HomeMy WebLinkAbout04 Chapter pg 103-144 VHS, MHS, Cook, BBHS, PUD, RSS 2026-06-01 ...1004AM 103
Chapter 04
RSS Class of 1969 off to Valhalla High School for grades 10-12 ... RSS Classes
of 1970, 1971 & 1972 Offered Choice of Mamaroneck or Port Chester
In May 1966, the Port Chester (District No. 4) school board informed District No. 5 (Ridge Street School) that they
could not accept new students after September 1, 1967, due to the overcrowding at the Port Chester High School
(“PCHS”). That deadline was extended in December 1966 for a year. Ultimately, it was arranged for the RSS Class
of 1969 to attend Valhalla High School for grades 10-12 on a tuition basis, paid for by District No. 5 taxpayers. Just
as PCHS tuition had been funded for prior RSS graduates.
The graduating ninth graders of the RSS Classes of 1970, 1971 and 1972 were all offered a choice of Mamaroneck
High School (“MHS”) or PCHS, after District No. 4 (Port Chester) realized they could accept more District No. 5
(Ridge Street) students. Overwhelmingly, most chose MHS with its unique, open-campus policy allowing students to
leave school grounds for lunch and the freedom to come and go, at will ... more akin to a college experience.
Above: March 11, 1970, page 1, article in The Daily Item. An even higher ratio of Ridge Street School ninth grade
graduates from the RSS Classes of 1971 and 1972, chose to attend Mamaroneck High School for grades 10-12.
Below: June 26, 1975, page 5, article in The Daily Item, confirming that the RSS Class of 1972 members graduating
Mamaroneck High School (and the half dozen or so graduating from Port Chester High School) in June 1975, were
the last from the BBRUFSD to go out-of-district for grades 10-12. Blind Brook High School opened September 1973.
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Planning District No. 5 high school with 1970-1973 Humanities Program at RSS
After tremendous population growth within District No. 5 between 1950-1966, as one large Ridge Street/ Lincoln
Avenue estate (farms) after another, were redeveloped into over 931 subdivision homes (see The Subdivisions
addendum) ... and after a decade (1957-1967) of talks about merging or consolidating with other school districts
amidst increasing difficulties finding nearby high schools to accept Ridge Street School graduates, it was determined
by the District No. 5, Board of Education that planning its own high school was essential … for reasons of identity,
self-determination, the desire to set academic policies and curriculum, and dramatically increasing tuition costs being
paid by District No. 5 taxpayers to these other school districts to send students out-of-district for grades 10-12.
Overcrowding was a problem at many other southern Westchester schools.
In May 1969, District No. 5 received a $30,000 planning grant from the Arts in Education Program of the John D.
Rockefeller III Fund, which created a collaboration between District No. 5 and SUNY Purchase College.
Negotiations with First National City Bank (“Citibank”), as trustee for the William W. Cook Estate, got quite heated
at times, as the valuation of the Harkness property was disputed, and the threat of condemnation by eminent
domain was wielded by the District No. 5 Board of Education … with Citibank issuing press statements in efforts
to impact school district voters and the outcome of the March 29, 1971, bond referendum. The Board of Education
firing back publicly at Citibank, who felt that the beneficial owner of the property (the University of Michigan Law
School), could obtain a higher price from a prospective real estate developer.
It’s a complicated backstory!
William W. Cook, a wealthy, corporate attorney, author, and ninth generation descendant of Governor William
Bradford of the Plymouth Colony, died at age 72 in his Ridge Street home on June 4, 1930, amidst a record heat
wave, which the Port Chester Daily Item reported had sent over 2,000 Town of Rye residents to its Oakland Beach
(Rye Town Park) six miles away in Rye that day, with temperatures reaching 92 degrees in the shade and over 100
degrees in direct sun. Pursuant to his 1929 Last Will & Testament, a private interment was held “on the side of the
hill overlooking the Sound” at his 96.9-acre property on June 6, 1930, where Mr. Cook’s ashes were interred with a
huge monument, stone bench and a bronze statue, reportedly stolen during BBHS’ early days, as the story goes.
Cook left an estate appraised at $10,123,967 in November 1932. Mostly stocks and bonds ($9.775 million), with
~$725,000 attributed to the value of his Ridge Street/ King Street real property, which he bequeathed to
Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York, with a reverter clause.
Following the April 1932 deed conveyance to Presbyterian Hospital, condemnation of 16.625 acres of the 96.9-acre
tract was completed in 1935 by the Westchester County Parks Commission for the extension of the Hutchinson
River Parkway to meet Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway (on next page, see Map 3791 filed June 30, 1931).
