Schools of Albany, 1922: Where are they now?

By 1922, the “new” Albany High School on Lake Avenue, which had only opened in September 1913 at a cost of a million dollars, was already “taxed beyond its capacity so that ‘double sessions’ are necessary,” according to the Chamber of Commerce’s helpful report on “Education in Albany.” At that time, four new elementary schools were being planned, and one was under construction. “These are of the most modern type and will cost approximately one and one-quarter million. The high school is crowded beyond its capacity and plans are under way for relieving it by constructing two junior high schools at a cost of approximately another million and a quarter. In the near future two and one-half millions will be spent for public school improvements.”

(Some of these had changed from a similar inventory that was done in 1894.)

Education has changed a lot in the past 90 years, but many of these old schools remain. The high school remains as part of the SUNY downtown campus, as many folks know. But how many of these other buildings are still remembered as schools?

Albany High School on Lake Avenue

Girls Vocational School, in the High School Building. This school had an enrollment of 68 and offered “Elementary and first two years academic; Cooking; Millinery; Dressmaking.”


196 Morton Avenue
196 Morton Avenue

Boys Vocational School, 196 Morton Ave. This school had an enrollment of 74 and offered “elementary and first two years academic; Printing; Woodworking; Drawing; Machine Shop Practice.” The building is still in use as apartments today.


No evidence of the part-time school at Broadway and N. Lawrence

Part-Time School, Broadway and N. Lawrence Street. This school, of which no trace remains, had an enrollment of 894, and offered courses in “Bookwork; Household Arts; Industrial Arts; Electrical Work; Sheet Metal Work; Commercial Subjects; Dressmaking; Printing.” Today: no matter which side of N. Lawrence it was on, it’s a parking lot today.


School No. 11
School No. 11

Ungraded School, In School No. 11, 409 Madison Avenue. This was an elementary school with an enrollment of 43, inside School 11. Today, it’s a lovely condominium building.

School No. 11 today-ish

School No. 1, Bassett Street, corner Franklin Street. A primary school with enrollment of 414. The building still stands.

School No. 1, which still stands without its distinctive crennellation.
School No. 1 at Franklin and Bassett
School No. 1 at Franklin and Bassett

Public School No. 2’s location on Chestnut between S. Swan and S. Hawk.

School No. 2, 29 Chestnut Street. A grammar school with enrollment of 363. It was mid-block between S. Swan and S. Hawk, on the part of Chestnut Street eliminated by the Empire State Plaza and now under the Legislative Office Building.


School No. 3
School No. 3

School No. 3, Watervliet Avenue, corner Hunter Avenue. This was a primary school with enrollment of 337. This is now the Henry Johnson Charter School.

School No 3
School No 3

School No. 4
School No. 4

School No. 4, Madison Avenue and Ontario Street (northeast corner). A grammar school with enrollment of 166; the booklet notes it as “(Burned).” This was replaced by another School No. 4, shown below, which suffered a roof collapse in 1968 and was then demolished entirely. It’s now just an open park across from the Vincentian Institute.

School No. 4, 1931
School No. 4, 1931

School No 5
School No. 5

School No. 5, 206 N. Pearl Street. This was a grammar school with 405 students. The building, from 1882, still stands as the Quackenbush condominiums.


School No. 6
School No. 6

School No. 6, 105 Second St. A grammar school with 632 students. The building is gone, the site is now occupied by the Metropolitan Baptist Church.


School No. 7
School No. 7

School No. 7, 165 Clinton Avenue. A primary school with 253 students. The building still stands, home to New Covenant Christian Fellowship.

School No. 7 in modern times

School No. 8
School No. 8

School No. 8, 157 Madison Ave., a primary school with 323 students. The building is gone, a parking lot between Madison and Van Zandt.


School No 9
School No 9

School No. 9, 333 Sheridan Avenue, a primary school with 218 students. This building still stands, home to Albany Community Action Partnership.


School No. 10
School No. 10

School No. 10, N. Lake Ave., corner of Central Avenue, a primary school with 226 students. Still there, still a school: Brighter Choice Charter School.

School No 10
School No 10

School No. 11
School No. 11

School No. 11, 409 Madison Ave., a grammar school of 336 students. As mentioned above, there was another school within this one. Today, it’s a lovely condominium building.

School No 11
School No 11

School No. 12
School No. 12

School No. 12, Robin Street at Western Avenue, a grammar school of 496. Recently converted into lovely apartments.


School No. 13. Just kidding! Of course there was no School No. 13. Even in the 21st century, I worked in a building that skipped numbering the 13th floor.
Its exclusion from this listing may mean that the old P.S. 13 was closed by then; originally it was in the old State Arsenal building at Broadway and Lawrence streets, which dated to 1799.


