In addition to the numerous public and private schools listed in the Albany Chamber of Commerce’s guide to “Education in Albany” in 1922, the guide included a number of institutional schools, private schools, a fairly broad definition of colleges, and many places to learn nursing. Many of these remain; many are forgotten.
Institutional Schools
St. Vincent’s Male Orphan Asylum, 391 Western Avenue. This was an elementary school of 169 run by the Christian Brothers. Their history states that Christian Brothers Academy was opened in 1866 in part to help pay for the asylum. In 1923, the asylum would be renamed The Lasalle Institute.
St. Vincent’s Female Orphan Asylum, 106 Elm Street. This was an elementary school of 156, run by the Sisters of Charity. It appears likely this stretch of Elm Street was lost to Empire State Plaza parking; it was likely near the Cathedral.
St. Ann’s School of Industry, West Lawrence Street. While the guide listed this as an elementary school with 25 students under the direction of the Sisters of Good Shepherd, at the corner of West Lawrence and Bradford Streets, it was a bit more than that. Its full name was “St. Ann’s School of Industry and Reformatory of the Good Shepherd,” and the State Division of Probation’s annual report indicated that “destitute girls and fallen and wayward women from 12 to 60 years of age, free from disease and of sound mind, are received from parents or from magistrates.” The building still stands, and The St. Anne Institute still serves the community.
Infant Home School, North Main Avenue; an elementary school under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, this school was part of the A.N. Brady Maternity Hospital. The building that was originally the hospital is now part of St. Catherine’s Center for Children.
Colleges
Sacred Heart Academy, Kenwood. This was then a college with an enrollment of 111, under the “Religious of the Sacred Heart,” on the Kenwood estate of stove magnate Joel Rathbone. It later became the Kenwood Academy and merged with St. Agnes School to form Doane Stuart.
College of St. Rose, 979 Madison Avenue. In 1922, this Sisters of St. Joseph school had an enrollment of 50. Saint Rose Hall, now Moran Hall, was the entire college then.
Private Schools
Albany Academy. The Chamber guide didn’t even feel the need to give the address of the Albany Academy, though it did note that its building “is architecturally perfect, the work of Philip Hooker.” In 1922 it had 333 boys and 20 teachers.
Albany Academy for Girls. It moved to the building shown in 1893, having left a building at 280 N. Pearl Street where it had been since 1834. It had an enrollment of 132 girls, with 17 teachers, in 1922. This building was at 155 Washington Avenue, about where the SEIU building is now.
St. Agnes School, Hawk and Elk Streets. This Episcopal school had 178 girls. Today, it’s a hideous parking lot.
Milne High School. “In 1911 the school previously called the Normal High School became the High School Department of the State College for Teachers, and only received its present appropriate name in 1916.” The Milne High School, a training school for the State College for Teachers, had 206 pupils, 7 supervising teachers and 52 student teachers. The State College for Teachers, previously known as the Normal School, eventually became the basis for the State University of New York at Albany. For an institution I’ve never heard of before, Milne High School certainly does have a history. It appears to have originally been housed in the building that would later be called Draper Hall, on what is now the SUNY Downtown campus; Milne Hall was built in 1929.
Professional Schools and Colleges
New York State College for Teachers was just beginning its growth on its new campus, with 1560 students. The Administration Building (now Draper Hall), the Science Building (Husted) and the Auditorium (Hawley) were the three buildings on the campus. All still stand.
Albany Business College, 79-87 North Pearl Street. This was a member of the Bryant and Stratton chain. It had an average of 500 students at any given time. Its building still anchors the corner of Pearl and Columbia.
Albany College of Pharmacy, 43 Eagle Street. The old building, which ACP rented from the Humane Society, is long gone; it was perhaps on the corner where the DeWitt Clinton stands, or perhaps across Howard Street. In 1922 there were plans for a modern building “on a site affording ample grounds for the development of a botanic garden which will be open to the citizens of Albany.”
Albany Law School, 239-245 State Street. There were 305 students in what seems to be an incredibly small building. I can’t resist showing the building that was lost; it was in a former church, probably about on the west end of the site for the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building.
Albany Medical College, Eagle Street between Lancaster and Jay Streets. Yeah, that’s not there. But there’s an historical marker!
Dudley Observatory, in its second location, South Lake Avenue near New Scotland. It was included here although it did not have resident students; “all the work done is of a research nature.” It’s now the site of the Capital District Psychiatric Center.
Bender Hygienic Laboratory, South Lake Avenue. This was a training school for medical graduates seeking experience in pathology. Also gone, also the site of the Capital District Psychiatric Center.
New York State Library School, part of the New York State Library with 35-55 students a year. By this time, the State Library was in the State Education Building. Yeah, that’s still around.
Training Schools for Nurses
Albany Hospital Training School for Nurses, New Scotland Avenue. By 1922, the nursing school, with 82 students, was at the Albany Hospital’s relatively new digs. The original building is still there, if you squint.
St. Peter’s Hospital, Broadway and North Ferry Street. Forty nurses were trained there in 1922. Yeah, that’s a parking lot today.
Homeopathic Hospital, 161 North Pearl Street. Hoxsie has already written of the need for napkin rings and plain underclothing for these nursing students, 38 in 1922. The building is long since gone, on the site occupied by the O’Brien Federal Building.
Brady Maternity Hospital and Infant Home, North Main Avenue. The hospital provided a three-month course in obstetrics for senior nurses in other registered hospitals. There were 20 students. This is now St. Catherine’s Center for Children; I’m uncertain which of the buildings was the original hospital.
Leave a Reply