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BFS Makes Groundbreaking History in Downtown Brooklyn

Breaking ground for the new BFS Upper School: Trustees Brad Mulder ’83 and Lara Holliday, and US Head Bob Bowman What a great moment in the history of our school! We often think of history as something that happened long ago, but we actually make history every day of our lives. Some moments are particularly impactful, […]

Our Buildings, Our History, Part IV: 1902’s Modern Brooklyn Friends School

1902 saw one of the biggest moments in Brooklyn Friends School history, our third expansion which created the school building still standing today at 112-114 Schermerhorn, now rented by New York Quarterly Meeting to the NYC Board of Education for Brooklyn Frontiers High School. Today it seems amazing that any building could take only about eight […]

BFS “head” count. Heads of school, that is…

Stuart Smith, 1968 to 1978 Since 1867, BFS has had 19 heads of school, not including interim heads. Over the years, the title of our school’s highest administrative role has evolved from principal to headmaster to today’s head of school. The history of each administration is unique, fascinating and lengthy, so today I’ll only give […]

100 Years Ago at BFS

BFS Commencement and Important AnnouncementsBrooklyn Daily Eagle, June 6, 1914 This week, your friendly historian decided to time-travel back one hundred years to the 1913-1914 school year at BFS. Turning once again to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at one of my favorite sites, fultonhistory.com, I found this page containing the article, “Friends School to Have […]

Our 2nd expansion,1888: Part 3 of Our Buildings, Our History

A front view of  NYMM’s Schermerhorn properties ca. 1888, showing the eastern side of the Brooklyn Meeting House The second expansion of BFS occurred in 1888 with the purchase of the two vacant lots at 112 and 114 Schermerhorn, just east of the Brooklyn Meeting House, the open space seen in the photo used in […]

1867 to 1886 and Our First Expansion – Part 2 of Our Buildings, Our History

Look at the right of this ca. 1893 photo of the Germania Club to see the Brooklyn Meeting House at the far right. Look closely to see the snow on what seems to be the rooftop of our school’s 1886 building  just east of the Meeting House. In light of the great news of the most recent expansion of BFS, a new home […]