An elite,[1] all-boys school,[2] it was intended for students who were strong intellectually and who were willing to undertake a strenuous program of studies.

[6] The alumni of Townsend Harris Hall would be filled with high achievers in a variety of fields – a few of whom include the medical researcher Jonas Salk, the novelist Herman Wouk, the lyricist Ira Gershwin, and the economist Kenneth Arrow – and the school gained a national reputation.

[3] At this time, the school was referred to as the Sub-Freshman Class, and its purpose was to bring students of differing educational backgrounds to be sufficiently prepared to attend the Free Academy.

[8] During the nineteenth century, the school's students mostly came from prominent, politically conservative classes and ethnic groups within the city.

[2][3] The expanded school was housed in an annex building across Lexington Avenue from the main City College campus.

[15] The school's demographic composition would change with the large-scale immigration from Eastern Europe and elsewhere around the turn of the century.

[17] The Academic Department was one of the first to move, in Fall 1905,[18] to a new building called Townsend Harris Hall, which had been given that name to honor City College's founder.

[6] When the Hamilton Heights location became overcrowded in 1930, Townsend Harris moved back to the East 23rd Street site.

[3][7] There it initially occupied the ninth and tenth floors of the City College School of Business,[21] in a new sixteen-story structure that had opened the year before.

[20] The physical environment was very different there, with the spaciousness of the uptown collegiate setting replaced by spartan accommodations and the bustle of mid-Manhattan.

[27] Admission to City College was quite competitive[28] (its change to open admissions would not happen until decades later),[17] so gaining entrance to Townsend Harris, with its future of a secured spot at City College, was greatly desired by determined students from immigrant backgrounds.

[10] The curriculum at Townsend Harris focused on the humanities, not the sciences; while a course in physics was offered, there was none on biology or chemistry.

"[3] Townsend Harris competed in the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) of New York City.

[37] It would continue to compete in the slow-paced nature of the sport in that era, such as losing a 28–9 contest to De Witt Clinton High School in 1926.

[46] Military education began in the form of the Student Army Training Corps during the World War I years, but the existence of loyalty oaths proved controversial.

[24] That closing did not happen, and by the early 1940s, Townsend Harris continued to excel by its own standards: students were awarded more Regents scholarships than those of any other high school in the city.

[52][clarification needed] The school's students protested the mayor's plan, with 850 of them staging a sit-down strike,[31] followed by 400 parents, alumni, and teachers meeting in objection.

[4] The thousand students were transferred to other city schools, while the seventy-five teachers involved encountered some difficulty in finding new positions.

[55] Open to girls as well as boys, the school retains much of the humanities focus and classical education elements of the original Townsend Harris.

[7][33] In 2000, Eileen F. Lebow published a full-length account of the original institution, The Bright Boys: A History of Townsend Harris High School.