Trinity School (New York, N.Y.)

Dates:
Active 1677
Active 1985

Biographical notes:

Trinity School was founded in New York in 1709 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, London, and Trinity Church, New York, as the Charity School. Later it became known as the New York Protestant Episcopal Public School. Trinity School had been an all boys school until approximately ten years ago. Today, it is a co-educational private school located on New York's Upper West Side in a building it has inhabited since 1894.

From the description of Records, 1677-1985. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155502552

In colonial New York, young people primarily received education through private schoolmasters and tutors, and free schooling was available to poor families through the Dutch Reformed and Catholic churches. Following the establishment of a state government, the Regents of the University of the State of New York granted charters for secondary schools in the state; the first charter, in 1768, was for Erasmus Hall Academy, located in the present-day Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush. Individual school districts in Kings County were created based on village, town, or neighborhood boundaries, with each district receiving funding from local taxes, state contributions, and student tuition. This system continued into the mid-19th century, when Brooklyn created a municipal board of education in 1843 to oversee all schools in the city.

While the number of schools in Brooklyn grew, very few educational opportunities existed beyond the primary grades for the children of poor or working class parents. Secondary schools such as Erasmus Hall and the Brooklyn Female Academy (opened in 1846, and now known as the Packer Collegiate Institute) were private, and therefore only affordable for middle class and wealthy families. The Central Grammar School, founded in 1878, was the first public school in Brooklyn to offer secondary level classes. Out of Central Grammar School, Boys' High School and Girls' High School, the first public high schools in Brooklyn, were formed to meet the demand and need for free public education beyond elementary school. Higher education also became available in Brooklyn around this time, as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (now known as Polytechnic Institute of New York University) conferred its first baccalaureate degrees in 1871, and St. Francis Academy evolved from a monastery and preparatory school to St. Francis College in 1885.

Sources Lopate, Carol. Education and Culture in Brooklyn: A History of Ten Institutions. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn Education and Cultural Alliance, 1979. Ment, David. "Public schools." In Encyclopedia of New York City, ed. Kenneth T. Jackson, 955-961. New Haven: Yale University Press; New York: New-York Historical Society, 1995.

From the guide to the Brooklyn schools collection, 1828-1975, (Brooklyn Historical Society)

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Subjects:

  • Education
  • Alumnae and alumni
  • Charity schools
  • College students
  • Students
  • Girls
  • Girls
  • Girls' schools
  • High school students
  • Music education
  • Real property
  • Schools
  • Student life and customs
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not available for this record

Places:

  • New York (N.Y.) (as recorded)