Hunter College High School - History

History

Established in 1869 as "The Female Normal and High School," a private school to prepare young women to become teachers, Hunter now offers a competitive college preparatory program for both sexes. The original school was composed of an elementary and a high school. A kindergarten was added in 1887, and in 1888 the school was incorporated into a college. The high school was separated from what would become Hunter College in 1903. In 1914, both schools were named after the Female Normal School's first president, Dr. Thomas Hunter. Despite its success in teaching generations of gifted young women, it was almost closed by Hunter College President Jacqueline Wexler in the early 1970s.

Hunter was an all-girls school for the first 78 years of its existence. The prototypical Hunter girl was the subject of a song entitled "Sarah Maria Jones," who, the lyrics told, had "Hunter in her bones." The school became co-ed in 1974 as a result of a lawsuit by Hunter College Elementary School parents, a development which was described by the New York Daily News with the headline "Girlie High Gets 1st Freshboys". In January 1982, the school was featured in a New York Magazine article entitled "The Joyful Elite."

The high school has occupied a number of buildings throughout its history, including one at the East 68th Street campus of the College (1940–1970). For several years in the 1970s, it was housed on the 13th and 14th floors of an office building at 466 Lexington Avenue (at East 46th Street). Since 1977, it has existed in a nearly windowless structure at East 94th Street between Park and Madison Avenues on the Upper East Side. Formerly, this was the site of the 94th Street Armory; today, part of the armory's empty shell (including two abandoned towers) stretches for the entire block of Madison Avenue in front of the school. The greater part of the armory building has been demolished. Designed to resemble the previous structure, the school is known for its near absence of sunlight, poor ventilation and low air quality. Because of its architectural peculiarities, Hunter is often called "The Brick Prison." Its "inmates" are housed in this building from grades K through 12, since it contains both the high school and Hunter College Elementary (collectively known as the Hunter College Campus Schools).

Dr. Tony Fisher is the principal of the high school. Randy Collins is the principal of the elementary school and is the interim director of the Campus Schools. Sonya Mosco is the deputy director of the Campus Schools.