One of Elmhurst’s and Queens' most prominent buildings, the Newtown High School is the result of several building campaigns, which began with the construction of a small, wooden school house in1866 to serve children from the Village of Newtown and the surrounding farms.

The school’s first expansion took place in 1898-1900, when a much larger, brick building, designed by the architectural firm Boring & Tilton, was added to the site. It was renamed the Newtown High School in 1910, after the lower grades were moved out.

As Elmhurst’s population grew in the early twentieth century, Newtown High School needed to expand. Plans began in 1917 for an addition to be designed by C.B.J. Snyder, the noted Superintendent of School Buildings for the Board of Education, but the First World War delayed construction until 1920. The new impressive Flemish Renaissance Revival-style wing was opened in 1921, featuring stepped gables and a dramatic 169-foot, centrally-placed tower topped by a cupola and turrets.

Two Flemish Renaissance Revival-style wings designed by Walter C. Martin were constructed in 1930-1931, and the Boring & Tilton’s turn-of-the-century wing was replaced by an International Style addition in 1956-1958, designed by the Manhattan architectural firm Maurice Salo & Associates.The remarkably intact Newtown High School now serves a diverse body of 4,500 students and employs more than 200 teachers. Newtown High School is a New York City Individual Landmarks and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Photo by Jim Henderson