“Connected with this school is an excellent apparatus, including a telescope, which we understand to be among the largest in the State; this, however. is owned by the Principal, Mr. J. M. Ross.”
―”Town of Smithfield.” Twenty-First Annual Report on Public Schools, January 1866.
The School Committee of the Town of Smithfield submitted a report to the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island for the school year ending May 1, 1865. One of the challenges conveyed was poor attendance by pupils “… who were suffered to be roaming the streets and fields, when they should have been at school.”

The Committee highlights the success of the school at Lonsdale, the only high school in the town at the time. The principal is praised for his work and it is mentioned that he lends his own personal telescope for use by the students. The school is seen as a model that other school districts should emulate.