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| James Monroe High School | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Established | 1924 |
| Closed | 1997 |
James Monroe High School was a comprehensive high school located at 1300 Boynton Avenue at East 172nd Street in the Soundview section of the Bronx, New York City.
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Opened in 1924, the original school ran for seventy years before being shut down in 1997 for poor performance. The original building now houses seven smaller high schools: the Monroe Academy for Visual Arts and Design (H.S. 692), the Monroe Academy for Business and Law (H.S. 690), the High School of World Cultures (H.S. 550), The Metropolitan Soundview Highschool (X521), Pan American International High School (X388), Mott Hall V (X242) and the newly opened Cinema School (first opened its doors for the 2009–2010 school year). The building also used to house an elementary school, The Bronx Little School.
The building was designed by William H. Gompert, who was the New York City Superintendent of School Buildings. The building was built by the T.A. Clarke Co., and is substantially identical to a handful of other high school buildings that were built in the city at the same time.
The words "Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins," — which are chiseled into the face of the concrete columned triangular portico that adorns the main entrance to the original building at 1300 Boynton Avenue & East 172nd Street— are followed by the attributed source as being William Pitt the Elder (1708–1778), War Minister for the French & Indian War and later Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Though these words were not originally spoken by Pitt, his actual words are also misquoted. As excerpted from his 1770 original speech, he said, "Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins,".
Despite these words being attributed to William Pitt, they was in fact written by John Locke in his "Two Treatises of Civil Government", published in 1689. Pitt's actual later quote, attributed from a speech he delivered 81 years later, is alternately paraphrased as "Where law ends, there tyranny begins".
