Page 11 - TRINITY 1959

Trinity School as it appeared in the Acta Diurna in 1893

a decline, experiencing four different Head Mas­ the Church, which did, however, grant it a
ters in twenty years, it continued to operate in liberal endowment.
various rented quarters. Fires in these buildings The first move of the second period was to
were common. The debris after one blaze was Varick Street near Canal in 1821. The School
sold for ten pounds. Between 1776 and 1794, was in this location when the organization of
there is no definite address for the School other the institution was completely revamped in 1826.
than 25 John Street, where the School was lo­ The program was expanded so that the Charity
cated for a part of the period. In 1780 a lottery School became an Elementary School. To this
was authorized to rebuild the Charity School. was added a Middle School, for “Instruction
Perhaps as a result, in 1794 the School was in the higher branches of English Education,”
moved once again into its own quarters at 44 having two departments, one for boys and one
Lumber Street (now Trinity Place). The struc­ for girls. And finally a Classical or Collegiate
ture must have been fairly substantial, since it School was established, whose course of study
was insured for one thousand pounds. was determined by the admissions requirements
In 1796 the School received in the will of of Columbia College. In 1827 this program was
the well-known Dr. Baker the income in trust approved by the state legislature, and the entire
from a farm of forty-six acres in the East Seven­ institution was reincorporated as the New York
ties. (Dr. Baker, it is claimed, once made a set Protestant Episcopal Public School. For the first
of false teeth for George Washington.) In 1827 time, also, the School charged tuition, which
the will was changed so that the School received ranged from three dollars per quarter in the
complete ownership of the tract. Elementary School to ten per quarter in the
What might be called the colonial period of Classical School.
Trinity’s history ended in 1800, when the School Since the tax-supported public school system
was put under the direction of its own Board was not set up until the 1830’s, we can say
of Trustees. The second period, which was con­ that for nearly a century and a quarter (until
cerned with its establishment as a more ambitious 1827) the only free school in New York City
educational institution, began in 1806, when the was Trinity. The School did not come to bear
School was incorporated as the First Protestant its present name, however, until about 1845,
Episcopal Charity School in the City of New when it was renamed the Trinity School in the
York. At this time it separated financially from City of New York.

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