By Sam Desmond
On Friday, October 25, the Bayport Blue Point Heritage Association headed the 90th Celebration and Dedication of Blue Point Elementary School. The Dedication ceremony, held out on the school’s sprawling, picturesque lawn was attended by elected officials and the school district’s upper administration. Students learned of the long history of their school reaching back to the building’s original construction in 1929 through a government grant.
Following the dedication ceremony, the Bayport Blue Point Heritage Association hosted displays of Blue Point Elementary’s interesting and inspiring history in the town. Most of the original research had been conducted and compiled by beloved Blue Point-er, Gene Horton, who passed away earlier this year. Community members, like Alex Wellems, of the Blue Point Civic Coalition helped to unearth photographs on display from storage in the school’s basement.
Perhaps the most honored attendee of the afternoon’s celebrations was 97-year-old Marion Densing, who was part of the first class of Blue Point Elementary in 1929. Accompanied by her children and grandson, Marion happily searched the dozens of class photos on display to look for herself (she did not find herself, but her children did find two photos of her sister). Marion recalled a frightening event where a fire started in the school, but her beloved teacher, Ms. Katherine Saunders instructed the children to each pour a cup of water over the fire and thankfully subdued the flames. Now living in an assisted living facility in Oakdale, Marion, was a life-long resident of Blue Point, with her grandmother living in a large property where King Kullen now stands. Her father, Sam Monsell, served proudly on the Board of Education for many years. Of the 90th dedication, Marion said, “What a wonderful celebration for a school I remember so fondly.”
The first Blue Point Elementary school was actually built in 1872 and had thirty students from grades 1 to 8 (the current Blue Point Elementary has students K to 5 with a total around 320 students). By 1915, a second school with a second floor was built to house 88 students from 1 to 8 grades. The current building was constructed and completed from 1928 to 1929 and the original wooden building was moved to another site on the property by the Davis brothers.
In 1954, Blue Point partnered with Bayport to include a high school and the alliance became the official BBP district in 1961.
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