Courtesy, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library
Courtesy, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library
Courtesy, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library
Courtesy, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library
Courtesy, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Public School #11, dedicated in 1969, is the sixth consecutive school building to occupy this same location since 1660, the oldest continuous school site in the state of New Jersey.
Photo: P. Shalhoub, 2001
Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Source: Nobelprize.org: The official website of the Nobel Prize
Bergen Square showing No. 11 School - Jersey City, NJ
Postcard circa 1910
Courtesy, Jersey City Free Public Library
Constructed in 1903, the second Public School #11 is shown in this postcard view looking northeast from the intersection of Academy Street and Bergen Avenue at Bergen Square.
Courtesy, Jersey City Free Public Library
1n 1930, PS #11 was decorated with banners and bunting to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the founding of Bergen.
Courtesy, Jersey City Free Public Library
The school building shown above was constructed circa 1857 on the same location as the Columbian Academy which it replaced. It was officially designated as PS #11 following the merger of Jersey City and Bergen and Hudson Cities in 1870.
Courtesy: Jersey City Free Public Library
The Columbian Academy once stood at the northeast corner of Academy Street and Bergen Square on the site of two earlier school buildings. This lithograph shows how the structure may have appeared circa 1790.
Source: H. Eaton, Jersey City and Its Historic Sites (1899)
Statue of Peter Stuyvesant in its second
location (1969-2010) on the north side of the plaza
in front of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. PS #11.
Photo: A. Selvaggio, 2002
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Public School #11 is the nation's oldest-continuous school site, the first free school, and the first public school building in New Jersey and Jersey City. Located on Lot No. 177, at the northeast corner of historic Bergen Square in the village of Bergen, it began during Dutch rule of New Netherland and under Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, circa 1660-1662.
The concept of a free school continued after the succession of the English rule of Colonial New Jersey in 1665. In the charter of land and privileges to the Town and Freeholders of Bergen, Governor Philip Carteret included an insightful, if not historic, provision “. . . to lay out such a proportion of land for the keeping of a free school for the education of youth as they shall think fit; which land, once being laid out, is not to be alienated, but to remain and continue forever from one incumbent to another free from paying of rent or any other rate or tax whatsoever” (quoted in "The Bergen Columbia Academy," 1908).
The school's dedication date in 1660 or 1668 is in some dispute. There are claims that the school began in a 1664-built log cabin and was also used as a "drunkards’ prison" on the weekends until replaced by a new school in 1668.
According to the historian Daniel Van Winkle, "The exact date of the first building on the school lot is not known, but in 1678 it was in much need of repair so it could not have been long declared" (New York Times 6 October 1910). It was most probably a log building that followed the instruction of children in the settlers’ homes for some time. Engelbert Steenhuysen was the first schoolmaster. The second school was built on the same lot in 1708 and probably remained under the auspices of the Dutch Reformed Church until the Revolutionary War. In 1790, the building was razed and replaced by a new two-story brownstone building featuring a cupola at Bergen Avenue and Academy Street and was named the Columbian Academy
The Township of Bergen claimed jurisdiction over the Academy to meet the educational needs of the growing community. The Trustees of the Academy transferred the deed for the property to the Township in 1813. The New Jersey legislature approved the Academy's use as a public school the following year. In 1841, when the second Dutch Reformed Church was razed, the brass rooster weathercock/vane was placed on the school’s cupola. It operated until 1857 when the Academy was leveled, and the Town of Bergen built Columbia District School Number One on the "school lot." In 1870, the school was named Public School No. 11 with the consolidation of the City of Bergen and Jersey City. The building was replaced in 1905 with a new and larger school on the same site at 886 Bergen Avenue.
In 1910, at the 250th Anniversary commemoration of the founding of the village of Bergen, it was proposed that a statue of the Director-General of New Netherland be placed in front of the school. The unveiling of the bronze statue took place on October 18, 1913. The inscription on the base read: "In the year of our Lord 1660, by permission of PETRUS STUYVESANT, Director-General, and the Council of New Netherland, around this Square, was founded and built the Village of BERGEN, the first permanent settlement in NEW JERSEY."
On October 3, 1966, a fire destroyed Public School No. 11. The new school designed by Comparetto & Kenny is the sixth school on the historic site and is named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights leader. A bronze bust of Dr. King by the Jersey City sculptor Archimedes Giancomantonio is in the lobby.
At the school's dedication on April 2, 1969, the statue of Peter Stuyvesant was placed near the school's entrance. The pamphlet from the ceremony gives homage to the two men with whom the school is associated: ". . . Martin Luther King, Jr. . . . like Peter Stuyvesant knew when to fight and when not to fight. Dr. King chose to wage his war by nonviolent means. Hopefully his followers will, as the Dutch settlers did, choose the peaceful way; and in this manner, assure to all peoples the benefits of the centuries of work and dedication which have continued on this site."
The statue of Stuyvesant was removed from the school site on February 5, 2010, amidst some controversy. It remains in storage at The Beacon, the former Jersey City Medical Center. There are plans for the statue to be restored and placed on a new base within historic Bergen Square.
"The Bergen Columbia Academy, 1908." Joan D. Lovero Collection, New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library.
"Bergen's Quaint Relics." New York Times 20 December 1896.
"City Urged to Preserve School's Historic Objects." Jersey Journal 6 October 1966.
"New Jersey: Laying the Corner Stone of a New Academy at Bergen; History of the Old Building." New York Times 29 July 1858.
Van Winkle, Daniel. "History of Bergen Village." Fourth Article. New York Times 6 October 1910.
