Erasmus Hall High School

Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough

Borough (New York City)

New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education

New York City Department of Education

The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...

.

Erasmus Hall High School, originally called Erasmus Hall Academy, a private institution of higher learning founded in 1786 by Dutch settlers

Dutch colonization of the Americas

Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...

in Vlacke bos ("flat woodland"), Anglicized to Flatbush

Flatbush, Brooklyn

Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....

, was the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Regents. The clapboard

Clapboard

Clapboard may refer to:*Clapboard , a building material*Clapperboard, a film production tool...

-sided, Federal style building, constructed in 1787 on land donated by the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...

still located at 890 Flatbush Avenue (designated a New York City Landmark in 1966), continued in use and was donated to the public school system in 1896.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Brooklyn experienced a rapidly growing population, and the original small school was enlarged with the addition of several wings and the purchase of several nearby buildings. In 1904, the Board of Education

Board of education

A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....

began a new building campaign to meet the needs of the burgeoning student population. The Superintendent of School Buildings and Architect, Charles B.J. Snyder, designed a series of buildings to be constructed as needed, around an open quadrangle, while continuing to use the old building in the center of the courtyard.

Erasmus Hall was named for the Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

scholar Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....

(a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic Christian theologian). Called "the greatest Latinist since Cicero," Erasmus translated the Christian New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

from Greek, and brought the "New Learning to England at the time of Henry VIII".

A statue

Statue

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...

of Erasmus (cast from the 1622 original in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

by Hendrick de Keiser) was donated by an alumnus, Richard Young

Richard Young (New York congressman)

Richard Young was a U.S. Representative from New York.Born in Derry, Ireland, Young migrated to the United States in 1851 with his parents, who settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools and graduated from Crittenden's Commercial College in Philadelphia...

, and stands in the school’s courtyard. Dedicated in 1931, the base is engraved with the words:

"Desiderius Erasmus, the maintainer and restorer of the sciences and polite literature, the greatest man of his century, the excellent citizen who, through his immortal writings, acquired an everlasting fame."

The original Academy building, which still stands in the courtyard of the current school, served the students of Erasmus Hall in three different centuries. Now a designated New York City Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, the building is a museum exhibiting the school’s long and colorful history.

Erasmus Hall Academy

Erasmus Hall Academy was founded as a private school by Reverend John H. Livingston and Senator John Vanderbilt in 1786 and became the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. Land was donated by the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church for the building and contributions were collected for “an institution of higher learning,” from leading citizens such as Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr, Jr. was an important political figure in the early history of the United States of America. After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician...

, Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...

, Peter Lefferts and Robert Livingston

Robert Livingston

Robert Livingston may refer to:* Robert Livingston the Elder , New York colonial official, and first lord of Livingston Manor*Robert Livingston the Younger , mayor of Albany...

.

The wood-framed, clapboard-sided

Clapboard (architecture)

Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...

, Federal style

Federal architecture

Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...

school building, two and one-half stories tall with hipped roof

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

, was opened in 1787 with 26 students. Through the years, various wings were added to the Academy building and later removed.

Erasmus Hall Academy began accepting female students in 1801, and in 1803 it incorporated the village school of Flatbush. The village evolved into a city, and started a public school system that competed with Erasmus for its student body. As a result, there was a steady decline in its enrollment until in 1896 enrollment was reduced to 150 boys and girls, up from the 105 boys who were registered in the school in 1795. The Board of Trustees decided to donate the Academy to the public school system with the following resolution by the Board of Trustees

Trustee

Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

"That the Board of Trustees offer the grounds of the Academy to the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...

upon the following conditions, viz: In consideration of the gift of the land the Board of Education are to erect and maintain upon said land a High School Building of the same character and grade as other High School Buildings in the City of Brooklyn."

Following the agreement with the Erasmus Hall Board of Trustees, the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn requested proposals for a design for a new school building. Twenty architects responded with plans, several of which were published in contemporary architectural periodicals.

It soon became clear that none of these plans could be erected for less than a million dollars, and since that was considered too expensive, the project was dropped. The Brooklyn Board of Education did however, approve “temporary additions” to the school to accommodate the growing population and purchased additional property to allow more room to build a new school.

