The recent fire at 70 Mulberry Street, home of many social service organizations and the research center for the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) destroyed a 130-year old building. Called the Heart of Chinatown not only because of the services provided there but because as a neighborhood school it had served the community for decades. When we stood outside the building in the aftermath of the fire, numerous older residents remarked to us, “I went to school there.”

As the home of New York City Government’s historical records, it seemed possible that the Municipal Archives held records depicting the neighborhood and the school. Indeed we do.

The oldest record in the Municipal Archives pertaining to the building is the “Application for Erection of Buildings,” filed with the Department of Buildings in 1891. Submitted by prolific school architect Charles B. J. Snyder, the building was designed to serve as an elementary school, through grade 8, with 31 classrooms and a capacity of 1,694 students. The total cost of construction was $130,000. During his tenure from 1891 to 1922, Snyder designed more than 400 schools for New York City, the greatest expansion of public schools in American history. Snyder schools are noted for the abundance of natural light flowing into the classrooms through oversize windows.

Board of Education officials designated the building as Public School (P.S.) no. 23. In 1915, the Board decided to add “distinctive” names to many of the numbered schools. P.S. 23 became “The Columbus School,” in recognition of the then-predominantly Italian-American population it served at that time. By the 1930s, increased immigration from China was reflected in the student body. In the late 1940s, the school also served as a venue for adult-education programs designed to assist the many newcomers to the city.

In June 1976, the building was de-commissioned as a school. The city maintained ownership however, and the building became the home for several community groups, including the Chinatown Manpower Project, which offers vocational training, employment services and educational programs; H.T. Chen and Dancers, a modern dance company; and the Chinese American Planning Council. It also houses collections and research materials from the Museum of Chinese in America.

The photographs illustrating this blog are part of the Municipal Archives’ Board of Education collection. Although the images are dated, the names of those depicted in the pictures were not recorded. If anyone recognizes a parent or grandparent or older neighbor in the photographs, please let us know so we can include their names in the historical record.