![Battin High School, Elizabeth, New Jersey (1907)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Battin_High_School%2C_Elizabeth%2C_New_Jersey_%281907%29.jpg)
Battin High School was a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, in
Union County,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States, which operated as part of the
Elizabeth Public Schools
Elizabeth Public Schools is a public school district in Elizabeth, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were est ...
. The school opened in 1889 as a coeducational institution.
[Staff]
''The City of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Illustrated: Showing Its Leading Characteristics: Its Attractions as a Place of Residence, and Its Unsurpassed Advantages as a Location for Manufacturing Industries''
pp. 102-103. ''Elizabeth Daily Journal'', 1889. Accessed May 29, 2015. After converting to a girls-only school in 1929, it operated on a single-sex basis for 48 years until the end of the 1976–77 school year, ending its status as one half of the state's only pair of public high schools operated separately for male and female students.
[Hatala, Greg]
''The Star-Ledger
''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...
'', June 11, 2012. Accessed March 16, 2015. "According to research by Kristin Kulick, director of special projects for the Elizabeth Board of Education, the academic year 1976-77 was the last year male and female students attended classes separately."
History
The high school dates back to 1889, when it was opened at 300 South Broad Street in a mansion that had been donated to the city that same year by Joseph Battin, president of the Elizabethtown Water Company, and namesake of the school.
A building was constructed on the site in 1913.
Originally operated on a coeducational basis, the school became female only starting in 1929, after
Thomas Jefferson High School was constructed and dedicated to serve male students.
[ In 1977, district officials stated that the inability to determine attendance zones for the two comprehensive high schools after Thomas Jefferson High School opened in 1929 combined with the expansive shop facilities in the new building, led the district to decide to split students by sex, with girls at Battin and boys at Thomas Jefferson.][
On January 22, 1952, a ]Convair 240
The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...
operated as American Airlines Flight 6780 was flying on a route initiating in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
on final approach to runway 6 at Newark Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Count ...
in heavy fog conditions and crashed at 3:45 p.m., narrowly missing the high school. All 23 on board the plane (20 passengers and 3 crew) and an additional 8 people on the ground, were killed in the crash and ensuing fire, though the plane never hit the school building, as some earlier reports had indicated, and there were no students in the building at the time of the crash.
By 1972, the school was the only public high school in New Jersey operated exclusively for women, despite coeducational programs at both Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
and Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
. By that time, a policy under which pregnant students had been required to withdraw from school had been eliminated and students were allowed to return to school after giving birth and attending a special off-site program during their pregnancy. Though 40% of graduating students went on to college and district officials insisted that the curriculum was standard across the district's separate high schools, a student criticized the difference in expectations of male and female students, noting that "Boys are expected to be engineers and attorneys. Girls are supposed to be secretaries and mothers."
The school closed at the end of the 1976–77 school year, after the Elizabeth High School complex was completed and all of the district's students, male and female, were accommodated at the new four-building facility, ending the city's status as "the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls". The $29.3 million project included renovations to Thomas Jefferson High School, which was integrated into the new complex. The Battin High School building, together with the four existing junior high schools, was repurposed as a middle school for grades six through eight.[Horowitz, Ben]
"Elizabeth Awaits Coed High School"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', July 10, 1977. Accessed March 16, 2015. "ELIZABETH'S 48-year role as the only community in the state with separate public high schools for boys and girls will end in September with the opening of a new four-building complex at the corner of South Pearl and South Streets."
Notable alumni
* Judy Blume
Judith Blume ( née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 25 novels. Among her best-known works are '' Are You There God? It's ...
(born 1938; class of 1956), author whose novels for children and young adults have exceeded sales of 80 million.
* Phyllis Kirk
Phyllis Kirk (born Phyllis Kirkgaard; September 18, 1927 October 19, 2006) was an American actress.
Early life
Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York, although some sources state her birthplace as Plainfield, New Jersey. She contracted polio as ...
(1927-2006), actress.
* James P. Mitchell
James Paul Mitchell (November 12, 1900October 19, 1964) was an American politician and businessman from New Jersey. Nicknamed "the social conscience of the Republican Party," he served as United States Secretary of Labor from 1953 to 1961 during ...
(1900–1964; class of 1917), politician who served as United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
from 1953 to 1961 during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
* James J. Norris
James Joseph Norris was an American advocate for refugees and migrants. The first president of the International Catholic Migration Commission, he oversaw the assistance given to more than 200,000 migrants and refugees between 1951 and 1974. A per ...
(1907–1976; class of 1924), advocate for refugees and migrants who was the first president of the International Catholic Migration Commission.
* Fay Gillis Wells
Fay Gillis Wells (October 15, 1908 – December 2, 2002) was an American pioneer aviator, globe-trotting journalist and a broadcaster.
In 1929, she became one of the first women pilots to bail out of an airplane to save her life and helped found ...
(1908–2002), aviator, journalist and broadcaster.[Staff]
"Fay Gillis Wells, 94, Aviator, journalist."
''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'', December 10, 2002. Accessed March 16, 2015. "Born in Minneapolis, she grew up in various towns in the United States and Canada following her father, Julius H. Gillis, who was a mining engineer. She graduated from Battin High School in Elizabeth, N.J., in 1925 and attended Michigan State University."
References
{{Authority control
1889 establishments in New Jersey
1977 disestablishments in New Jersey
Educational institutions disestablished in 1977
Educational institutions established in 1889
Education in Elizabeth, New Jersey
Public high schools in Union County, New Jersey
Buildings and structures in Elizabeth, New Jersey
Defunct girls' schools in the United States
Girls' schools in New Jersey