George Washington High School

c. 1923 - present

The George Washington High School was founded to annex the Morris High School in the Bronx. In 1922, American architect Charles B. J. Snyder drew up colonial-style plans for the School’s new location. The school opened in 1923, previously known as the Fort George Amusement Park. When built and opened, the school seemed very prestigious, it served the Italian and Jewish immigrant community in the neighborhood, it had two pools, a WPA Mural, and the students referred to it as the country club. As the years went on, the neighborhood now houses a Hispanic and black population, being a mainly Puerto Rican population in the 1960s. During the period of the 1960s, the school was subject to the city-wide Freedom Day protest calling for the desegregation of New York City Public schools and immediate integration. With the continued influx of Dominican immigrants in the 1970s, the students who attend are mainly from this background. Given the impoverished neighborhood the school is surrounded by during this time, the High School gained a reputation of being “dangerous” and was seen as a ground for gang-related activity and drug dealing. The school still sits at the same site today, but has been split up into four different schools which first happened in the late 1990s; those schools are, The High School for Media and Communications, The College Academy, The High School for Law and Public Service, and The High School for Health Careers and Sciences.

George Washington High School
Construction plan for George Washington High School
View Gallery

Details

Category
School
Instructional Level
High School
Audience
Teenagers
Corporate Body
New York City Department of Education
Tags
Black, Great Depression, Hispanic, Immigration, Italian, New Deal, Public, Segregation
Notes
The George Washington High School no longer exists as one school. It is now broken up into four schools, and the site is known as The George Washington Educational Campus

Location

  • 549 Audubon Ave, New York, NY 10040, USA
    ? - ?

Archival Collections

References

  1. "Boycott Cripples City Schools; Absences 360,000 Above Normal; Negroes and Puerto Ricans Unite." The New York Times, February 4, 1964. https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/04/archives/boycott-cripples-city-schools-absences-360000-above-normal-negroes.html
  2. Jean Arrington, and Cynthia Skeffington LaValle. 2022. From Factories to Palaces : Architect Charles B. J. Snyder and the New York City Public Schools. New York: Empire State Editions. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=2965580&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
  3. Barbara Gottlock, and Wesley Gottlock. 2013. Lost Amusement Parks of New York City : Beyond Coney Island. Lost. Charleston, SC: The History Press. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1190659&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
  4. Robert W. Snyder. 2015. Crossing Broadway : Washington Heights and the Promise of New York City. Ithaca: Three Hills. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=818927&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
  5. https://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/GeoWashingtonHS.html