History
Poly Prep Country Day School was founded in 1854 in Downtown Brooklyn as "The Polytechnic Institute." It was one of the first private boys' schools in the city of Brooklyn. The initial aim of the school was to offer an academic program similar to that of boarding schools of the time while striving to maintain a strong community feel amongst students and faculty alike.
After 45 years, the future of the Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute was re-evaluated in 1889 when the preparatory school and the collegiate division were finally separated. Both divisions still exist. In 1891, the construction of a new building next door provided a home for the college which became known as the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. After the initial split, the Polytechnic Preparatory Institute remained an all-boy Collegiate Preparatory program at 99 Livingston Street and by the mid-1890s had already become one of the largest prep schools in the country with over 600 students.
Poly Prep moved to its current location on July 1, 1916 when a twenty-five acre parcel of land, formerly part of the Dyker Heights Golf Course, was offered to trustees. Classes began during the fall of 1917 in the new campus amidst continued construction and renovations that helped shape much of the school’s current appearance. Under the leadership of Headmaster William M. Williams, the school began the transition to co-education in the mid-1970s, graduating its first coed class in 1979.
Poly Prep’s most recent, and dramatic, expansion occurred in 1995, with its acquisition of the historic Hulbert Mansion, formerly the Woodward Park School. The new property was converted into Poly’s Lower School, offering classes for students from nursery through 4th grade.
In the 2006-2007 school year, a modern expansion was added onto the Park Slope. As part of its "Blue and Gray Goes Green!" initiative, Poly chose to reduce the new Lower School's ecological "footprint." Poly's renovated Lower School became the first LEED-certified school building in New York City and the first such primary school building in New York State.
In April 2009, Poly Prep's Lower School also won the prestigious Lucy B. Moses Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy as an outstanding example of historic preservation and renovation.
Read more about this topic: Poly Prep Country Day School
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“The history is always the same the product is always different and the history interests more than the product. More, that is, more. Yes. But if the product was not different the history which is the same would not be more interesting.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)