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Coordinates: 40°49′10″N 73°57′00″W / 40.8194°N 73.9500°W / 40.8194; -73.9500
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Townsend Harris Hall School
Address
Map
141 Convent Avenue

,
10031

Coordinates40°49′10″N 73°57′00″W / 40.8194°N 73.9500°W / 40.8194; -73.9500
Information
TypePublic (magnet) secondary
Established1849,
Grades10–12
Enrollment1108
Color(s)Crimson and gold
MascotHawks
NewspaperThe Classic
The Phoenix
YearbookThe Crimson and Gold


The original building on 23rd Street, known as the Lawerence and Eris Field Building, is still in use today.

History

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The school is named for Townsend Harris, who besides his many diplomatic accomplishments, had helped found the Free Academy of the City of New York, later to become City College, and was a strong proponent of free education. Townsend Harris was formed in 1849 as a one year prepartory school for CUNY. [1] The Free Academy's introductory year gradually evolved and in 1904 became a full-fledged, 3-year high school, housed on three floors of what is now Baruch College (in the East Side Manhattan neighborhood of Kips Bay).Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). It required entrance exams to enter into the school. [2] The school was still in its quarters at 23d Street and Lexington Avenue, occupying a spartan campus on the 9th to 12th floors of the building which now houses CUNY’s Baruch College." Summer 2005 Townsend Harris Alumni Magazine Archived 2007-08-11 at the Wayback Machine, p.10</ref> Those who graduated from Townsend Harris were guartenteed a spot in the College of the City of New York. [3] It moved to Harlem, NY in 1906. [4] In 1930 as a result of over crowding, the school moved back to 23rd St. [5] The school operated as an All Boys School for its duration. [6] The school had a significant amount of Jewish and Eastern European students. [7] Most students were ready to graduate by the age of 15/16. [8]

Townsend Harris Hall houses the CUNY School of Medicine. Designed by famed New York architect George B. Post and completed in 1908, the Collegiate Gothic-style building is named for Townsend Harris, the founder of City College, and was dedicated in a ceremony at which Mark Twain was the featured speaker.

Academics

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Townsend Harris condensed four years of high school into three. [9] From here students would automatically get accepted into the City College of New York.[10] The school eventually gained a reputation as being elitist and obsolete. [11] At it's time, it was considered to be NYC's most prestigious examination school. [12]

Closing

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This original incarnation, known as Townsend Harris Hall, survived until 1942 when it was closed by mayor Fiorello La Guardia for budgetary reasons.[13] Although it is speculated it was closed because a relative of Mayor Laguardia was not admitted to the school. [14] New York City eliminated 75 teachers and 1000 students with it's closing. [15] Townsend Harris closed with about 10,000 graduates. [16] In 1980, a group of alumni from Townsend Harris Hall went on a mission to reopen the school. In 1984, a school was opened in Queens, NY, and associated with Queens College which took on a similar name of Townsend Harris High School.

Notable alumni

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Scholars

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Science and technology

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Writing and journalism

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Performing arts and entertainment

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Business, economics, and philanthropy

