Townsend Harris Hall Prep School Explained

Townsend Harris Hall School
City:Manhattan, NY
State:New York
Zipcode:10031
Country:United States
Coordinates:40.8194°N -73.95°W
Pushpin Map:New York City#New York#USA
Type:Public (magnet) secondary
Established:1849
Grades:10–12
Mascot:Hawks
Newspaper:The Classic
The Phoenix
Yearbook:The Crimson and Gold
Enrollment:1108
Colors:Crimson and gold
Address:141 Convent Avenue

Townsend Harris Hall Prep School was a public preparatory school located in Manhattan in New York City.

History

The school was named for Townsend Harris who, besides his many diplomatic accomplishments, had helped found the Free Academy of the City of New York, later to become City College, and who was a strong proponent of free education. Townsend Harris was formed in 1849 as a one-year preparatory school for City College.[1] The Free Academy's introductory year gradually evolved and in 1904 became a fully-fledged 3-year high school in the East Side Manhattan neighborhood of Kips Bay.[2] The school occupied a spartan campus on the 9th to 12th floors of a building at 23rd Street and Lexington Avenue that now houses CUNY's Baruch College.[3] It moved to Harlem in 1906.[1] In 1930 as a result of overcrowding, the school moved back to 23rd St.[1] The school operated as an All Boys School for its duration.[4] Townsend Harris had a significant amount of Jewish and Eastern European students.[5] Most students were ready to graduate by the age of 15 or 16.[5]

Academics

The school admitted students by entrance examination.[2] Those who graduated from Townsend Harris were guaranteed a place at City College.[1] Townsend Harris condensed four years of high school into three.[6] At its time, it was considered to be NYC's most prestigious examination school.[7] The school eventually gained a reputation as being elitist and obsolete.[8]

Closing

This original incarnation, known as Townsend Harris Hall, survived until 1942, when it was closed by mayor Fiorello La Guardia for budgetary reasons.[9] However, newspapers speculated that it was closed because a relative of Mayor Laguardia was not admitted to the school.[10] New York City eliminated 75 teachers and 1000 students with its closing.[5] Townsend Harris closed with about 10,000 graduates.[11] In 1980, a group of alumni from Townsend Harris Hall took on a mission to reopen the school. In 1984 a school, associated with Queens College, was opened in Queens, NY, and took on the similar name of Townsend Harris High School.

