Dickinson High School
2 Palisade Avenue
National Register of Historic Places
State Register of Historic Places

Dickinson High School, Postcard circa 1900
Courtesy, RF Smith

John T. Rowland, Jr., (1871-1945) a Jersey City native and architect for the Jersey City Board of Education for 44 years, designed Dickinson High School, formerly known as the Jersey City High School and the oldest public high school in Jersey City. It is an example of a Neoclassical Revival public building, decorated with sculpture, classical ornamentation, and brick and terra cotta facade that cost approximately $1.5 million when first constructed. Architectural authorities note that the building design is similar to the 1668 colonnade by Claude Perrault for the Louvre in Paris, France. In 1933 Rowland also designed an an annex to the high school that included a gymnasium, cafeteria and swimming pool.

The beaux-arts style structure is three stories high on a rusticated limestone base and first floor. The pavilions of Vermont granite contrast with the limestone base. Corinthian columns define the center pavilions. The words KNOWLEDGE AND INDUSTRY appear on an open book carved on the east façade. Carved figures on the right represent academic studies while those on the left industrial arts. The property is landscaped with terraced hillside lawn; staircases of granite and wrought iron at two entrances were intended to place the school in a park-like setting reflective of the Progressive era ideals when it was designed. In 1916, the Daughters of the War of 1812 placed a bronze plaque on the south side of the building.

Dickinson High School occupies a prominent location on a hilltop overlooking lower Jersey City, New York Harbor and the Hudson River. The site, at the southern end of the Palisades, was one of several ideal vantage points used by the Generals George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War to observe British movements in the fortifications at Paulus Hook as well as across the Hudson River in lower Manhattan. The federal government purchased the property, called Harrison tract, in 1804. After the outbreak of the War of 1812, the site was identified as essential for the defense of New York. An arsenal was constructed on the west side of the property in 1813 to protect the New York harbor. The east side, where the school stands, served as a camp ground for troops. During the Civil War, the arsenal was used as a barracks for union soldiers and as a hospital.

The origins for a secondary school for the city began with the use of the third and fourth floors of Public School, No. 5, on Bay Street in 1872. A fire at School No. 5, a month after its opening, required the relocation of classes. Residents debated the practicality of the high school given the city's working class population, especially in light of the economic downturn of the national economy in the 1870s and the bankruptcy of the city in 1879. Critics complained it would be "a school for the rich man's children, but supported by the poor" and serve only those students preparing for the professional careers and higher education. By 1896, however, overcrowded conditions at the school brought the determination of city leaders to obtain funding for the construction of a separate public high school.

Tthe Jersey City High School, as it was known, was an idea advanced by William L. Dickinson (1819-1883), the Jersey City Superintendent of Schools from 1872 to 1883 and an advocate of public high school classes for Jersey City residents. He taught at the Select School for Boys at Lyceum (1839-1859) on Grand Street and was the principal of Jersey City Public Schoo No. 3.

With the support of Mayor Mark Fagan, a "New Idea" Republican," the city purchased the hilltop property in 1904 from the New York Junction Railroad. It was not initially a popular decision due to its proximity to the railroads, saloons and the Jersey City Cemetery. The Jersey City High School opened on September 6, 1906, with James J. Hopkins as its first principal. By its completion, the student population again escalated with the increasing immigrant population in Jersey City.

The Progressive era reform advocacy of free public education convinced the city leaders of the need to double the size of the high school. In 1912 a northern wing was added to the high school for the teaching of industrial arts and mechanical trades that would complement the academic program and offer a comprehensive secondary curriculum. With its 2,000-seat auditorium featuring a stained-glass ceiling, the school became host to large political gatherings in the city. Presidents William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt held political rallies there.

After the opening of Lincoln High School in 1913, the second high school in the city, the Jersey City High School was renamed for Superintendent of Schools Dickinson. It was used for an army training post during World War I and World War II and began a continuing education program with an evening school.

Today, Dickinson High School has approximately 2,700 students. In 2003 a $30 million renovation of the high school began to refurbish the century-old structure.