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Erasmus Hall High School
911 Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11226
http://www.starec.org
Erasmus Hall High School, often called the "mother of high schools," began as a small private academy in 1787 with an enrollment of twenty-six boys. It was the first secondary school to be chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York and hence is the nucleus out of which grew the vast system of secondary school education in New York.
The original wooden academy building, a fine example of Colonial architecture with its hand-carved beams and clapboards, stands in the center of an ivy-towered quadrangle. It was built in 1787 on land donated by the Dutch Reformed Church with funds contributed by Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Jay, and others. This building, now known as the Erasmus Hall Museum, was designated in 1966 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Surrounding the academy are four three-story stone and brisk buildings, designed by New York City School's architect C.B.J. Snyder and built between 1903 and 1940. In front of the old academy is a large bronze statue of Desiderius Erasmus copied from an original (1622) Rotterdam by Hendrick de Keiser.
The entrance fee to the old Erasmus Hall Academy was one guinea and tuition was six pounds sterling, a sizable sum in those days. Students came not only from the surrounding countryside, but also from such far-off places as France, Portugal, the West Indies, Brazil, Spain, and Sweden. Discipline was severe and refractory students were punished by solitary confinement in the "brig," an attic above the classrooms, and sometimes even whipped. If the quaint wording of Rule 9 is to be taken literally, however, students who stood in the good graces of teachers were allowed a license undreamed of in modern private schools. This rule states: "No student shall be permitted to practise any species of gaming nor to drink any spirituous liquors nor to go into any tavern in Flat Bush without obtaining the consent of a teacher."
For many years, the school was in the middle of a solid, Jewish middle-class neighborhood. By the 1980s, the area had changed dramatically and the decline was reflected in the school's academic achievements and increased violence. In an effort to improve academics, the school was reorganized in 1994 into four smaller schools, each with a different specialty. In 2003, Erasmus Hall High School was inaugurated as a new Science, Technology and Research High School (STAR). STAR, a collaborative effort of Brooklyn College and the New York City Department of Education, is a science-focused college preparatory high school funded in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Erasmus Hall's alumni include John M. Berrien (1973), Attorney General of the United States and Senator; George M. Troup (1792), Governor of Georgia; John W. Hunter (1824), New York State Senator, Congressman, and mayor of Brooklyn; Joseph R. Barbera (1928), artist; cartoonist; co-creator of Tom & Jerry cartoons; Betty Comden (1933), playwright; Broadway musical songwriter with Adolph Green; Jon Cypher (1949), actor (Hill Street Blues); Al Davis, Oakland Raiders owner, Pro Football Hall of Fame member; Clive Davis, Grammy Award winning record producer; Chairman & CEO BMG North America; founder of Arista Records; Neil Diamond, singer/songwriter who attended Erasmus from 1954-1956; Bobby Fischer, (dropped out in 1960) chess champion; Jim Florio (1964), former Governor of New Jersey; Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrenner), Hollywood actress; Eleanor Holm (1932), Olympic swimmer; Moe Howard (Moses Harry Horwitz), (dropped out after two months, 1915) member of the Three Stooges comedy team; Waite Hoyt, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees and long-time broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds; Marty Ingels, comedian, husband of Shirley Jones; Lainie Kazan (Lainie Levine) (1956), Broadway, film and TV actress and singer; Dorothy Kilgallen (1932), journalist and TV celebrity; Bernie Kopell (1953), actor, "Doc" on TV series The Love Boat; Samuel LeFrak (1936), real estate developer; Dr. Barbara McClintock (1919), winner of Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1983; Bernard Malamud (1932), author and educator; Pulitzer Prize for The Fixer, 1967, The Magic Barrel, 1958; Kedar Massenburg (1981), former CEO/President of Motown Records; Stephanie Mills (1977), actress/singer; Don Most (1970), actor, TV series, Happy Days; Don K. Reed (1960), disc jockey, hosted "The Doo-Wop Shop" radio show on New York oldies station WCBS-FM; Jerry Reinsdorf (1953), owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox; Lewis Rolland, Md. (1942), expert on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, known as Lou Gehrig's Disease); Beverly Sills, (Belle Miriam Silverman) coloratura opera singer, attended Erasmus in the mid-1940s and transferred before graduating; Barbara Stanwyck (Ruby Stevens) (c.1925), actress; Barbra Streisand (Barbara Joan Streisand), (1959), actress, singer, director, producer; Norma Talmadge (c.1911), silent film star; Cheryl Toussaint (1970), Olympic gold medalist, 1972; Eli Wallach (1932), actor; and Mae West (1893), actress, comedienne, playwright. |
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Allen Organ Company
Macungie, Penn.
Electronic tonal production
2 manuals
Specifications for this organ have not yet been located. |
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M.P. Möller, Inc.
