Though its name seems to suggest otherwise, Saint Ann's is a non-sectarian school known for its non-traditional education style. How it came to be named after a Saint comes from its eclectic history.

Built in 1906 and designed by architect Frank Freeman for the Crescent Athletic Club. The Crescent Club was founded in 1884 by Brooklyn Yale alumni who wanted to form a football team. This building was Crescent's city clubhouse and included a swimming pool, bowling alleys, squash courts, gymnasium, formal dining room, library and bed rooms. (Crescent also had a large country clubhouse with extensive grounds in Bay Ridge; a tennis tournament started there became the Davis Cup, still held today.) The Crescent Club hit hard times during the Depression and went bankrupt in 1939. The building became offices, and the basement bowling alley operated commercially in the 1950s as the Crescent Bowling Lanes Bar and Grill. In the mid-1960's, St Ann's School moved into the building from its original home in the undercroft of St Ann's Church on Clinton and Livingston Streets. The school initially leased a small portion of the building gradually taking over all of it as well as numerous other buildings in Brooklyn Heights. A christmas wreath over the main entrance memorializes a fire fighter who died on December 1, 1984 fighting a fire that broke out in the school library. Each year at dusk on December 1st, the firefighters from Engine Company 205 on Middagh Street place a new wreath which remains all year.

It's time to get old school with these noteworthy temples to education. Brooklyn's schools are impressive and fascinating for many reasons. They are home to famous alumni; are housed in architecturally stunning buildings; act as incubators of resistance against racism and discrimination; and are consistently pioneering innovative approaches to education. Most importantly, they teach civic engagement and provide opportunities for academic and economic empowerment to Brooklyn's children and young adults. Read on and get schooled.