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The remaining 80.28 acres of the William W. Cook property was used by Presbyterian Hospital for a new unit: The
Mary Harkness Convalescent Home (1937-1970), funded in 1935 by a $1,000,000 donation from philanthropist,
Mary Stillman Harkness, wife of Edward S. Harkness (his father was John D. Rockefeller’s partner in Standard Oil).
Map 3791 filed June 30, 1931, showing land acquired by the Westchester County Park Commission between the
Ridge Street & King Street interchanges of the 1937 Hutchinson River Parkway extension, including 16.625 acres of
William W. Cook’s 96.9-acre estate, with his Ridge Street dwelling where he died on June 4, 1930.
The 5-year condemnation process from April 1930 to August 1935, ended with the County of Westchester
prevailing under appeals before (i) the NYS Supreme Court Appellate Division – Second Department in February
1935 and then (ii) the NYS Court of Appeals in July 1935, as brought by Presbyterian Hospital [The Mary Harkness
Convalescent Home] and trustees of Cook’s Estate under his 1929 Will … with both appellate courts affirming the
trial court’s (NYS Supreme Court) March 1934 judgment of $111,000 plus interest, as the final amount payable by
the County for title to Cook’s 16.625 acres of land to be used for the extension of the Hutchinson River Parkway.
The Record on Appeal filed June 6, 1934, covers the appeal filed April 19, 1934 with the Appellate Division, New
York Supreme Court, 2nd Judicial Department, Brooklyn, NY regarding the County of Westchester condemnation
proceedings in NYS Supreme Court commenced on April 7, 1930, regarding the County’s eminent domain efforts
“to acquire title to lands” … the 16.625 acres of William W. Cook’s property, needed for the extension of the
Hutchinson River Parkway extension to connect to the Merritt Parkway. It is a treasure trove of information about
Cook, his views on a wide range of matters and his property as it contains fascinating, sworn testimony from people
close to Cook, with personal knowledge about him and his 96.9-acre property.
This 113-page Court record (NYSSC Library ID No. 2865-1932) reveals how William A. Cook lived a simple life at
his modest Ridge Street home, while lavishly landscaping his cherished, 96.9-acre property, including how Cook
reportedly: (i) spent $50,000 annually on landscaping during the 1920s; (ii) imported a wide range of evergreen
species from Russia (Siberia) and Japan for the estate; (iii) created a virtual arboretum of trees; and (iv) even spent
$60,000 on a rhododendron bed.
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The testimony also explains why Cook bequeathed his King Street property to a hospital he had no prior
connection with, rather than to his law school alma mater. Testimony in the 1934 Record on Appeal explained
how Cook wanted his property preserved, intact. Cook knew that his Michigan law school would have no physical
use for the King Street land and would only benefit from selling it in pieces to developer(s) for its cash proceeds.
Cook had contemplated giving his King Street property to the Town of Rye, for use as a park. However, he was
afraid people coming up the parkways from New York City, would litter his property and break off branches from
his cherished trees and shrubs. So, Cook settled on an institutional use like Presbyterian Hospital for as long as they
used it for hospital related purposes and maintained the grounds he had landscaped.
The building shaped like a right-angled “Z,” opened October 1, 1937, at a high point of the former William W.
Cook estate, offering views of the Long Island Sound … close to where The Atrium, 3-story, office building at 900
King Street, replaced the Mary Harkness Convalescent Home structure in 1981.
Cook’s 0.469-acre private cemetery plot (see survey excerpt below … and April 11, 2024 photos above) is
situated a sloping, wooded area between the BBHS baseball field’s home plate and Arbor Drive, but Cook’s ashes
were removed to the Oak Grove Cemetery in his hometown of Hillsdale, Michigan in late 1972, while the 20-acre
BBHS site was under construction … years before the other 60 acres of the Cook property was re-developed as:
The Arbors’ 250 attached-townhouses (36 acres) in 1978-82; 900 King Street office campus (18 acres) in 1981; and
Harkness Park (6 acres ... modified as 3.92-acre parkland dedication plus $63,000 cash applied to $80,000 cost to
build the four (4) tennis courts that opened on Saturday, September 20, 1975
Excerpt of October 29, 1945, Topographical Map (survey) by J.A. Kirby Co. of 80.28-acre Presbyterian Hospital
(Mary Harkness Convalescent Home) property at King Street. NOTE: BBHS building was sites at Meadow, east of
William W. Cook’s 0.428-acre cemetery parcel at Arbor Drive, at an elevation ~17 feet lower than the rolling lawn.
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Above: Photo (unknown date) of The Mary Harkness Convalescent Home. Below: Postcard of the 2--story, colonial
Harkness building atop a hill, with southerly façade & terrace overlooking rolling lawn and meadows, as the 1945
J.A. Kirby survey below on next page reveals. Postcard Source & Link: NIH National Library of Medicine Unique
ID 101459840 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101459840
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Topographical Map of Property Belonging to Presbyterian Hospital in the Town of Rye, NY,
prepared October 29, 1945, by J.A. Kirby Co., Civil Engineers & Surveyors.
