Wadleigh High School for Girls

1897 - 1954

Designed by architect C.B.J. Snyder, the Harlem location for Wadleigh High School for Girls was built in 1902 as the first public girls’ high school in New York City. The W. 114th building was a five story building with 80 classrooms, over a dozen labs, 2 elevators, 3 gymnasiums, an auditorium, a library, 2 study halls, and several offices and bathrooms. The school was renamed after Lydia F. Wadleigh, a pioneer for higher education for women, on June 20, 1900. The French Renaissance and Collegiate Gothic style of the H-shaped school reflected the fashionable middle to upper-middle class, mostly white Harlem of 1902. The school became a site of debate amongst Harlemites as the Great Depression resulted in a growing Black presence and White flight. Educational zoning along with overcrowding, increased enrollment, budget cuts, and the demand for Wadleigh to remain a majority white school led to the opening of 2 annexes, located on 102nd and 13th & Convent Ave. Parents of Wadleigh students rioted as they were split on wanting to move the school, renovate the school, or replace Wadleigh with a new school. In 1954, the New York City Board of Education closed Wadleigh High School for Girls due to students’ poor academic performance, declining enrollment, and the physical condition of the school. After a $1.4 million renovation, the school reopened in 1956 as a co-ed school renamed Intermediate School 88. Today, the W. 114th building stands as the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

The Wadleigh High School for Girls, Borough of Manhattan
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Details

Category
School
Instructional Level
High School
Audience
Teenagers
Tags
community control, turnover, integration, segregation, public, Depression, girls, expansion, architecture

Location

  • 215 W 114th St, New York, NY 10026, USA
    ? - ?

Archival Collections

References

  1. CALLED A HAPPY AUGURY: MAYOR SPEAKS AT DEDICATION OF NEW WADLEIGH HIGH SCHOOL. (1903, Feb 24). New - York Tribune (1900-1910) Retrieved from http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/called-happy-augury/docview/571231352/se-2?accountid=10226
  2. Erickson, & Morrell, E. (2019). Educating Harlem : A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community. Columbia University Press,. https://doi.org/10.7312/eric18220
  3. Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. (1902). Insurance maps of the City of New York. Borough of Manhattan. Surveyed and published by Sanborn Map Co., 11 Broadway, 1902. Volume 7. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/9558d595-af1f-9446-e040-e00a18067fa6
  4. MUSIC HIGH SCHOOL APPROVED BY BOARD: EDUCATION OFFICIALS VOTE TO START ART CLASSES FEB. 1 IN WADLEIGH ANNEX. PROTESTS ARE OVERCOME PARENTS ASSURED THERE WILL BE NO OVERCROWDING -- NEW BUILDING IS PLANNED. (1935, Nov 28). New York Times (1923-) Retrieved from http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/music-high-school-approved-board/docview/101295200/se-2?accountid=10226
  5. Wadleigh High School collection, Sc MG 746, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library https://archives.nypl.org/scm/25606#overview
  6. What lies ahead--wadleigh?: High school faces end of academic career what is to be done about wadleigh high school? (1941, Feb 01). New York Star & Amsterdam News (1941-1941) Retrieved from http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/what-lies-ahead-wadleigh/docview/226115119/se-2?accountid=10226