22 FEBRUARY 17, 2022 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
How a Glendale school grew - and
grew into something special
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
The original Public School 68 in
Glendale was a wooden building
constructed on farmland acquired
on Oct. 9, 1891 from Margaretha
Rathjen, widow of John Henry Rathjen.
The Rathjen farm consisted originally
of 20.639 acres with 18.126 acres
on the east side of Cypress Avenue
and 2.513 acres on the west side. The
majority of the farm was bounded by
what today are Summerfi eld Street
on the north, Cypress Avenue on the
west, Forest Avenue on the east and
79th Avenue on the south.
Aft er John Henry Rathjen died, his
widow and children decided to subdivide
the farm. The Board of Education
Union Free School District 9 of
Newtown Township purchased one
square block of land from the Rathjen
family for $3,000. The school site was
bounded by the Long Island Rail Road
Bay Ridge branch on the north, Bergen
Avenue (now St. Felix Avenue) on the
south, Henry Street (now Seneca Avenue)
on the west and John Street (now
60th Place on the east.
A two-story wooden school building
with 12 classrooms was built on the site
and opened in 1892. it was designated
“School #9,” with the number taken
from the School District. When it
opened, the old four-room school
house on the north side of Cooper
Avenue east of Cypress Avenue was
closed, and the building sold.
Union Free School District #9
covered a large area extending from
the boundary line between Kings
and Queens County, east to Trotting
Photos courtesy of NYC Municipal Archives, republished with permission
Course Lane (now Woodhaven Boulevard)
and from East New York north
to Metropolitan Avenue.
When School #9 opened in the fall
of 1892, William Dumond was named
principal. He was 28 years old and had
been teaching for six years. He was
assigned a staff of six teachers. The
annual expenses to run the school
were about $12,000. This included the
salaries of the principal and staff . This
sum was raised by taxes on property
within the school district.
Aft er Queens County was incorporated
into New York City in 1898, the
school came under the Board of Education
and was renamed P.S. 68. The
population growth in the area soon
caused the city to start seeking additional
classroom space for students,
and ultimately build a bigger and
better school.
By 1907, desks, chairs and blackboards
were moved into the nearby
Ridgewood Park Hotel, which became
an annex for P.S. 68 serving 10 classes.
Prior to the opening of the annex, 24
classes attended P.S. 68, with the school
divided into morning and aft ernoon
sessions.
After the annex opened, the 14
remaining classes at P.S. 68 were consolidated
into 12 classes, and the school
resumed full-day sessions. However,
as the building boom continued in
the area, by the fall of 1907, ten more
classes had to be formed — and P.S. 68
was back to having divided sessions.
A new four-story brick building
for P.S. 68, which began construction
years earlier, was fi nally completed
in March 1908. The classes were
promptly shifted into the modern
school which had 24 classrooms.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