NOTE: This is a high-resolution JPEG scan that you zoom in to access full survey details.
The University of Michigan, Law School had been the recipient of donations in the 1920s during Cook’s lifetime,
and under his Will after his 1930 death that were worth “close to $300 million” in 2011 dollars as detailed on the
University of Michigan website … and in the 2011 book by former Director and Librarian of the University of
Michigan Law Library, Margaret A. Leary: Giving It All Away: The Story of William W. Cook and His Michigan
Law Quadrangle. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press., https://doi.org/10.1353/book.10315. ] that you can
download at https://muse.jhu.edu/book/10315/pdf or purchase online, Chapters 8 and 9 of the book do a
good job provide unique insight into Cook’s vast history with the university, and about his King Street property.
After 33 years in operation, since 1937, The Mary Harkness Convalescent Home at King Street, closed in 1970
due to low occupancy and financial losses. Under the reverter clause in William W. Cook’s 1929 Last Will &
Testament, ownership of the 80.28-acre property, reverted in 1970 to Cook’s primary beneficiary, the University of
Michigan Law School. Only the University of Michigan, Law School, could sell the 80-acres for its cash proceeds, if
Presbyterian Hospital ever ceased operations at his bequeathed, King Street property.
In addition to the June 1971 sale of the 20.031 acres for the BBHS/MS site for $620,000 … the 60.249-acre balance
of the 80.28-acre Harkness property was sold on January 3, 1974 to Long Island-based developer, Lester M. Entin
Associates for $1,700,000, following the re-zoning of the property and Planned Unit Development (“PUD”)
approvals pursuant to the Town of Rye’s PUD legislation adopted on June 19, 1973 by the Rye Town Council
following a May 8, 1973 Public Hearing, held at the Ridge Street School.
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Evolution of Planned Unit Developments within Rye Brook and the BBRUFSD
Starting back in the 1960s, the Town of Rye government under Town Supervisor, Anthony J. Posillipo, was actively
looking to expand the tax base and tax revenues in the unincorporated portion of the Town of Rye (later incorporated
as the Village of Rye Brook in 1982) by seeking to attract business and industrial developments. The PUD zoning
tool was one way of achieving that goal with the large undeveloped tracts of land along upper King Street.
January 15, 1963, Town of Rye government Westchester Commerce & Industry local newspapers
advertisement, promoting business development opportunities in over 400 acres of undeveloped land.
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Notably, the 1974 Harkness at Rye Town PUD by Long Island-based developer, Lester M. Entin Associates, was
the first use of the Planned Unit Development zoning tool to be implemented within the Town of Rye (and the
Village of Rye Brook, formed in 1982) with initial components being The Arbors (residential), The Atrium office
building at 900 King Street (office) and Harkness Park (parkland … with the tennis courts initially built in 1975
by the Town of Rye, which the BBHS tennis program has used ever since).
PUD zoning allows for the development of mixed-use projects in zoning districts that are otherwise restricted to a
more limited, zoning use. Before the initial 1974 Harkness at Rye Town PUD approval, the 80.28-acre, William W.
Cook property was in a R-20 zoning district, suitable for single-family, residential use with a minimum lot size of
20,000 square feet per dwelling. The PUD legislation allowed for the (i) 250 Arbors townhouses built in 1977-1979
(after protracted 1973-1977 revisions) as 58 buildings of clustered townhouses on 37.844 acres, in addition to (ii)
an adjacent 3-story (201,000 square foot) office building on an 18-acre office park campus that itself was delayed by
1980 litigation that resulted in the 1981 NYS landmark SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) Court
decision in the matter of Rye Town/ King Civic Association v. Town of Rye, App. Div. 442 NYS 2d 67 (2nd
Dept., 1981) , after the Town of Rye government failed to comply with the 1978 SEQRA law; plus (iii) the 3.92-
acre, Harkness Park that was originally supposed to be 6 acres, but a last minute substitution of $62,400 cash was
agreed to by the Rye Town Council for 2.08 acres of the 6 acres, to be retained by the master developer, Harkness
at Rye Town. The 0.428-acre Cook cemetery parcel was part of the 2.08 acres retained by the developer, but
inadvertently was never transferred. Its abuts both The Arbors and BBHS properties.