With consolidation of the City of New York in 1898, the highly varied needs of schools in all the boroughs came under the purview of the New York City school board. This board had to cope with a sizable number of independently administered school districts, each with its own curricula, grade divisions, educational policies, and standards, and weld them all into a single, uniform educational system. At the same time, New York City was experiencing a huge influx of immigrants (increasing the school registers between 1900 and 1904 by 132,000 pupils), and the schools were expected to help Americanize these new students. New high schools were needed in all the boroughs and the Board of Education authorized large new buildings for Morris High School in the Bronx

Morris High School (Bronx, New York)

Morris High School was a high school in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It was built in 1897. It was the first high school built in the Bronx...

, DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan

DeWitt Clinton High School

DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...

, Curtis High School in Staten Island

Curtis High School

Curtis High School operated by the New York City Department of Education is one of seven public high schools located in Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was founded on February 9, 1904 and was the first high school on Staten Island.-History:...

, Flushing High School in Queens

Flushing High School

Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education....

, and Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn

In the interim, before a new building for Erasmus Hall could be constructed however, the Board of Education purchased more land along Bedford Avenue near the existing building, and established classrooms in the expansion buildings that were already on the lot. They also used classrooms in other schools, such as PS-977, and held half-day classes.

The modern high school was designed in the Collegiate Gothic Style that Snyder used on many of his buildings.

On August 17, 1904, the New York City School Board’s Committee on Buildings presented its plans for a new campus for Erasmus Hall High School. It was designed to be constructed around the existing, centrally-located buildings, so that classes could continue to be held there until the new buildings were ready. The plan called for a full quadrangle of buildings along the perimeter of the large lot. It was constructed during four periods: 1905—1906, 1909—1911, 1924—1925, and 1939—1940, with the two later buildings supervised by William H. Gompert

William H. Gompert

William H. Gompert was the Architect & Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education. According to research published by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Gompert was educated at Adelphi Academy,...

and Eric Kebbon

Superintendent of School Buildings, New York City

The Superintendent of Schools Buildings was a position assigned by the School Building Commission of the New York City Board of Education.-BOE Superintendents of School Buildings:Brooklyn Board of Education ...

, respectively. Its buff brick facades

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

have limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

and terra cotta trim

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

and feature central entrance towers with Oriel windows

Oriel

An oriel window is a type of bay window which projects from a wall.Oriel may also refer to:Places in the United Kingdom:*Oriel College, Oxford*Oriel Street, Oxford*Oriel Square, Oxford*Oriel Chambers, LiverpoolPlaces in Ireland:...

and crenellated parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...

s, Tudor-arched

Tudor arch

A four-centred arch, also known as a depressed arch or Tudor arch, is a low, wide type of arch with a pointed apex. It is much wider than its height and gives the visual effect of having been flattened under pressure...

entrances, label moldings

Hood mould

In architecture, a hood mould, also called a label mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater...

, and large window groupings. The style of Erasmus Hall evolved over the years so that the most recent buildings are simpler, with less ornamentation, but retain the general characteristics of the earlier ones, giving a sense of unity to the entire composition. The first buildings would be constructed along Flatbush Avenue, with others added over time, as the need became clear and funds became available.

Phase One

Snyder explained his plans for the first phase as follows:

"... A careful study of the matter convinced me that after all it was a good thing for the future of the school that the present one could not be disturbed, for therein lay the suggestion for a design unique in high schools of the country... A quadrangle enclosed by buildings devoted to various departments of school work.

"The buildings, therefore, have been designed as a screen across the end of the quadrangle, shutting out the noise and confusion of Flatbush Avenue traffic, the only entrance being through the large arch under the tower, which is placed on the axis of the longer dimension of the plot.

"This, as designed, would be called a chapel were it part of a college, but if we may not aspire to this, yet I have thought that it might be known as ‘the Hall.’ As such the endeavor has been to design a harmonious, impressive room, in a style permeated with history and romance; a place which, of all others, will stand out clearly in the loving memory of the student in after years for his Alma Mater. Its walls, columns and arches should bear the trophies won in athletic and scholastic contests, there to be preserved and handed down as part of the glorious history of the school.

