Batchelder School officially opened on January 13, 1958. The school was built to relieve overcrowded conditions, which existed at the Montrose Street School (no longer in existence), Hooker and Kennelly Schools.

Batchelder is located off of I84 in Hartford Connecticut. Coming from the East, Flatbush Avenue exit, coming from the West, South Main Street exit. Batchelder is located at 757 New Britain Avenue (corner of New Britain Avenue and Newington Avenue) in the far Southwest corner of the city. It is approximately 7 miles from downtown Hartford. Batchelder stands on 7.8 acres, which was part of the Atwood Farm. The land was purchased for $203,000 in 1956. Pictures of the Old Atwood Farm can be seen in the display case by the cafeteria and auditorium. Steps that led to the estate on New Britain Avenue are still in existence and the foundation of one of the buildings can be seen on the perimeter of our playscape area.

The total cost to build the school was 1.6 million dollars. The architect was Keith Sellers Heine and the builder was A.F. Peasless, Inc. Designed to accommodate 580 elementary pupils and 260 junior high students, the building was considered to be state of the art at that time. When the school opened it had 23 regular classrooms, two kindergartens and four laboratories. Some of the classrooms had up to 40 students (we average 25 currently) enrolled per room. The auditorium accommodated 500 people (that number has been reduced to 410 due to new handicap accessibility codes) and the gym seats 250 people.

An expansion and renovation project started in earnest in April of 1996 and is now completely finished. We now have a total of 28 regular classrooms, 10 resource and support staff rooms, a new kitchen and cafeteria, an expanded gym area, new locker rooms and two new boys and girls lavatories. We have a new Main Office area, health suite and parents room. Currently the planned parent room is utilized as a computer lab and as a result we now have our parent room on the 1st floor. Renovations were done to the staff room, music room, auditorium, restrooms, Tech Ed and Family Consumer Science room. In addition, several other areas were renovated these include the parking lot, roof, phone system, electrical, ceiling, walls, and plumbing. The school now has an elevator. The architect for this project was Milton Lewis and Howard, and the builder was the Newfield Construction Company. The final cost for the project was approximately 7.5 million dollars.

Batchelder is located in Hartford, which is the capital of Connecticut. Hartford’s population is approx. 125,000 people. The school services approximately 500 families. Batchelder is in a residential neighborhood with apartment buildings and homes. There are a variety of businesses within three miles of Batchelder School. It is a light industrial area.