Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a private, Roman Catholichigh school in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.[2] Open from 1962 through 2014, it closed following a period of steeply falling enrollment and with an estimated $4 million in outstanding debt.[3][4] Now called the Bishop Ford Educational Complex, the building is used by New York City Department of Education to house a pre-kindergarten school and two middle schools.[5]
Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was established in 1962 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. It was named after Bishop Francis Xavier Ford, a Brooklyn native and Maryknoll missionary who was martyred in China in 1952.[6] It was decorated in a Chinese-themed style, with a large red pagoda on its roof, signs with letters in a font meant to suggest Chinese characters, and a red-and-gold tiled lobby with light fixtures shaped like pagodas.[3]
The school was built on the site of the former 9th Avenue bus and trolley depot, used until 1956 for trolleys, and for buses until 1959 following a fire, with bus routes moved to the 5th Avenue (today's Jackie Gleason Depot) & Ulmer Park Depots.
Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School was a Division I high school and had an active PTA and many clubs, activities, and sports. Some of the clubs included the International Society; Martial Arts Club; Science Club; Art Club; Student Activities Committee; Student Council; Newspaper and Yearbook. Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School's sports included cross-country, track and field, swimming, basketball, baseball, football, bowling, soccer, cheerleading, volleyball, and softball as junior varsity and varsity teams.
Following a period of falling enrollment that saw the student body decrease 75%, from 1,347 students in 2006 to 499 in 2014, the school abruptly closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year. It was one of a number of Catholic schools to close around that time, faced with increased competition from public and charter schools.[3][4]
The school building is now used by the New York City Public School system for pre-k and middle schools. The religious symbols, such as a large cross that once stood above the entrance of the school, have been removed from the school building.
Rapper Drake's debut music video "Best I Ever Had" was shot at Bishop Ford in June 2009.
Record producer Mike WiLL Made It's debut music video "#23" was shot at Bishop Ford in August 2013. The music video features Mike WiLL Made It, singer Miley Cyrus, and rappers Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J.
The school building appears in several early shots in the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon, which was filmed nearby.
Bishop Ford Educational Complex
The building now houses three public schools:
K-280, a pre-K school drawing students from across School District 15[19]
Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS), a middle school focused on environmental sustainability and education[20]
MS 442, a middle school with a successful program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder[21]
^McGoldrick, Meaghan. "Bensonhurst actor to channel the past in new documentary", Brooklyn Reporter, November 20, 2015. Accessed April 15, 2024. "The Bishop Ford graduate is hoping to debut his first-ever documentary, Cruisin' 86th Street, shortly after the premiere of his most recent feature film, Back in the Day (the gritty tale of a half Italian-half Puerto Rican teen with a passion for boxing growing up on the streets of Bensonhurst that stars himself, Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover and Shannon Doherty, among others), slated for theaters early next year."
^"Alumni notes"(PDF). Falcon Flash. Spring 2006. p. 11. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 30, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
^"John Halama". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
^"Armond Hill". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
^"Alumni notes"(PDF), Falcon Flash, Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School, p. 14, Spring 2010, archived from the original(PDF) on October 30, 2012, retrieved August 31, 2012
