Cutler School

The Cutler School of New York was a primary through college preparatory boys' school initially located at 713 6th Ave., between 23rd and 24th Street, only a few blocks from the Roosevelt home in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Classes were originally held on the second floor above Burns Oyster and Chop House. History The school was established in October 1876 by Arthur Hamilton Cutler. (A.B., Harvard 1870; Ph.D., Princeton 1885). The school's founder tutored Theodore Roosevelt, his brother, Elliott Roosevelt, his sister, Corinne Roosevelt, and his future wife, Edith Carow. According to the New York Times, Theodore Roosevelt was the first graduate of the school, although Roosevelt's autobiography merely refers to Cutler as his "tutor" for three years, from 1873 until he entered Harvard in 1876. Advertising for the school began in the New York Times on September 20, 1876, which said that “the design of this class is to thoroughly prepare boys for our best colleges.” The initial enrollment was limited to just twelve pupils, boys aged eight to eighteen. Classes began on September 26, 1876. Within two years, by 1878, the school moved from the second floor of the restaurant to 20 West 43rd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). The size of the school doubled and the students were divided into a Senior Division and a Junior Division. By 1884 the school was large enough to put forward a football team of eleven players. In 1885 it changed its name to Arthur Cutler's School for Boys and by 1893 it was considered to be one of the leading secondary schools in the eastern United States, along with the St. Paul's School in Garden City and the Berkeley School for Boys located a block away at 20 West 44th Street. Because of their close proximity the Cutler and Berkeley Schools would become rivals both on and off the athletic field. Bloodbath at Hampden Park In November 1894 a Harvard-Yale football game called the “Bloodbath at Hampden Park” took place. Upwards of five players were hospitalized with injuries during the match. Following Yale's 12–4 victory, rival fans took the pattern of violence into the streets. Afterwards the Harvard-Yale football game was suspended indefinitely. A number of Cutler graduates were involved in Harvard football at the time, and Theodore Roosevelt was advocating for the suspension to be lifted.