CHAPTER XZ.
 

(179M7M.)
 

Hiitory of Education in New Tork—Work of Fablio School Sodety-^B^in-

nii^ of Board of Education—EeviTal of Public Improve*

mento—FieBh Water Pond.

The history of education in New York dates from 1629, when the West
Indies Company, under whoae charge the Brat Dutch colonlata came to the
city, enacted a law which required the establlahment of schools. Four
years later the first school was opened, and In 1662 the first public school
came Into being, and waa established In the City Hall, After tbe English
obtained possession of the colony education suffered for a few years because
of the conflict In languages, the Dutch adhering to the language of their
mother country. The English established many achoola, and church and
state united in their support. No charge was made directly for tuition. In
1704 a society for the propagation of the Gospel began tbe work of establish¬
ing schools In the English language, and In 1732 an act waa passed to
establish a public school in tbe city. Early in 174S two schools were
erected, one by Trinity, In Rector atreet, and another by the Dutch Reformed
Church, lu what Is now Exchange Place. Many private educational institu¬
tions exlated, some of them under the Jurisdiction of religious bodies and
depending on them for support. "It may be stated/' says an authority*
"that, so far from retrograding toward barbarism, the people of the colonies
previoua to their independence were securing for their ehlldren more educa¬
tion than the people of any other contemporaneous country, and this was
exceptionally true of New England, whoae population was better educated
then than any other In the world." In educational force Kew England
antedated New York by nine years, as the flrst aet of the Plymouth colonists
wss to provide a meeting house for religious purposes and a achoolhouae
for the children. In 1754 King'a College, now Columbia University, was
founded.

New York at first encouraged private sahools, and when the Board
of Regents of the University of New York was created, in 17S4, its chief
function for many years was to encourage academies and colleges. It Is to
the credit of that board, however, that it preaented to the legislature many
propositions for the founding of a school system which would tend to the
establishment of common scboola. in 179G Governor CUnton urged the
creation of the Kew England type of common schools, and through the
legislature a fund was created for tbe successful carrying out of the acheme.
In 1797 free achools were eatabliahed in tbe 6tate.

The progress of the free school movement toward New York City was

98