Garrison Union Free School

Infobox School
name = Garrison Union Free School

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imagesize = 300px

caption = School entrance, part of original 1908 building, in 2007
location =
streetaddress = 1100 Route 9D
city = Garrison
state = NY
zipcode = 10524
country = USA
coordinates = coor dms|41|22|49|N|73|56|18|W
principal = Stephanie Impellitiere
staff = 34PDFlink| [https://www.nystart.gov/publicweb-rc/2006/AOR-2006-480404020001.pdf New York State School Report Card 2005-2006, Accountability and Overview Information for Garrison School] |531 KiB ]
avg_class_size =
ratio = 1:9
fundingtype = Public
grades = K-8
language = English
campus size = 9 acres (3.6 ha)Cite web|last=Prentice|first=Anita|title=Garrison Union Free School District: A History Primer|url=http://www.gufs.org/www/gufs/site/hosting/GUFSD_Short_History.htm|date=2004|accessdate=2008-01-24]
campus type = Suburban
opened = 1908cite web|last=Barry|first=Elise|title=National Register of Historic Places nomination, Garrison Union Free School|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=7238|date=April 7, 1982|accessdate=2008-01-24]
founded = 1793
status = Open
enrollment = 295
gradeK = 36
grade1 = 32
grade2 = 31
grade3 = 39
grade4 = 32
grade5 = 39
grade6 = 30
grade7 = 27
grade8 = 29
communities = Garrison
Putnam Valley (portion)
free_label = NRHP ref#
free_text = 82001244
free_label1 = Year added
free_text1 = 1982
homepage = [http://www.gufs.org Garrison Union Free School District]

Garrison Union Free School, also referred to as just Garrison School, educates students from kindergarten through eighth grade in the eponymous school district, which covers the hamlet of Garrison and nearby areas of the towns of Philipstown and Putnam Valley in Putnam County, New York, United States. It is located on NY 9D near the center of the hamlet, right across from St. Philip's Church in the Highlands, where it was originally located when established in 1793.

Graduating students who continue their education in public schools have the choice of doing so either at Haldane High School, to the north in Cold Spring; or James I. O'Neill High School across the Hudson River in Highland Falls. The district pays tuition for both.

History

The minutes of St. Philip's show that the church resolved to build a "free school", paid for by subscription in 1793, when it was slowly re-establishing itself after half the pre-Revolutionary , including its pastor and warden, had fled the country due to their Loyalist sympathies. The original building was replaced by another in 1837. In 1866, when the state designated it the Garrison Union Free School District, it moved to donated land slightly further north along the present Route 9D.

By the early 20th century the school's enrollment had grown as the New York Central Railroad had made Garrison more accessible to New York City and wealthy families had moved to the area to build houses taking in the scenery of the river and surrounding Hudson Highlands. In 1908 the first part of the current building was erected opposite the church on land donated by the family of recently deceased railroad executive Samuel Sloan.

During the 1920s and 1930s the district and its school grew via the addition of other small local districts: Graymoor, Travis Corners, Nelson Corners and then Continental Village, later reannexed by the neighboring Lakeland schools. The growth required additions to the building in the 1950s and '60s. School facilities were further augmented by the 181 acre (72 ha) School Forest to the east, donated by some descendants of Sloan and other families in the area. It has hiking trails and some remains of Revolutionary-era West Point fortifications.

In 1971 Manitou to the south, which had previously sent all its students to Haldane, merged with Garrison. The building's unique architecture earned it a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, the only school included in the Hudson Highlands Multiple Resource Area Multiple Property Submission. Continued growth required the addition of another wing in 2002 to provide a gym, eight classrooms and a computer lab for the middle school students.

References

External links

* [http://www.gufs.org School website]