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Law, politics, and activism

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References

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  1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/nyregion/the-new-townsend-harris-high-keeps-old-goals.html
  2. ^ https://nypost.com/2012/09/09/why-some-schools-rocket-to-the-top/
  3. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/nyregion/the-new-townsend-harris-high-keeps-old-goals.html
  4. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/nyregion/the-new-townsend-harris-high-keeps-old-goals.html
  5. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/10/nyregion/the-new-townsend-harris-high-keeps-old-goals.html
  6. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jonas_Salk/qfRgBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=townsend+harris+hall+high+school+ccny&pg=PT54&printsec=frontcover
  7. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/07/archives/30-alumni-of-townsend-harris-high-recall-glory-years-as-elite.html
  8. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/07/archives/30-alumni-of-townsend-harris-high-recall-glory-years-as-elite.html
  9. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Aristocracy_of_Talent/uOU3EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=townsend+harris+hall+high+school+manhattan+admissions&pg=PT241&printsec=frontcover
  10. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Aristocracy_of_Talent/uOU3EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=townsend+harris+hall+high+school+manhattan+admissions&pg=PT241&printsec=frontcover
  11. ^ https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/baruchcollegearchives/?p=282
  12. ^ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Benderly_Boys_and_American_Jewish_Ed/3_V2lcwyrFwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=townsend+harris+hall+high+school+ccny&pg=PA61&printsec=frontcover
  13. ^ "Townsend Harris HS Alumni Association".
  14. ^ https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/townsend-harris-high-school-real-gem-queens-article-1.1154657
  15. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/07/archives/30-alumni-of-townsend-harris-high-recall-glory-years-as-elite.html
  16. ^ https://thaa.org/thhs_history.html
  17. ^ Roberts, Sam. "Morton Deutsch, Expert on Conflict Resolution, Dies at 97", The New York Times, March 21, 2017. Accessed March 23, 2017. "Raised in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, he read Freud and Marx when he was 10, graduated from Townsend Harris Hall and entered City College when he was 15 planning to become a psychiatrist."
  18. ^ James (ed.), Laylin K. (1995), Nobel laureates in chemistry, 1901-1992 (3rd ed.), American Chemical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation, ISBN 0-8412-2459-5, (p. 674) Born ... in New York City, Hauptman received his early education there, graduating from Townsend Harris High School. {{citation}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  19. ^ a b Lebow, Eileen F. (2000), "The bright boys: a history of Townsend Harris High School", Contributions to the Study of Education, Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-31479-9, ISSN 0196-707X, (p. 21) A comparison of the two sets of grades indicates the intensity of scholarship that became a Townsend Harris trademark ... Future physicist William Nierenberg, Class of 1935, garnered five 100s ... Future Nobel Laureate Herbert Hauptman had three 100s ...
  20. ^ "Robert Jastrow: Astronomer, cosmologist, physicist, and space scientist who was a well-known advocate of NASA", The Times (UK), 28 March 2008, retrieved 2 January 2011, Jastrow was born in 1925 in New York City. He attended the Townsend Harris High School, Flushing, New York, and went on to study physics at Columbia University
  21. ^ Schiffer, John; Charles Johnson (16 May 2007). "Death notice: Gilbert Jerome Perlow". obituary. Physics Today. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Gilbert Perlow, one of the pioneers of the Mössbauer effect and an editor of the Journal of Applied Physics and Applied Physics Letters ... He attended Townsend Harris Hall (now Townsend Harris High School) in Queens
  22. ^ Naden, Corinne J.; Blue, Rose (2001), Jonas Salk: Polio Pioneer, Brookfield, CT, USA: Millbrook Press, Inc., ISBN 0-7613-1804-6, (p. 12) Twelve-year-old Jonas Salk passed the test and entered Townsend Harris High School in 1926. When he graduated three years later, he was not quite 15 ...