"There have been no designs made for this elevation (Bedford Avenue), but the aim has been to have a central tower on the same axis as that on Flatbush Avenue, through the archway in the base of which will be afforded a view of the ‘quad’ with its greensward, trees, shrubs and vines. What the ultimate design of the various buildings going to make up the group may be, it is, of course, impossible to say, but in designing and planning that portion which you now see approaching completion, I have always intended that the whole should be a graphic illustration of the various phases of the so-called Gothic movement, from the Round Arch to the Flamboyant and on through its later transitional stage."

The Committee on Buildings described the first section, estimated to cost not more than $300,000, this way:

"It consists of an entrance tower which will be the centre of what will afterwards be the completed front on Flatbush avenue; to the left of the tower and connected therewith has been placed the building in the rear portion of which will be the auditorium, classrooms, library, etc. The building will be three and four stories in height.

The basement will contain the gymnasium, placed beneath the auditorium, lecture rooms, baths, toilet room, etc., the boiler or power room being placed beneath the driveway of the tower, one of the turrets of which is utilized for a smoke flue.

The first floor will contain the offices of the principal of the school, two classrooms and the auditorium.

The second story will contain a library 40 feet (12.2 m) square with a gallery facing the second story of the tower, the balance of the floor being apportioned to the gallery of the auditorium, four classrooms, teacher’s rooms, toilets, etc.

The third floor will contain four classrooms, demonstration room, balance room, chemical laboratory, and lecture room.

The fourth story, which is over a portion of the building, will contain four classrooms. The completed scheme of which this is only a part contemplates the erection of a building on the northerly side of the tower for additional classrooms and laboratories, etc., as may be needed in the future."

The cornerstone for the new building was laid in January, 1905 and work was begun immediately, resulting in seating for an additional 600 students. The construction contract was initially supposed to run until October, 1905, but revisions required by the school board for laboratories and classrooms necessitated changes in the electrical and sanitation plans and delayed the work. The building was opened to students in September, 1906.

In 1906, the committee purchased a real estate lot that was 57' 10" X 138' 9" X 359' 3" X 7' 3" X 493' 6" “adjoining Erasmus Hall High School... to permit carrying out of the scheme for a building commanding a quadrangle, and will be built upon as soon as the school is in need of additional accommodations.

Phase Two

Although the first section of the new building brought the total students accommodated in 1906 to 1,750, by 1907 Erasmus Hall was again overcrowded, requiring the use of an annex at P.S. 42.

In his annual report, the Superintendent of Schools declared that,

"The largest growth in high schools is found in Brooklyn. This growth arises not only from the natural increase in the number of pupils entering from the Brooklyn elementary schools, but also from the number of pupils entering from the Manhattan elementary schools ...The consequence is that the Brooklyn high schools are all crowded to excess.

Concerned citizens of the area wrote to the Board of Education emphasizing:

"... the fact that the new building contains only twelve classrooms, accommodating only 420 pupils, whereas there are fifty-two classes, comprising 1,591 pupils, occupying classrooms in the old frame school building and cottages, all of which are utterly unfit for use."

The Superintendent’s Annual Report for 1910 reported that 3,114 pupils were enrolled at Erasmus Hall High School and that they were accommodated in four different annex buildings in addition to the main one.

In 1909, the Board of Education approved Snyder’s plans for the next section of the school. This group of three buildings, including one to the north of the tower facing Flatbush Avenue, and two extending east along the northern side of the lot, comprised 31 classrooms, laboratories, study hall, music, drawing, physics, lecture and shop rooms. When this Church Avenue addition opened in September 1911, there was room for 1,451 more students in the main school.

