Newport High School graduation program 1873, FIC.2013.032, NHS collection.
High school proms and graduations are in full swing and white stretch limousines are buzzing around town. In 1873 The Newport High School held its last commencement of ten seniors on Thursday, 24 July. The following year, high school students entered a new building on Church Street built from a $100,000 bequest by local merchant William Sanford Rogers (1786-1872). The new Rogers High School remained at that site until it moved to Broadway in 1905. The old building eventually became the Thayer School and now serves as part of the Boys & Girls Club of Newport County.
Image of the 1873 Rogers High School building on Church Street, now the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newport County, FIC.2013.033, NHS Collection.