ERASMUS HALL

AN EARLY SEAT OF LEARNING

	Behind the ERASMUS Hall High School its old parent ERASMUS Hall 
still stands on Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn. Many years ago, Dr. 
John H. LIVINGSTON came to Flatbush, and aided by influential men of the 
town, agitated for better education. Dr. LIVINGSTON hoped
that this school might form the nucleus for a theological school that 
he wished to establish. He came to Flatbush during the summer of 1786, 
and his students of theology came with him. Senator John VANDERBILT became 
interested in Dr. LIVINGSTON's suggestion to have a school in the town 
other than the village school in the heart of Flatbush, and together 
they set to work to obtain the support of other influential men. They 
finally won to the cause 
Jacob LEFFERTS, 
Joris MARTENSE, 
Peter LEFFERTS, 
Johannes E. LOTT, 
William B. GIFFORD, 
Peter CORNELL, 
Matthew CLARKSON, 
Aquila GILES; 
Garret MARTENSE 
Cornelius VANDERVEER, and Justice John VANDERBILT.

A subscription paper was started, and it was not long before a spot was chosen for 
the new school in the centre of the village on Main Road (now Flatbush Avenue), 
opposite the court-house and near the place where the village school-house stood.

1787 was a busy year for the Flatbush men. Logs were hauled from neighboring farms 
for the new school, and men from far and near helped in the building. They named 
it ERASMUS Hall, for Desiderius ERASMUS, the Dutch scholar who during Henry VIII's 
time brought the "New Learning" to England.

	The governor of the state, mebers of the Assembly, and many residents 
of Flatbush attended the first public exhibition held at Erasmus Hall, 
on September 27, 1787. Previously application had been made to the Regents 
of the University of the State of New York for a charter, which, 
subsequently granted, placed Erasmus Hall first on the list of secondary 
schools to receive such a charter.

	About this time the directors turned to Dr. LIVINGSTON for guidance, 
and in addition to his duties as pastor in New York City he accepted the 
principalship of the new academy: without salary. The year following its 
erection the trustees announced that, "as this institution' was designed 
to be a superior common school, the Board resolved that no scholar be 
admitted into the Hall but such as have begun to read and write." 
The fee was fixed at a half guinea, and the tuition fee for instruction 
in English was placed at L3 1Os. For instruction in other departments the 
fee was one guinea, and the tuition fee six pounds.

	The trustees from the first were anxious that the scholars at Erasmus Hall 
should have a well-equipped library, and the year following its opening (1788) 
each language pupil was assessed one dollar, to go toward buying books. It 
appears that some of the parents of the pupils objected to this scheme, so 
this plan of getting a library was abandoned. The trustees next turned to 
the regents for an equipment, and in this their pleas were successful; for a 
record of May 2, 1791, shows that 115 books had been given, also one thermometer,
one barometer, one small magnet, an electrical apparatus, a theodolite and chair, 
Hadley's quadrant, a small telescope, two prisms, and a case of drawing instruments. 
The head teacher, John TODD, was appointed to care for the books, among which was 
"Paradise Lost," Goldsmith's "Roman History" and his "Animated Nature," 
Johnson's Dictionary, and the Rambler and Spectator.

	From far and near pupils came to the new school. Some of them even came from 
other States, and the records show that there were a good number of boarding pupils, 
and that the number increased to such an extent that the rooms at the school were 
filled, and some of the students sought board among the neighboring farms. 
It was fortunate that the residents of Flatbush--all of them well-to-do--were 
kindly disposed- toward the new-comers, for they opened their homes to them.
Twenty pounds a year was the cost of board, room, and washing.. There is 
hardly a question that these youths of early Erasmus Hall did play their pranks, 
though nothing worse than stealing apples is on record against them. Mr.J. BAXTER, 
of Flatlands, has an interesting note in his diary of October 13, 1792, to this effect:
"Went to the meeting to the church about the Academy boys, who had played the d--l."

	Erasmus Hall in 1896 was transferred to the city of Brooklyn, and in 1905 the new 
Erasmus Hall High School was begun. The first and present principal was Dr. Walter 
Balfour GUNNISON. The parent building stands close behind its progeny on Flatbush 
Avenue, as though shielded from the too curious gaze of the public; and, if an 
old building can think, it probably wonders concerning the changes 
that have come about in Flatbush.

	The Reformed Church of Flatbush, used as a hospital for the wounded soldiers 
during the Revvolution, for years was closely associated with Erasmus Hall. 
Its steeple bell, which gave the first warning of the coming of the British 
to the town, still hangs in the Dutch Reformed Church across the way.





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