Phase Three

The ever-growing school population continued to present challenges to the school board. In his report of May 21, 1924 on construction and maintenance, the Superintendent of Schools discussed “the stupendous building program now being carried on by the Board of Education...” The reason for this situation was given as a backlog of not enough building over several years, as well as an increase in high school population in New York City from 20,948 students in 1904, to 109,370 in 1924. These large numbers were attributed to many factors, including the passage and enforcement of a compulsory education law and the appreciation by more parents of the advantages of higher education to their children. In April, 1924, the Board of Education approved the Bedford Avenue addition to Erasmus Hall High School. Snyder had left his position with the Board of Education shortly before construction of this section, but an elevation drawing in the collection of the Art Commission, by C. B. J. Snyder shows the building essentially as built. William Gompert had been appointed in his place and supervised the construction. Although somewhat simpler than his earlier buildings, the Bedford building has a central tower with an arched passageway into the courtyard, on axis with the tower on Flatbush Avenue. The building contained many new classrooms, gymnasia and a large swimming pool along the courtyard and was opened on February 2, 1902.

Phase Four

Lobbying began in 1929 for the construction of the final section, the building on the south side of the lot connecting the Bedford Avenue building with the auditorium near Flatbush Avenue. Money was not appropriated for this until 1937 however, and it was finally built in 1939–40. Under the supervision of the school system’s then chief architect, Eric Kebbon, the five-story building was an even more simplified version of Snyder’s earlier work. It contained many classrooms, art and homemaking rooms, a girls’ gym and a large library, and could accommodate 1,566 additional pupils. The new section opened in September 1940. To construct this building, the original frame school house had to be moved and its several wings demolished. Work on the old structure was begun by the Works Progress Administration, but was halted due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, the relocation and restoration of the old building was completed and it was used for administrative offices. In 1987, in celebration of the school’s bicentennial, limited archaeological excavations were conducted under the auspices of Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

. The archaeologists discovered that intact deposits from the 18th and 19th centuries associated with the development of the school are still in place.

Subsequent History

In 1994, after years of poor academic scores, the huge Erasmus Hall High School was divided internally into five smaller high schools, each concentrating on a different academic area. The five schools have separate administrations and faculties, and hold classes in different sections of the large building. However, they use the common lunchroom, gymnasia, library and auditorium at separate times during the day. This division created no changes on the exterior of the building.

Five separate high schools now operate on the Erasmus Hall campus:

Academy for College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School (K382)
Academy of Hospitality and Tourism (K408)
High School for Service & Learning at Erasmus (K539)
High School for Youth and Community Development at Erasmus (K537)
Science, Technology and Research Early College High School/Middle School at Erasmus (K543)

Notable alumni

Erasmus has had a number of famous and accomplished alumni

Alumnus

An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...

. Some of the better known, including (class year), are listed below.

Pre-20th century

John M. Berrien
John M. Berrien
John Macpherson Berrien of Georgia was a United States Senator and Andrew Jackson's Attorney General.Born at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, to a family of Huguenot ancestry, Berrien moved with his parents to Savannah, Georgia, in 1782; was graduated from Princeton College in 1796; studied law in...

(1793); Attorney General of the United States and Senator.
John W. Hunter
John W. Hunter
John Ward Hunter was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Bedford , New York , he received a liberal schooling and was a clerk in a wholesale grocery store in New York City in 1824. He was a clerk in the U.S...

(1824); New York State Senator, Congressman, and mayor of Brooklyn.
Morris Smith Miller (1794); Congressman and First Judge of Oneida County.
George M. Troup (1792); Governor of Georgia.

20th century

Mary Anderson
Mary Anderson (silent film actress)
Mary Anderson was an American actress, who appeared in 77 silent films between 1914 and 1923.-Career:Anderson was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was educated at Erasmus Hall High School in the same city. Anderson also attended Holy Cross School and made her first appearance in public as a...

, silent film actress
Bob Arum
Bob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....

, boxing promoter.
Joseph Barbera
Joseph Barbera
Joseph Roland Barbera was an influential American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist, whose film and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the twentieth century....

(1928); artist; cartoonist; co-founder of Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

.
Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer.-Early career:...

(Joel Adelberg) (1955); songwriter/producer; Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...

member
Karen Bernod
Karen Bernod
Karen Bernod is an American born R&B vocalist, songwriter, and producer.Karen is best known for her unique vocal harmonies as a background singer for Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, C&C Music Factory and D'Angelo.-Biography:...