The following additional PUDs have been created in the Village of Rye Brook (and within the Blind Brook school
district) since the 1974 Harkness at Rye Town PUD:
(a) the 1992 Doral Greens PUD on 113.76 acres with hotel, golf course and residential components;
(b) the 1999 Bellefair PUD on ~142 acres with 261 single-family homes, a senior living facility (Atria) and 26
acres of passive parkland along upper Lincoln Avenue next, to the 3-acre Village compost site;
(c) the 2016 Sun Homes/Kingfield PUD Subdivision on 79 acres at 1100 King Street, amended as the 2018
Kingfield PUD Subdivision (residential) with 110 single-family homes and clubhouse on the former, 31.56-
acre Reckson Phase III office parcel that was previously zoned as OB-1 (minimum 15-acre, office campus).
As of 2026, the 900 King Street office building (aerial photo below), built in 1981 for IBM as the initial tenant in
1982, is slated to be demolished and replaced by age-restricted, senior living facilities, as approved by the Village of
Rye Brook in 2021, replacing the office component on 18 acres of the 60.249-acre Harkness at Rye Town PUD.
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William W. Cook’s 96.9 acres shown in excerpts of (above) 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas Plate 42 and (below) 1925
flyover survey #12841-300 by Underwood & Underwood from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection --
Westchester County GIS [see page 115 for full aerial survey]. Cook’s house (red arrow), opposite current 474 N. Ridge
Street, was condemned along with 16.625 acres of land for the HRP and its Ridge Street Exit 19A near King Street.
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Next time you drive south on King Street and enter the northern-most, entrance driveway built in 1973 to serve
BBHS/MS and adjacent 1975 Harkness Park tennis courts… notice the allée of London Plane (Sycamore) trees
lining that driveway, Look at the remaining sections of that magnificent, mortarless wall (the interstices originally
filled instead with loam and over 8,000 plantings back in 1911) … the granite blocks weighing up to a ton each,
which were sourced from 50 miles away along the shores of the Long Island Sound near New Haven CT in 1911
and installed along the 1,350 linear foot ( ¼ mile), King Street frontage of the former William Wilson Cook estate
(currently Arbor Drive down to the Village’s King Street Athletic Fields) … and know that it is all thanks to Mr. Cook.
The circa-1913 photo below of the entrance driveway at King Street opposite Glenville Street, is from a book by
Samuel Parsons, Jr. (1844-1923), the renowned landscape architect used by Mr. Cook, who had been a protégé and
then partner of Calvert Vaux, of Central Park landscape design fame. Mr. Parsons spent 30 years as superintendent
of planting in Central Park and landscape architect to the City of New York until his resignation in 1911, which is
when Mr. Parsons worked on projects for Mr. Cook at the University of Michigan Law School and his King Street
residence.
Circa-1913 photo of King Street entrance driveway & granite wall at William W. Cook estate, opposite Glenville
Street. Source: Page 174 of Samuel Parsons, Jr. The Art of Landscape Architecture (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1915)
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Above & Below Left: Photos of William W. Cook’s granite wall at King Street featured in an article The International
Studio magazine in December 1911 by prominent architecture critic, Montgomery Schuyler (1843-1914) from his
December 1911 article: “A park wall of massive granite rocks with rock plants,” International Studio 145, no. 178
(December 1911), xl–xli. https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43448#0396
https://archive.org/details/internationalstu45newy/page/n51/mode/2up
Below Right: December 28, 1922 advertisement in The Daily Item by William W. Cook offering a $50.00 reward to
locate the person who stole one of his evergreen trees. This illustrates how strongly he felt about his landscaping.
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ABOVE: Circa-1971-72 photo of former William W. Cook property, bequeathed to Presbyterian Hospital for its to
Mary Harkness Convalescent Home (1937-1970) … looking south showing: (a) the granite wall built along King
Street in 1911 by William W. Cook and his adjacent irrigation pump house structure; (b) Tennessee Gas pipeline
white/ orange marking posts; (c) and the Hartley W. Barclay house from 1941-1980 at the 2.6-acre, 830 King Street in
the distance, which had been part of the 5.6-acre, Who-Torok (Russian for “Little Farm”) property purchased in May
1908 by Russian-born, stage and screen actress, Alla Nazimova, which now comprises the homes at 61, 71, 73, 75 &
77 Hillandale Road plus 2.629 acres of the 5.75-acre Rye Brook Athletic Fields. Photo by Howard Loth Photographer.
BELOW (L to R): the garage structure with studio above (now the 61 Hillandale Road house), built by
Nazimova at the west end of her 5.6-acre Who-Torok farm at the corner of Hillandale Road & King Street,
abutting the 96.9-acre, William W. Cook property with thousands of plantings ; the 1907 Broadway poster
for Nazimova starring in Hedda Gabler; and an excerpt of 1925 flyover survey #12841-299 by Underwood &
Underwood from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS (full survey below).
115
Above: 1925 flyover survey #12841-299 by Underwood & Underwood from the Historical Aerial Photograph
Collection -- Westchester County GIS via Westchester County Archives website. Below: March 20, 1941, The
Daily Item photo & caption re: 3/6/1941 sale of Alla Nazimova’s Who-Torok estate to Hartley W. Barclay.
