A Couple of Terrific Education Leaders with Ivy Pedigrees …

For nearly half a century, Long Branch High School was led by a couple of Harvard men — William Erwin Cate and Robert Preston Shoemaker. Two wise and steady educators who “played an important part in the big job of educating future generations of the city.” Successively and successfully — through two world wars and the Great Depression, while city population doubled and kids changed — they ably served.

FYI — The 2025-26 college term costs Harvard freshman nearly $87,000 (including tuition, housing, food, health services, and student fees). During annual admissions, the Cambridge, Mass-based college (founded 1636) receives 50,000+ applications; 97% are rejected.

Cate Case
In June 1911, “after a very careful investigation from a large field of candidates.” Cate was appointed principal of the city’s Chattle High School. He would hold the important job for 26 years.

Born in March 1869 in New Hampshire, he earned his Harvard degree in June 1895 and begin his education career as a Massachusetts teacher. Cate was a principal in Pennsylvania before coming to the city. The local press called him “Professor” — adding that he “always looked well-groomed but didn’t go in for showy clothes.”

Cate introduced domestic science classes for the girls (“home economics”) and manual arts for the boys (“shop”). He set both athletic and intellectual milestones — the first LBHS football game was played during his tenure in September 1927 and the school’s National Honor Society chapter was named for him in 1937. Cate also had time to be a “Sunday School” superintendent. About his Long Branch “boys and girls” Cate remarked: “give them some words to cling to when they need it. They’ll thank you sometime.”

During his principal days, he was also known to “admire the grit” of many city immigrants “who came to our shores and took their education seriously.” His April 1937 Long Branch Daily Record obit recalled him as a man of “ability” who “understood children” and “loved his work.” He died while tending his home garden on Brighton Avenue. His devoted wife, Florence, very active in city charitable efforts and church work, was also a city school teacher for 30 years.

Shoe In …
Appointed LBHS principal in July 1937, R. Preston Shoemaker was “a favorite with the student body and faculty alike.” Quite the impressive fellow — a Pennsylvania native, Shoemaker after beginning at West Point in 1918 (where he was a “Three-Letter” athlete), left and later got a degree from Penn State in 1922. By 1926 he’d obtained a graduate degree in education from Harvard University.

Mr. Cate, 1930s

He was a principal in Salem, NJ and Foxboro, Mass before coming to LBHS. He took school leave for 36 months to serve in Europe during WWII where he was a US Army captain in the Special Services division.

As principal he established the high school’s guidance program, instituted a “driver’s ed” class for students in the 1950s and was the school’s first golf coach. A commanding presence, Shoemaker spoke regularly about education matters throughout Monmouth County and warned of student “exposure to improper leisure time” as early as November 1937. “To aspire to become a respected citizen is greater than to hope for riches or fame,” he told city students in 1939.

During his 21-year tenure, the city school district “experienced unprecedented growth and his administrative burden multiplied. But he answered the challenge with resourcefulness and vigor.” He retired as the city’s high school leader in September 1958 and became a Fairleigh Dickenson University admissions officer. He died in the late 1970s.

When Cate started at Long Branch in 1911, total annual spending on city education was about $125,000. When Shoemaker departed in 1958, the yearly school budget had soared to $2 million. Today, for all city schools, the bill is $120 million a year.

“It’s the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
—Aristotle

Three High Schools
The first official high school in Long Branch was the Chattle High School on Morris Avenue. Opened in October 1899, the four-story, yellow-brown, rock-faced brick schoolhouse cost $78,000 to build. Named for Dr. Thomas G. Chattle (schools superintendent from 1857-1889) who is considered the “Father of City Education.” Quickly filing to student capacity, it was gutted during a March 1966 fire and torn down shortly after.

Mr. Shoemaker, 1950s.

The Long Branch Senior High School on Westwood Avenue was dedicated in October 1927. Ernest A. Arend was the architect; Zerbe Construction Company of New York was the builder. Final construction cost was $683,000. When the 28-room, two-story brick, school opened it held 600 students.

In September. 2007, a new $72 million LBHS on Indiana Avenue was opened with 75 classrooms and 2,000-seat gym. DLR Group Architecture & Engineering did the design and Hunt Construction Group built it. Presently, the LBHS student body is about 1,500. Vincent J. Muscillo, Jr. is the current LBHS lead principal. Appointed principal in 2012, he is a city school system alum. He graduated from Penn State University and has a Master’s Degree from University of Scranton.

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Meyer H. Abrams, a city native and 1930 LBHS valedictorian, was an Ivy League standout — performing a Harvard University trifecta. After graduating from there in 1934 (cum laude), he went on to earn Master’s (1937) and PhD (1940) degrees — all from Harvard. He said that “at Harvard, Long Branch men have gained a reputation for being well prepared. In fact, all of us from Long Branch found ourselves far ahead of those who came from prep schools. This reflects great credit upon our Long Branch teachers.”

An authentic intellectual, Dr. Abrams was a much-respected literature scholar and critic and accomplished author (founding editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature). He was a literature professor at another Ivy League college, Cornell University in New York, for over 65 years. In July 2014, he was awarded a National Humanities Medal at the White House by President Barak Obama. He died in April 2015 at age 102.

Dr. Abrams after being decorated by President Obama at the White House, 2014.

Chattle High School on Morris Avenue, 1910s.

Long Branch High School on Westwood Avenue, 2015.