Princeton Elementary School and Nassau Street School
Borough School at 185 Nassau Street
Opened 1912. Renamed circa 1940s. Integrated 1948.
With school enrollments rapidly increasing, the aging Model School building could no longer house all elementary, junior high, and high school grades. Planning began to build an additional schoolhouse and the two-story Princeton Elementary School opened next door in 1912. Princeton Elementary School’s early curriculum worked to accommodate all types of learning, offering special education, vocational training, and manual training.
Upgraded to include intercoms and a bell system, the Model School building remained in use until the new Junior and Senior High School opened in 1929. Plans to abandon the building, however, were disrupted when school enrollment continued to grow at a record pace. In 1934, the building was completely rehabilitated, annexed to the neighboring elementary school, and used as a junior high school for seventh and eighth graders. The newly-joined buildings became known as the Nassau Street School.
Princeton Grammar School postcard. Historical Society of Princeton.
Designed by Philadelphia architects Davis and Davis, the new elementary school featured a two-story columned entrance that used stone from local quarries. An engraving above the door read “Princeton Grammar School.” This was later changed to “Princeton Elementary School.”
A Princeton Elementary School class. Historical Society of Princeton. Princeton History Project Collection.
Annex between Elementary School and refurbished Model School building. PPS Archives.
Funding from a 1934 WPA program helped build an annex between the two Nassau Street schools.
A page from Elementary News, October 1936. Historical Society of Princeton.
Elementary News was a quarterly newsletter published by Princeton Elementary School’s sixth grade. Students from all grades contributed news, poems, sports reports, and other musings.