New Jersey is known for having some of the best schools in the country. Unfortunately we also have students learning in some of the oldest facilites in the United States. This is especially true in the northern portion of the state, with some structures dating back to the 1880's still in use today. Unlike many other public buildings which have been perpetually maintained and renovated throughout that time, our schools have largely suffered from deferred maintenence and slim budgets. One example of this was the Joseph Battin High School.
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The school opened in 1889 in an old mansion on South Street. The building was donated by Joseph Battin, who had been the president of the Elizabethtown Water Company.
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| TFPNJ Postcard Archive |
It wasn't long before the school outgrew the mansion. Designs were solicited for a new building in the early 1910s. A special building committee was assembled, including Richard E. Clement, the superintendent of schools for Elizabeth. The group decided the most efficient school design for the plot on South Street would be a "rectangular" plan building. The plan called for interior corridors, with classrooms being built with large windows along the outside of the building.
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The group selected Charles Godfrey Poggi to design the building. Poggi was a rising star in Elizabeth, having designed several churches and other public buildings around the city.
Poggi studied other local schools for inspiration on how to best appoint the building. He close a tasteful buff colored brick with Indiana limestone trim. The pediment over the front doors featured several hand carved statues flanking the seal of the City of Elizabeth.
The main architectural highlight of the building was the central auditorium. It featured a large coffered ceiling with several skylights, twenty foot windows, and a balcony with seating for several hundred students. Extra plaster ornament was shoehorned inside every crevice and bare space to create an overwhelming sense of grandeur. The auditorium was a work of art.
In 1929 the brand new Thomas Jefferson High School opened just a few blocks away on Elizabeth Avenue. Unfortunately the board of education couldn't come up with efficient districts by which to fill the schools. Since Jefferson had better "athletic and shop facilities", it was determined the boys would go there, and the girls could have Battin.
One of the most noteworthy events in the facility's history came in 1952. A small plane failed to land properly at Newark Airport and crashed directly across the street from the building, narrowly missing the school itself. A number of homes at the corner of South and William Street were destroyed by the wreck. A young girl who attended the school at the time went on to have a sucessful writing career, even writing a book about the crash itself. Her name is Judy Blume, and the novel is titled In the Unlikely Event.
A large gymnasium addition was attached to the rear of the building in the 1960s, on land which one held houses. The new Elizabeth High opened in 1977, which closed both Battin and Jefferson. They did both eventually reopen as schools, but the story wasn't over there.
Battin school was abruptly closed due to poor building conditions in 2022. An inspection had revealed portions of the roof were beginning to show signs of failure. Around the same time, the School Development Authority announced billions of dollars of planned upgrades to the states aging school buildings. Battin was quickly approved to join the list of facility replacements.
When I first visited the building, I was suprised by how much the auditorium resembled those by my favorite school architects, the Guilbert & Betelle firm of Newark. It wasn't until later that I had uncovered an article which alluded to C. Godfrey Poggi visiting other local schools for inspiration on Battin. He certainly would have visited some of the amazing schools around Essex County, meaning my suspicions about the G & B influence were essentially confirmed.
Unfortunately demolition work commenced swiftly on Battin. Thankfully the crew started with the more modern rear, allowing me to make a few visits to the school before it was demolished entirely by September 2024. The school was just one of dozens set to be rebuilt by the NJ School Development Authority over the next few years. Stay tuned for more stories.
