New York’s First Catholic School

On today in 1800, Father William O’Brien and the trustees of St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street in Manhattan established St. Peter’s School as the first Catholic school in New York State. (In the 1680’s, the the Jesuits had conducted a private school, which was closed in 1689). The church (seen above), founded in 1785, was the state’s first Catholic Church.