Ashland School, to which the name “The White School House” clung for over half a century, stood originally on a plot in the rear of Brick Presbyterian Church on Prospect Street. In 1870, the school was moved to a piece of land on North Clinton Street, where the new building seen below was dedicated on September 5, 1871. With 10 classrooms and an auditorium, it cost $50,000.
In 1885, four rooms were added, but still the growth of population led to plans for a larger building.
Below: from a 1906 issue of School Journal
The old school was sold to the Archdiocese in 1906 to become a parochial school, Saint Mary's.
Below: from a 1906 issue of School Journal
The old school was sold to the Archdiocese in 1906 to become a parochial school, Saint Mary's.
On January 7, 1907, a new building opened on the north side of Park Avenue, near Clinton Street.
Above: workman are finishing the building, so photo is probably from late in 1906
In 1921, an addition to the school was opened, comprising a gym, a locker room, eight classrooms, a faculty room and a medical office. A second addition was opened in September 1957, facing on Lincoln Street, with 10 classrooms, small office and a faculty lounge. In addition, the East Orange Public Library opened a branch right in the old school building, facing on Park Avenue.
I started at Ashland in Kindergarten in 1961, and to me there was just the New Building and the Old Building. My father went there from 1931 to 1940, and he also had a New Building and an Old Building, but they were the 1907 and 1921 buildings. Those of us who started school in the 60s didn't know that the "Old Building" was really The Old Building and the New Old Building.
ReplyDeleteThe New Old Building was one of those places that it seemed like you couldn't get there from here, except that you could if you went all the way down past the gym. And there was also a "magic entrance" through the back of the auditorium. Once I learned that that was an addition, the layout and the fact that you couldn't get there from here made sense.
But it still makes my daughter's brain explode when I talk about the Old Building, the New Old Building, and the New Building.