The Wadleigh High School for Girls, which was established by the NYC Board of Education in 1897 and moved into its new building in Harlem in September 1902 It was the first public high school for girls in New York City.[1] At the time, public secondary education for girls was considered highly novel and perhaps a bit scandalous. Newspapers considered it newsworthy enough to devote many stories to describing classroom scenes of girls receiving “higher” education.[2] The building is now shared among several schools including the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, the Frederick Douglass Academy II, and Success Academy Harlem West.
Photograph of the Wadleigh High School for Girls from shortly after its completion in 1902.
The school was named for Lydia Fowler Wadleigh (1817–1888), who was a pioneer in higher education for women. In 1856 she established the 12th Street Advanced School for Girls in the face of “bitter opposition,” according to The New York Times in 1904.[3] Later in her career, she assisted Thomas Hunter in the creation and was the first “Lady Superintendent” of the New York Normal College, now known as Hunter College.[4]
Buildingedit
Located at 215 West 114th Street, the building was constructed during 1901–02 and opened for the 1902–03 school year. The total cost for the land, building, and equipment was $900,000. At the time of its construction, it was praised by The New York Times as “the finest high school building in the world.”[5]
Five stories tall, the building had such wonders of the times as electric elevators and central forced-air ventilation. The architect of the school was C. B. J. Snyder, who, as Superintendent of School Buildings for New York City, was responsible for the design of most of the New York City public schools of the time, including such notable buildings as DeWitt Clinton High School and Erasmus Hall High School. The brick-and-limestone school, done in a French Renaissance style, featured an imposing tower, stained-glass windows, and a series of terra-cotta bas-relief shields with patriotic American motifs.[6] In 1993 a renovation, costing $47 million, was completed.[7] The following year, Wadleigh was designated a New York City Landmark.[8]
Social historyedit
Although 85% of the population in New York City at the time of its opening were either immigrants or children of immigrants, from its beginnings Wadleigh took pride in turning its students into “gentlewomen” who could assume their rightful place as contributors to American society. The nature of that contribution was subject to the temper of the times. In 1910, Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont (see Alva Belmont), a wealthy socialite, offered $100 in prizes to the girls of Wadleigh who could write the best essays on the subject of woman’s suffrage. The New York City Board of Education decided not to allow the contest to proceed with a view towards stopping the spread of woman suffrage propaganda in the public schools.[9] Later, in 1937, Dr. Harold G. Campbell, Superintendent of Schools, assured a gathering in celebration of the school’s 40th anniversary that “we at the Board of Education will do our best to keep Wadleigh as a school for ladies.”[10]
Neighborhood and subsequent history of the schooledit
When the Wadleigh High School for Girls opened in 1902, the Harlem neighborhood in upper Manhattan where Wadleigh was located was a fashionable middle and upper class, mostly white and Jewish, area. Over the subsequent decades, Harlem became a center of black life in New York City, but it also became a more economically disadvantaged area as well. In 1937, Dr. John L. Tildsey, retired Associate Superintendent of Schools, was quoted in the New York Times as saying that the students at Wadleigh "have to pass through a neighborhood where gentlewomen do not like to pass." He further urged parents to "bring pressure on the Board of Education and the Board of Estimate for a new site on the upper West Side where they can send their girls in confidence and security." At the end of the 1953-54 school year, Wadleigh was closed.[11] It reopened in 1956 after some renovation as a co-educational junior high school. In 1993, after a complete renovation, Wadleigh became a co-educational secondary school. In the early decades of the 21st century, the building was shared among several distinct schools. These include the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, the Frederick Douglass Academy II, and Success Academy Harlem West.[12][13]
^Kennedy, Randy, “NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: Upper West Side; Old School: Famous, Infamous and Now a Landmark”, New York Times, July 31, 1994.
^“Wadleigh to Mark 40th Anniversary”, New York Times, December 5, 1937.
^"Honor Teachers Memory", New York Times, February 7, 1904.
^"Lydia F. Wadleigh". rootsweb.ancestry.com. from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
^“Modern Ideas Followed in Building New High School”, New York Times, March 1, 1903.
