Battin High School

Last updated
Battin High School
Battin High School, Elizabeth, New Jersey (1907).jpg
Location
Battin High School
Coordinates 40°39′6″N74°12′37″W / 40.65167°N 74.21028°W / 40.65167; -74.21028
Information
School type Public School, Girl's school
Established1889
Closed1977

Battin High School was a public high school in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, which operated as part of the Elizabeth Public Schools. The school opened in 1889 as a coeducational institution. [1] After converting to a girls-only school in 1929, it operated on a single-sex basis for 48 years until the end of the 197677 school year, ending its status as one half of the state's only pair of public high schools operated separately for male and female students. [2]

Contents

History

The high school dates back to 1889, when it was opened at 300 South Broad Street in a mansion that had been donated to the city that same year by Joseph Battin, president of the Elizabethtown Water Company, and namesake of the school. [1] A building was constructed on the site in 1913. [3]

Originally operated on a coeducational basis, the school became female only starting in 1929, after Thomas Jefferson High School was constructed and dedicated to serve male students. [2] In 1977, district officials stated that the inability to determine attendance zones for the two comprehensive high schools after Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1929 combined with the expansive shop facilities in the new building, led the district to decide to split students by sex, with girls at Battin and boys at Thomas Jefferson. [4]

On January 22, 1952, a Convair 240 operated as American Airlines Flight 6780 was flying on a route initiating in Buffalo, New York, on final approach to runway 6 at Newark Airport in heavy fog conditions and crashed at 3:45 p.m., narrowly missing the high school. All 23 on board the plane (20 passengers and 3 crew) and an additional 8 people on the ground, were killed in the crash and ensuing fire, though the plane never hit the school building, as some earlier reports had indicated, and there were no students in the building at the time of the crash. [5]

By 1972, the school was the only public high school in New Jersey operated exclusively for women, despite coeducational programs at both Princeton University and Vassar College. By that time, a policy under which pregnant students had been required to withdraw from school had been eliminated and students were allowed to return to school after giving birth and attending a special off-site program during their pregnancy. Though 40% of graduating students went on to college and district officials insisted that the curriculum was standard across the district's separate high schools, a student criticized the difference in expectations of male and female students, noting that "Boys are expected to be engineers and attorneys. Girls are supposed to be secretaries and mothers." [6]

The school closed at the end of the 197677 school year, after the Elizabeth High School complex was completed and all of the district's students, male and female, were accommodated at the new four-building facility, ending the city's status as "the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls". The $29.3 million project included renovations to Thomas Jefferson High School, which was integrated into the new complex. The Battin High School building, together with the four existing junior high schools, was repurposed as a middle school for grades six through eight. [4]

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Township, New Jersey</span> Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States

Jefferson Township is the northernmost township in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 20,538, a decrease of 776 (−3.6%) from the 2010 census count of 21,314, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,597 (+8.1%) from the 19,717 counted in the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centenary University</span> University in Hackettstown, New Jersey

Centenary University is a private university in Hackettstown, New Jersey. Founded as a preparatory school by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1867, Centenary evolved into a Junior College for women and later a coeducational four year University offering undergraduate and Master's level graduate programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed-sex education</span> System of education where males and females are educated together

Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation, is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to the 19th century, mixed-sex education has since become standard in many cultures, particularly in Western countries. Single-sex education remains prevalent in many Muslim countries. The relative merits of both systems have been the subject of debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-sex education</span> Education conducted with males and females separated

Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of single-sex schooling was common before the 20th century, particularly in secondary and higher education. Single-sex education is practiced in many parts of the world based on tradition and religion; recently, there has been a surge of interest and the establishment of single-sex schools due to educational research. Single-sex education is most popular in English-speaking countries (regions) such as Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia; also in Chile, Israel, South Korea and in many Muslim majority countries. In the Western world, single-sex education is primarily associated with the private sector, with the public (state) sector being overwhelmingly mixed sex; while in the Muslim world public schools and private schools are sex-segregated. Motivations for single-sex education range from religious ideas of sex segregation to beliefs that the sexes learn and behave differently. As such, they thrive in a single-sex environment. In the 19th century, in Western countries, single-sex girls' finishing schools, and women's colleges offered women a chance of education at a time when they were denied access to mainstream educational institutions. The former was especially common in Switzerland, the latter in the U.S. and the U.K., pioneers in women's education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutgers Preparatory School</span> High school in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States

