Morris Campus

History

Interesting Facts:

Morris High School, built in 1897, was the first Bronx high school.

The school was the first New York City high school for boys and girls.

Bronx residents campaigned to change the name from Peter Cooper High School to Morris High School to honor a Bronx resident and humanitarian, Governeur Morris, one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution and a major landowner in the Bronx in the 18th century.

The present building was built to fill the need for a ‘middle school’ between grammar school and college.

The building was designed in the collegiate gothic style to reflect the school’s role as the ‘people’s college’.

Known as the ‘Little U.N. in the 1940s.

Notable Alumni

Judith Crist, Film Critic

Armand Hammer, Industrialist

David Lerner, Investment Banker

Colin Powell, Former Secretary of the State

Gabe Pressman, NBCTV anchorman

Carlos Rivera, Former Fire Commissioner

Henry Santos, singer with ‘Aventura’

Historical Paintings

In 1907, the New York Municipal Art Society held a competition for mural size decorations for the recently opened Morris High School. Mr. Edwin Willard Deming won the competition and his paintings remain displayed on the first floor of the Morris High School Campus to this day.

Pictured above is the first of two competition demonstration pieces submitted by Edwin Willard Deming for the New York Municipal Art Society’s mural size decoration competition. The subject of this oil painting is Governor Morris at the Constitutional Convention. The demonstration painting measures 65 ½ inches wide and 45 inches high and was donated by Murray Hartstein to the New York City Board of Education to be displayed at Morris High School.

Pictured above is the second of two competition demonstration pieces by Edwin Willard Deming for the New York Municipal Art Society’s mural size decoration competition. The subject of this oil painting is the First Treaty of Peace Made Between the Weekquaisqeek Indians and the Dutch at the Residence of Jonas Bronck in 1642.