Morris High School (Bronx)

Morris High School
Address
Map
1110 Boston Road

(at East 166th Street)

Melrose and Morrisania

The Bronx
,
NY
10456

United States
Coordinates40°49′38″N 73°54′15″W / 40.8271412°N 73.9040657°W / 40.8271412; -73.9040657
Information
Former namePeter Cooper High School
School typePublic high school
OpenedJune 10, 1904 (1904-06-10)
Statusclosed
Closed2005 (2005)
School boardNew York City Panel for Educational Policy
School districtNew York City Department of Education
Grades9–12

Morris High School was a high school in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx in New York City.[1] The direct predecessor of Morris was built in 1897 and established as the Mixed High School, situated in a small brick building on 157th Street and 3rd Avenue, about six blocks south of where the new building would be built. The only building structure dedicated to k-12 education is the Marist brothers operated Mount St Michael Academy which only enrolls boys as of June 2024.[2]: 2  It was the first high school built in the Bronx[1] and was the first high school in the New York City public school system to enroll both male and female students.[3] Originally named Peter Cooper High School after Peter Cooper, the school was renamed Morris High School to commemorate a famous Bronx landowner, Gouverneur Morris,[1][4] one of the signers of the United States Constitution and credited as author of its Preamble. Morris High School was one of the original New York City Public High Schools created by the New York City school reform act of 1896.[5] On December 22, 1899, the Mixed High School was a founding member of the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), now known as the College Board. In 1983, the school and surrounding area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Morris High School Historic District.[6]

Alumni include Armand Hammer, Arthur Murray, and Colin Powell. In 2002, as part of an overall restructuring and downsizing of New York City's high schools, Morris High School was closed. The building was renamed the Morris Campus. It now houses four small specialty high schools: High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, and the Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies.[7][8]

  1. ^ a b c "Morris Campus History". Morris Campus. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  2. ^ "Morris High School" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. December 21, 1982. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  3. ^ Cummins, June (2021). From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family. Yale University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-300-24355-0.
  4. ^ Hewitt, Abram S (1965) [First published 1937 by Columbia University Press]. "A Sheaf of Letters : To a committee in the Bronx, July 15, 1901" (PDF). In Nevins, Allan (ed.). Selected writings, with Introduction by Nicholas Murray Butler. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press. pp. 381–382. OCLC 264897. I write this letter therefore for the purpose of enabling you to say to the Board of Education that the family of Mr. Cooper will not feel in the slightest degree disturbed by the change of name to "The Morris High School," but on the contrary they desire me to express their entire sympathy with the people of the Borough of the Bronx in their wish to preserve for all time to come, and especially in the minds of the youth of the region, the memories which cluster round the name of Morris, and particularly attach to Gouverneur Morris.
  5. ^ Gary Hermalyn, Morris High School and the Creation of the New York City Public High School System, Bronx Historical Society, 1995.
  6. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  7. ^ Herszenhorn, David M. (June 30, 2005). "The Decline and Uplifting Fall of Morris High". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  8. ^ "Morris Educational Campus". Retrieved November 24, 2015.