DeWitt Clinton High School | |
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Address | |
100 West Mosholu Parkway South Bronx, New York United States |
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Coordinates | 40°52′52″N 73°53′11″W / 40.8811°N 73.8865°WCoordinates: 40°52′52″N 73°53′11″W / 40.8811°N 73.8865°W |
Information | |
Type | Public high school |
Motto | Sine Labore Nihil (Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished) |
Established | 1897 |
Principal | Pierre Orbe |
Faculty | 270 |
Number of students | approx. 1,700 |
Team name | Governors |
Newspaper | The Clinton News |
Yearbook | Clintonian |
Colors |
Red Black |
Website | Official website |
DeWitt Clinton High School is a public high school located in New York City. Opened in 1897 and all boys at first, it became co-ed in 1983. From its original building on West 13th Street in Manhattan, it moved in 1906 to its second home on 59th Street and Tenth Avenue (now John Jay College of Criminal Justice) and in 1929 to its present home on Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx.
After more than a century in existence and a raft of famous alumni, DeWitt Clinton High School has recently faced serious problems involving student performance and security.
Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn. This school was renamed for New York politician DeWitt Clinton in 1900.
In 1906 it moved to a newly constructed building on Tenth Avenue between 58th Street and 59th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood—the same year as the opening of the nearby DeWitt Clinton Park where students "farmed" plots in what was the first community garden in New York.
The school's H-shaped building, designed by Charles B. J. Snyder, was said to be the biggest high school building in the United States at the time. After the school moved to the Bronx it became Haaren High School. It is now Haaren Hall on the campus of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Until a high school education became compulsory in the early 1930s, Clinton, like all other public schools in the city, had a Classics Department, where Greek and Latin were taught. Perhaps its most famous teacher was history teacher Dr. Irwin Guernsey, known to generations of students as "Doc" Guernsey. He came to Clinton in the fall of 1914 and retired in the spring of 1959, due to illness. A cripple with two "Irish" canes, he taught from the chair and won twice in his lifetime the title of Master Teacher in New York City. He was also head of the Honors Association, Arista. The History wing is named "Guernsey Hall" in his memory, and one can still see the library cart "Doc's Special" on which he sat while students wheeled him to class during the last years of his tenure when he was sick.