This just in from Carol Marston, Class of 1956
Great find!
The postcard from E-bay is definitely
P.S. 39. (Compare it with the picture of the school which appeared in the
booklet given out at the reunion.)
I attended P.S. 39 from 1953 to 1960.
It was a glorious, diverse school with numerous unforgettable teachers.
The postcard doesn't show the Spanish
American War memorial which was on the right-side walkway. It included
the old school bell. The principal's office had an antique grandfather
clock (I spent more than my fair share of time there).
If anyone has memories of P.S. 39,
I'd live to read them.
Fred Strober, FRHS 1966
The school looks something like P.S. 39, which I attended from 1949-1955. It does seem larger, though. There also was a large bell mounted on a pedestal in front of the school - maybe it wasn't there yet in '06.
Carole Cohen Waxman, FRHS 1959
Dear Carol,
Hope I send this to the right address. I saw your post card from e-Bay and the school pictured is definitely P.S. 39. We called this the "old building". There was another building behind it that was called the "new building" which was originally built as the high school. The new building was incorporated into P.S. 39 when the new high school was built.
There is a book called Bellot's History of the Rockaways, which I have, which was published in about 1917, which has a picture similar to the post card.
Happy New Year and have a good milennium.
Harold Berkowitz, FRHS 1945
The school in your ebay picture is P.S. 39. Under the rectangular object on the roof (bell tower) is the inscription erected in 1893.
Ed Erdely, FRHS 1957
I went to P.S. 39, which was a hospital and a school and I remember very old. That picture looks like the same style as P.S. 39, but a lot bigger. It sort of reminds me of Rockaway Beach Hospital. But recalling old Rockaway that eerie picture just might be P.S. 39. The ghosts prevail.
Andrew Becker, FRHS 1959
Carol and Skip,
That picture of the old public school definitly is PS39. My Uncle Sid (Sid And Sams on Mott Ave) went there from 1924 to 29) and he confirmed it.
Larry Weiss - Class of 1966
It looks very much like the old "mansion" at the end of Mott Avenue in Bayswater. In the 60's or 70's of last century, it became Maimonidies (spelling?) school. Now it is a nature preserve.
My best guess... Later,
Peter Rapport