116
Existing Conditions as of October 30, 1930, Town of Rye map by Zoning Commission Technical Advisory
Corp. (top) and its excerpt (above) showing the 96.7-acre William W. Cook property prior to the
Hutchinson River Parkway extension north of Ridge Street in 1936-37, the 45.7-acre Irving Lehman estate
at 390 N. Ridge Street, and 0.469-acre King Street School (now HRP exit 19A ramp next to 952 King St.).
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Excerpt of the December 19, 1940 flyover survey #1940_099_2_066 from the Historical Aerial Photograph Collection --
Westchester County GIS, showing: (a) 1937 Mary Harkness Convalescent Home on 80.28 acres of former William W.
Cook property (GREEN arrows) where BBHS/MS would be built on 20.031 acres in 1972-73; (b) the 90-acre,
Lawridge estate (RED arrows); (c) the 45.7-acre Irving Lehman estate (ORANGE arrows) sold six years later in 1946
for RSS at 390 N. Ridge Street and housing development; and (d) the 1936 red brick, 3-room, schoolhouse (BLUE
arrow) at 0.929-acre, 431 N. Ridge Street site backing up to the 1937 Hutchinson River Parkway extension, which as
of this 1940 photo, was the District No. 5 (Town of Rye) school serving grades K-8 from 1936 -1951 until sold to a
private nursery school … as the 1950 RSS opened in September 1951 on 10 acres of former Irving Lehman property.
BLACK arrow shows where the District’s, one-room, 1868 King Street School stood from 1868-1936 on 0.469-acre lot
until condemned by the County for the Hutch, in exchange for the 0.929-acre site at 431 N. Ridge Street, which the
County had just acquired in 1935 after 5-year condemnation process with Cook’s estate. See pages 103-108 hereof.
118
August 26, 1971 drawings for Rye Town High School renamed in February 1973 as Blind Brook High School:
Utilities drawing M-1 (above) and Grading Plan (below), which show (a) the location of the proposed school
building, parking lot and recreation areas; (b) the original Cook estate driveway opposite Glenville Street
intersection proposed for pedestrian use only at the time … and a northern driveway at King Street built in 1972-73;
and (c) the 0.428-acre William W. Cook cemetery parcel, never transferred by Harkness at Rye Town (Lester M.
Entin Associates joint venture) as P.U.D. master developer in its 1975-1979 deeds for Harkness Park (3.92 acres
under 4/25/1975 deed), The Arbors (37.844 acres under 3/23/77 deed) and 900 King Street (17.997 acres under
9/12/1979 deed.)
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1971-1973 Land Acquisition and Construction Costs for the Blind Brook High School
Construction contracts for the Blind Brook High School were awarded in March 1972 to the four prime
contractors, following a Board of Education resolution adopted at its February 17, 1972, BOE meeting, with
contract amounts subsequently broken down for the public at the April 17, 1972, BOE meeting … and confirmed
in the June 7, 1972, Report To The People, with Incidental Costs and Contingency Reserve added, as follows:
Construction Costs:
General Construction (including site work): $2,232,318
HVAC: $ 683,500
Plumbing: $ 178,850
Electrical: $ 627,825
Less: light fixture substitution deduction ($ 10,000)
$3,712,493
Incidental Costs:
Architectural / Engineering Fees $ 348,332
Field Representative and Construction Schedule $ 24,000
Surveys, Soil Investigations and Testing $. 10,832
Legal Services $ 20,000
Insurance During Construction $ 9,000
Site Purchase Price $ 628,000 **
Utilities $ 113,656.16
Furnishings (Moveable) $ 140,000
Equipment (Moveable) $ 20,250
Fixed Equipment (Credits) ($ 8,000)
Total Incidental Costs $1,310,070.16
Contingency Reserve $ 146,436.84
Total Budget (Bond Issue) $5,169,000
NOTE: ** Purchase Price listed under June 17, 1971 DEED was $620,000 … not $628,000.
State Aid denied for 1971-73 site acquisition and construction of Blind Brook High School
District No. 5 never received State Aid towards the $5,169,000 cost to acquire the 20.031 acres of land in June 1971
and build the BBHS in 1972-73. The NYSED long-standing intent was to eliminate smaller school districts in
accordance with its 1947 and 1958 reorganization plans … and 1968 NYSED laws prohibited “building aid” to
school districts who had not already been operating their own high school for five years prior to 1968.
The Blind Brook school district spent years trying to get the NYS Legislature to pass an exemption to get
“building aid,” but Governors Nelson Rockefeller, Malcolm Wilson and Hugh Carey all vetoed legislation at the
behest of NYSED, who wanted the Blind Brook school district to instead merge with the Port Chester school
district, which had its own enrollment & building challenges that a merger would not really solve.
