by Deborah Mulcare

During the Revolution, the Trustees of Long Wharf and Public School were instituted by an act of the State Legislature. The goal of the legislation was to build a wharf and a hotel whose rents would provide a public school or schools for the boys of Newport. Twenty-five thousand dollars to build the hotel and wharf were raised through a lottery.

Following the Revolutionary War, the citizens of Newport looked to the Trustees of Long Wharf for Newport's mercantile reconstruction. Few realized that these same trustees would end up shaping Newport's future public education. On May 6, 1795, Simeon Potter was so impressed with the idea of running a lottery to fund a school that he gifted his estate, located on Easton's Point in Newport, to the Trustees of Long Wharf.

Simeon Potter was a wealthy man who made his fortune as a privateer during the American Revolution. He went on to become a patriot who participated in the burning of the British schooner Gaspee and finally a philanthropist through the donation of his land for a school. He also donated money and books for the founding of a public library in Bristol.

On August 19, 1814 the Trustees of Long Wharf appointed five trustees to become the first school committee. The Trustees decided to rent Potter house to a suitable person who would run it as a school where a number of boys would learn reading, writing and arithmetic. In 1834, as a result of poor attendance, Potter house was sold and the proceeds were put into the bank.

In 1862 a lot of land, located on the corner of Willow and Third streets was purchased by the Trustees of Long Wharf. Architect George Champlin Mason was hired to design a new schoolhouse at an estimated cost of $9,000. The dedication of the Willow Street School, now called the Callender School, took place on May 20, 1863. Renovations and enlargement of the Willow Street School took place in 1909.

In 1880, the Trustees decided that a second school warranted construction. A site was secured on Elm Street for the sum of $3000 and architect William Crandall was hired to draw up the plans. The new school was to be a three story Colonial Revival building constructed of brick with a hip roof. In 1881 contracts were awarded to Perry G. Case and Co. to construct the new school.

On August 30, 1882, the new school, named The Potter School in honor of Simeon Potter, was dedicated. Renovation of the building took place in 1935 and, just as in 1834 when Potter House closed due to poor enrollment, so did the Potter School.

In 1962 the school committee decided to use Potter School as the central supply building for the City of Newport.