, singer
Carol Bruce
Carol Bruce
Carol Bruce was an American band singer, Broadway star, and film and television actress.Bruce was born Shirley Levy in Great Neck, New York, the daughter of Beatrice and Harry Levy. She began her career as a singer in the late 1930s with Larry Clinton and his band...

, actress and singer
Phillip Brutus
Phillip Brutus
Phillip J. Brutus is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives.Brutus graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York. He got his Bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1982 and his J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1985.Brutus...

, Florida politician
Jeff Chandler
Jeff Chandler (actor)
Jeff Chandler was an American film actor and singer in the 1950s.-Early life:Chandler was born Ira Grossel to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of Anna and Phillip Grossel. He attended Erasmus Hall High School, the alma mater of many stage and film personalities...

(Ira Grossel) (1935); actor
Andrew Cheshire
Andrew Cheshire
Andrew Cheshire is an American jazz guitarist.As a child, Andrew played the piano, but switched to the guitar at age 10. While majoring in fine art in high school, he played jazz in local bands around Long Island. By 1980, Andrew moved to Brooklyn where he began attending jam sessions at the clubs...

(1981); artist/musician
Betty Comden
Betty Comden
Betty Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century...

, (1933); playwright; Broadway musical songwriter with Adolph Green
Adolph Green
Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during the genre's heyday...

.

Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lacrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.-Biography:...

(1902); actress, playwright (original name Grace Bailey).
Billy Cunningham
Billy Cunningham
William John "Billy" Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid.- Beginnings :...

(1961); player and coach, Philadelphia '76ers basketball team.
Jon Cypher
Jon Cypher
-Biography:Born in New York City, Cypher graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1949 and Brooklyn College in 1953. He made his television debut as the Prince in the original 1957 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella opposite Julie Andrews in the title role...

(1949); actor (Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...

)
Al Davis
Al Davis
Allen "Al" Davis was an American football executive. He was the principal owner of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League from 1970 to 2011...

(c.1947); Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

owner, Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

member.
Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...

; Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

winning record producer; Chairman & CEO BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...

North America; founder of Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....

, attended Erasmus from 1954–56; singer/songwriter.
Will Downing
Will Downing
Will Downing , is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Downing is known in the contemporary jazz and R&B music genres for his rich baritone vocals, and his interpretations of R&B and pop classics that stretch back to the early 1980s...

(1981); singer
Norm Drucker
Norm Drucker
Norm Drucker was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over thirty-five years.He refereed in the National Basketball Association from 1953 to 1969...

, professional basketball official.
Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...

(dropped out in 1960); chess champion.
Jim Florio (1964); former Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...

.
Jonah Goldman
Jonah Goldman
Jonah John Goldman was a Major League Baseball shortstop who played for three seasons. He played with the Cleveland Indians for seven games during the 1928 Cleveland Indians season, 111 games during the 1930 Cleveland Indians season, and 30 games during the 1931 Cleveland Indians season. He was...

, major league baseball player
Deborah Grabien
Deborah Grabien
Deborah Grabien is an American novelist and essayist. Her works cross several genres, including murder mysteries, supernatural thrillers, utopian fantasies, etc....

(c. 1971); novelist/essayist.
Earl G. Graves
Earl G. Graves
Earl Gilbert Graves, Sr. is an American entrepreneur, publisher, businessman, and philanthropist. A graduate of Morgan State University, he is the founder of Black Enterprise magazine and chairman of the media company Earl G. Graves, Ltd. He is the current director for Aetna and Executive Board...

(1952); publisher of Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise is a monthly U.S. magazine which describes itself as "the premier business news and investment resource for African Americans" and claims a readership of 3.7 million. It was founded in 1970 by Earl G. Graves, Sr.. The publication is known for its annual listing of the largest...

magazine
Arno Gruen
Arno Gruen
Arno Gruen is a Swiss-German psychologist and psychoanalyst.-Biography:Gruen was born in Berlin in 1923 and emigrated to the United States as a child in 1936 when his parents James and Rosa Gruen fled Germany to save their lives...