The entire BBHS project was funded solely by school district taxpayers through property taxes, and the unwavering
leadership of 1971-1973 Board of Education members Jack L. Kabcenell, Louis B. Galterio, Morton A. Smith,
Judith S. Glazer, Charles D. Michelman, Barbara Lieberman & Milton Meiskin to create a District high school.
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June 19, 1973 front page article of The Daily Item when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller vetoed
NYS legislation, which would have given State Aid (building aid) for the BBHS project.
121
February 21, 1973 The Daily Item article & photo unveiling Blind Brook High School
as the new name of the prior working title of Rye Town High School.
122
Winter 1972-1973 BBHS construction progress photo (bending steel rebar
for concrete reinforcement wotk) via The Daily Item newspaper [never published].
123
Winter 1972-1973 BBHS construction progress photo via The Daily Item newspaper [never published]
of one of the two (2) windowed, fire staircases at the northerly façade, facing Harkness Park.
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June 1, 1973 BBHS construction progress photos via Gibbons, Heidtmann & Salvador, Architects & Planners
of administration area at 2nd floor rear (above); and Saturn Construction (below) of 2nd floor classroom areas.
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Above: June 1, 1973 BBHS construction progress photo by Gibbons, Heidtmann & Salvador, Architects & Planners of
the BBHS gymnasium. As an October 17, 1973 The Daily Item article reported with headline of “Where is that door?
… we need the gym” … it opened several months late in December 1973, waiting on delivery of the large folding
door that divides the gym into two spaces, which had to be installed first, before the wood flooring could then be
installed throughout. Prior to the wraparound 2001 BBMS addition, the BBHS gym had windows at its south
exterior façade’s angled corners; flanking the bleachers. Below: April 11, 2024 photos by Dean Santon, show the two
angled corners flanking bleachers where 1973 exterior windows were removed and walled up as 2001 interior walls.
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More BBHS construction progress photos. Above: June 1, 1973 photo by general contractor, Saturn Construction,
looking north at the rear (west) yard behind the BBHS cafeteria, including the large boulder in the center of photo,
which BBHS seniors paint (grafitti) each year. Below: circa-1973 The Daily Item photo [never published], showing
that same southwest corner, angled window of the BBHS gymnasium, with the south facade being bricked up.
127
June 8, 1973 The Daily Item newspaper, with interior construction progress photos, including the open staircase
from BBHS’ The Commons to the 2nd floor, which was removed during 2001 BBMS/BBHS alteration project.
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August 1973 name change to the Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School District
Coinciding with the re-naming of the high school in February 1973 from the prior working title of Rye Town High
School to the Blind Brook High School, the school district changed its name from Union Free School District No. 5 of
the Town of Rye to the Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School District, effective August 22, 1973 (see certificate
below) as 1972 NYS legislation required simplified school district names. The adjacent District No. 4, did the same
by changing its name to the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District.
129
September 1973 BBRUFSD staff photos show the landscaping work being completed at BBHS rear yard.
130
September 1973 BBRUFSD photos document BBHS move-in activities by District staff and community
volunteers. Proud BOE members Jack Kabcenell and Mort Smith overlook The Commons in photo below.
131
Blind Brook High School opens 2 ½ weeks late on September 24, 1973
After construction delays and amidst a District teacher’s contract dispute, Blind Brook High School opened for
classes on September 24, 1973, after years of planning. Built as a junior/senior high school for grades 7-12, BBHS
commenced classes for 388 students in grades 7-10. During the 1973-74 school year, the District’s 11th and 12th
graders continued at Mamaroneck High School and Port Chester High School on a taxpayer-funded, tuition basis.
The new BBHS students endured the initial 2½ weeks of the 1973-74 school year under crowded conditions at the
Ridge Street School due to the presence of the 85-member, 10th grade class in a school (RSS) that had previously
served only kindergarten through 9th grade. Despite opening late, a variety of areas at BBHS were still under
construction and not operational at first, such as the science labs, the library and gymnasium, the latter delayed
many weeks while waiting for the large folding partition to arrive, before the gym’s wood flooring could be installed.
Time Capsule: Two weeks before the Blind Brook High School opened on Monday, September 24, 1973 due
to construction delays, the (below) September 10, 1973 The Daily Item article with photo shot that morning,
showed Ridge Street School teachers picketing outisde RSS for the first time in its history.
