Westerly Public Schools history

What is known is that the team must have disbanded at some point before 1893, because that fall, the Westerly Sun, in describing a newly created Westerly High School team, claimed that it was the unit’s first season.

In 1895, the Westerly boys found a permanent home at Riverside Park, an aptly-named field located on Canal Street along the banks of the Pawcatuck River.

On November 9, 1917, the Bulldogs traveled to Providence to play a game against LaSalle Academy.

The high school's population began to rise in the late 1920s.

The Broad Street building was abandoned and replaced with a new building, completed in 1937, on Ward Avenue, one block east of Babcock Junior High School.

In 1944, fullback John “Goose” Gentile, the leading scorer in the Southern Division of the Rhode Island Interscholastic Football League, was named to a Rhode Island First Team All-State selection.

After scoring 18 touchdowns in 1946, including four in one game against North Providence, Gentile was again named to the First All-State team.

After a disappointing 1963 season in which the Bulldogs finished with an unimpressive 3-7 record, the school brought in a coach by the name of Sal Augeri.

The 1964 season marked the beginning of perhaps the greatest coaching career in the history of Westerly High School.

In 1974, the Bulldogs scored an average of 36 points per game while allowing their opponents to score only 6 per game.

Three Babcock Hall classrooms that were once science labs were converted into two large art classrooms, as the art teachers were displaced from their classrooms on the second floor of the 1977 wing.

Interestingly, by the 1980’s, a pattern emerged in which the Bulldogs found their greatest success in the middle of each decade.

By 1987, State Street Elementary had reopened, which eliminated the seventh grade from the high school.

By 1990, the district was more stable, with Bradford Elementary reopened. (High Street Elementary School never reopened.) The elementary schools housed students up to fourth grade, Babcock became a middle school housing grades 5–7, and the high school housed 8–12.

Also, a fifth elementary school, Springbrook, was opened in the fall of 1996.

In 2001, members from the Gilbane Construction Company argued that Westerly should build or expand its schools.

However, these renovations were projected to accommodate the town’s growth only until 2005.

The work began in 2010.

In February 2011, the new science and technology wing opened.

In the fall of 2012, a classroom within the library was constructed, allowing teachers to conduct classes while using the library’s resources.