, psychoanalyst, psychologist and writer
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...

(Edythe Marrenner), (1935); Oscar-winning actress
Eleanor Holm
Eleanor Holm
Eleanor G. Holm was an American swimmer. An Olympic champion, she is best known for having been suspended from the 1936 Summer Olympics team, after she had attended a cocktail party on the transatlantic cruise ship taking her to Germany...

(1932); Olympic swimmer
Moe Howard
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...

(Moses Harry Horwitz), (dropped out after two months, 1915) member of the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...

comedy team
Waite Hoyt
Waite Hoyt
Waite Charles Hoyt was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, one of the dominant pitchers of the 1920s, and the winningest pitcher for the New York Yankees during that decade...

, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

and long-time broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

.
Stanley Edgar Hyman
Stanley Edgar Hyman
Stanley Edgar Hyman was a literary critic who wrote primarily about critical methods: the distinct strategies critics use in approaching literary texts. Though most likely to be remembered today as the husband of writer Shirley Jackson, he was influential for the development of literary theory in...

(c. 1933); literary critic; husband of Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson was an American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years...

.
Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels
Marty Ingels is an actor, comedian, theatrical agent, and, by many, best known as the voice of many cartoon characters and commercials. Born Martin Ingerman in Brooklyn, New York, he is the son of Jacob and Minnie Ingerman.His voice-overs and commercials include those for Paul Masson wines, with...

, comedian; husband of Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...

.
Ned Irish
Ned Irish
Edward S. "Ned" Irish was a basketball promoter and one of the key figures in popularizing professional basketball. He was the president of the New York Knicks from 1946 to 1974...

(1924); Organizer of First Madison Square Garden Basketball Tournament (1934); Founder of the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...

, President, Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...

; member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...

.
Eric Kandel (1944); winner of Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, 2000.
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...

(Lainie Levine), (1956); actress and singer
Roger Kahn (1945); sportswriter, author of several books including The Boys of Summer.
Tom Kahn
Tom Kahn
Tom David Kahn was an American social democrat known for his leadership in other organizations. He was an activist and influential strategist in the African-American civil-rights movement. He was a senior adviser and leader in the U.S. labor movement.Kahn was raised in New York City. At...

(1956); leader of the civil-rights, social-democratic, and labor movements.
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...

(1932); journalist and TV celebrity.
Bernie Kopell
Bernie Kopell
Bernard Morton "Bernie" Kopell is an American television character actor who is probably best known for his roles as Dr. Adam Bricker in The Love Boat and KAOS agent Siegfried in Get Smart...

(1953); actor
Samuel LeFrak (1936); real estate developer.
Larry Levan
Larry Levan
Larry Levan was a DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. He developed a cult following who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass"...

Sid Luckman
Sid Luckman
Sidney Luckman, known as Sid Luckman, was an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1939 to 1950...

(1935); football champion with the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

; NFL quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...

(1932); author and educator; Pulitzer Prize for The Fixer
The Fixer (Malamud novel)
The Fixer is a 1966 novel by Bernard Malamud inspired by the true story of Menahem Mendel Beilis, an unjustly imprisoned Jew in Tsarist Russia. The notorious "Beilis trial" of 1913 caused an international uproar that forced Russia to back down in the face of world indignation. The Beilis case is...

, 1967, The Magic Barrel
The Magic Barrel
The Magic Barrel is a collection of thirteen short stories written by Bernard Malamud and published in 1958. It won the 1959 National Book Award for fiction.The stories included are :*"The First Seven Years"*"The Mourners"*"The Girl of My Dreams"...

, 1958.
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann
Daniel Mann, also known as Daniel Chugerman , was an American film and television director.Daniel Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a stage actor since childhood, and attended Erasmus Hall High School, New York's Professional Children's School and the Neighborhood Playhouse...

, attended in 1920s, transferred before graduating; film and television director.
Kedar Massenburg (1981); former CEO/President of Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
Barbara McClintock
Barbara McClintock
Barbara McClintock , the 1983 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, was an American scientist and one of the world's most distinguished cytogeneticists. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927, where she was a leader in the development of maize cytogenetics...