I spy gym teachers/ coaches Marilyn Smith (blonde at left) and Mike Rosenhack (sunglasses under the “R” and “S”
in RSS signage), Bob Ettner (4th grade/ 8th grade study hall), behind him in sunglasses and white shirt … and behind
Bob Ettner is Jo Lynn Wein (8th grade English). A two-year contract for the Ridge Street School Federation of
Teachers (led by our 1971-72, ninth grade social studies teacher/ teachers’ federation president, Miss Jean Hurley)
was approved at the October 15, 1973 Board of Education meeting. RSS was not alone. Many other September
1973 The Daily Item news articles & photos of picketing teachers & parents at Harrison and Greenburgh schools.
NOTE: The original, iconic RSS stainless steel signage on the 1950 RSS granite façade in photo, remains in 2024.
132
Above: August 16, 1973, The Daily Item newspaper with David Schein, inaugural BBHS Principal (1973-1981).
Below: September 24, 1973, The Daily Item … 10th graders lined up to enter (grades 7-10) BBHS on opening day.
133
Sunday, March 19, 1974 Dedication of the Blind Brook High School
After the scheduled June 23, 1973 ceremony had to be cancelled because of incomplete construction and unsafe
electrical wiring conditions, the dedication of the Blind Brook High School took place on Sunday, March 10, 1974.
134
Floor plans from the DRAFT June 23, 1973 Blind Brook High School “Dedication Program” (rescheduled
for March 10, 1974) show how the initial design called for classrooms without conventional separations like
doors and complete wall enclosures, which was remedied in subsequent BBHS alterations.
135
Last tuition-paying RSS class graduates from MHS and PCHS in 1975,
while BBHS also graduates its first 4 students in June 1975
On June 16, 1975, four students were the first to graduate from Blind Brook High School, which opened its doors
two years earlier in September 1973. Blind Brook High School’s first, full-class graduation took place in June 1976.
June 14, 1975 The Daily Item article mentioning three students graduating BBHS a year early along with
one member of the RSS Class of 1972 finishing up in-district at BBHS after attending MHS.
72 students living in the Blind Brook school district (including 65 of the 89 students who had actually graduated 9th
grade with the RSS Class of 1972 in June 1972) graduated from Mamaroneck High School on June 26, 1975.
Two of the 89, graduated MHS a year early in 1974 … and four more of the 89 graduated from Port Chester High
School on June 30, 1975 … marking the end of District No. 5/ BBRUFSD tuition payments to another school
district after more than a century of the outsourcing high school education for District students.
June 26, 1975, The Daily Item article about the RSS Class of 1972 being final District No. 5 students
graduating high school out-of-district at MHS (NOTE: 4 from RSS graduated at PCHS).
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Blind Brook High School athletic fields built in 1977
Four years after the Blind Brook High School opened in September 1973, the BBHS baseball and soccer fields were
built in 1977. The four (4) tennis courts used by BBHS, were constructed by the Town of Rye in 1975 at the
adjacent 3.92-acre Harkness Park, deeded to the Town on April 25, 1975, and later transferred to Village of Rye
Brook ownership after the Village was incorporated in July 1982.
October 21, 1977 photos by Brennan Photo, showing BBHS baseball field under construction at the 20-acre campus,
looking southeast (below) and northwest (above) with the BBHS/MS school building at photo upper right, and the
abandonded Mary Harkness Convalescent Home structure at photo upper left, which was demolished to build 900
King Street office building in 1981 on 18 acres for IBM as tenant, as part of the 60-acre Harkness at Rye Town P.U.D.
(Planned Unit Development), with 37.844-acre, The Arbors (250 townhouses) and 3.92-acre Harkness Park.
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Excerpt of March 29, 1986 aerial flyover survey #389-219 by American Air Surveys, Inc. (Historical Aerial Photograph
Collection -- Westchester County GIS) showing: the 1977 BBHS athletic fields; the 1975 Harkness Park tennis courts;
and the 1973 BBHS building, prior to the 2001 BBMS wing and 45-seat BBHS/MS auditorium additions; and the
2006 additions.
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2019 aerial/graphic from April 15, 2019, BOE presentation, highlights the 2001 and 2006 additions to 1973 BBHS.
$16.75 million capital project in 2000-2002 at both BBRUFSD campuses
A $16,750,000 bond referendum was passed 928 to 285 by Blind Brook school district voters on January 20, 2000
to create: (1) a 2001 Blind Brook Middle School wing [and identity]; with its own gymnasium, science labs,
classrooms and Middle School office; (2) a 450-seat BBHS/MS auditorium addition … plus (3) interior alterations
at BMPRSS, such as newly configured classrooms and wheelchair lifts to make the 1955, 1962 and 1966 RSS wings
handicap accessible. Ground was ceremoneously broken on October 26, 2000 in front of the Blind Brook High
School, for the 2001 BBMS wing and auditorium, which opened in September 2002.