  23. ^ Schmeck Jr., Harold M. (24 June 1995), "Dr. Jonas Salk, Whose Vaccine Turned Tide on Polio, Dies at 80", New York Times, retrieved 1 January 2011, The family lived in the Bronx, where Jonas went to grade school, then to the Townsend Harris High School for exceptionally promising students.
  24. ^ a b c d e f Roff, Sandra Shoiock; Cucchiara, Anthony M. (2000), From the Free Academy to CUNY: illustrating public higher education in New York City, 1847-1997, New York, NY, USA: Fordham University Press, ISBN 0-8232-2019-2, (p. 19) Admission to Harris High was selective, and its graduates ... form a roster of high achievers. A few representative names are author Herman Wouk, actor Cornel Wilde, politician Adam Clayton Powell, lyricist Ira Gershwin, scientist Jonas Salk, news commentator David Schonbaum, and playwright Sidney Kingsley.
  25. ^ Milton, Kimball A. (9 October 2006), Julian Schwinger: Nuclear Physics, the Radiation Laboratory, Renormalized QED, Source Theory, and Beyond (PDF), pp. 4–5, The Depression did mean that Julian would have to rely on free education, which New York well-provided in those days: A year or two at Townsend Harris High School, a public preparatory school feeding into City College, where Julian matriculated in 1933.
  26. ^ Schweber, Silvan S. (1994), QED and the men who made it: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga, Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-03685-3, (p.276) As Harold had done before him, Julian attended Townsend Harris.
  27. ^ Levy, Leon; Linden, Eugene (2009-03-25). The Mind of Wall Street: A Legendary Financier on the Perils of Greed and the Mysteries of the Market. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-0-7867-3015-5.
  28. ^ Lagemann, Ellen Condliffe; Patricia A. Graham (1994). "Lawrence A. Cremin: A Biographical Memoir". Teachers College Record. 96 (1). New York, NY, USA: Columbia University: 102–113. ISSN 0161-4681. Lawrence Cremin was truly a giant among us. A man of boundless energy, ... Graduated from Townsend Harris at the age of fifteen and a half
  29. ^ Fowler, Glenn (5 September 1990), "Obituary; Lawrence Cremin, 64, Educator And a Prize-Winning Historian", New York Times, p. 2, retrieved 1 January 2011, A native of Manhattan, Dr. Cremin was a graduate of Townsend Harris High School and of City College.
  30. ^ Larrabee, Harold A.; Sterling P. Lamprecht (1954–1955). "Irwin Edman". Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association. 28. Newark, DE, USA: American Philosophical Association: 60–62. ISSN 0065-972X. Irwin Edman was every inch a New Yorker, appropriately educated at the Townsend Harris High School for the exceptionally gifted.
  31. ^ Widmer, Kingsley (1980). Paul Goodman. Boston: Twayne. p. 13. ISBN 0-8057-7292-8.
  32. ^ Barnes, Mike (2015-10-08). "Hy Hollinger, Former THR Writer and International Editor, Dies at 97". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
  33. ^ John F. Kieran's biography at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
  34. ^ a b c Lebow, Eileen F. (2000), "The bright boys: a history of Townsend Harris High School", Contributions to the Study of Education, Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-31479-9, ISSN 0196-707X, (p. 137) ... affirming the school's unique role and listing distinguished alumni: among them Justice Felix Frankfurter, Senator Robert Wagner ... Sidney Kingsley, playwright; and Edward G. Robinson, actor.
  35. ^ Fischer, Heinz Dietrich; Fischer, Erika J. (1998), The Pulitzer Prize Archive: Drama/comedy awards, 1917-1996: from Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams to Richard Rodgers and Edward Albee, vol. 12, part 4, Bodenheim, FRG: WS-Druckerei Werner Schaubruch, ISBN 3-598-30170-7, (p. 71) Sidney Kingsley (born Sidney Kirshner ...) first attended public school on the Lower West Side and then Townsend Harris high school, graduating in 1924.
  36. ^ Martin, Douglas (8 July 2006), "Anatole Shub, 78, a Researcher and Reporter on Russian Topics, Dies", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, Mr. Shub attended Townsend Harris High School and then joined the Navy in 1945.
  37. ^ Beichman, Arnold (2009) [2004], Herman Wouk: the novelist as social historian (2nd ed.), Piscatawway, NJ, USA: Transaction Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7658-0836-3, (p. 15) Wouk was the youngest of three children ... He attended Townsend Harris High School, an elite public school for high IQ New York youngsters ...
  38. ^ Weber, Bruce (9 September 2009), "Army Archerd, Columnist for Variety, Dies at 87", New York Times, retrieved 1 January 2011, Armand André Archerd was born in New York City ... He attended Townsend Harris High School and City College of New York ...
