Newtown High School. 1925 postcard

When you come right down to it, a school is any place where learning can occur. It’s not necessary to have the biggest, most beautiful school building around to make for a good school, but it doesn’t hurt either. Back when these things seem to matter more than they do now, city officials went out of their way to spend their money on civic buildings that not only performed their necessary functions, but enriched the lives of the citizenry. The City Beautiful Movement of the turn of the 20th century codified this idea, believing, however naively, that impressive civic architecture, especially classically inspired buildings, would inspire the immigrant and lower class masses to greater industry, personal pride, and thrift. Buildings like the Brooklyn Museum, the Municipal Building in Manhattan, and even the Beaux-Arts entrance to the Manhattan Bridge on Canal Street, all are a part of that philosophy.

It seems rather absurd today to think that architecture could cure poverty’s ills, but they did have a point about inspiration. A great city is measured in part by its architecture. And what resident of any city would not be proud to point out to visitors the fine museums, homes, houses of worship, municipal buildings, and schools, and say with pride, “This is my city?” All of which brings us to today’s great building, the Newtown High School.

Newtown, one of the three westernmost townships in Queens County, was settled by the Dutch in the 1640s. Up through the 1800s, it grew as a farming community, providing fruits and vegetables to the more urban markets of Manhattan, Long Island City and Brooklyn. The town’s population grew over the centuries, going from around 2,000 people in 1790, to over 7,000 by 1850. A population that large included a lot of children, so in 1866, the township voted to replace its small schoolhouse with a much larger building. This new school, which stood at the site of the present Newtown High School, at 48th Avenue and 90th Street, had six classrooms on two stories, and could accommodate 400 students, all of whom came from the town of Newtown and its surrounding farms.

Newtown continued to grow, as the 19th century ended, with streets and houses replacing the farms, and a new name- Elmhurst, replacing the old. By the 1890s, the “new” schoolhouse was bursting at the seams with students, and the push was on for a much larger school. The principal, Dr. James Darius Dillingham, was a tireless advocate for education and his school. He continuously pestered the town board for enough money to build a much larger school, and finally in 1897, they allocated $75,000 for a new school.

The old wooden school was lifted off its foundation and moved over, and construction began on the new school. It was designed by the firm of Boring & Tilton, and was a three story building of brick and stone, with a Flemish-inspired design. The older school building would be annexed to it, when finished, and this new school would have room for 800 students. There were a lot of problems in construction due to issues with money and the quality of the contractor, none of which were helped by the confusion caused by the annexation of Queens to Greater New York City in 1898. This caused the Queens Board of Education to be absorbed into the central New York City Board of Ed, and as you can imagine, chaos ensued.

But at last, in 1900, the doors of the new school opened, and Dr. Dillingham welcomed his new student body. He had advocated for all kinds of new programs for his school, which at the time served all grades, elementary and high school. The new curriculum promoted science, with a new lab, foreign language courses and college prep math classes. It didn’t take long for this building too, to become way too small, and in 1910, the Board of Ed moved all of the elementary school kids out to a new school, and this building was officially named Newtown High School, a tribute to Elmhurst’s history.

Ironically, that same year, the town fathers started pressuring Dr. Dillingham to close the school. Only 14 students had graduated that year, and they felt Elmhurst didn’t need a high school, which was too small, anyway. Dr. Dillingham begged to differ and instead, pushed for more money to expand the school. For the next few years, the same dance occurred: the town told him to shut down, and the principal advocated for more money. Meanwhile, Elmhurst was growing. Improved public transportation by means of trains and trolleys, and new home development had brought a lot of new people into the town. The high school that was not needed had grown to the point that students were attending classes in cloak rooms and closets. Space had even been taken in the nearby elementary school.

The Board of Education allocated $400,000 for another large addition to the school. Again, they would move the original wooden building somewhere else, while adding a large new annex to the Boring & Tilton school; an annex that would include an auditorium, as well as expanded classroom space. This time, the B of E’s Superintendent of School Buildings, architect C.B. J. Snyder, would be in charge of the design and construction of the building. The project was put into the planning stages in 1917.

C.B.J. Snyder was a brilliant school architect. He began his career with the Board of Education in Manhattan in 1891. When all of the boroughs consolidated as New York City, he became Superintendent of School Buildings for the entire city, a position he held until 1923. During his tenure, he designed hundreds of schools, producing some of the city’s finest school buildings, including Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and this, the Newtown High School.

Snyder not only designed beautiful impressive-looking schools, he revolutionized school building and design, introducing concepts like the “H” shaped schools, which allowed for maximum light into all sides of the building. He also introduced the use of structural steel, which could accommodate more windows into his classrooms, and speed up construction, fireproof brick, and other engineering innovations that have been incorporated into school designs all over the country. Snyder considered the use of his buildings, incorporating design elements that he felt would aid in the learning process, the most important of these being light and ventilation, as well as class size. All of this came into play in his designs for Newtown High School.

The plans for the school were drawn up, but in February of 1918, a massive fire in the drafting room of the Superintendent’s office destroyed all of the blueprints and plans. Over 225 drawings for the Newtown School went up in flames. There were no computers, no copying machines and no CAD programs. All of the plans would have to be drawn by hand again. This would set the project back for almost a year. And that wasn’t the only problem with the Newtown High School. It was going to cost much more than originally planned, and the contractor for the project was balking. On top of that, America was about to enter World War I. What else could happen? The story concludes next time. GMAP

(1925 Postcard of Newtown High School on Ebay)


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