Before the consolidation of 1870 the public schools within the limits of Long Island City were run by the Town of Newtown. School District #3 of Newtown covered the Astoria area and School District #4 the Dutch Kills area.
The Astoria school was located on the east side of 29th Street (Academy) and about 150 feet south of 30th Avenue (Grand). In 1849 Stephen Halsey donated this plot of ground 100 X 200 to erect a school house. The building that was put up looked like
a miniature Greek temple with four Doric columns in front and a pediment. The building was all wood and lasted until 1904,
when it was replaced by a modern 3 1/2 story brick building. After consolidation in 1870 the Astoria school became
School #5 or the Fourth Ward School.
The next oldest school served the Hunter's Point-Dutch Kills School District #4 of the Town of Newtown. The school
house was built on old Skillman Avenue on a site occupied today by a storehouse behind the railroad commissary in the
Sunnyside railroad yards, on the line of 32nd Street. It was a plain frame structure 20 X 60 and lasted until 1863 when
it was destroyed by fire. The school was rebuilt in 1865 and continued in use after the 1870 consolidation as Primary School #3
until the Pennsylvania Railroad bought up all the land in the neighborhood. The school site then became isolated and lost all its
students as the railroad demolished all the houses in the vicinity to create the Sunnyside Yards. On Mar. 1, 1907 the
school was officially closed by which time the enrollment had dwindled to eight. The last principal was Margaret
Scott; in 1878-79 P. R. McCarthy and in 1894 Kate S. McWilliams. In 1898 there were 166 students and 5 teachers. In
earlier days the annual tuition at this school came to $1,475, but in 1850 an act of the Legislature made it into a free school.
As Long Island City grew in the 1850's, this little school became inadequate and in 1861 the Town of Newtown set up the
Hunter's Point area as a separate school district. In April 1861 Henry Anable, always on the alert to improve the value of
Union College lands, leased a brick building on 48th Avenue (old 6th St.) and set up School #11 of the Town of Newtown.
This school was still functioning in 1880 under Erastus Crosby, its principal.
The picture changed completely in 1870 when L.I. City incorporated as a city and gained control of its own affairs.
Under the charter, a Board of Education came into existence which was empowered to systematize methods and courses
of study, build schools and engage a suitable staff. The new city was divided into five wards and by the time of consolidation
into New York City in 1898, ten schools had been built to accommodate the ever-growing population.
Text from '300 YEARS
OF LONG ISLAND CITY 1630-1930' by VINCENT F. SEYFRIED