(1919); winner of Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1983.
Aline McMahon, actress
Don McMahon
Don McMahon
Donald John McMahon was a right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was signed by the Boston Braves before the 1950 season...

, major league baseball player
James Meissner
James Meissner
Major James Armand Meissner was a World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories and awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses.-Early life and service:...

(1914); World War I Flying Ace
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...

, (1975); actress/singer.
Don Most
Don Most
Don Most is an American actor best known for his role as Ralph Malph on the television series Happy Days.-Acting credits:...

(1970); actor
Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone
Marky Ramone is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer for the Ramones, but has also played in other notable bands like Dust, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, and the Misfits.Although he is not the original drummer , Marky is the only living...

(Marc Steven Bell), drummer of seminal New York punk band The Ramones.
Michael Rapaport
Michael Rapaport
Michael David Rapaport is an American, actor, director and a comedian. He has acted in more than forty films since the early 1990s...

, TV actor, attended Erasmus in the 1980s
Lynn Pressman Raymond
Lynn Pressman Raymond
Lynn Pressman Raymond was an American business executive who joined her husband Jack Pressman in developing and growing the Pressman Toy Corporation, and was an innovator in creating and licensing toys based on hit television programs and professional athletes in her two decades as president of...

(c. 1912–2009), toy and game innovator who was president of the Pressman Toy Corporation
Pressman Toy Corporation
Pressman Toy Corporation is a toy manufacturer based in New York City which was founded in 1922 by Jack Pressman. It currently focuses on family games and licensed products. Its slogan is "Games people play...
Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry Reinsdorf
Jerry M. Reinsdorf is a CPA, lawyer and an owner of the MLB's Chicago White Sox and the NBA's Chicago Bulls. He started his professional life as a tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has been the head of the White Sox and Bulls for over 20 years.He made his initial fortune in real...

(1953); part-owner of the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...

and Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...

.
Mike Rosen
Mike Rosen
Michael "Mike" Rosen is an American radio personality and political commentator. He is the host of The Mike Rosen Show on talk radio station 850 KOA in Denver, Colorado, as well as a weekly opinion columnist for The Denver Post and previously a weekly opinion columnist for the Rocky Mountain News...

(1960) Denver radio talk show host
Robert Rosen (1970); author of the best-selling biography Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon
Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon
Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon, first published in 2000 and written by New York journalist Robert Rosen, who in 1981 had access to John Lennon's diaries, is a controversial account of the ex-Beatle's last five years. The book disputes the official view of Lennon as a contented...

.
Sam Rutigliano
Sam Rutigliano
Sam Rutigliano is a former National Football League head coach.Rutigliano, the son of Italian immigrants, played high school football at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. He played college football at Tennessee and Tulsa. He coached at the high school level in New York...

, former NFL head coach.
Arthur M. Sackler
Arthur M. Sackler
Arthur M. Sackler was an American psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist....

, MD (1931); art historian and collector; Collection of African and Ancient Art is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery joins the Freer Gallery of Art to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Sackler celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012....

of the Smithsonian Institution.
Brigadier General Guy Sands-Pingot
Guy Sands-Pingot
Guy Ludvic Sands-Pingot is an American brigadier general of the United States Army. He served as Commander of the 353rd Civil Affairs Command located at Fort Wadsworth, New York from 3 December 2005 through 6 December 2008....

, (1974); U.S. Army Officer
Sheldan Segal (c. 1943), contraceptive developer.
Alan Shulman
Alan Shulman
Alan Shulman was an American composer and cello virtuoso. He wrote a considerable amount of symphonic music, chamber music, and jazz music. Trumpeter Eddie Bailey said, "Alan had the greatest ear of any musician I ever came across. He had better than perfect pitch...

(attended between 1928–1929); composer and cellist
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...

(Belle Miriam Silverman), coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...

opera singer, attended Erasmus in the mid-1940s and transferred before graduating.
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...

