The city of Newark was booming at the turn of the century. The population increased 40% in the first decade of the 1900s. With this came a need for more public school buildings. The buildings that the city had been using in the late 1800's were small brick structures, and their floor plans were poorly designed. Instead of throwing up cheap utilitarian structures to replace these aging buildings, the city invested heavily in their new schools. Miller Street School originally opened in 1881, with additions made in 1887 and 1900. The old building was a prime candidate for replacement
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The firm of Guilbert & Betelle were the architects contracted to annex the old Miller Street School. The name should ring a bell, as Ernest Guilbert was responsible for designing the Morton Street School I wrote about recently. The new Miller Street School opened in 1912.
The structure was just over 43,500 square feet, and stood right next to the old brick school house. The main draw of the new building was a large auditorium that had a balcony level and beautiful plaster accents.
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Citing a number of reasons, the Newark Public Schools commission shut down a dozen different schools between 2011 and 2015. The Miller Street School was among those closed in 2012. A structural evaluation report the following year deemed the school building to be in fair condition, but recommended for demolition due to its location and age.
The structure sat vacant for five years but was eventually sold to the Claremont Properties Group and renovated into apartments. Work began in 2019 and by the following year the school had been reborn. It's nice to be able to wrap up one of my posts with a happy ending for a change.
Thank you for posting. Few people do this work.
ReplyDeleteWow my elementary school.
ReplyDeleteMy Mother, Doris Friedrich (Lahm), graduated from this school in 1941. She was voted most wittiest in her class. Mom's graduating teacher shows an M. M. Maguire. I still have Mom's Miller Street School autograph book. Sadly Mom passed in 2016. Robin Lahm
ReplyDeleteI went to Miller Street School, graduating June 1956. I also won a talent contest in that auditorium, on that stage Madeline Bell
ReplyDeleteI used to go to this school😂and then it closed down and I had to go to Louise a. Spencer….but when I went to that school they changed the name of it to “Spencer miller community school” to maybe not make the kids from miller feel left out..I don’t really know….but as of right now they changed it back to Louise a spencer. But I still walk past miller sometimes and I see improvement and feel like the building was actually put to good use 👍
ReplyDeleteSame! I was the first graduating class at Louise A. Spencer so I was Class of 2015.
DeleteAttended Kindergarten and 1st grade from 1948 to 1950. Anyone remember Mrs. Gash, our 1st grade teacher? I've been searching for friends Andrew Featherman (sp?) and Ronald Simmons for decades without success. Back then hand-crank cars were yet on the road and homes were just transitioning from ice boxes to Sears Coldspot refrigerators. Chambers stoves, coal bins, coal chutes, Dugan's, LaRue, poultry and egg men, junk men and their horse drawn wooden trucks and of course the blizzard of '48 struck and blew our fathers right off their feet. Lead paint blistered. We popped the blisters and put our fingers in our mouths. We inhaled the thick blue smoke from tailpipes and many yet had outhouses in their backyards. Anyone remember the name of our kindergarten teacher?
ReplyDeleteI also went to Miller Street School . I was hurt when I came through there and seen that is was closed down
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