The School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture/Pocantico Lodge/Miss Knox's School - Notebook 2024 - 11 — Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society

INTRODUCTION

The building above no longer exists. It ceased to exist in 1911 when it was destroyed by fire. However, it was once one of the earliest buildings in Briarcliff Manor, being dedicated even before (1891) the incorporation of the Village (1902). During its relatively short existence, however it was home to three organizations, important in the history of the Village: The School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture; The Pocantico Lodge, and Miss’s Knox School.

SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE

E. J. O'Shaunessy’s 1902 diploma from the School of Practice Agriculture and Horticulture. Gift of his grandson and namesake, E.J. O’Shaunessy.

“During the winter of 1895–96, the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor researched the causes of youth moving from the country to cities to develop the most efficient method of attracting them back to the country. That, and an examination of agricultural needs for a year resulted in the formation of the New York State Committee for the Promotion of Agriculture. The committee included, among others Walter Law, V. Everit Macy, and James George T. Powell a "recognized authority on scientific agriculture" according to The New York Times, was consulted; he later organized the school and became its director. When Walter Law was included, the school took shape, since he provided its land and building. In September 1900, Law and the committee established the School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture as part of Briarcliff Farms, on an elevated 66-acre (27 ha) site about midway between the Briarcliff Manor and Pleasantville train stations on Pleasantville Road. Law leased the 66 acres (which were worth $1,000 ($36,600 in 2023 an acre) for 20 years at the rate of a dollar per year, gave the trustees $30,000 ($1,098,700 in 2023 to build a dormitory and promised them $3,000 ($109,900 in 2023) a year for expenses until the school earned a profit. With that and $30,000 from the trustees, the school opened; the committee focused the curriculum on horticulture, floriculture, gardening and aviculture. The school's progress was followed by members of the public interested in agricultural education.

When it was founded, the school was considered an experiment. Its goal was "to open an independent means of livelihood for young men and women, especially of our cities; to demonstrate that higher values may be obtained from land under intelligent management, and to develop a taste for rural life." Most students were trained in garden and farm operations in a two-year course, with short summer courses in nature study also offered. The academic year had three terms, with twelve weeks of vacation. Although the school allowed new students to begin at any term, a September start was considered the most desirable Instruction was offered in agriculture, horticulture, cold storage, botany, chemistry, geology, physics, agricultural zoology, entomology, beekeeping, meteorology, land surveying and leveling, soils, drainage, irrigation, tillage, fertilizers, plant diseases, stock, fruit growing, landscape gardening and bookkeeping. It was a practical school, with no attempt to provide a general education. Work included caring for orchard trees and bush fruit, greenhouse culture of fruits and vegetables, jelly- and jam-making, market gardening, tillage, fertilizer use, hybridizing and propagating flowers, harvesting and marketing crops. The school used Briarcliff Farms, where students worked the land, tested milk and cared for a variety of animals. Students also raised flowers, vegetables and fruit, and accompanied their products to cities for marketing. The New York Botanical Garden arranged with the school for student access to its lectures, museums and conservatories. Tuition was $100 a year ($3,700 in 2023), and board $280 a year ($10,300 in 2023). Instruction was primarily weekday-morning lectures with laboratory work; during the afternoon, students worked on the school farm (which had a foreman, gardener and several workmen to ensure continuous operation) under instructor supervision. In 1901 35 students attended, followed by 34 in 1902 (almost all from cities), ranging in age from 16 to 35. Most had a high-school education before enrolling, and some had been to college. The school had a capacity of 35 students, and planned to expand.

For one year it met in the basement of Pleasantville's public school (until the Briarcliff Farms building was completed), and did not provide housing. The farm building was completed in Spring 1901 and dedicated on May 15. The large Colonial Revival building, with a plain exterior and wide halls had lecture halls, a library, a laboratory, an office, a dining hall and dormitory space for 40 staff members and students. Its grounds had an orchard, a working garden, experimental greenhouses, poultry houses, a farmhouse and barns. The school's faculty included a director, a horticulturalist, an agriculturalist and instructors in nature study and cold storage. It was coeducational, with identical courses for men and women. Students were required to be proficient in English, provide good references, be at least 16 years of age, and be in good health.

Two early (ca. 1902) photographs of School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture students

The school outgrew its Briarcliff location, and in autumn 1902 R. Fulton Cutting purchased a 415-acre (168 ha) farm near Poughkeepsie as a permanent upstate location. Prior to the move, the school was popularly known as the Briarcliff School, and after moving it became formally known as the School of Practical Agriculture at Poughkeepsie. When the school was established there, Theodore Van Norden said that it needed funds for equipment and an endowment. The land had no buildings, and thus the school rented two houses in Poughkeepsie until funds were obtained to build. It initially hoped to raise one million dollars; in 1903, after raising $50,000 ($1.7 million in 2023) of a hoped-for $150,000 ($5.09 million in 2023) to operate the school, director George Powell announced that it would close, and the property would be sold. Cutting presented a plan to the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts to carry out the plan devised for the school in Poughkeepsie. In 1908, school funds were donated to Cornell University as the Agricultural Student Loan Fund for students in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.”

Much of the text above has been slightly adapted from Michael Feist’s excellent Wikipedia article on Briarcliff Farms.