School No 14
School No 14

School No. 14, 69 Trinity Place, a grammar school of 998 students. This incredibly beautiful building still stands as the Schuyler Apartments.


School No. 15
School No. 15

School No. 15, Herkimer Street, corner of Franklin Street. This was a primary school with an enrollment of 565. Today this appears to be nothing but park space on one of the pretty streets of the Pastures.


Pine Hills Elementary
Pine Hills Elementary

School No. 16, 41 N. Allen Street, a grammar school of 686. This is now the site of the Pine Hills Elementary School; I don’t know if any of the original building elements were retained in the reconstruction that took place in 2005.


School No. 17
School No. 17

School No. 17, Second Avenue and Stephen Street, a grammar school of 466 students. This building still stands, sadly derelict.

School No 17
School No 17

School No. 18 in 1922

School No. 18, Bertha and Hurlbut Streets, a grammar school of 578. This lovely old structure was recently replaced by a thoroughly modern school building for the Delaware Community School. I understand why, the interior was almost completely unsuited to contemporary schooling. But I’m kicking myself for having lived directly across the street from it and never having taken a picture.

School No. 18 on the Hurlbut St. side
Delaware Community School
Delaware Community School on the site of School No. 18

School No. 19
School No. 19

School No. 19, New Scotland Avenue, a primary school with 254 students. This building remains in use as an Albany City School, the New Scotland Elementary School.


School No. 20

School No. 20, N. Pearl and N. Second Streets, a grammar school of 446 students. Still in use as a city school, the North Albany Academy.


School No. 21

School No. 21, 666 Clinton Avenue, a grammar school of 739 students. (Apparently, while “13” is an unacceptable number for a school, “666” is a perfectly acceptable address.)

Built in 1875, when that area was still not annexed into Albany, but was built to meet the demands of New York Central railroad workers; their children had been going to school in a shack near the tracks owned by the railroad. It was expanded in 1886, and was apparently open at least through 1974.

The site would appear to be a vacant lot today.


School No. 22
School No. 22

School No. 22, 292 Second Street, a primary school of 312 students. Sadly, another decaying hulk.

School No 22
School No 22

School No. 23, Whitehall Road, a primary school of 264. Still a city school, home to the Albany School of Humanities.


School No. 24
School No. 24

School No. 24, Delaware and Dana avenues, a grammar school of 379. The building is gone; today the site is occupied by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany.

18 thoughts on “Schools of Albany, 1922: Where are they now?

  1. That’s correct. But it wasn’t listed in the 1922 guide, so perhaps it was closed by then. I’ll update to at least reflect where it used to be.

  2. School No. 4 was directly across Madison Avenue from VI. We had our class pictures taken on the steps of that school because they were south-facing; the front facade of VI was in the shadows.

  3. School 24 was replaced by a new building in Lincoln Park, just east of Delaware Avenue. It was renamed the Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST) the year my son transferred from School 23 (ASH).

        1. Anastasio, I’ve checked my spam filters and don’t see that I ever received these. try hoxsie.org[at]gmail.com

          (can’t put a link in the comments to avoid spam)

  4. I have some artwork, done by my father or grandfather. Botanical watercolors tans 2 book covers.
    On the inside of one of the covers is written:
    Designed by Henry Hellmuth
    Room E, School 21
    I’m trying to find out if it was my dad or my grandfather.
    My dad was born in 1923 and I think my grandfather was born around 1896.
    Was this school ever a high school or junior high?
    These don’t appear to be the work of a younger child.

    1. Hi, Patricia. That is confusing, unless perhaps he was a teacher and that was his room? It was definitely never a high school, and I don’t think it was a junior high but there were definitely years when things were shuffled around and temporary assignments were made, so I couldn’t say it’s impossible.

      Also, are you sure it was School 21 in Albany, or could it have been somewhere else?

  5. Does The Albany Public library System still house year books from the past? Back in the late 80’s I remember spending hour’s looking at some as old as 75 year’s old!?

    P.S. Was there ever a above ground pool behind School #1, in the late 60″s early 70’s?

    1. Thanks for your comment. I don’t know for sure (as I’m not in Albany area anymore), but I would imagine the library still has yearbooks in the local history room.

      For the question on a pool behind School #1, I’d recommend checking with the Albany The Way It Was Facebook group. My initial searches on the question didn’t turn anything up.

  6. I went to School 24 in late 40’s. it burned down in 1953 or 54
    why was Hacket high school not numbered and Milne High next door to Albany High was not mentioned. C. Norton, nee Bruce. [email protected]

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