Hagerstown, Md. – Opus 940 (1907)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 30 stops, 30 ranks
On October 19, 1908, a contract was awarded to the M.P. Möller company of Hagerstown, Md. for the installation of an organ in the chapel of Erasmus Hall High School. The purchaser agreed to pay the sum of $7,450 cash. A handwritten record shows that the organ weighed 15,300 pounds and was shipped on February 23, 1909, traveling to Brooklyn via the Pennsylvania Rail Road. The three-manual and pedal organ was installed in a large chamber that opened into the right balcony, and included a movable detached and reversed keydesk of oak with terraced oblique knobs.
The following specification was recorded in an organ notebook by Lynnwood Farnam (1885-1930), noted concert organist of the early 20th century.
The status of this organ in 2007 is unknown. |
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Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
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16 |
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Double Open Diapason |
61 |
4 |
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Octave |
61 |
8 |
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Open Diapason |
61 |
4 |
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Flute Harmonique |
61 |
8 |
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Gamba |
61 |
2 |
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Super Octave |
61 |
8 |
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Doppel Floete (wood) |
61 |
8 |
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Orchestral Trumpet |
61 |
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Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
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16 |
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Bourdon (wood) |
61 |
8 |
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Vox Humana |
61 |
8 |
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Violin Diapason |
61 |
4 |
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Flauto Traverso (wood) |
61 |
8 |
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Stopped Diapason (wood) |
61 |
4 |
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Gambette |
61 |
8 |
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Salicional |
61 |
8 |
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Cornopean |
61 |
8 |
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Aeoline |
61 |
8 |
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Oboe |
61 |
8 |
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Vox Celeste |
61 |
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Tremulant |
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Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, enclosed
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16 |
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Viol d'Orchestre |
61 |
4 |
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Flute d'Amour (wood & metal) |
61 |
8 |
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Dulciana |
61 |
2 |
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Piccolo |
61 |
8 |
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Geigen Principal |
61 |
8 |
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Clarinet |
61 |
8 |
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Concert Flute (wood) |
61 |
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Tremulant |
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Pedal Organ – 30 notes
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16 |
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Double Open Diapason (wood) |
30 |
8 |
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Bass Flute (wood) |
30 |
16 |
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Bourdon (wood) |
30 |
16 |
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Violone (wood) |
30 |
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Couplers (tilting tablets)
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Swell to Great |
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Choir to Great Sub |
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Swell to Great Super |
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Choir to Choir Super |
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Swell to Pedal Super |
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Great to Great Super |
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Swell to Swell Super |
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Great to Pedal |
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Swell to Choir |
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Choir to Pedal |
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Choir to Great |
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Swell to Pedal |
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Choir to Swell |
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Pedal to Pedal Octaves |
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Mechanicals
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Wind Indicator |
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Crescendo Indicator |
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Adjustable Piston Combinations
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Pistons No. 1-2-3 |
affecting Great Organ |
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Pistons No. 1-2-3-4 |
affecting Swell Organ |
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Pistons No. 1-2 |
affecting Choir Organ |
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Pedal Movements
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Great to Pedal Reversible |
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Balanced Crescendo Pedal excluding Supers and Subs |
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Balanced Swell Pedal on Swell Organ |
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Balanced Swell Pedal on Choir Organ |
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Great Organ Forte |
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Great Organ Piano |
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Swell Organ Forte |
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Swell Organ Piano |
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Sources:
"Brooklyn College Helps Open Innovative Science, Technology and Research High School," http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/spotlite/news/110703.htm.
Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.
Erasmus Hall Alumni Association web site: http://www.erasmushall.org
Farnam, Lynnwood. "Organ Notebook," pp. 512-514 (handwritten contract and specification of M.P. Möller organ, Op. 940). John de Lancie Library, The Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia; Sally Branca, archivist. Courtesy Jonathan Bowen
Harter, Eugene William and Willis Boughton. Chronicles of Erasmus Hall. Published by The General Organization, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1906.
Hartocollis, Anemona. "How Many Schools Have Ties to Both Burr and Barbra?", The New York Times (June 24, 2003).
Scofield, Jeff. M.P. Möller Opus List.
Strong, Thomas M. The History of the Town of Flatbush, Kings County, Long-Island. New York: Thomas R. Mercein, 1842.
The WPA Guide to New York City: The Federal Writers Project Guide to 1930s New York. New York: The New Press, 1939.
Illustrations:
Erasmus Hall Alumni Association web site: 1910 postcard of exterior.
Goldman, Kenneth: 1953 photo of school exterior. (Erasmus Hall Alumni Association web site)
Harter, Eugene William and Willis Boughton. Chronicles of Erasmus Hall: 1824 drawing of Erasmus Hall Academy.
Miller, Gilbert: 1933 photo of chapel interior. (Erasmus Hall Alumni Association web site) |
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