POCANTICO LODGE

Walter W. Law opened the Briarcliff Lodge in 1902. However, it was not to be open year-round until 1909. From 1903 to 1905 the original school building was known as the Pocantico Lodge, a small year-round hotel. One mystery remains. Why was the Pocantico Lodge in use for such a short period of time. Always the entrepreneur Walter Law also had his own print shop, one of the early products of which was the Briarcliff Outlook. This sophisticated monthly illustrated publication dealt with “goings on” in the Village. The September, 1905 issue contains the following paragraph:

Well; not to make this a preachment – they have figured out that with the necessary closing of Briarcliff Lodge, there will come the opening of Pocantico Lodge for an all-year’round season. Practically a new Pocantico, for there’s a new dining room and cuisine, an enlarged and rearranged office and parlor scheme, and about double the chamber capacity afforded by the old house. The pressure laid upon Pocantico for accommodation all through the winter was sufficient to force this enlargement and to promise its full utilization, so that the sunrise end of this community begins with the opening of this house a new and enlarged importance in the public mind.

It's clear from this that as late as September, 2005 the Pocantico lodge was forging ahead with additions, renovations etc. But by end 1905/1906 the school had closed, and its place in the building taken over by Miss Knox’s School. What had happened? At the moment we have no answers to this question, just theories. We’ll continue to look for an answer to this question.

MISS KNOX’S SCHOOL

Now known simply as the Knox School what was originally called the Miss Knox’s School still exists at a new location on Long Island. The school’s website describes its early years in and around Briarcliff Manor as follows:

Mary Alice Knox was born in 1851 into a prominent family of theologians and missionaries. She taught history at Wellesley College from 1887-1895 and then served as principal of The Emma Willard School from 1897-1901 prior to founding her own school for girls in 1904. she developed much of the educational philosophy that influenced her 1911-1912 vision for her school for girls. Miss Knox had plans for a school rich in music and art, close to New York City, and embodying her work characterized at the Emma Willard School as progressive educational ideas and methods.
Unfortunately, her tenure at Knox was short-lived. One Saturday afternoon in 1911, while returning from a matinee performance at the Metropolitan Opera with students and faculty, there was a train accident that killed several of her pupils. Though unharmed herself, the shock appeared to be too great for Mary Alice, and her passing followed soon thereafter. Her tragic loss threw the school into a state of shock; but fortunately, leadership was immediately assumed by Louise Phillips, whose brother, Frank Phillips, was one of the trustee-owners. A distant relative of the founders of Phillips Exeter Academy and an 1891 graduate of Smith College, Mrs. Houghton had been a private school teacher since the death of her husband in 1905. She was, therefore, prepared to assume the responsibilities of her new role as Principal.
The fall of 1911 began a new era for Miss Knox’s School for girls that would thereafter be known simply as The Knox School. The new principal, Mrs. Houghton proved to be an able and dynamic leader. Towering in stature, influence and personality – she was reportedly described by an alumna many years later as “a cross between Queen Victoria and God!” Whereas Miss Knox was known for her warmth and understanding, Mrs. Houghton (who was a perceptive intellectual and linguist) presented herself as studied elegance and dignity. In contrast, was the friendliness of her assistant Mary Louise Bancroft. Another important presence at Knox, Miss Bancroft joined the staff in 1911 and remained as Assistant Principal for thirty-seven years, until she also assumed the mantle of Principal. Together, these two remarkable women made an impressive team in shaping the direction of the school in the years to come.
Mrs. Houghton’s first year at the helm held more than the usual number of challenges. On a cold day in February, a student discovered smoke pouring into her bathroom (it was later learned that the fire has started in the furnace and traveled inside the walls). The drama teacher, who was in charge of the dining room that evening, ordered the students to collect what they could and vacate the building. In minutes, as they watched in disbelief, the flames spread and the School was reduced to ashes. Only essential records were saved, along with a grand piano that slid down a snow-packed slope minus its legs. After the fire was extinguished, Mrs. Houghton gathered her girls together and tearfully told them that they should transfer to Miss Dow’s School. This idea was unacceptable to the girls who passionately shouted with one voice, “No! We’ll have our school even if it is in a barn!” Shortly after, the school re-opened in Ossining, New York, on the grounds of the Kane Estate. The main building was small and cramped, but the school survived and was ready for the next big event in its history – the move to a new location.

The school moved again in 1912, but only as far as Tarrytown, and again in 1920 to Cooperstown, NY. It’s final move, to its present location in Nissequogue, Long Island took place in 1954.

For more information and lots of photographs see the History and Traditions section of the school’s website.

ALL THAT REMAINS

The house above now stands where the School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture (later the Pocantico Lodge, and the Miss Knox School) once stood.

It’s called “The Manor House” and it’s in the typical Tudor revival style that you find all over Briarcliff Manor. Built in 1925 by Oscar Vatet for Rev. Dr. Rufus P. Johnston (pastor of John D. Rockefeller’s Fifth Avenue Baptist Church), the building later became home to Dr. Arthur O’Connor; then to Cognitronics, and later to Frank B. Hall, Inc. As this is being written (2024) it’s an unused part of Briarcliff Corporate Campus. There’s a local legend that Rockefeller paid for the house, but we haven’t found any evidence that that’s the case.

The stone retaining wall (below) that stands in front of this house is all that remains of the of the original School of Practical Agriculture and Horticulture/Pocantico Lodge/Miss Knox School building. In some early pictures of the original building the retaining wall looks smaller, more robust so it may have been rebuilt/replaced at some point.