The Public Schools of Fort Lee By The Numbers

This week, I received a call from Interim Fort Lee School Superintendent Steven Engravalle. A student had asked him a question as to why the public schools in the borough have the particular number they each have, such as number 3, assigned to the school in the Coytesville (northern) section of Fort Lee. 

Right away I thought of an Abbott--no not the straight man from Asbury Park named Bud who partnered with Paterson’s own Lou Costello to make American comedy history, and no not an Abbot of the religious kind. The Abbott I thought of was related to the first Mayor of Fort Lee (John C. Abbott), Sylvia E. Abbott, the borough historian for most of the 20th century.

Sylvia wrote a wonderful borough history in 1954 for the Golden Jubilee of Fort Lee. There is a section in the pamphlet that Sylvia devoted to the history of the public schools, and it tells the story behind their numbers.

School No. 1 on Whiteman Street was a gift to the citizens of Fort Lee from Mr. and Mrs. Otto Hoym, Mr. and Mrs. William Guntzer and Mrs. Frederick Eicke.  The deed is dated October 18, 1873. In 1875, a two-room school house costing $2,100 was erected on the property. Two more rooms were added, and in 1906, when the main or middle part of the school was erected, the old building was sold. 

Property was added on June 20, 1912, and in 1910, two rooms were added to the west. In 1915, four rooms were added to the east, making 16 rooms in all.  It was here that Fort Lee High School came into existence. In September 1916, the high school opened with just 39 pupils. From 1917 until 1927, a number of sites for a high school were sought but voted down until May 10, 1927, when residents of the borough voted to purchase the site of the present-day high school on Lemoine Avenue.

The original one-story frame building for School No. 2 in west Fort Lee was erected after bids were received on July 24, 1895. In 1911, four more rooms were added. The original piece of property was purchased from William H. Casper in 1895. In 1899, another piece of property was purchased from Mr. Casper, and in 1921, a large tract in the rear was purchased from John Scheurer. In 1922, the large field south of the school property was also purchased.

The first piece of property for School No. 3 in Coytesville was given by Joseph Coyte, founder of Coytesville. The original two-room building was sold to Christian Rambo in 1896. The original of the present school (present circa 1954!) contained four rooms and was built in 1896 by A.G. Sage and Son. Four rooms were added in 1910. In 1945 the school was closed as a fire hazard but reopened in 1951.

The original, or centerpiece, of School No. 4 in Fort Lee's Palisade section was donated by the Hudson River Realty Corp. in 1909. The building was built in 1910. Later, the north and south parts of the property were purchased for $7,500. Miss Maud S. Brady was principal of the school until 1928, when she was transferred to the high school.

This history comes directly from the pen of Sylvia Abbott, circa 1954. We archive such history in the Fort Lee Museum, courtesy of the Fort Lee Historical Society of which I am member. Thus, we have the story of how each school in our borough received its respective number based on the age of its creation. We will have an update on Patch on the history of the public schools since 1954 in the coming weeks.

As a child of Coytesville, I went to Kindergarten in School No. 3, and I can tell you that our first day of class was in a wonderful old wooden school house with a front porch and a well in the yard that sat adjacent to the old school and the newly built extension (new for the mid 1960s anyway). The original School No. 3 came down in the summer of 1975; it had been quite an attraction for us kids in the neighborhood.

Author's Note: If this information interests you and you enjoy these archive pieces, please think about joining the Fort Lee Historical Society and help us collect and preserve our borough's history. Visit the historical society's website or call 201-592-3580.