A History of the Wallkill Central Schools

When the Borden family arrived in the nineteenth century, educational opportunities in Ulster County were limited; classes rarely extended beyond the eighth grade. This changed when the philanthropic Bordens established their Borden Condensed Milk Company and gave Wallkill the means to construct one of the area’s first high schools. In 1938, Central School District No. 1–incorporating the towns of Shawangunk, Plattekill, Gardiner, Marlborough, Newburgh and Montgomery–was formed after residents voted to consolidate the John G. Borden High School with surrounding one- and two-room schoolhouses. Although those early schoolhouses are now long gone, the proud tradition of education and service carries on in the Leptondale, Clare F. Ostrander and Plattekill Elementary Schools; the John G. Borden Middle School; and the Wallkill Senior High School. Local educators A.J. Schenkman and Elizabeth Werlau explore Wallkill Central School District’s seventy-five years of educational excellence.