$17.34 million capital project in 2005-2006 at BMPRSS, BBMS and BBHS
A $17,340,000 bond referendum, passed 519 to 405 on January 20, 2005, included capital improvements at both
BBRUFSD campuses. The scope of work approved at the BMPRSS campus at 390 North Ridge Street included:
(a) 1-story BBRUFSD District Office addition at south side of the 1966 New Wing for the Superintendent of
Schools and District Clerk, with the conversion of adjacent boys/ girls lockerrooms into offices for District staff;
(b) conversion of prior District offices into two classrooms; (c) electrical system upgrade and air conditioners in
every classroom; (d) new windows & doors in 1950 and 1955 wings, plus roof replacements; and (e) new drainage
work and grass turf at BMPRSS soccer field. The 2006 improvements at the BBHS/MS campus at 840 King
Street, included: (f) a BBMS cafeteria, so that middle school students could eat separately from high school
students; (g) three new classrooms, a special education classroom, new lockers and teacher’s room for the BBMS;
(h) three new clansrooms and two science labs for BBHS; (i) a BBHS fitness room with cardio and strength-
training equipment; (j) an all-weather track; and (k) artificial turf installed at the BBHS/MS baseball and soccer
fields … originally built in 1977 as natural, grass turf.
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December 19, 1940 aerial #1940_099_2_066 (Historical Aerial Photograph Collection -- Westchester County GIS) excerpt:
(a) 45.7-acre Irving Lehman estate [15 acres of which is now BMPRSS at 390 N. Ridge Street via 1946 & 1955 deeds]:
(b) the 90-acre Lawridge estate of Robert Law, Jr. at upper Ridge Street, including gate lodge at 440 N. Ridge Street;
(c) the 1936 red brick, two-classroom, District No. 5 (K-8) schoolhouse on 0.929-acre at 431 N. Ridge Street [private
nursery school since 1951]; and
(d) Presbyterian Hospital’s 80.28-acre Mary Harkness Convalescent Home that opened in 1937 at King Street (20.031
acres of site were acquired in June 1971 for the 1972-73 construction of Blind Brook High School at 840 King Street.
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December 2, 1995 naming of: “Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School”
Above: December 18, 1995 BBRUFSD Board of Education Minutes excerpts, show adopted December 2, 1995
resolution, renaming the Ridge Street School as Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School, following Bruno
Ponterio’s 31.5-year-tenure at RSS as Assistant Principal for 6 ½ years from February 1, 1963 to June 30, 1995, and
then Building Principal for 25 years from July 1, 1970. Below Right: September 4, 1941 The Daily Item photo with
caption of 9-year old, Bruno M. Ponterio during his first day of Fifth Grade at Port Chester’s Theodore Roosevelt School at
William Street (aka 114 Pearl Street), with location shown Below Left in 1929 G.M. Hopkins atlas, Plate 36 excerpt.
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5.75-acre Rye Brook Athletic Fields built at 830 King Street in 2006
Pursuant to 2005 deeds, the Village of Rye Brook acquired land from:
(a) Arbors Homeowners Association (“AHOA” … $275,000 paid on 8/4/05 for 1.9498 acres);
(b) BBRUFSD ($150,000 paid on 9/14/05 for 1.42-acres of 20.031-acre BBHS site), pursuant to
a June 28, 2004 Intermunicipal Agreement for the Acquisition of Real Property (“IMA”); to add to the
(c) Village-owned 2.629-acre parcel at 830 King Street for the creation of the 5.75-acre Rye Brook Athletic Fields
February 16, 2004 LAN Associates survey (above) and November 2009 Rye Brook Official Map excerpt
(below) show the 5.75-acre Rye Brook Athletic Fields & referenced BBRUFSD/AHOA/ VRB parcels.
The above, gray-shaded, R-20 parcel is the remaining 18.611-acre BBHS/MS site
[20.031 acres under 1971 deed less 1.42 acres sold to the Village in 2006 = 18.611 acres].
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Above: October 17, 2016 BBRUFSD BOE Presentation excerpt showing the BMPRSS buidings as of 2016:
1950 (original, 1-story RSS), 1955 (2-story), 1962 (1-story Primary Wing) & 1966 (2-story “New Wing”).
Below: October 22, 2018 BBRUFSD BOE Presentation excerpt showing the BMPRSS layout integrating
the 1950, 1955 & 1966 wings with 2021 (2-story, Cafetorium/ K-1 addition with courtyard) that replaced the
1962 Primary Wing (Butler Building) and the 1966 “New Cafeteria” that were demolished in 2019.
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Construction progress photos of BMPRSS K-1/Cafetorium addition, May 25, 2021 (above) & April 24, 2022 (below).
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Post-construction photos of 2021 BMPRSS K-1/Cafetorium addition via School Construction Consultants, Inc.
website: http://schoolconstruction.com/project/blind-brook-union-free-school-district/