I had been unaware that the former Bishop Ford High School, on 19th Street between 10th Avenue and Prospect Park West on the Park Slope-Windsor Terrace border, boasted a distinctive Asian cast in its architecture and signage, but there was a reason for that.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1892 [Francis Xavier] Ford became the first student to apply to the seminary of the recently established Catholic Foreign Mission Society, also known as Maryknoll. Ordained in 1918, he was one of the first four Maryknoll missioners to leave for China. In 1925 he was appointed head of the newly created mission territory of Kaying, or Meihsien (Meizhou), in the northeastern corner of Kwangtung (Guangdong) Province…. In December 1950 he was arrested by the Communists for alleged spying activities. Four months later, he was pronounced guilty and sentenced to the provincial prison in Canton. He died in jail of exhaustion and illness in February 1952. [BDCC Online]
The Chinese mission of Francis X. Ford is strikingly reflected in the design of the school. The cross which surmounts the pagoda on the roof is a landmark visible for miles. Red and black, the colors symbolic of the Chinese artistic tradition and the Maryknoll Fathers, permeate the school. These colors in the chapel, the main lobby, the auditorium, throughout the classrooms, are constant reminders of Bishop Ford and his contributions and good works. [Bishop Ford High School]
Even the lamps by the entrance have an Asian motif, with pagoda-like ornamentation.
Now known as the MS 442, Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School, and PS 281 (see Comments), the building was constructed in 1962 on the site of former trolley barns. Falling enrollment prompted the Brooklyn Diocese to close the Catholic boys’ high school in 2014.
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2/28/23