^Kennedy, Shawn G., “Landmarks: Now, It’s Harlem’s Turn”, New York Times, May 12, 1991.
^Gray, Christopher, “Streetscapes/Wadleigh Secondary School; Renovating a 1902 Novelty”, New York Times, September 19, 1993.
^"Wadleigh High School for Girls/(now) Wadleigh School" (PDF). Landmarks Preservation Commission. July 26, 1994. (PDF) from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
^“MRS. FISH GONE OVER TO THE SUFFRAGISTS; Society Leader Who Last Year Inveighed Against the Cause Converted by Mrs. Belmont”, New York Times, January 16, 1910.
^“Wadleigh Presses New School Plea”, New York Times, December 12, 1937.
^"Wadleigh School Faces New Status", New York Times, June 16, 1953.
^"Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts - District 3 - InsideSchools". insideschools.org. from the original on July 25, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
^Otterman, Sharon (July 6, 2018). "The Chancellor Saved a Failing Harlem School, but Can It Be Fixed?". The New York Times. from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
^ abcde"Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts". www.wadleigharts.org. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^Boyd, Herb (2018-04-19). "Vinnette Carroll, first Black woman director on Broadway". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
^Biography Today: Author Series. Detroit: Omnigraphics, Inc. 1996. p. 18. ISBN0-7808-0014-1.
^Johnson, Erskine (July 3, 1943). "Screen Chats". Shamokin News-Dispatch. Pennsylvania, Shamokin. Shamokin News-Dispatch. p. 5. from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
^Katchmer, George A. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 110. ISBN978-0-7864-4693-3. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
^Aaker, Everett (2013). George Raft: The Films. McFarland. p. 31. ISBN978-0-7864-9313-5. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
^Howard Dodson (2000). The Black New Yorkers. Internet Archive. John Wiley. ISBN978-0-471-29714-7.
^Pollock, Lindsay (2006). The girl with the gallery: Edith Gregor Halpert and the making of the modern art market (1st ed.). New York: Public Affairs. ISBN978-1-58648-302-9. OCLC 70668720.
^"LILLIAN HELLMAN, PLAYWRIGHT, AUTHOR AND REBEL, DIES AT 79". The New York Times. July 1, 1984. p. 1.
wadleigh, high, school, girls, which, established, board, education, 1897, moved, into, building, harlem, september, 1902, first, public, high, school, girls, york, city, time, public, secondary, education, girls, considered, highly, novel, perhaps, scandalous. The Wadleigh High School for Girls which was established by the NYC Board of Education in 1897 and moved into its new building in Harlem in September 1902 It was the first public high school for girls in New York City 1 At the time public secondary education for girls was considered highly novel and perhaps a bit scandalous Newspapers considered it newsworthy enough to devote many stories to describing classroom scenes of girls receiving higher education 2 The building is now shared among several schools including the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts the Frederick Douglass Academy II and Success Academy Harlem West Wadleigh High School for GirlsAddress215 West 114th StreetNew York City 10026Coordinates40 48 10 N 73 57 15 W 40 80278 N 73 95417 W 40 80278 73 95417InformationOther nameThe Wadleigh SchoolSchool typePublicEstablished1897GenderGirls Contents 1 Namesake 2 Building 3 Social history 4 Neighborhood and subsequent history of the school 5 Alumnae 6 See also 7 ReferencesNamesake edit nbsp Photograph of the Wadleigh High School for Girls from shortly after its completion in 1902 The school was named for Lydia Fowler Wadleigh 1817 1888 who was a pioneer in higher education for women In 1856 she established the 12th Street Advanced School for Girls in the face of bitter opposition according to The New York Times in 1904 3 Later in her career she assisted Thomas Hunter in the creation and was the first Lady Superintendent of the New York Normal College now known as Hunter College 4 Building editLocated at 215 West 114th Street the building was constructed during 1901 02 and opened for the 1902 03 school year The total cost for the land building and equipment was 900 000 At the time of its construction it was