School History
History of Tech
For more than 80 years, Brooklyn Technical High School has been a proven leader in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-based education. Tech's administration and faculty, as well as the Alumni Foundation, are committed in this era of tight budgets to maintain and, indeed, enhance the quality of education being offered to today’s and future generations of Technites. We will help continue our proud history.
The Idea of Tech
Brooklyn Technical High School was the dream of Dr. Albert L. Colston, mathematics department chairman at Manual Training High School. In the aftermath of World War I, Dr. Colston believed the country needed a better trained technical work force. On October 18, 1918, he presented a paper to the Brooklyn Engineers’ Club recommending establishment of a technical high school curriculum for Brooklyn boys.
Dr. Colston envisioned a high school with a heavy concentration of courses in math, science, drafting and shops – a school with parallel paths leading either to college or to a technical career in industry. His concept was approved and implemented at Manual Training beginning in 1919 and in the spring of 1922 the Board of Education approved the establishment of Brooklyn Technical high School (BTHS) which opened in the fall of 1922. Dr. Colston was named principal and 40 Manual Training teachers joined him in a converted warehouse at 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension to start the new school.
Early Success
The success of the program was immediately evident. Opening with more than 2,400 students, classes soon had to be expanded to several annex buildings located on Bridge Street , Kosciusko Street and Ryerson Street (PS 5, 69 and 74). With the demand for technical education growing and the implementation of Dr. Colston’s curriculum a proven success, plans were made for a large, new building to house BTHS. After approval in 1927 by the Board of Education, land was purchased and on September 17, 1930 , ground was broken by Mayor Jimmy Walker at 29 Fort Greene Place . The $6 million building was ready for partial occupancy in the fall of 1933. Although the original building and some of the annexes remained in use for a number of years, the electrical course and 800 freshman boys were the first occupants of the present building, the jewel of the New York City high school system.
The hallmark of the education program developed by Dr. Colston was a curriculum that consisted of two years of general studies with a technical and mechanical emphasis followed by two years of specialization in one of several career-oriented majors. Majors in 1933 were Technical College Prep, Architecture and Building Construction, Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, and Structural engineering.
Beyond the Curriculum
Extra-curricular activities were deemed important from Tech’s earliest days, beginning with the publication of the school newspaper, The Survey, in 1922 and closely followed by the creation of The Science Bulletin, the first of many departmental publications. The Survey’s Senior Number, the original combined yearbook and literary magazine, was replaced in 1933 by The Blueprint which has continued to this day as the Senior yearbook.
Other outlets for student activity soon developed. The S.O.S. (Service Squad), comprised of Tech students, patrolled the property and became a hallmark of order in the school for almost 60 years. The Student Government Organization, Longfellows, Arista and many other organizations prospered. Sports became an integral part of the Tech experience with baseball, football, tennis, cross-country track, ice hockey, swimming, basketball, bowling, riflery, fencing and soccer among the favorites. In 1939, WCNY changed its call letters to WNYE and, from the eighth floor studio atop Tech, the radio station pioneered educational broadcasting in New York City for the Board of Education. In 1941, an FM transmitter was added to the installation.
Of particular pride to Dr. Colston was the development and support of Works Project Administration (WPA) project #3149, the Tech foyer mural developed by artist Maxwell Starr. The mural’s theme, The History of Mankind, traces developments from the Stone Age through the 1930s and portrays notable scientists and inventors. It remains the centerpiece of Tech’s main lobby, in part thanks to its restoration in 1998 by the Alumni Association.
The War Years
The years during World Way II brought increased activity to Tech as many students rushed to graduate early and join the armed forces. Their letters home to Group Advisor Howard Garrett, many of which are in the Alumni Foundation archives, attest to the quality of their Tech education and its applicability to needed wartime skills.
During those years and for many years thereafter, Tech was also used extensively as an adult education night school to train people in technical skills.The Brooklyn Tech Evening High School provided many working men with a quality education.
Upon the retirement of Dr. Colston in 1942, Ralph Breiling was appointed acting principal by the Board of Education, to be succeeded by Acting Principal Harold Taylor in 1944. In January of 1946, Electrical Department Chairman William Pabst was selected as principal. The Pabst years, 1946 through 1964, were the most stable in the development of Tech as a school of excellence. Course selections were aeronautics, architecture, chemistry, electrical and electronics, industrial design, mechanical technology, structural technology, and technical college preparatory. Horizons, the school literary magazine, was added to the existing publications and has been produced every term since. Upon Dr. Pabst’s retirement, Frank Stewart was appointed acting principal, serving until the permanent selection of Isidor Auerbach who was installed by then Mayor John Lindsay in the late 1966.
The Turbulent Years
The mid-1960s were a turbulent time for the country, the city and Technites. A transit strike, two teacher strikes, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam conflict and Woodstock brought protests and anxiety affecting Tech students as they did all other New Yorkers.
In nineteen seventy Tech underwent a major change when female students were admitted to Tech for the first time. Two years later, Tech welcomed a new principal when Dr. Louis Weiss, former Chemistry Department Chairman and Acting Principal, was appointed. In the fall of that year, the Tech Players presented Guys and Dolls to rave reviews and established the tradition of an annual production. In recent years Technites have brought The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie and The Wizard of Oz to the great Tech auditorium.
Fiftieth Anniversary
Nineteen seventy-three marked the 50th anniversary of Brooklyn Tech. To commemorate the occasion, a monument was erected in the North courtyard complete with a time capsule buried beneath it. The occasion was also marked by a gala 50th Anniversary Dinner-Dance at the Waldorf Astoria.
The mid-1970s saw the addition of a graphics communication course and the introduction of student ID cards. In 1976, Acting Principal and Material Science Department Chairman Herbert Tucker was succeeded by Richard Brucato as principal. The following year saw the demise of the student handbook, first published in 1923. Because of Board of Education policy prohibiting schools from requiring students to purchase books, publication of the handbook was discontinued in 1978. In 1998, the alumni funded CARETECH program reintroduced the handbook planner as part of its freshman orientation.
By the early 1980s, the S.O.S. had been disbanded because it put students in potentially high-risk situations. In 1982, Al Zachter was assigned as acting principal to be succeeded in 1983 by Tech graduate Dr. Mathew M. Mandery, Class of 1961; the first and only alumnus to lead Tech. Under Dr. Mandery’s leadership, the current Alumni Foundation was born and began its annual Homecoming and on-going support of Tech projects and activities. That same year, Tech received the Excellence in Education award for secondary schools from the U.S. Department of Education. The third principal of the decade was appointed in 1987 when John Tobin assumed the position. The late 1980s also saw the introduction of the Bio-Med course as a major, changes in course offerings, including closing the Materials Science Department, and the eventual closing of the Foundry.
Tech in the 21st Century
Leaving in January 1992, Mr. Tobin was succeeded by Assistant Principal Dr. Lee D. McCaskill, who served as principal until February 2006. In March 2006, Randy J. Asher was appointed as principal. For more information about the current program, visit the Majors section of our website.
Tech’s outstanding record of achievement is mirrored in its Alumni Hall of Fame. Alumni have achieved success in every sector of society -including two Members of Congress - and the Hall of Fame which includes two Nobel Prize winners, an astronaut, engineers, inventors, an Olympic medalist and recognized leaders of industry and commerce. Last year’s graduating class added to the school’s 85-year reputation of excellence; 98.4% entered four year colleges, while being offered more than $115,000,000 in scholarships and grants.