Townsend Harris High School

149-11 Melbourne Avenue | Kew Gardens Hills | built 1993

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1995

    Early

    Townsend Harris High School moves into its new building on the Queens College campus

    Townsend Harris High School was revived in 1984 by former students of Townsend Harris Hall Prep School, which had closed in the 1940s, and first met in a small building on Parsons Boulevard meant only as a stopgap. In early 1995 the humanities school moved into a new building on the grounds of Queens College, at 149-11 Melbourne Avenue.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 2001

    Founding principal Malcolm Largmann retires after 17 years leading Townsend Harris

    Malcolm Largmann, a onetime high school English teacher devoted to classical education, was the first principal of the revived Townsend Harris High School and personally chose its original faculty. He led the school from its 1984 founding through its 1995 move to the Queens College campus, retiring in 2001. Largmann died in 2021.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2004

    June

    Blue Ribbon foundation names Townsend Harris a 21st Century School of Distinction

    In June 2004 the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Foundation recognized Townsend Harris High School as a 21st Century School of Distinction, and that December the same group named it a Lighthouse School. The same year, AP World History became a required course at the school, taking the place of the Regents-level class.

    “The Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Foundation named THHS a 21st Century School of Distinction in June 2004.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 2008

    Intel gives Townsend Harris a Schools of Distinction award for science excellence

    In 2008 Intel honored Townsend Harris High School with its Schools of Distinction Award in Science Excellence. Only three schools, one each at the elementary, middle and high school level, won in that category, out of six winners overall. Each received a $10,000 grant from the Intel Foundation plus curriculum, training, hardware and software worth more than $160,000.

    “In 2008, Intel awarded THHS with the Intel Schools of Distinction Award in Science Excellence.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 6 buildings with stories in Kew Gardens Hills