  39. ^ a b Saperstein, Pat (14 May 2008). "Warren Cowan dies at 87: PR maven "father of Hollywood press agents"". obituary. Variety. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd and Cowan became best friends when they were 12 ... Cowan was born in New York to songwriter Rubey Cowan and wife Grace and attended Townsend Harris High School with Archerd.
  40. ^ Weber, Bruce (16 May 2008), "Warren Cowan, a Star at Promoting Stars, Dies at 87", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, Warren Jay Cowan was born in New York City on March 13, 1921. His father, Rubey, was a songwriter. He went to Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan
  41. ^ Bloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-97380-9, (p. 58) Howard Dietz was born in New York ... He attended Townsend Harris Hall and Columbia University.
  42. ^ "Ervin Drake". biographic sketch. Song Writers Hall of Fame. 2011. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2011. He was born Ervin Maurice Druckman in New York City on April 3, 1919. He attended Townsend Harris Hall, and then the City College of New York
  43. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pollack book was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  44. ^ a b Bloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-97380-9, (p. 106) E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg was perhaps Broadway's most complex lyricist ... He began as a lyricist while still at New York City's Townsend Harris Hall High School along with schoolmate Ira Gershwin
  45. ^ Riley, Sam G. (1995), Biographical dictionary of American newspaper columnists, Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-29192-6, (pp. 129-130) Hellinger was born in New York City ad attended the city's public schools. He was expelled from Townsend Harris High School for organizing a student strike.
  46. ^ Bloom, Ken (2007), The Routledge guide to Broadway, New York, NY, USA: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-97380-9, (p. 148) Frank Loesser was the most versatile of all Broadway composers ... He was educated at Townsend Harris Hall and dropped out of City College.
  47. ^ Rodgers, Richard; Rodgers, Mary (2002) [1975], Musical Stages: An Autobiography (3rd ed.), Cambridge, MA, USA: Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-81134-0, (p. 18) This victory in part was responsible in part for my downfall at Townsend Harris, and started a pattern I was to follow for the rest of my scholastic life: I always devoted too much time to nonacademic matters.
  48. ^ Hyland, William G. (1998), Richard Rodgers, New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07115-9, Richard enrolled at the prestigious Townsend Harris Hall, a high school reserved for talented young boys ... Academic pursuits did not attract Rodgers, however, and he transferred to the more pedestrian De Witt Clinton High School
  49. ^ a b Strouse, Charles (2008), Put on a Happy Face: A Broadway Memoir, New York, NY, USA: Sterling Publishing Co, Inc., ISBN 978-1-4027-5889-8, ... in 1943, at the age of fifteen, I graduated from the academically prestigious Townsend Harris Hall ... Alumni included Richard Rodgers, Richard Loesser, Ira Gershwin, E. Y. Harburg, and actors Clifton Webb and E. G. Robinson.
  50. ^ Rothstein, Mervyn (1 September 2009). "A Life in the Theatre: Charles Strouse". interview. Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010. I went to P.S. 87 and Townsend Harris High School, and when it was time to go to college I went to music school.
  51. ^ Sponberg, Arvid, F. (1991), Broadway talks: what professionals think about commercial theater in America, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-26687-5, (p. 97) Charles Strouse the composer of By Bye Birdie and Annie, among other musicals, was born in New York City in 1928. He received his education at P.S. 87, Townsend Harris High School, and the Eastman School of Music.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  52. ^ "JOSEPH VOGEL, 73, OF M-G-M IS DEAD: PRESIDENT, 1956–63, GUIDED COMPANY IN MONEY CRISIS". The New York Times. March 2, 1969. p. 80.
  53. ^ Brody, Seymour "Sy" (18 July 2008). "Kenneth J. Arrow: Nobel Prize in Economics Recipient". biographic sketch. Florida Atlantic University Libraries. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Arrow was born on August 23, 1921, in New York City. His parents were Jewish and very supportive of his education. He graduated Townsend Harris High School and went to City College of New York ...
