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WEEK of February 25, 2008
@BFS! archives

60 Years Ago at BFS: How Good Citizenship Saved Brooklyn Friends School

by Susan Price ’86 and John R. Martin

The 1940’s were a pivotal time in world history. The United States and its allies defeated the Axis and fascism in World War II. The Cold War was in its early stages, pitting Democracy against Communism. Today’s world might have been vastly different had the U.S. and its allies failed.

The same can be said for another historical event that occurred in 1947 and 1948 involving Brooklyn Friends School and Brooklyn Monthly Meeting. Doomed for condemnation by the city to create a new jail on its property, Brooklyn Friends School, the Society of Friends, and their allies, the people of New York City, came together to save the School and Meeting House from destruction.

In 1947 Brooklyn Friends was entering its 81st year as a Quaker school in Brooklyn; the Meeting House was but ten years older. The school was not located at its current address on Pearl Street, but at 112 Schermerhorn Street. The Brooklyn Meeting House, next to the school, was used daily by our students for meeting for worship, assemblies, the cafeteria, the library, and much more. The 1947-1948 school year began with 285 boys and girls attending Friends, but soon their academic careers were in peril.

The city of New York did not have anything against Brooklyn Friends School or the Quakers. The problem was that the Raymond Street Jail, located on what is now Ashland Place in Fort Greene, was ancient; the city was in desperate need of a more modern facility which could be connected to the Kings County Criminal Courthouse at 120 Schermerhorn Street. The idea to build a new 12-story jail on that site dated back to 1941 plans for a new Brooklyn civic center, which were pushed through government channels with seemingly no public hearings. Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore gave the Society of Friends over a year’s notice about the February, 1948 condemnation and purchase of land. The Society of Friends quickly formulated proposals to rebuild elsewhere, but the costs of such an undertaking were prohibitive.

Olney M. Raymond—a 1920 graduate of Brooklyn Friends, a Quaker, and parent to four of our alumni—was the chairman of the board of trustees at Friends School at the time. At November, 1947 public hearings, Raymond was one of the first to speak against the city’s proposal. While Raymond agreed that a new jail was necessary for the city of Brooklyn, he did not agree with where the city was planning to build it. Raymond told city officials that if the Quakers were going to give up their buildings on Schermerhorn that they would need a new school site, money and time to build. The cost of moving however would be a hefty $1,000,000. With the city already building a new $6,000,000 jail, the idea of giving $1,000,000 for a new school and Meeting House seemed unrealistic and it looked like Brooklyn Friends may have seen the end of its days.

Brooklyn Friends School and the Quakers and citizens of New York City were not ready to give up the land to the city. The city was desperate for schooling and Brooklyn Friends was one of the finest institutions in all of New York. On January 10, 1948, The Citizens Union of Brooklyn became the first civic association outside of the school to announce that they were against the new jail being built on the site of the Friends School and Meeting House. The Union even created a borough committee to protest to the Board of Estimates about the situation.

Soon many other groups and individuals were backing Brooklyn Friends School and the Quakers. The majority were not Quaker, yet they strongly admired Quaker beliefs and did not believe the Quakers’ school and place of worship should be taken away. One man, Merrill Anderson, voluntarily sent out 1,000 letters urging the building to be built on a parking lot across from the courthouse. Mr. Anderson did not attend Brooklyn Friends or know anyone who did. He just believed it was the right thing to do.

By January 14, ten Protestant congregations were signing what they expected to be up to 5,000 petitions directed to Borough President Cashmore and New York City Mayor Bill O’Dwyer, protesting the condemnation of Brooklyn Friends. The Board of Governors for the Brooklyn Heights Association soon followed. People could not understand why the jail had to be built on this specific location, ruining the lives of hundreds of students and Quakers, when other nearby options were possible and more plausible.

On January 15, one newspaper wrote that Mayor O’Dwyer was impressed by the amount of complaints he had received, yet the paper still considered Brooklyn Friends doomed. On January 16, almost 200 protesters stormed Brooklyn Borough Hall demanding to speak with Cashmore. Cashmore agreed to meet with a group of Quakers the next week to discuss the matter. The group included Olney Raymond, former BFS principal S. Archibald Smith, school board member John Judkyn and New York Monthly Meeting Clerk Samuel B. Williams, who was the father of two of our alumni. They met with Cashmore for 75 minutes on January 21. By the time the meeting was over, it was agreed that the Brooklyn Meeting House and Brooklyn Friends School would be saved. Cashmore and O’Dwyer agreed on a new location for the jail across the street from the courthouse. That site actually cost $1,000 less to purchase than the land Brooklyn Friends stood on. January 29, the day after the Board of Estimate made it official, the headline of the Brooklyn Eagle proclaimed “Friends School Saved. City Drops Site.” People all over New York City celebrated this victory for Brooklyn Friends School and the Quakers of New York.

On February 6, 1948, a reception to thank those involved in saving the school was held at the Brooklyn Meeting House. There was no way to thank everyone, there were so many—individuals, businesses, civic groups, religious institutions, newspapers and schools, many of whom had no connection to the School or the Religious Society of Friends. BFS Principal Warren B. Cochran and Student Council President James Fairman gave special thanks to Helen Szold, the tireless president of the Parent-Teacher Club; Merrill Anderson; Olney M. Raymond; Samuel B. Williams; S. Stanley Kreutzer and Harriet Righter of the Citizens Union; Minority Leader of the City Council Genevieve Earle; and John Ditmas Talmage who, rallied other churches to our side. At this reception, our student newspaper The Life, reported that Merrill Anderson, when asked why he had chosen to come to the aid of those he did not know, told the rapt audience that he had been inspired by a line from “How I Wonder,” a play by Donald Ogden Stewart: “If not I, who? If not now, when?”

Brooklyn Friends School and the Brooklyn Meeting House are here today because of the dedication of a city of people who refused to give up. The Brooklyn Eagle wrote on January 23, 1948 that “Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the case of the Friends School on Schermerhorn St. is the great friendliness it has engendered in all sorts of people.” The Sun added that “Brooklynites of all shades of religious and political convictions rallied to [Brooklyn Friends] support.”

The people of Brooklyn showed us that 60 years ago it was possible for all people, no matter what race or religion, to come together and succeed. Fortunately, for the current members of Brooklyn Meeting and the current students of Brooklyn Friends School, they can continue to worship and learn in an environment where these ideals can be taught and displayed.