Wadleigh High School for Girls

Wadleigh High School for Girls
Address
Map
215 West 114th Street

10026
Coordinates40°48′10″N 73°57′15″W / 40.80278°N 73.95417°W / 40.80278; -73.95417
Information
Other nameThe Wadleigh School
School typePublic
Established1897
GenderGirls

The Wadleigh High School for Girls was established by the NYC Board of Education in 1897 and moved into its new building in Harlem in September 1902. It was the first public high school for girls in New York City.[1] At the time, public secondary education for girls was considered highly novel and perhaps a bit scandalous. Newspapers considered it newsworthy enough to devote many stories to describing classroom scenes of girls receiving “higher” education.[2] The building is now shared among several schools including the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, the Frederick Douglass Academy II, and Success Academy Harlem West.

  1. ^ Kennedy, Randy, “NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: Upper West Side; Old School: Famous, Infamous and Now a Landmark”, New York Times, July 31, 1994.
  2. ^ “Wadleigh to Mark 40th Anniversary”, New York Times, December 5, 1937.