The English High School
school in Boston, Massachusetts
The English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1821, is one of the first public high schools in the United States. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed upon its first relocation in 1824. Commonly referred to as Boston English, the school is located in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston and is a part of Boston Public Schools (BPS).
History
Boston English was created at the urging of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association and was modeled after the Royal High School in Edinburgh, Scotland. The School Committee to establish English High School was chaired by Samuel Adams Wells, grandson of former Governor Samuel Adams. Its first headmaster was George B. Emerson, an early leader in educational reform. English, like Boston Latin School, only admitted boys when established—although a separate high school for girls was established in Boston by Emerson three years later in 1824. Boston English ended its policy of single sex education and admitted girls to become coeducational in 1972, 151 years after its founding.
Boston English has had seven different geographic locations / buildings. Its first site was on Derne Street at the rear of the Massachusetts State House and is marked by a metal historical commemorative
plaque.
The public source identifies “The English High School” as school in Boston, Massachusetts. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around English, High and School.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5378285. VIAF identifies the subject as 139995227. The Library of Congress control number is nr94037929. Authority coordinates are 42.306, -71.109. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1821, 1824 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “The English High School” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.