The Lost Grammar School 37 - 113-119 East 87th Street

 

The 1892 facade was modernized around 1927.  photo by Board of Education, N.Y.C., from the collection of the New York Public Library

On July 1, 1891, 30-year-old Charles B. J. Snyder was appointed Superintendent of School Buildings of the Board of Education.  He took on a formidable task.  There were 91 grammar schools and 39 primary schools in Manhattan, and not a single high school.  The school buildings were constructed on a plan little changed since the 1850s—with no regard for proper ventilation, lighting or fire safety.  C. B. J. Snyder would change all that and before retiring 31 years later he would design more than 700 school buildings within the five boroughs and redesign scores of others.

Just four months after his appointment, Snyder turned his attention to the outdated and overcrowded Grammar School 37 on East 87th Street midway between Lexington and Park Avenues.  On November 8, 1893, The New York Times reported, "the new Superintendent of School Buildings, C. J. B. Snyder, had discovered that in the plumbing of Grammar School No. 37, at 113 East Eighty-seventh Street, a cheap quality of galvanized iron pipe had been used instead of the lead pipe called for in the contract."  It was just one of the deficiencies Snyder found.

They initiated a series of overhauls to the building, which were started in May 1893 and completed in 1896.  Despite the significant renovations, the school was never closed, with major construction apparently done during the summer months.  The most substantial phase started in 1895, with Snyder placing the costs at $35,000, or about $1.35 million in 2025 terms.

In the meantime, some parents would have preferred that a new building replaced the old one.  On June 30, 1896, the New York Herald reported on "protests made by citizens" in the neighborhood "as to the alterations being made in the building.  It was asserted that the structure, which is one of the oldest school buildings in the city was unsafe, and that to occupy it would endanger the lives of 2,500 pupils attending the school."

Additionally, not everything went on schedule.  As the renovations neared completion, they delayed the opening of the 1896 fall semester.  On September 29, 1896, The Sun said, "The only one of our regular buildings that is not ready is Grammar School 37, and this will be ready in a few days.  Then all of our last year's children will be accommodated."  

Snyder's renovations resulted in an H-shaped building with play areas tucked into the sides.  Faced in brick and trimmed in brownstone, the four-story facade was five bays wide, the end and center bays projecting slightly forward and capped with overhanging, Tuscan-inspired roofs.

A disturbing incident had taken place while construction progressed.  On the schoolyard on April 19, 1895, Eva Harfield approached five-year-old Matilda Rusch and said, "Here, Tillie, take some April fool candy."  Tillie's mother told reporters later that April fool candy was popular with the children and "was supposed to contain cayenne pepper."  Eva, however, had taken the prank further.

Tillie went home sick.  Dr. J. C. Rosenblueth examined her and diagnosed arsenic poisoning.  On April 25, The Sun reported that the kindergartener had died that morning.  "Tillie had not been conscious since Monday, save for an occasional rational moment," said the article.  During one of those, she had named Eva Harfield as the girl who gave her the candy.  The Evening World reported that police "will not arrest Eva Harfield, as she is under the legal age."

By 1911, the facility had been changed from a grammar school to a public school, now teaching older students.  On October 9 that year, 14-year-old May Lewis left her apartment on 93rd Street for her first day at Public School 37.  Her mother, Anna B. Lewis said she "had 12 cents when she said good-bye."  (The mother and daughter had just returned from three months in Colorado Springs.)  May never reached the school that day.

Anna's husband, the girl's father, had disappeared ten years earlier and Anna declared him dead.  The Evening World reported that Anna feared that May, "was kidnapped by one of her mother's former suitors because she refused to marry him."  After a frantic night and widespread search, on October 10 the New-York Tribune reported, "After spending a night on the porch of a vacant house in New Jersey and a day in the house of two women who befriended her," May was home with her mother.  She explained that on the way to school, "a boy snatched her school transfer card and ran away."  May was too afraid to go to school and somehow ended up in New Jersey.

The auditoriums of public school buildings doubled as local event spaces.  On February 6, 1921, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported that a free concert of the Park Council Symphony Orchestra would be held here the following evening; and a week later the newspaper announced a "mass meeting to discuss [the] traction situation, Public School 37."  (The "traction situation" referred to the street railway system.)

Two months later, four boys were arraigned in the Children's Court "on a technical charge of being juvenile delinquents," according to The New York Times on April 16.  The boys had stolen 110 bars of chocolate from a kitchen storage room, then set a fire to conceal the theft.

The incident foreshadowed a major change to Public School 37.  On February 24, 1927, School magazine reported that it had been converted to a "probationary school," meaning that it taught only "bad" boys.  The article said it was "now prepared to admit truant, insubordinate, and disorderly boys from anywhere in Manhattan and The Bronx."  The article explained boys would be transferred here only after normal means of discipline had been exhausted.

It was most likely at this time that the facade was painted and given an update with Art Deco elements, like the entrance frame.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1938, the approach to disturbed youths was changing from what was essentially incarceration and separation to psychological treatment.  Public School 37 was one of just two probationary schools in the city.  On April 15, The New York Times reported that Assistant Superintendent Benjamin B. Greenberg, "is making a study of these schools to determine what action should be taken."  He offered, "Instead of sending the boys to a special probationary school, with the resultant stigma, the educational officials today attempt to diagnose the problems and then treat the boys on an individualized basis."

Public School 37 was renamed Public School 612, one of the "600" group "to which are sent pupils whose cases are pending in courts or who so lack adjustment that principals have asked for their removal from regular schools."  On June 14, 1950, The New York Times explained, "Deformalized education, greater stress upon individual problems, thorough understanding of the home life and other background of each pupil, stimulation of self-respect and a feeling of 'belonging' are the steps taken by the specially selected teachers in the '600' schools."

Interestingly, the students themselves were involved in their rehabilitation.  On May 30, 1953, for instance, The New York Times reported, "A panel of 'experts' on vandalism, composed of youngsters who known vandalism at first hand, tackled the problem yesterday and came up with some answers that astounded their elders."  The round table discussion, which including boys from 14 to 16 years old, suggested actions like "fines for parents if they were accessories before the fact."

On August 17, 1967, The New York Times reported that the Board of Education was considering "replacing P.S. 169, a school for maladjusted children" with a residential tower atop a school building.  Ten months later, plans for the $8 million school-and-apartment building was filed.  The 38-floor Carnegie Tower was completed in 1972.

image via corcoran.com