1958: Fourth New School Helps District Keep Pace

  • Being right isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

    That had to be what school planners were thinking more than six decades ago as they watched Rush-Henrietta’s student population soar beyond all expectations. In 1956, the fledgling district was projected to grow by 1960 from 1,800 students to more than 3,000.

    Just three years later, an incredible 3,400 students were walking our halls. Fortunately, a fourth new school was in the works. Following a March 25, 1958, vote, the land required for the desperately needed building was purchased for $90,000 two months later. The 50-acre plot, which was located on Pinnacle Road, had belonged to Mr. and Mrs. William Gill. Work began on creating Winslow Elementary School, which was designed for 675 students in grades K-6.
    The new school, which cost $1.2 million, was dedicated February 7, 1960, in honor of Dr. Floyd Winslow. A teacher and headmaster in Henrietta long before centralization from 1900 to 1902, Winslow changed career fields and graduated from Cornell University Medical School in 1906. The World War I U.S. Army medic later became a physician and county coroner. Winslow, who was president of the New York State Medical Society, was well-known throughout the region. His family farm was near the corner of East Henrietta and Goodburlet roads.

    Construction on the new school began in 1958, the same year Dr. Winslow died. The building was dedicated during a ceremony held February 7, 1960. As part of the festivities, Winslow’s granddaughter, Sally Winslow, and fellow fifth-grader, Alan Plutzik, helped to fill a time capsule placed behind the cornerstone. Despite the chilly weather conditions, 500 people attended the special event to celebrate the community’s newest building.

    Monroe County Judge Clarence J. Henry, a friend of Winslow’s, extolled his virtues during the gathering. “It is truly fitting that this school was named in memory of Dr. Winslow,” Judge Henry said, according to a first-hand account from the Democrat and Chronicle. “He was a dedicated man of the highest integrity and loyalty.”

    In a February 19, 1958, story written about Winslow’s death, the newspaper described him as “one of the city’s most colorful and best known figures in medicine.”

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