Westerly High School
| Westerly High School | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Address | |
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23 Ward Avenue Westerly, Rhode Island 02891 United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | "Home of the Bulldogs" |
| Established | 1870 |
| Principal | Todd Grimes |
| Teaching staff | 103.6 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Enrollment | 988 |
| Number of students | 1060 |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Color(s) | Blue and White |
| Mascot | Bulldog |
| Nickname | The Bulldogs |
| Rival | Stonington High School |
| Newspaper | The Barker |
| Yearbook | The West'Lyan |
| Website | http://whs.westerly.k12.ri.us// |
Westerly High School is a public high school located in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States. The school is part of Westerly Public Schools.
Various incarnations of a high school have been serving students in Westerly since shortly after the American Civil War.
The first Westerly High School was built at 32 Elm Street in 1870. It cost $10,000 to build.
After about 30 years, the building was too small to support the town's population. This led to the construction of a new building on Broad and Granite Street, which was completed in 1903.
The high school's population began to rise in the late 1920s. This led to the construction of Babcock Junior High School on Highland Avenue, which reduced the high school population to include only students in grades 10–12. Despite this, the school was still not big enough to provide a secondary education to the students of Westerly.
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. This building became known as Ward Senior High School, named after Rhode Island Governor Samuel Ward.
Throughout the 1960s, the Westerly Public Schools underwent transformations. A fifth elementary school (Dunn's Corners) was added. In addition, Babcock Junior High and Westerly High were renovated. The high school got a new library, new science rooms, new music rooms, and new general classrooms.
In the mid–1970s, ninth grade returned to the high school. High enrollment and the extra grade led to the creation of a new gymnasium and new classrooms. The new wing – built on a practice field near Park Avenue – comprised home economics classrooms, technology classrooms, art classrooms, and general classrooms.
The high school became overcrowded in the 1980s. In 1981, three elementary schools closed: Bradford, High Street, and State Street. This led to an extremely crowded high school that, at some times, housed students in grades 7–12. 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.
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