Princeton High School
Borough High School at 185 Nassau Street
Opened 1898. Moved 1928.
Princeton High School started in 1898 as a branch of the Princeton Model School, located at 185 Nassau Street. Its initial class included only four ninth-graders. Enrollment increased to more than eighty students by 1912, but only forty percent successfully completed the high school curriculum.
For many decades, Princeton High School did not allow Black students to enroll. If they wanted to continue their education, Black students in Princeton either attended high school in Trenton (as did William Robeson) or went to institutions such as the Manual Training and Industrial School in Bordentown. Families who could not afford these options often moved elsewhere. Princeton High School admitted its first Black student by 1916, and integrated enrollment increased in the 1920s. Black students, however, were automatically placed in the non-honors General Program, regardless of academic ability. Upon graduation, they were awarded “certificates of completion” instead of official high school diplomas.
Although the Model School’s elementary classes had moved to a neighboring building in 1912, increased junior high enrollment in the late 1920s put the original schoolhouse over capacity. Plans developed to build a large new Junior and Senior High School at 151 Moore Street.
Princeton High (right) and Grammar Schools, circa 1912. Historical Society of Princeton.
Princeton High School took over the old Model School once elementary classes moved into a new building next door.
An integrated Princeton High School class, 1917. Historical Society of Princeton. Princeton History Project Collection.
As of 1920, Princeton High School’s thorough curriculum included History, English, Latin, Mathematics, French, Science, Manual Commercial, Household and Fine Arts, Normal Review, and Physical Education.
Princeton High School girls’ basketball team, 1918. Historical Society of Princeton.
The student newspaper, P.H.S. Observer, documented the rising popularity of high school sports, covering the school’s basketball, tennis, football, baseball, track, field sports, and hockey teams. Blue and white were adopted as the school’s official colors in 1921.
Princeton High School student council, 1928. PPS Archives.
By 1927, the Princeton High School student council drafted the school’s first constitution.
Princeton High School library. Historical Society of Princeton. Princeton History Project Collection.