(Former) Colored School No. 3, later Public School 69 ARCHITECT: Samuel B. Leonard DATE: 1879-81 STYLE: Romanesque Revival Built in 1879-81, the former Colored School No. 3 schoolhouse was designed by architect Samuel B. Leonard, the Superintendent of Buildings and Repairs for the Brooklyn Board of Education. The only known “colored” school building remaining in Brooklyn, Colored School No. 3 as an institution evolved from the town of Williamsburgh’s original African Free School, which had been founded prior to 1841. The school was taken over by the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn in 1855, when it was given the name “Colored School No. 3.” It was renamed P.S. 69 in 1887, and was later absorbed by the school system of the City of New York after the consolidation of 1898. Romanesque Revival in style, the school building has arched window openings and a prominent entrance with large keystones, a raised central section with a gable and blind arcade, corbelled brickwork, and dentil courses.

Now that school is really back in swing, we thought we’d take a moment to stop and think about the history of schools in Brooklyn. Has the public school system always looked like it currently does? Have students always learned about the same subjects? Who picks school names? Our photographs show a very different type of schoolhouse in early Brooklyn: