Witherspoon School for the Colored

1848-1948

Photograph circa 1996

The Witherspoon School for the Colored first opened its doors on a building located on the corner of Maclean and Witherspoon Streets in 1858. One of the teachers was Betsey Stockton. She was a slave owned by the Stockton family. Prior to the Witherspoon School being opened, it is believed that she taught students in a house or a church as early as 1848.

In the early 1900's Paul Robeson attended the school for the first three years of his schooling.

On February 20, 1908 a new site was purchased on Quarry Street, and the building on the corner of Maclean and Witherspoon Streets was abandoned. While it operated as a school for the Colored, the Quarry Street building was still known as the Witherspoon School. The school paper was called the "Witherspoon Herald." Soon after the school opened, Princeton Township made an arrangement to send their Colored children, too.

The building was reconstructed in 1938 as the least expensive solution to fixing an overcrowded, run-down school as opposed to desegregating the schools which would have required more expensive renovations. While the building was being renovated, students attended classes in the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church and the Elks Lodge (now the Masonic Lodge on the corner of John and Maclean Streets). The building was rededicated on December 7th, 1939.

Its Principal from 1936 to 1948 was Howard B. Waxwood, Jr. He later became the John Witherspoon School Principal between 1948-1968.

In 1947, the State of New Jersey determined that school segregation was unconstitutional. The desegregation plan known as the Princeton Plan, called for the Nassau Street School to house kindergarten through grade five. The Witherspoon School served grades six through eight.

(Most of the information above was obtained from the 1996 Witherspoon School reunion booklet.)