Rutgers Preparatory School is a private, coeducational, college preparatory day school established in 1766. The school educates students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, located on a 41-acre (0.17 km2) campus along the banks of the Delaware and Raritan Canal in the Somerset section of Franklin Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Established in 1766, Rutgers Preparatory School is the oldest independent school in the state of New Jersey and the 16th-oldest in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convent Station, New Jersey</span> Populated place in Morris County, New Jersey, US

Convent Station is an unincorporated community located within Morris Township, in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The community is named after the Convent Station railroad station that was constructed along the Morris and Essex Lines during the 1870s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hun School of Princeton</span> Private school in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States

The Hun School of Princeton is a private, coeducational, secondary boarding school located in Princeton in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students from sixth through twelfth grades. Currently, the head of school is Jonathan Brougham. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1963 and is accredited until January 2025. The acceptance rate for the school has been reported as 35%. It is also a member of the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth High School (New Jersey)</span> High school in Union County, New Jersey, United States

Elizabeth High School, is a four-year public high school located in Elizabeth, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Elizabeth Public Schools. In 2009, the school and its more than 5,000 students was split into six separate houses, each operating as an independent school with its own principal and subject of focus, including one which has retained the Elizabeth High School name. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1978.

Elizabeth Public Schools is a public school district in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. The district was the third largest in New Jersey in 2022, with a culturally diverse student body coming from 50 countries and speaking more than 37 languages.

The following is a timeline of women's colleges in the United States. These are institutions of higher education in the United States whose student population comprises exclusively, or almost exclusively, women. They are often liberal arts colleges. There are approximately 35 active women's colleges in the U.S. as of 2021.

North Arlington High School is a public high school in North Arlington, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the lone secondary school of the North Arlington School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benedictine Academy</span> Defunct Catholic school in Union County, New Jersey, United States

Benedictine Academy was a Catholic parochial, college preparatory high school that served young women in ninth through twelfth grades in Elizabeth, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school was opened in 1915 by the Benedictine Sisters of Elizabeth, Saint Walburga Monastery, and operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's colleges in the United States</span> Single-sex institutions of higher education

Women's colleges in the United States are private single-sex U.S. institutions of higher education that only admit female students. They are often liberal arts colleges. There were approximately 26 active women's colleges in the United States in 2023, down from a peak of 281 such colleges in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas FitzSimons High School</span> United States historic place

Thomas Fitzsimons Junior High School, later The Young Men's Leadership School at Thomas E. FitzSimons High School, was a public secondary school that, in its final years, was a secondary school for boys. It was located at 2601 West Cumberland Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and was a part of the School District of Philadelphia. The school was named after Thomas FitzSimons, who was a signer of the Constitution of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Airlines Flight 6780</span> 1952 aviation accident

American Airlines Flight 6780, the first fatal crash of a Convair 240, occurred on January 22, 1952.

The Admiral William F. Halsey Health and Public Safety Academy is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Elizabeth Public Schools. The Leadership Academy shares a large building with the John Dwyer Technology Academy, the Peter B. Gold Administration Building, and the Thomas Dunn Sports Center, which together form the Main Complex. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Airlines Flight 101</span> 1952 aviation accident

National Airlines Flight 101 was a scheduled flight from Newark Airport, New Jersey, to Miami, Florida, that on February 11, 1952 crashed in the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, shortly after take-off. It was the third plane crash occurring in Elizabeth in less than two months, following the loss of a Miami Airlines C-46 in December and the crash of an American Airlines Convair 240, three weeks earlier.

<i>In the Unlikely Event</i> (novel) 2015 Judy Blume adult historical fiction

In the Unlikely Event is a 2015 novel by Judy Blume. It follows fifteen-year-old Miri Ammerman and her family and friends as they cope with three plane crashes from December 1951 to February 1952 in their home of Elizabeth, New Jersey. This was Blume's first adult book in 17 years and one of only four adult books she has written in her career.

Thomas Jefferson High School was an all-boys public high school in Elizabeth, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which operated as part of the Elizabeth Public Schools. The school opened in 1929 at which time Battin High School became an all-girls school. The school operated on a single-sex basis for 48 years until the end of the 1976–77 school year, ending its status as one half of the state's only pair of public high schools operated separately for male and female students.

