Essex Catholic High School | |
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Location | |
Newark, New Jersey | |
Information | |
Type | Private, All-Male and All-Female) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
Established | 1957 |
Closed | 2003 |
Principal | Sister Mona at Essex Catholic Girls High |
Grades | 9-12 |
Color(s) | Dark Green and White |
Essex Catholic Boys High School was a four-year Catholic high school located in Newark and East Orange, New Jersey. Associated With Saint Leo's Catholic Church in Irvington, New Jersey. Essex Catholic High Schools opened in 1957. They were separate all-boys and all-girls Catholic High School run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.
The school's original location was at 300 Broadway in Newark. In the fall of 1980, the all-male school was moved to East Orange, where it took over the location of the closed East Orange Catholic High School. It remained open at that location until June 2003 when it closed due to a lack of enrollment. At that same time, Essex Catholic created an all-girls Catholic high school at the former location of Archbishop Walsh Catholic High School in Irvington.
The school was supported in its early years by the efforts of the Most Reverend Thomas A. Boland, the Archbishop of Newark. In 2003, Archbishop John J. Myers agreed to close the school when the student enrollment hit record lows. At its peak, enrollment hovered around 2,600; at its low, around 300.
The area surrounding the original location went into a sharp decline following the 1967 Newark riots. The situation was further complicated by an increase in tuition in the spring of 1970 that doubled the $300 annual cost to $600 per student.
The tuition increase was phased in over a period of three school years. The Class of 1971 went from $300.00 in 1970 to $400.00 in 1971. The Class of 1972 went from $300.00 in 1970 to $500.00 in 1971 and the Classes of 1973 and beyond were charged the full $600.00.
The school's 300 Broadway location is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and had been the corporate headquarters of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. The building was sold by the archdiocese to a private group who later opened a nursing facility at the location.