PS 64 BERRIMAN JHS 64 SCHOOL ALUMNI PAGE

I am a former student of JHS 64, a School born in the necessity of the population explosion in East Brooklyn of the late 1800's. When there were farms and dirt roads still being used. Sewers were slowly being installed and the era of the famous or infamous septic tanks and out houses were being replaced. There was once another school where I stood once also. That school's front entrance was on Berriman Street, there the name, PS 64/JHS64 the Berriman School. The Berriman School was put into service in the early 1900's This is just to get your attention into getting your past together so that the future be brighter. Students came from many different town, places, cities, and countries and attended The Berriman School Here I stand to be corrected. The Berriman School was a K-8 school until the late fifties, Then it became a Junior High School. From what I gather from the former students who had to got to another K to 6 school before coming right back to do the 7, 8 and 9 grades in The Berriman school again. I need to hear your stories, memories, thoughts, pictures and whatever you have to share with others. I wish this page will warm a few hearts and show some that it wasn't as bad as many think or say it was. It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a child growing up to help the village. Building very rarely move. So its really up to the population around the school to be watchful and interested in what is happening in you community school. I have read that before The Berriman School was built, that many students went to church or private schools. In the 1850's was when the "free public school system" started to pick up steam. Few children got to go to school until that time, because of the cost and there were social and cultural barriers. The elite schools of higher education were mostly religious colleges. If you were born to a carpenter, more than likely you would be a carpenter also. The world was mostly a caste system which In a caste society, the assignment of individuals to places in the social hierarchy is decided by social group and cultural heritage. At the same time, the social groups, while promoting their own exclusiveness and endogamy. Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a social group. Cultures who practice endogamy require marriage between specified social groups, classes, or ethnicities. A Polish would marry a Polish, a French would marry only another french person. But upon the colonization of the "new worlds" by the powerful countries, the fence was slowly broken down, but even today there are groups who still believe that marrying out of their "clic", "church" or "national origin" is wrong.

For many years Brooklyn was a city by itself. Brooklyn maintains a distinct culture, independent art scene, and unique architectural heritage. Even today, many Brooklyn neighborhoods are Ethnic enclaves where a particular ethnic group and culture predominate. Brooklyn was originally a Dutch colony. There were settlements of the Lenape Indians, which were misnamed Canarsie Indians. It was a city of about 30,000 people until it kind of took over the city of "Williamsburgh". Many towns or area south and west of these cities were farming or recreational areas.

East New York From the (1939) WPA Guide to New York City:

East New York and New Lots, lying between Jamaica Avenue and Jamaica Bay, west of Junius Street, are less congested than neighboring Brownsville, but otherwise indistinguishable from it in appearance and social composition. The development of East New York began in 1835 through the enterprise of John R. Pitkin, a wealthy Connecticut merchant who visualized it as a great city rivaling New York. The panic of 1837 smashed his hopes. After 1853 a modest development began. Today the residents of this section are chiefly Italians, Jews, Germans, and Russians who moved in from Brownsville, Bushwick, and other near-by crowded localities. Many of the Slavic families continue to burn candles before icons, and observe religious fetes according to the old calendar. They maintain a small school at 189 Pennsylvania Avenue for instruction in the Russian language and a community house at 120 Glenmore Avenue. More up to date 411 on East New York, please visit wikipedia site.

Many of The Berriman School students lived through many exciting and dangerous times, but learning to most was important. Many students in the past were able to attend until the 6th grade, some continued to 8th grade. With a few exceptions most curriculum were locally based, unless the school had a teacher not native to that area, and also the 3 R's . One thing that I want to share with you is the names of some street in the Berriman School area. With interesting facts and stories of them. Such as Liberty Avenue, Pitkin Avenue, Fulton Street, the Force Tube Avenue, and Jamaica Plank Road. There are more facts and information on this Brooklyn Based site.

Author: I living growing and expanding place to network with the remaining brave Berrimanites. We all have a story or two at least to tell. Please share it here, pictures, documents, year books, newspaper clipping and articles.

First let me share the sites and places that I used, referenced and allowed me to use their materials

First I want to thank a former JHS 64 teacher, J. Blumengarten. He is also known in Cyber space as: Cybrary Man. The site I am talking about is "My Tribute to Berriman J.H.S. 64." Check out My Tribute to Berriman JHS 64. . His site has a tremendous amount of information which I will repeat in many instances here, so don't mind the redundancy. Then I would like to thank the East New York Project. Go visit this site. Through this site's guest book and classmates.com is how I made a few contacts and an admirable person in Robert J. Reddington. The next site I will include is very interesting because it has very little on East New York, but has a fountain of information of other neighborhoods which many of our E.N.Y. immigrants came from. Check out the forgotten-new york site.

Believe it or not some students came from the Pink Houses and as far as Pennsylvania Avenue, you can read many of their entries in My East New York Project and in "My Brooklyn" in Brooklyn Pix site. Don't know where? Check out his site. I also remember that PS/JHS 64 was a feeder school for Franklin K. Lane. Well, Louis Martorella from the Class of 1989 of FK Lane as a Alumni Page, it young but share your reunions, pics and info: Go visit this site.

The Berriman School wants to share photos, stories, ideas, thoughts, reunions or mini-get-togethers.