PS 116 (Manhattan)

Public School 116, the Mary Lindley Murray School, is a public school administered by the New York City Department of Education on the of Manhattan, near the border between the Murray Hill and Kips Bay neighborhoods. An elementary school, it serves pupils in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

PS 116 viewed from East 33rd Street in September 2012

The school building is located on East 33rd Street between Second and Third Avenues, although the school yard extends through the block to East 32nd Street.

History

The first school building on the site was erected on East 32nd Street, where the present school yard is located, in 1868.^[1] The 1857–62 Perris, W., Maps of the city of New York show the approximate location of the present school yard as a cleared site while the rest of the block is filled with typical townhouses.^[2] The 1879 Bromley, G.W. Atlas of the entire city of New York shows the site of the school yard with a building labeled 'Primary School No. 16.' In 1897, the former "Primary" schools in the city were renumbered and given "Public School" numbers that were 100 greater than their former Primary School numbers, which meant that Primary School No. 16 became Public School No. 116.^[3] The current main school building was built in 1924, when the building on 33rd Street was demolished and replaced by the school yard. A three-story wing was added to the east of the building in 1960.^[4]

The school has long cultivated a diverse community. The New York Times reported in 1964 that of the school's 635 students, "Half are Spanish‐speaking, 5 per cent are Negro, 5 per cent are Chinese," and that the school community hoped to maintain its diversity among urban renewal.^[5] In 1992 it was reported that students hailed "from 50 countries" and that "30 arrived from Romania" in the last year.^[6]

PS 116 had one of the first gifted and talented programs in New York, beginning with a pilot program in 1973.^[7] The gifted and talented program at PS 116 was phased out in 2012.^[8]

The school suffered from overcrowding, operating at 120% of capacity in 2011, prior to the opening of the River School, which reduced the size of its attendance zone.^[9]

Notable alumni

• Alicia Keys^[10]

References

1. "PS 116". PS 116 History Site.
2. "1857–62 Perris, W., Maps of the city of New York". NYPL Map Viewer.
3. "Journal of the Board of Education". Google Books.
4. "Historic Building Inventory Survey". New York State Historic Preservation Office.
5. Terte, Robert (May 12, 1964). "Community Tries to Prevent Homogenizing of Ethnically Mixed Student Body". New York Times. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
6. Radomsky, Rosalie R. (January 19, 1992). "If You're Thinking of Living in: Kips Bay". New York Times. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
7. Cummings, Judith (May 11, 1975). "Pilot Project Aids Gifted Children in City Schools". New York Times. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
8. Zimmer, Amy (April 10, 2013). "How to Get Your 4-Year-Old Into a Gifted and Talented Program". DNAInfo. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
9. Johnson, Mary (November 16, 2011). "DOE Rejects Plan that Could Ease P.S. 116 Overcrowding". DNAInfo. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
10. Crow, Kelly (February 24, 2002). "Alicia Keys Is the Talk Of Her Old Neighborhood". New York Times. New York. Retrieved March 22, 2024.

External links

•   Media related to P.S. 116 (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons

40°44′40″N 73°58′40″W / 40.74444°N 73.97778°W / 40.74444; -73.97778