Cheesy Grits: Granddad Ralston: Schools and Playgrounds

At some point, the New York City Public School system began to operate summer recreation programs at various city parks and playgrounds. The 16 July 1921 New York Age announced the opening of such a program at the P.S. 89 playground, where Granddad Ralston was already coaching basketball. These programs included organized sports, phys. ed., and—surprise!—activities in the fine arts.

Granddad Ralston was named principal of the entire summer program at the playground, and, considering that he was not yet thirty years of age, this seems a signal recognition of his leadership abilities above and beyond his technical skills with Xs and Os as a basketball coach.

P.S. 89 occupied the entire west side of Lenox Avenue between W. 134th St. and W. 135th St., and the playground was on the south side of W. 135th St. just across from Harlem's branch of the New York Public Library. The website linked to here has a wonderful map showing the location of all three.

In addition to his work in coaching and phys. ed. during the school year, Granddad Ralston would continue to be occupied during the summers with playground programs. I don't know how often the summer programs included forays into the fine arts, but the 6 Aug 1921 New York Age included a report in the newspaper's music column of a music and dance recital given by the children of the school. The report further notes that one of the adults assisting with the program was none other than Mrs. George Ralston, soprano, who sang a few numbers to favorable mention:

"Mrs. Ralston is new to concert audiences, but she has been studying for several years and the two songs given on this occasion, though selected primarily because of their appropriateness for a juvenile audience, were of sufficient calibre to indicate the quality of her talent. She gives evidence of true artistry in training and her voice shows careful handling. It is entirely probable that when she makes her debut as a concert artist, after, I understand, another season of study, she will be qualified both by natural equipment and developed power to take her place among the artists of the recital platform. Another and more favorable opportunity to hear her is being anticipated with much interest.

Granddad Ralston would continue to supervise summer programs in Harlem until well into the 1930s, although it would seem that he stayed with athletic programs and mostly let the arts programs in the hands of artists. We'll hear more about some of those programs later.

As I mentioned earlier, in the early 1920s, Harlem's schools were so crowded that students came part-time and in two shifts—effectively, a day shift and a night shift—and there still wasn't enough room for everyone who should have been attending.

The New York Public School system, perhaps more progressive than many others of the day, responded by building a new school. On 6 June 1923, Harlem's new daily, the Amsterdam News, reported that in response to overcrowding in Harlem's schools, ground had been broken and the cornerstone laid for a new school on W. 140th Street, just west of Lenox Avenue.

This new school, designated P.S. 139, was to be the new school home for some 2,000 of Harlem's children, thereby reducing congestion at four other neighborhood schools and allowing some 6,000 schoolchildren to return to attending school full-time rather than the part-time sessions necessitated by the lack of space.

P.S. 139 opened to great fanfare on Monday morning, September 8, 1924. The pupils and their teachers marched in a great procession down Lenox Avenue, past their former digs at P.S.89, westward to St. Nicholas Avenue, north on Edgecombe to W. 141st Street and then circled back east to their new school building. Among the teachers in the parade was Granddad Ralston, who also transferred to the new building.

Here's what P.S. 89 looked like when Granddad Ralston taught there. These days, the space on the corner of W. 135th and Lenox and across from the Schomburg Center is occupied by just another generic high-rise apartment building.