Vacant Former Elementary School Building in Schenectady NY

Franklin School, Schenectady New York

Date added: February 06, 2025

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Built in 1907, the Franklin School in Schenectady, New York is architecturally significant as a representative example Of the Georgian Revival style popular in the early twentieth century. The school is also significant in local history for its association with Schenectady's rapid industrial and population growth at the turn of the century and the consequent re-evaluation and expansion of the school system. The Franklin School, an architectural landmark in the community for over seventy years, also played an important part in stimulating the development of northwest Schenectady as the focal point of educational and cultural activities in the neighborhood.

In 1661 Arendt Van Curler and fourteen other Dutch patentees settled a small fur trading outpost on the Mohawk River just west of Fort Orange (Albany). In 1690 a raiding party of French and Indians attacked the unprotected fort, massacred almost sixty settlers, and burnt the village to the ground. Within two years, however, the Dutch had rebuilt their settlement. The lucrative river trade and the production of broomcorn provided Schenectady with economic security during the eighteenth century. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the expansion of the railroads in the 1830s, Schenectady was transformed from a quiet little village into a bustling mercantile center.

The construction of a church was the first concern of the Dutch settlers who firmly believed in the importance of both religion and education. The first school is believed to have been taught by the first minister of the First Dutch Reformed Church, Peter Tassemaker, who was killed by the Indians in the 1690 massacre. Little is known of the educational system during most of the eighteenth century but a few records of accounts and bills indicate that some Dutch families employed tutors for their children. These tutors were often craftsmen who cobbled or did other work in addition to teaching. Records of organized colonial schools indicate that many of the teachers were ministers who added the duties of schoolmaster to their pastoral work. Rev. Thomas Barclay, an Episcopal clergyman who officiated for about two years at the First Dutch Reformed Church, opened the first English school in 1710.

Late in the eighteenth century, leading members of the community were very interested in improving the quality of education. In 1785 the Schenectady Academy, a private school serving students on all grade levels, was erected on the corner of Union and Ferry Streets. Until a Board of Education was established in Schenectady nearly seven decades later, there was no such thing as a tuition-free school.

A variety of private schools and services during the first half of the nineteenth century provided instruction for youngsters of families well-off enough to enjoy the luxury of education. Prominent among the schools of this time was the Lancaster School, which used a monitorial system of instruction. Organized in 1816, the Lancaster School received tax money and state funds, an unprecedented practice at the time but a precursor of the free school system.

By 1852 public sentiment was strong for a free school system, and in 1854 a Board of Education was established. It purchased the West College on North College Street from Union College for $6,000 and opened the Union Free School, Schenectady's first public school, with an enrollment of approximately 550 pupils. The Union Free School and its subsequent expansions functioned for nearly half a century as institutes of classical preparation for college-bound boys.

In 1868 Samuel B. Howe became Schenectady's Superintendent of Schools. For nearly four decades he served as one of the city's most prominent educators and progressive administrators. Late in his career, he was particularly influential in establishing standards for the newly emerging system of elementary education.

During the last decades of the nineteenth century, the city experienced the beginning of a tremendous population boom. The industrial expansion of the American Locomotive Company (originally known as Schenectady Locomotive Works, established in 1848), and the establishment of the General Electric Company (originally known as the Edison Machine Works, established in 1886) provided jobs and economic security for Schenectadians. The electrification of the trolley lines in 1891 encouraged the spread of suburbanization throughout the city. In 1899 a line from State Street along Nott Terrace and Union Avenue and across Wendell to Nott Street was completed, fi mo and residential neighborhoods developed along the side streets to Nott Street, including the Avenue A and Avenue B area. Expansion of school facilities was needed to accommodate the increased school-age population of the Nott Street neighborhoods and others throughout Schenectady. The newly developing Avenue B neighborhood was a particularly attractive area in which to construct a new school. The Nott Street trolley enabled city commuters to enjoy the advantages of suburban living, and the construction of the new Ellis Hospital at Rosa Road and Nott Street enhanced the desirable character of the nearby neighborhoods. Avenue B School, which was to be renamed Franklin School in 1911 in honor of Benjamin Franklin, was one of many facilities built to serve the city's growing suburban communities. Local architects and local construction firms were employed to design and build these early twentieth-century schools. It wasn't until the late 1920s that Schenectady began to accept competitive bids from out-of-town firms for the construction of public schools.

