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Troy High: A School on the Move Through History by Mike Esposito Thousands of area residents received their secondary education at Troy High School since it was first established by the Board of School Commissioners in 1853 and incorporated by the Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1863. A "high school department" was formed on April 3, 1828 when the second floor of the State Street School was designated as a "Monitorial School" where more advanced pupils helped to instruct the less advanced. The "Monitorial High School" was abolished in March 1838. A history of the high school in The Troy Daily Times, October 26, 1898 reported that in the 1840's high school classes were conducted in the laboratory room of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Sixth Avenue. The first principal of Troy High School was DeWitt Clinton Gram appointed to lead the school when it was located in the old Third Ward School Building on Sixth Avenue between State and Broadway. The two story, 38 foot by 50 foot brick building with a 106 seating capacity served pupils from 1854 to 1858. A committee was formed to look for a suitable site for a larger building in April, 1857. In 1858 lots were purchased on Fifth Avenue south of Broadway. On September 21, 1858 contracts were awarded to William J. Howes who finished the Fifth Avenue building in the summer of 1859 for $12,918. When completed the first and second floors were used for grammar school classes while four rooms on the third floor were used by the high school. The first session of the high school in the building was September 5, 1859. By 1881 the entire building was used for high school classes. The building was destroyed by fire on November 15, 1896 and later demolished to make room for a new and larger school on the same site. The day after the fire classes met in the audience room of City Hall at Third and State. Soon after quarters were obtained on the third floor of City Hall where classes were held between 1897 and 1901 while the new school was under construction. From 1902 until 1917 the high school was located at 1725-1731 Fifth Avenue between State Street and Broadway. In 1909 construction for a new Central School was begun on Seventh Avenue near State. The Central School, completed in 1913, included a High School of Commerce, Day and Evening Vocational Schools and a Central Grammar School. By 1915 a complete revision of the high school system was initiated. The "Classical" and the "Vocational", schools were combined in September 1917. In 1918 the building on Fifth Avenue became the Central Grammar School known as School 5 and the newer building on Seventh Avenue was designated as Troy High School. By 1933 overcrowded conditions at the Seventh Avenue site forced educators to place high school freshmen classes in School 5 on Fifth Avenue. A Troy Record headline dated July 19, 1935 "New High School on Park Site Approved by Troy Aldermen" was a hopeful sign for area residents. A site in Prospect Park was favored because it was on land owned by the city in an area of the park not heavily used for recreation purposes and offered a central city location for the high school. The maximum area required for the school was to be less then 3 acres, less then one thirtieth of usable park land. Plans for the building met enthusiastic public approval. Newspaper reports from the summer of 1935 through 1937 presented the story. Construction cost was to be approximately $1,500,000. Work was to have started in the fall of 1935 and expected to be completed by fall, 1938. The two story building was to be divided into three sections with classrooms for 2,200 students, an auditorium seating 2,500, and a gymnasium with a seating capacity of 1,500. Eventually an adjacent park lake would be drained and an athletic field built. The fate of the new school would depend on the decision of two men in the Roosevelt administration, Harry 1. Hopkins, federal administrator of Work Relief who favored small projects using less materials and more manpower and Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, who favored projects such as new schools. The construction was to be financed by a loan from the federal government and an outright federal grant. The project never materialized possibly because of changes in the administration of the Works Progress Administration and the inability of the city to finance its part of the project. Ten years later a Record headline dated June 16, 1945, "City Council Approves New High School", raised hopes again for a new building. Fifty percent of the construction cost was to be paid from state funds for approved municipal projects provided through the New York State Postwar Public Works Planning Commission. The new high school was one of five projects the city wanted the Commission to consider. Unfortunately the city administration and the Common Council became embroiled in a lengthy argument that placed all postwar planning projects in peril. A Record editorial called the dispute one of the most disgraceful events that Troy had seen in recent years. Eventually, in 1947, construction for the new school began on Burdett Avenue. The $5,000,000 high school campus included a three story building with 100 rooms (60 class rooms), a gymnasium with a seating capacity for 2,850, a 750 seat cafeteria and modern kitchen, and a swimming pool. Construction of an auditorium was planned for a later date. The high school opened for students forty six years ago, on Friday, September 5, 1952. Regardless of the location of Troy High School the words of School Superintendent John H. Willets in his 1897 report to the School Commissioners are as worthy of reflection today as one hundred years ago: The Troy High School is the crowning glory of the Public School System. It is a mistaken idea to suppose that its usefulness is confined to those who attend it. It has been likened to the keystone of an arch, which binds the different parts together, and is indispensable to the support of the superstructure, and which cannot be displaced without disturbing the parts below it or the social fabric above it. Sources used in preparing this article include Our Community: Troy and Rensselaer County by Teachers of the Troy Public Schools, Troy and Rensselaer County New York by Rutherford Hayner, Manual of the Board of Education of the City of Troy, Troy Common Council Proceedings, and Troy newspapers including The Times Record, The Troy Record and the Troy Daily Times. In cooperation with Troy United Ink Corp., a not-for-profit corporation 
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