Main Street School

{{Short description|Historic place in New York, United States}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Main Street School | nrhp_type = | image = Main Street School, Port Washington, NY August 9, 2025 A.jpg | caption = The Main Street School in 2025 | location = Main and South Washington Streets,<br>Port Washington, New York | coordinates = {{coord|40.8308|-73.6965|region:US-NY_type:edu|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = USA New York Long Island##New York#USA | built = 1908 | architect = Dusinberre, Ralph & Cornell, Frank | architecture = Georgian Revival | added = February 10, 1983 | area = {{convert|5.5|acre}} | refnum = 83001714<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> | designated_other1_name = New York State Register | designated_other1_color = | designated_other1_abbr = NYSL | designated_other1_date = January 4, 1983 | designated_other2_date = July 23, 1985 | designated_other2_abbr = TNHDL | designated_other2_color = #B2E5CD | designated_other2_name = Town of North Hempstead Designated Landmark | designated_other1 = New York State | map_caption = Location on Long Island##Location in New York state##Location within the Contiguous United States }} The '''Main Street School''' – also known as the '''Landmark on Main Street Community Center''' or simply the '''Landmark on Main Street''' – is a community center, retirement home, and historic school building located on Main Street in Port Washington, in Nassau County, New York, United States.

== Description == The school was completed in 1909 in the Georgian Revival style. It was built as a two-story, brick building with stone detailing and a cement-stucco faced raised basement level. A third story was added during a 1917 expansion.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny" />

It features a steep gable roof topped by an ornamental cupola with four clock faces. The roof has five gable dormers with round-headed windows.<ref name=nrhpinv_ny>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319149 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Main Street School|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Austin O'Brien|date= December 1982| access-date=November 8, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

== History == In the early 1900s, citing the need for a purpose-built high school to serve the growing Port Washington community, the Port Washington Union Free School District proposed the erection of a large, new school on Main Street; the district's existing schools were too small to efficiently function as a high school.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=The History of Our School District |url=https://www.portnet.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2835069&type=d&pREC_ID=2320827 |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=www.portnet.org |language=en}}</ref> After a bond measure to construct the Main Street School was subsequently approved by district residents in a vote of 55-to-46, construction on this new school began, with the cornerstone being laid on September 21, 1908.<ref name=":1" /> It was ultimately completed the following year, and it was expanded between 1916 and 1917.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny" /><ref name=":1" />

In 1929, after the district opened a new high school – the present-day Carrie Palmer Weber Middle School – off Port Washington Boulevard (NY 101), the Main Street School was repurposed by the district to serve as an elementary school.

In 1985, the Port Washington Union Free School District closed the Main Street School.<ref name=":1" /> The property was subsequently acquired by the Town of North Hempstead, which transformed it and the historic school building into senior citizen housing and a large community center – roles which it continues to serve as of 2025.<ref name="nrhpinv_ny" /><ref name=":1" />

=== Landmark designations === In 1983, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register of Historic Places.<ref name="nris" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) |url=https://cris.parks.ny.gov/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx |access-date=2024-10-22 |website=cris.parks.ny.gov}}</ref> Two years later, on July 23, 1985, it was listed as a Town of North Hempstead Designated Landmark.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Town of North Hempstead - Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission |url=https://northhempsteadny.gov/Landmarks |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=northhempsteadny.gov}}</ref><ref name="NorthHempsteadDLs">{{cite web |date=2015-06-30 |title=LIST OF TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD DESIGNATED LANDMARKS |url=https://northhempsteadny.gov/filestorage/16281/17115/19817/19913/19915/Designated_Landmarks_as_of_June_2015_-_table.pdf |work=Landmarks Preservation Commission |publisher=Town of North Hempstead}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{Commonscat-inline|Main Street School (Port Washington, New York)}} {{National Register of Historic Places in New York}}

Category:Port Washington, New York Category:Cow Neck Peninsula Category:Town of North Hempstead, New York Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:Georgian Revival architecture in New York (state) Category:Schools in Nassau County, New York Category:National Register of Historic Places in Nassau County, New York Category:New York State Register of Historic Places in Nassau County Category:Community centers in New York (state) Category:Repurposed buildings and structures Category:School buildings completed in 1908 Category:1908 establishments in New York (state)