praised by The New York Times as the finest high school building in the world 5 Five stories tall the building had such wonders of the times as electric elevators and central forced air ventilation The architect of the school was C B J Snyder who as Superintendent of School Buildings for New York City was responsible for the design of most of the New York City public schools of the time including such notable buildings as DeWitt Clinton High School and Erasmus Hall High School The brick and limestone school done in a French Renaissance style featured an imposing tower stained glass windows and a series of terra cotta bas relief shields with patriotic American motifs 6 In 1993 a renovation costing 47 million was completed 7 The following year Wadleigh was designated a New York City Landmark 8 Social history editAlthough 85 of the population in New York City at the time of its opening were either immigrants or children of immigrants from its beginnings Wadleigh took pride in turning its students into gentlewomen who could assume their rightful place as contributors to American society The nature of that contribution was subject to the temper of the times In 1910 Mrs O H P Belmont see Alva Belmont a wealthy socialite offered 100 in prizes to the girls of Wadleigh who could write the best essays on the subject of woman s suffrage The New York City Board of Education decided not to allow the contest to proceed with a view towards stopping the spread of woman suffrage propaganda in the public schools 9 Later in 1937 Dr Harold G Campbell Superintendent of Schools assured a gathering in celebration of the school s 40th anniversary that we at the Board of Education will do our best to keep Wadleigh as a school for ladies 10 Neighborhood and subsequent history of the school editWhen the Wadleigh High School for Girls opened in 1902 the Harlem neighborhood in upper Manhattan where Wadleigh was located was a fashionable middle and upper class mostly white and Jewish area Over the subsequent decades Harlem became a center of black life in New York City but it also became a more economically disadvantaged area as well In 1937 Dr John L Tildsey retired Associate Superintendent of Schools was quoted in the New York Times as saying that the students at Wadleigh have to pass through a neighborhood where gentlewomen do not like to pass He further urged parents to bring pressure on the Board of Education and the Board of Estimate for a new site on the upper West Side where they can send their girls in confidence and security At the end of the 1953 54 school year Wadleigh was closed 11 It reopened in 1956 after some renovation as a co educational junior high school In 1993 after a complete renovation Wadleigh became a co educational secondary school In the early decades of the 21st century the building was shared among several distinct schools These include the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts the Frederick Douglass Academy II and Success Academy Harlem West 12 13 Alumnae editAlumnae include Evelina Lopez Antonetty 1922 1984 civil rights activist 14 Vinnette Justine Carroll 1922 2002 playwright actress and theatre director 15 Alice Childress 1916 1994 novelist playwright and actress 16 Lady Bird Cleveland 1926 2015 artist 14 Constance Dowling 1920 1969 actress 17 Virginia Brown Faire 1904 1980 actress 18 Wynne Gibson 1898 1987 actress 19 Aurora Greely 1905 1983 dancer and choreographer 20 Edith Gregor Halpert 1900 1970 American art dealer and collector 21 Lillian Hellman 1905 1984 playwright 22 Jane Margueretta Hoey 1892 1968 social worker 23 Rosella Kanarik 1909 2014 American mathematics professor and educator Dorothea Lange 1895 1965 photojournalist 24 Dr Margaret Morgan Lawrence 1914 12019 the first Black female psychoanalyst and psychiatrist 25 Dina Melicov 1905 1969 sculptor Dora Cole Norman 1888 1939 educator dancer theater producer playwright and sportswoman 26 Molly Parnis 1899 1992 fashion designer 27 Bernice Robinson 1914 1994 civil rights activist Anna Rosenberg 1899 1983 civil servant 28 Isabel Sanford 1917 2004 actress 14 Carmen Velma Shepperd 1910 1997 29 Eulalie Spence 1894 1981 playwright and teacher 30 Jean Stapleton 1923 2013 actress 14 Gitel Steed 1914 1977 anthropologist photographer 14 Olivia P Stokes 1916 2002 religious educator