(1952); novelist.
Special Ed
Special Ed
Special Ed is the performing name of Edward Archer , an American hip hop musician of Jamaican descent. Hailing from Brooklyn in New York City, he was raised in Flatbush before moving to Canarsie, and is identified with East Coast hip hop...

(Edward Archer), rapper who mentions Erasmus Hall on his album Youngest in Charge
Youngest in Charge
Youngest in Charge is the debut album from the then-15-year-old Brooklynite hip hop artist Special Ed. The album had sold more than 500,000 copies.In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums Ever.-Track listing:...

.
Melodee M. Spevack
Melodee Spevack
Melodee M. Spevack is a voice actress and vice president of the Nevada-based Voxworks voice-acting corporation. She is also credited as Sonja S...

(1970); actress, writer, anime voice performer
Mickey Spillane
Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane , better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally...

(Morrison Spillane) (1936); author of detective and mystery fiction.
Bern Nadette Stanis
Bern Nadette Stanis
Bern Nadette Stanis is an American actress best known for her role as the strong-willed Thelma Evans on the CBS sitcom, Good Times.-Career:...

(Bernadette Stanislaus) (1972); actress
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

(Barbara Joan Streisand) (1959); actress, singer, director, producer.
Norma Talmadge
Norma Talmadge
Norma Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.Her most famous film was Smilin’ Through , but she also...

(1911); silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

actress.
Cheryl Toussaint
Cheryl Toussaint
Cheryl Toussaint is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 800 metres.She grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where she attended Erasmus Hall High School, setting the indoor record in the 600-yard run in 1970, the same year she graduated from high school...

(1970); athlete; Olympic gold medalist, 1972.
Kenny Vance
Kenny Vance
Kenny Vance is an American singer and music producer who was an original member of Jay and the Americans....

, musician, who calls out Erasmus Hall in the first line of "Looking for an Echo
Looking for an Echo (song)
"Looking for an Echo" is a doo-wop song written by Richard Reicheg. There have been several popular versions of the song recorded, including:* The original version by Kenny Vance, first released as an Atlantic records single in 1975...

"
Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...

, (1932); actor.
Stanley Weiss
Stanley Weiss
Stanley Weiss is an American professional poker player residing in Nashville, Tennessee.In May 2006, Weiss won the World Poker Tour fifth season Mirage Poker Showdown and earned $1,084,037. On the final hand he held K♠ 5♦ and outdrew Harry Demetriou's K♥ 6♣ on the river...

, (1958); Founder, Woodland Hills Jaycees; Former State Senator, California Jaycees. Pen salesman, father of Alan R. Weiss
Alan R. Weiss
Alan R. Weiss is a computer industry expert on benchmarking and Software development tools, as well as telehealth and embedded systems. In January 2009, Weiss, along with business partner Samuel B. Fuller, formed , an innovative telehealth devices and medical health care services company...
Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....

(Mary Jane West) (1911); actress, comedienne, playwright.
D. Train
D. Train
D. Train was an American R&B duo, who scored several significant hits on both the Billboard Dance and R&B charts during the first half of the 1980s.-Overview:...

, (James Williams) (1980); singer/songwriter
Marian Winters
Marian Winters
Marian Winters was an American actress of stage, film, and television.-Biography:Born in New York City, New York to a Jewish-American family, Winters made her debut in summerstock at age sixteen. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn.She began her career on Broadway understudying...

(c. 1942), actress.

General references

Landmarks Preservation Commission June 6, 2003
Much of the information about the original school comes from the historical reviews compiled on significant anniversaries of the school for the three issues of The Chronicles of Erasmus Hall High School, 1906, 1906–1937, and 1937–1987 (New York: New York City Board of Education, 1906, 1937, 1987); National Register nomination form for Erasmus Hall Museum, prepared by Betty Ezequelle and Stephen Lash, 1973; and Marian Miller, “Erasmus Hall H.S. Boasts Proud History,” Kings Courier (5/31/1976),101, and New York City Guide, (New York: Octagon Books, 1970, reprint of 1939 Federal Writers Publication), 493–4.

External links

Alumni Website (Archive)

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