Jackie Robinson Educational Complex (Graffiti Hall of Fame)

1573 Madison Avenue | also 1587 Madison Avenue | East Harlem | built 1958

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.

1980
Ray "Sting Ray" Rodriguez starts the Graffiti Hall of Fame in the schoolyard
In 1980 community activist Ray Rodriguez, known as Sting Ray, turned walls in the playground of the Jackie Robinson Educational Complex, along with one facing the Park Avenue viaduct, into a Graffiti Hall of Fame. He wanted a legal place for writers to show their skills and a constructive outlet for neighborhood youth. Since the 1990s painters have competed each year for space, and the Bronx mural collective TATS CRU now maintains the walls.
Source: 6tocelebrate.org
2015
J.H.S. 13 Jackie Robinson, a middle school in the building, closes
A small middle school in the complex is renamed twice between 2004 and 2015, from Central Park Prep to Central Park East Middle School and then J.H.S. 13 Jackie Robinson. Unlike the elementary and high school sharing the building, it struggles with poor attendance and very low academic achievement. As enrollment shrinks, the Department of Education stops admitting new students in 2013, and the school closes in 2015.
Source: insideschools.org

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