A. Harry Moore

A School for Crippled Children Jersey City's Answer to the Call of the Crippled

The policy of the Board of Education of Jersey City has been, and is, to provide the right training for every child who seeks admission to the schools under its control. In conformity with this policy, educational facilities have been provided not only for the normal child, but also for those so handicapped in one way or another, that the usual facilities would be inadequate for their needs.

About sixteen years ago, Dr. Henry Snyder, who was then Superintendent of Schools, determined that the physically handicapped child must have an opportunity to receive education and training in the public schools of Jersey City. The cause of the crippled child was presented to Mayor Frank Hague, who has always been interested in questions of health and social welfare. Through Mayor Hague's cooperation, a school for crippled children was planned, which should furnish these children with an elementary school education, and should prepare them for a life of independence and self-support. The aim of this education was to make the physically handicapped child happy in his and in his life relations, contented throughout his life in congenial occupations and conditions, respecting himself and respected by all.

The corner stone of the first school was laid by Mayor Hague, September 5, 1917. Its construction was delayed somewhat because of the difficulty of solving problems , new to the whole country, of design and equipment. The school, located on Clifton Place adjacent to the Jersey City Hospital, was finally opened April 18, 1921.

This school, then known as Public School No. 36, was the first public school to be erected in the United States, expressly and solely for crippled children. It included all devices then known for the care of crippled children; ramps, elevator service, hand rails, a solarium, treatment rooms, rest rooms, a special gymnasium, and other accessory rooms.

At its opening, Public School No. 36 admitted fifty-three students, who were grouped into four classes. In 1930, when the city made the school building a unit of the Jersey City Medical Center, the school had an enrollment of one hundred seventy-two students, grouped into twelve classes.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt participates in the dedication of the A. Harry Moore School in Jersey City, NJ.