Aquinas High School, 1940

The school known today as Aquinas High School was built on land that came from the Grote Estate, from the Astoria Homestead Company. It first opened in 1900, as a school for young children in a wood-frame house on the property, before being moved into the nearby larger brick mansion. In 1923, it was converted into a business school for women.

In 1939, the school officially became a women's high school. The original buildings of the estate, previously preserved and used for academic purposes, were demolished and a more traditional school building was completed. The school's first class had over 400 students, and by 1947, that number had nearly doubled. With two cafeterias, music and art rooms, science labs, a gymnasium, and other modern facilities, it was one of the most well-equipped high schools in the state at the time.

In 1985, Aquinas was one of the first schools in New York to be named "exemplary" by the United States Department of Education.