RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

Vernon Court Junior College collection (MS.2013.5)

Newport Historical Society

82 Touro Street
Newport, RI 02840
Tel: 401-846-0813
Fax: 401-846-1853
email: info@newporthistorical.org

Historical note

Vernon Court Junior College in operation from September 1963 to January 1972. It occupied the manisons Vernon Court, Fairlawn, and Stoneacre, as well as other mansions in the Ruggles Avenue area. It was associated with The Hatch Preparatory School for Boys, which had occupied Vernon Court since 1956. In January 1972 the College faced finanical difficulties that forced it to close. At the time of closure the school had 157 enrolled students and 80 employees.

All three school buildings were eventually sold, including Stoneacre Field, a 3.75 acre plot, for $61,000 to local plumbing contractor, D. Dixon Donovan. Stoneacre, the former W. Goadby Loew villa, had been demolished to make room for new dormitories, which were never built. Donovan bought other former Vernon Court properties along Ruggles Avenue as well. When the Vernon Court mansion was sold, the property was put back on the tax rolls. Fairlawn is now The Pell Center of Salve Regina University. After passing through several owners, it was acquired by Laurence and Judy Cutler in 1998 and is home to the National Museum of American Illustration. Stoneacre is now the site of Cutler’s “Olmstead Park.”

The actress Joan Crawford received an honorary Associate in Arts degree from the school in 1966, when her identical twin daughters, Cathy and Cynthia Crawford, graduated.