The Modern School came into existence in downtown New York City
in 1911. It was sponsored by the Francisco Ferrer Association
and was a logical outgrowth of the activities of this group,
established a year earlier. The association was organized by
twenty-two anarchists and anarchist sympathizers and sponsored a
center located in a building on St. Mark’s Place in the lower
east side. The center served as a meeting place for radicals,
“free thinkers”, immigrants and bohemians. There were night
classes in political philosophy and history, English for recent
immigrants. There were lectures on art and literature,
discussion groups, arguments, amateur theatricals. Clarence
Darrow lectured there at one time and Will Durant spoke on the
history of philosophy and gave a series of lectures on sex. New
York City at the time was a place of cultural ferment and
intellectual vitality. Radicals of all political persuasions of
both the working classes of this country and Europe; middle
class educated Americans from the Midwe