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Bayonne's newest and costliest elementary school, an orange black structure was built for nearly $1 million in 1930 on the corner of Avenue B and 56th Street. The school was named after a Princeton professor who became the 28th President of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson School opened its doors to the first students September 9, 1931. Marching through the marble foyer of the main entrance, they discovered an up-to-date plant whose facilities were not matched until the opening of the new high school several years later. Miss Elizabeth C. Duffy, Principal, was on hand to greet the pupils. With her were Miss Louise Dower, Vice principal, and three teachers. The pupils numbered 539--376 transferred from Washington School, nine blocks away, and 163 from Robinson School. Reproductions of George Washington's portrait by Gilbert Stuart, Miss. Duffy recorded, arrived in time to be hung in classrooms prior to the formal dedication of the new school on May 11, 1932. The portrait remains in many of the classrooms to this day. Corridors were lined with glazed tile. Tile floors ran throughout. Kindergarten children had their own entrance on the west side. On the east was the widest school play yard in the city, running the width of the street, which was to be macadamized in the 1950's. Nearly 1,000 people attended the dedication. The Henry E. Harris School Orchestra opened with musical selections. Edward Zell, Vice-president of the Board of Education, presided. Woodrow Wilson School had opened before shrubbery and landscaping had been completed. Two trees were planted April 29, 1932 in a special Arbor Day Exercise outside and are still living today. School enrollment never reached what had been anticipated. The top year was 1935 when 895 were enrolled. The school was almost abandoned by the Chamber of commerce, but luckily for the students of today its doors remained opened. |
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