Morris High School (Bronx)


Morris High School, in New York City, was a high school in the Melrose section of the Bronx borough's South Bronx area. The direct predecessor of Morris was built in 1897 and established as the Mixed High School, situated in a small brick building on 157th Street and 3rd Avenue, about six blocks south of where the new building would be built. It was the first high school built in the Bronx. Originally named Peter Cooper High School, the name was changed to Morris High School to commemorate a famous Bronx landowner, Gouverneur Morris, one of the signers of the United States Constitution and credited as author of its Preamble. Morris High School was one of the original New York City Public High Schools created by the New York City school reform act of 1896. On December 22, 1899, the Mixed High School was a founding member of the College Entrance Examination Board, now known as the College Board. In 1983, the school and surrounding area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Morris High School Historic District.
In 2002, as part of an overall restructuring and downsizing of New York City's high schools, Morris High School was closed. The building was renamed the Morris Campus. It now houses four small specialty high schools: High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, and the Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies.

Notable alumni