Public education, particularly at the elementary level, made its greatest progress after 1900. Special concern was directed towards the increasing school-age population of foreign and working-class families. The children of these families were not necessarily college-bound, and a re-evaluation of the existing system of education resulted in the creation of innovative and progressive improvements in the city's educational services. Innovations now considered commonplace, such as lunch programs, free textbooks and supplies, playgrounds, and extra-curricular activities, were initiated early in the twentieth century. Of particular importance was the provision of at least an elementary education to all children. Franklin School was one of nine elementary schools built during this period. Like many of the schools built in the first decade of the twentieth century, Franklin School continued to serve the community for half a century. During the 1960's, however, budgetary difficulties and declining enrollment necessitated drastic revisions of the city's school system. A program of consolidation was designed to improve the quality of the educational service to the community as a whole. Closing its doors in June 1974, Franklin School was one of three elementary schools to be vacated in the 1970s. Vandalism and lack of maintenance have resulted in the deterioration of the vacant structure, but plans are in progress to restore this important local landmark.

Building Description

The Franklin School is a two-story, H-shaped brick building at the corner of Avenue B and Mason Street in northwestern Schenectady, New York. Built in 1907, it exhibits the symmetry and classical detailing typical of early twentieth-century Georgian Revival civic architecture.

The school occupies a 1.2-acre corner lot and faces east on Avenue B. To the south of the structure is a blacktopped playground enclosed by a wire fence. To the east and west of the school are gently sloping grassy lawns. Surrounding the school is a turn-of-the-century residential neighborhood of one and two-family houses. The neighborhood is bounded on the west and south by Van Vranken Avenue and Nott Street, respectively, both major commercial arteries serving the northwest section of the city.

The building is constructed of red brick with trim of yellow brick and stone. It rises two full stories above an elevated basement. A parapet with a tile coping conceals the flat roof. In plan, the building is an H with an elongated crosspiece. Massive yellow brick corner pilasters support a metal cornice that is decorated with modillions. Regular fenestration characterizes all elevations of the building.

The front facade has paired rectangular windows with simple stone lintels and sills. On both the first and second stories, there are three pairs of windows on each side of the central bay. Two recessed rectangular panels, each with a border of yellow brick, separate the first-story windows from the second. The central bay of the second story has two narrow sash windows. In the central bay of the first story is a double doorway with sidelights, a transom light and slender brick pilasters. Surrounding the large fanlight is a yellow brick arch with a prominent stone keystone. Projecting pavilions on the north and south ends flank the center unit of the building's facade. Massive yellow brick pilasters articulate the corners of the pavilions. Large square panels, recessed and bordered by yellow brick, decorate both pavilions.

The pavilions project less deeply on the rear elevation and are undecorated. The central unit of the rear elevation is fourteen bays wide with an off-center entrance. All windows have simple stone sills and lintels.

The north and south elevations are identical. On both the first and second stories, long banks of tall, rectangular windows flank the central entrance. There are five windows to each bank. The stone lintels and sills of the windows extend to create single stone courses above and below each bank. The large central entrance of each elevation is characterized by sidelights, above which is a tripartite unit of windows surmounted by a one-and-one-half-story yellow brick arch with a prominent stone keystone.

Used by the school system for almost seven decades, the building was altered little. Recently, fire and water damage have destroyed much of the interior detailing, although the wood wainscoting of the main entrance remains intact. Vandalism and lack of maintenance have led to deterioration of the building.