Girls' Academy of Newark is a public all-girls' school in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The school, under Newark Public Schools, is located in the Louise A. Spencer School complex in Central Ward. The school, scheduled to become a grade 6-12 school, opened in 2013 with 75 sixth-grade students. It was the first public all-girls' school in New Jersey since Battin High School in Elizabeth, which merged into a boys' school in 1977.

References

  1. 1 2 Staff. The City of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Illustrated: Showing Its Leading Characteristics: Its Attractions as a Place of Residence, and Its Unsurpassed Advantages as a Location for Manufacturing Industries, pp. 102-103. Elizabeth Daily Journal, 1889. Accessed May 29, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Hatala, Greg. "Glimpse of History: When Battin was co-ed", The Star-Ledger , June 11, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2015. "According to research by Kristin Kulick, director of special projects for the Elizabeth Board of Education, the academic year 1976-77 was the last year male and female students attended classes separately."
  3. Elizabeth Through The Ages, Visit Historical Elizabeth, NJ. Accessed May 29, 2015. "1913 Opera House opens and later becomes Gordon's Liberty Theater (HB); Battin High School is built on site of local mansion that first housed the school."
  4. 1 2 Horowitz, Ben. "Elizabeth Awaits Coed High School", The New York Times , July 10, 1977. Accessed March 16, 2015. "ELIZABETH'S 48-year role as the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls will end in September with the opening of a new four-building complex at the corner of South Pearl and South Streets."
  5. Staff. "Plane Falls In Elizabeth, 31 Die, 8 Of Them In 3 Homes Set On Fire; Ex-Secretary Patterson A Victim; All Aboard Perish; Craft From Buffalo Was on a Radar Approach to Newark Airport; Buildings Burn Quickly ' Gas' Tanks Explode on Impact Pilot's Wife Hears Crash in Her Home, Near Scene", The New York Times , January 23, 1952. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Elizabeth, N. J., Jan. 22 Former Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson and at least thirty other persons died at 3:45 P. M. today when an American Airlines Convair crashed at South and Williamson Streets in the South Elizabeth residential district.... In the last moment of its descent, the Convair came close to Battin High School and the report spread that it had hit the building with almost 1,000 girl students in it. Actually, the plane never touched the high school, and all students were out of it at 3:45 P. M."
  6. Bloom, Kathryn Ruth. "Battin High in Elizabeth, the only All-Girl Public School", The New York Times , September 24, 1972. Accessed March 16, 2015. "ELIZABETH With women having invaded Princeton and Vassar a coed college, the days of the single-sex school might seem to be over. They're not, though, for the girls at Battin High, one of three public high schools in this industrial city; the girls are students at New Jersey's only public all-girl high school."
  7. Tracy, Kathleen. Judy Blume: A Biography, p. 13. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. ISBN   9780313342721. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Judy graduated from Battin High School with honors at the top of her class and enrolled at Boston University."
  8. "Murray's Niece Appears in Film", Courier News , October 25, 1950. Accessed February 9, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "A niece of Police Capt. and Mrs. Patrick J. Murray. 7 Jefferson Ave., appears in the motion picture Our Very Own, now showing at the Strand Theater. She is Phyllis Kirk, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Kirkgaard of Elizabeth, a graduate of Battin High School in Elizabeth, and a former Conover model."
  9. Staff. "James P. Mitchell Is Dead at 63", The New York Times , October 20, 1964. Accessed March 16, 2015. "After his graduation from Battin High School in 1917, Mr. Mitchell went to work in a grocery store after failing to win an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis."
  10. "James J. Norris - Vatican Council II Collection", Catholic University of America. "Norris was born on August 10, 1907 in Roselle Park, New Jersey, the eldest child of James Henry Norris and Rose Elizabeth Schenk.... In 1924, at the age of sixteen, he graduated from Battin High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey."
  11. Staff. "Fay Gillis Wells, 94, Aviator, journalist.", The Washington Times , December 10, 2002. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Born in Minneapolis, she grew up in various towns in the United States and Canada following her father, Julius H. Gillis, who was a mining engineer. She graduated from Battin High School in Elizabeth, N.J., in 1925 and attended Michigan State University."

40°39′26″N74°12′54″W / 40.6572°N 74.2149°W / 40.6572; -74.2149