ordained Baptist minister author administrator and civil rights activist 31 Arlein Ford Straw 1920 2009 class of 1936 composer 32 Wezlynn Tildon 1918 1993 class of 1936 radio actress 32 Gene Weltfish 1902 1980 class of 1919 anthropologist and historian 33 See also editList of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan National Register of Historic Places listings in New York County New YorkReferences edit Kennedy Randy NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT Upper West Side Old School Famous Infamous and Now a Landmark New York Times July 31 1994 Wadleigh to Mark 40th Anniversary New York Times December 5 1937 Honor Teachers Memory New York Times February 7 1904 Lydia F Wadleigh rootsweb ancestry com Archived from the original on November 2 2012 Retrieved July 5 2012 Modern Ideas Followed in Building New High School New York Times March 1 1903 Kennedy Shawn G Landmarks Now It s Harlem s Turn New York Times May 12 1991 Gray Christopher Streetscapes Wadleigh Secondary School Renovating a 1902 Novelty New York Times September 19 1993 Wadleigh High School for Girls now Wadleigh School PDF Landmarks Preservation Commission July 26 1994 Archived PDF from the original on February 11 2012 Retrieved July 5 2012 MRS FISH GONE OVER TO THE SUFFRAGISTS Society Leader Who Last Year Inveighed Against the Cause Converted by Mrs Belmont New York Times January 16 1910 Wadleigh Presses New School Plea New York Times December 12 1937 Wadleigh School Faces New Status New York Times June 16 1953 Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing amp Visual Arts District 3 InsideSchools insideschools org Archived from the original on July 25 2015 Retrieved June 30 2015 Otterman Sharon July 6 2018 The Chancellor Saved a Failing Harlem School but Can It Be Fixed The New York Times Archived from the original on August 7 2018 Retrieved January 15 2019 a b c d e Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing amp Visual Arts www wadleigharts org Retrieved 2024 04 07 Boyd Herb 2018 04 19 Vinnette Carroll first Black woman director on Broadway New York Amsterdam News Retrieved 2024 04 07 Biography Today Author Series Detroit Omnigraphics Inc 1996 p 18 ISBN 0 7808 0014 1 Johnson Erskine July 3 1943 Screen Chats Shamokin News Dispatch Pennsylvania Shamokin Shamokin News Dispatch p 5 Archived from the original on May 7 2016 Retrieved April 13 2016 via Newspapers com nbsp Katchmer George A 2002 A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses McFarland p 110 ISBN 978 0 7864 4693 3 Retrieved 12 November 2016 Aaker Everett 2013 George Raft The Films McFarland p 31 ISBN 978 0 7864 9313 5 Retrieved 8 November 2016 Howard Dodson 2000 The Black New Yorkers Internet Archive John Wiley ISBN 978 0 471 29714 7 Pollock Lindsay 2006 The girl with the gallery Edith Gregor Halpert and the making of the modern art market 1st ed New York Public Affairs ISBN 978 1 58648 302 9 OCLC 70668720 LILLIAN HELLMAN PLAYWRIGHT AUTHOR AND REBEL DIES AT 79 The New York Times July 1 1984 p 1 June Hopkins Hoey Jane Margueretta http www anb org articles 15 15 00336 html Archived 2022 08 29 at the Wayback Machine American National Biography Online Feb 2000 Access date Mon Oct 16 2017 15 51 59 GMT 0400 EDT Acker Kerry Dorothea Lange Infobase Publishing 2004 Flayton Leigh 2019 02 20 Dr Margaret Lawrence a Pioneer in Children s Mental Health Research NewYork Presbyterian Retrieved 2024 04 07 Wednesday Open Thread Early African American Basketball II January 13 2016 Mollie Parnis Designer Dies in Her 90 s The New York Times July 19 1992 Anna Rosenberg Jewish Women s Archive Retrieved 2024 04 07 Miss Sheppard Contralto to Sing April 20 The Chicago Defender April 15 1933 p 17 via ProQuest Prentiss Craig R New Territory New York USA NYU Press 2013 pp 39 72 doi 10 18574 nyu 9780814707951 003 0003 Olivia Pearl Stokes Biola University Retrieved 2024 04 07 a b Graduated The New York Age 1936 07 04 p 4 Retrieved 2024 02 15 via Newspapers com Theory and Practice Essays presented to Gene Weltfish edited by Stanley Diamond The Hague The Netherlands Mouton Publishers 1980 40 48 10 N 73 57 15 W 40 80278 N 73 95417 W 40 80278 73 95417 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wadleigh High School for Girls amp oldid 1220428665, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