Notable alumni

Scholars

Science and technology

Writing and journalism

Performing arts and entertainment

Business, economics, and philanthropy

Law, politics, and activism

Notes and References

  1. News: THE NEW TOWNSEND HARRIS HIGH KEEPS OLD GOALS. Samuel. Weiss . . June 10, 1985.
  2. News: Why some schools rocket to the top . New York Post. September 9, 2012.
  3. Web site: Summer 2005 Townsend Harris Alumni Magazine. https://web.archive.org/web/20070811021252/http://www.thaa.org/publications/tham/THAM-2005%20Summer.pdf . 2007-08-11. 10. 2007-08-11.
  4. Book: Jonas Salk: A Life. 978-0-19-933443-8. 21 April 2015. Oxford University Press.
  5. News: 30 Alumni of Townsend Harris High Recall Glory Years as Elite Scholars. Richard F.. Shepard. New York Times. December 7, 1973.
  6. Book: The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World. 9781510768628. 13 July 2021. Simon and Schuster.
  7. Book: The Benderly Boys and American Jewish Education. 9781611682939. January 2012. Krasner. Jonathan B..
  8. Web site: The Original Elite High School in New York City: Townsend Harris Hall – Baruch College Archives and Special Collections.
  9. Web site: Townsend Harris HS Alumni Association.
  10. News: Townsend Harris High School: A real gem in Queens. Clare. Trapasso . .
  11. Web site: Townsend Harris HS Alumni Association. thaa.org.
  12. Web site: Donald M. Friedman . 2022-05-27 . senate.universityofcalifornia.edu.
  13. Roberts, Sam. "Morton Deutsch, Expert on Conflict Resolution, Dies at 97", The New York Times, March 21, 2017. Accessed March 23, 2017. "Raised in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, he read Freud and Marx when he was 10, graduated from Townsend Harris Hall and entered City College when he was 15 planning to become a psychiatrist."
  14. Web site: Schiffer. John. Charles Johnson. Death notice: Gilbert Jerome Perlow. obituary. Physics Today. 16 May 2007. 2 January 2011. Gilbert Perlow, one of the pioneers of the Mössbauer effect and an editor of the Journal of Applied Physics and Applied Physics Letters ... He attended Townsend Harris Hall (now Townsend Harris High School) in Queens. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080724094146/http://www.physicstoday.org/obits/notice_153.shtml. 24 July 2008.
  15. Book: Levy. Leon. The Mind of Wall Street: A Legendary Financier on the Perils of Greed and the Mysteries of the Market. Linden. Eugene. 2009-03-25. PublicAffairs. 978-0-7867-3015-5. en.
  16. Lagemann. Ellen Condliffe. Patricia A. Graham . Lawrence A. Cremin: A Biographical Memoir. Teachers College Record. 96. 1. 102–113. Columbia University. New York, NY, USA. 1994. 10.1177/016146819409600102. 246703318. 0161-4681. Lawrence Cremin was truly a giant among us. A man of boundless energy, ... Graduated from Townsend Harris at the age of fifteen and a half.
  17. Larrabee. Harold A.. Sterling P. Lamprecht . Irwin Edman. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 28. 60–62. American Philosophical Association. Newark, DE, USA. 1954–1955. 0065-972X. Irwin Edman was every inch a New Yorker, appropriately educated at the Townsend Harris High School for the exceptionally gifted..
  18. Book: Widmer, Kingsley . Kingsley Widmer . Paul Goodman . 1980 . Boston . . 0-8057-7292-8 . 13 .
  19. News: Mike. Barnes . Hy Hollinger, Former THR Writer and International Editor, Dies at 97 . . 2015-10-08 . 2015-11-07.
  20. Web site: John F. Kieran – Society for American Baseball Research.
  21. Web site: Saperstein. Pat. Warren Cowan dies at 87: PR maven "father of Hollywood press agents". Variety. 14 May 2008. 2 January 2011. Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd and Cowan became best friends when they were 12 ... Cowan was born in New York to songwriter Rubey Cowan and wife Grace and attended Townsend Harris High School with Archerd..
  22. Web site: Ervin Drake. biographic sketch. Song Writers Hall of Fame. 2011. 1 January 2011. He was born Ervin Maurice Druckman in New York City on April 3, 1919. He attended Townsend Harris Hall, and then the City College of New York. https://web.archive.org/web/20101218153837/http://songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C8. 18 December 2010. dead. dmy-all.
  23. Web site: Rothstein. Mervyn. A Life in the Theatre: Charles Strouse. interview. Playbill.com. 1 September 2009. 2 January 2010. I went to P.S. 87 and Townsend Harris High School, and when it was time to go to college I went to music school.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100302143707/http://www.playbill.com/features/article/132409-A-Life-in-the-Theatre-Charles-Strouse. 2 March 2010.
  24. News: JOSEPH VOGEL, 73, OF M-G-M IS DEAD: PRESIDENT, 1956–63, GUIDED COMPANY IN MONEY CRISIS. The New York Times. March 2, 1969. 80.
  25. Web site: Brody. Seymour "Sy". Kenneth J. Arrow: Nobel Prize in Economics Recipient. biographic sketch. Florida Atlantic University Libraries. 18 July 2008. 2 January 2011. Arrow was born on August 23, 1921, in New York City. His parents were Jewish and very supportive of his education. He graduated Townsend Harris High School and went to City College of New York .... https://web.archive.org/web/20141101221848/http://www.fau.edu/library/nobel72.htm. 1 November 2014. dead. dmy-all.
  26. Web site: The Best Queens Celebirities 2002. list of notable persons from the Borough of Queens. Queens Tribune. 2002. 2 January 2011. Eugene Lang - The philanthropist graduated from Townsend Harris High School in 1934.. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20021101152241/http://www.queenstribune.com/best2002/celebrities-best2002.htm. 1 November 2002.
  27. Education: Sit-Down Strike. Time. 37. 17. 28 April 1941. https://web.archive.org/web/20100624102951/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765524,00.html. dead. June 24, 2010. 0040-781X. 2 January 2011. ... a mob of pupils gathered before Manhattan's Townsend Harris High School ... Object: to protest against Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's plan to economize by closing their 93-year-old school, alma mater of such celebrities as Mr. Justice Felix Frankfurter, Senator Robert F. Wagner.
  28. Book: The New York Red Book. J. B. Lyon Company. 1922. Malcolm. James. Albany, N.Y.. 121. en. Google Books.
  29. Web site: NIX, Robert Nelson Cornelius, Sr., (1898 - 1987). biographic sketch. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 2 January 2011. graduated from Townsend Harris Hall High School, New York, N.Y..
  30. Web site: Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr.: Representative, 1958–1979, Democrat from Pennsylvania. biographic sketch. Black Americans in Congress: Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. 2 January 2011. Nix graduated from Townsend Harris High School in New York City (also attended by Nix’s future African-American House colleague Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of New York) .... dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101205230258/http://baic.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=32. 5 December 2010.
  31. News: . 1 May 1991 . Igal Roodenko, 74; Led Anti-War Group . D24.
  32. News: 7 July 1941. Sol Ullman, Once in Assembly, 48. XC. 15. The New York Times. 30480. New York, N.Y..
  33. News: William Zeck, 87, Prosecutor at Nuremberg. The New York Times. November 17, 2002.