  54. ^ Weiss, Samuel (10 June 1985), "THE NEW TOWNSEND HARRIS HIGH KEEPS OLD GOALS", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, In 1942, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia ordered the closing of Townsend Harris High School as a nonessential educational unit. In its 36-year existence, the school had won a national reputation, producing such graduates as Dr. Jonas E. Salk, the discoverer of a polio vaccine; Kenneth Arrow, a winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science ...
  55. ^ "The Best Queens Celebirities 2002". list of notable persons from the Borough of Queens. Queens Tribune. 2002. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Eugene Lang - The philanthropist graduated from Townsend Harris High School in 1934.
  56. ^ Levy, Leon; Linden, Eugene (2002), The Mind of Wall Street: A Legendary Financier on the Perils of Greed and the Mysteries of the Market, New York, NY, USA: PublicAffairs (Perseus Books Group), ISBN 1-58648-208-4, ... (pp. x-xi) I might as well 'fess up to some intimate details of my relationship with Leon Levy. Leon and I have known each other since high school and college ... just about all these qualities were visible when we were in Townsend Harris High School together sixty years ago.
  57. ^ Martin, Douglas (8 April 2003), "Leon Levy, Philanthropist, Dies at 77", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, Leon Levy, a hedge fund pioneer ... went on to make many millions, enough to make him one of the main individual backers of archaeological research ... The younger Mr. Levy graduated from Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan in 1939 and from the City College of New York in 1948.
  58. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths WEISSMAN, GEORGE", New York Times, 29 July 2009, retrieved 2 January 2011, George Weissman attended the famed Townsend Harris High School, located on the City College campus.
  59. ^ Cohen, Felix S.; Wilkins (ed.), David Eugene (2006), On the drafting of tribal constitutions, Norman, OK, USA: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0-8061-3806-8, (p. xiv) Felix Cohen was born in New York City ... He attended Towsend Harris High School in New York. {{citation}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  60. ^ a b "Education: Sit-Down Strike". Time. Vol. 37, no. 17. New York, NY, USA: Time Warner, Inc. 28 April 1941. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on June 24, 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011. ... a mob of pupils gathered before Manhattan's Townsend Harris High School ... Object: to protest against Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's plan to economize by closing their 93-year-old school, alma mater of such celebrities as Mr. Justice Felix Frankfurter, Senator Robert F. Wagner
  61. ^ Moritz, Owen (24 June 1999), "RUDOLPH HALLEY STREAK OF LIGHT", New York Times, retrieved 2 January 2011, UT POLITICAL life did not turn out quite the way Rudolph Halley had hoped. He was a seminal New York story ... The child prodigy graduated elite Townsend Harris High School in Queens at 14[permanent dead link]
  62. ^ Malcolm, James, ed. (1922). The New York Red Book. Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 121 – via Google Books.
  63. ^ "NIX, Robert Nelson Cornelius, Sr., (1898 - 1987)". biographic sketch. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2 January 2011. graduated from Townsend Harris Hall High School, New York, N.Y.
  64. ^ "Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix, Sr.: Representative, 1958–1979, Democrat from Pennsylvania". biographic sketch. Black Americans in Congress: Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011. Nix graduated from Townsend Harris High School in New York City (also attended by Nix's future African-American House colleague Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., of New York) ...
  65. ^ "Igal Roodenko, 74; Led Anti-War Group". New York Times. 1 May 1991. p. D24.
  66. ^ "Assemblywoman Nily Rozic Assembly District 25". assembly.state.ny.us. State of New York. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  67. ^ "Sol Ullman, Once in Assembly, 48" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. XC, no. 30480. New York, N.Y. 7 July 1941. p. 15.
  68. ^ William Zeck, 87, Prosecutor at Nuremberg
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Category:Defunct high schools in Manhattan Category: Former school buildings in the United States Category:Public high schools in Queens, New York Category:Magnet schools in New York (state) Category:Kew Gardens Hills, Queens