 16th, forty ladies attended to give religious instruction. Bishop Hobart opened the exercises with prayer. One afternoon in the week was devoted to these religious services.

In 1820, the managers of the American Bible Society were engaged in selecting a location suitable for their depository, and it was proposed to sell No. 1 for that purpose. A committee of the Public School Society was appointed to present a memorial to the Corporation, asking that a fee-simple of the ground be vested in the Society, to enable it to sell the property and purchase a less public and noisy location. The application was referred to the Finance Committee, who reported adversely, and the proposition failed.

In 1823, the Female Association, which had until that time sustained the girls' school in No. 1, resolved to close it, and the trustees immediately reorganized the female department, so that the girls in that part of the city should not be deprived of instruction.

In 1824, the Corporation made an offer to purchase No. 1, but, after some negotiation, the project was abandoned.

In 1825, John Scudder, the proprietor of the American Museum, proposed to hire the building on a perpetual lease, at a rent of 6 per cent. on $30,000, and an annual admission of the pupils of the schools to the museum, which failed, as the Corporation made a new proposition for the property, and, in 1826, appointed a committee to obtain a release of the ground to the city for the purpose of extending the Park. The trustees adopted

a preamble and resolutions, setting forth, that, as the property was held for purposes of public instruction, the Society could not surrender the property without an equivalent, so that the object of the donors, by whose liberality the building was erected, might be secured in another place, and calling for a joint board of five appraisers to make an award. Two appraisers were appointed by the Common Council, and the Committee of Conference were authorized to appoint two on behalf of the Society. Asa Mann and Henry Wyckoff, for the Corporation, and Peter Augustus Jay and E. W. King, for the Society, awarded $26,500 as the value of the lease. The negotiation was not completed. In 1831, a similar movement met with a similar fate.

In 1832, Messrs. W. D. Coit, J. H. Taylor, and others, formed an association for the teaching of apprentices, and other pupils, and applied for the use of No. 1, two evenings in the week, for an evening school. The Executive Committee granted the request, subject to the decision of the section of No. 1, by whom it was deemed inexpedient to grant the building for the

purpose.

In 1833, the Board of Assistant Aldermen appointed a Committee of Conference to take measures to obtain absolute possession of the property. The committee renewed the offer on the terms of the joint award previously made, but no result was reached.

In 1837, the long-vexed question was terminated by the order of the Common Council to open Centre street. The commissioners allowed the Society $22,000 damages, and left part of the lot as the property of the Society.

The building in William street, formerly occupied by Colored School No. 1, had been appropriated for a court-house, to which the pupils would have been immediately transferred, but for this occupancy. Until the Society could regain possession of the premises, the pupils were accommodated in other places. The boys' school was held in St. Phillip's Church, in Centre street, and the girls' school in the Brick Church chapel. A new building was erected in William street, and, on October 16, 1838, the pupils were transferred from their temporary quarters to the new house. Appropriate exercises were had, and James I. Roosevelt, Jr., and Samuel W. Seton addressed the audience.

The teachers of No. 1 have been as follows:

William Smith, 1806-1816.

Lloyd D. Windsor, 1816-1836, who was removed from his post by death, August 1.

William Belden, Jr., 1836-1839.

Richard S. Jacobson, 1839-1848.

William W. Smith entered on duty September, 1848, and continued until the transfer of the schools to the Board of Education, in 1853.

The school was reorganized in 1837, and a female department established, under the care of Eliza Harris.

PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 2.

Col. Henry Rutgers having donated lots of ground to the "Free-School Society," and a new school being demanded by the wants of the eastern portion of the city, it was resolved to erect a building upon the lots so generously granted. A committee was accordingly appointed, consisting of Col. Henry Rutgers, Thomas Collins, and Garrett Van Wagener, to superintend the erection and opening of the building. It was completed during the month of October, and opened for the reception of pupils on the 13th of November, 1811. Forty-seven scholars of both sexes were admitted, and the number was increased in two weeks to 197, under the care of John Missing, teacher.

The boys and girls occupied the same room, all being under the care of one principal. But the number increased so that it became desirable to separate the scholars into two departments. The building was two stories high, with a basement, the school being in the upper story. The first floor was occupied in part as the residence of the teacher, and in part by one of the schools of the Female Association. It was proposed, in 1821, to procure other accommodations for the teacher, extend the schoolroom, and separate the boys and the girls. The alterations were made, and the girls' school was opened on the 1st of November, under the care of Rebecca Leggett, at a salary of $200.

In 1822, the crowded state of the girls' school suggested an exchange of apartments-the boys being transferred to the lower floor, and the girls to the upper, which was accordingly done.

In 1823, the school of the Female Association was removed from the building, and the partitions being taken down, the whole floor was appropriated to the boys' school. Other alterations were made, in 1827, to make the house better fitted for the use of the pupils. The following year (1828), in consequence of widening Henry street, it became necessary to cut off about eight feet from the front of the building, and to make other alterations corresponding to the reduced size of the house, all of which were promptly executed, and the school was reopened on the 15th of September. It continued in that condition until 1834, when it was rebuilt, being larger and more convenient than its predecessor, and finished and furnished for a model school. It was opened on the 1st of November. The primary department was organized at that time.

The succession of teachers in No. 2 was somewhat rapid after Mr. Missing resigned his charge, in 1822. He was followed by Nathaniel C. Hart, who vacated on the 15th of February, 1824, to assume the charge at the House of Refuge, surrendering his place to Henry Hart. He continued in his position only a few months, when he suddenly resigned, in October, much to the regret of the trustees. Jotham Wilson, a monitor in No. 5, and Thomas P. Okie, monitor in No. 3 (and subsequently for many years the principal of No. 6), were placed in charge of the school. Early in 1825, Mr. Thomas Macy entered upon duty as teacher. He held the post until 1832, being followed by A. V. Stout, afterward President of the Shoe and Leather Bank, who found another position in 1833, leaving William Belden, Sr., in his place. Henry Kiddle succeeded Mr. Belden in 1849, and continued to discharge the duties of the principalship until 1856, when he was elected Assistant City Superintendant.

In the female department, Miss Eunice Dean followed Miss Leggett, in 1829. She was removed from her labors during vacation (1831) by death, and Mrs. A. C. Halleck succeeded. Margaret L. Miller, in 1835; in 1837, Miss M. C. Megie; in 1838, Charlotte L. Wykes, who became Mrs. Sammis, in 1841, when Miss Sarah A. Olmsted took the charge until 1844, when Miss Martha Macy succeeded. In 1849, Hannah G. Barnes followed Miss Macy, and, in 1852, resigned her charge to Miss F. A. Westervelt.

It is worthy of remark that James B. Brinsmade entered the