Hessian Hills School (1925–1952) was a progressive school[1] in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Croton-on-Hudson, New York.[2][3][4] The school was founded as a community school by Elizabeth Moos and Margaret Hatfield.[5][6][7] Children were welcomed from age 2 to 15. In 1934, Hessian Hills School, City and Country School in New York City, and five other like-minded progressive schools formed a group called Associated Experimental Schools to raise funds and to refine their progressive philosophy, but the group was abandoned by the end of the 1930s. City and Country School has preserved the archives of this group.
Parents were "an eclectic group of socialists, Quakers, radical Jews, prominent intellectuals and liberal business-people".[3] The curriculum was based on the ideas of John Dewey and Horace Mann.[5] Frances Horwich was head of the school for a few years during World War II, and later became host of the children's television program Ding Dong School. She was followed in 1943 by educator James L. Hymes Jr.[8] Moos, the founder, developed political views which some viewed as too far to the left.[5]
The school suffered a fire in 1930.[9] After the fire a new school building was designed by William Lescaze and George Howe.[9][7] The building was designed in the International Style,[6] and has been called "the most noted early example of modernist school design in America".[10]
The school was the subject of a documentary film by Lee Dick,[11] screened at the 1939 New York World's Fair.[12] The film was apparently the first documentary produced on 16mm with sound and dialogue.[12]
The building is currently used by Temple Israel of Northern Westchester.[5][13]
Since the school welcomed children only up to about age 15, most children went elsewhere to finish their school education. One alternative progressive school was Scarborough School, only a few miles from Hessian Hills.
