The cornerstone was laid in 1925 (containing a box of memorabilia from that year), but students didn’t fill the halls of the Guiteras Memorial School until 1927. In that 98 years, longtime local educator Chuck Mello estimates some 22,000 students and 260 faculty and staff passed through the grand doors.

Last year, the Bristol Warren School Committee voted to decommission the school, due to rising maintenance costs and declining enrollment, and transfer the building back to the town of Bristol.

“I have had the great privilege of being a student there as well as a teacher, parent and grandparent,” said Mello, who has been researching the history of the building. “For over sixty years this school has been a part of my life as it has been for so many Bristolians.”

Dr. Ramon Guiteras stated in his will that his monetary gift was to be used to build a permanent school for the children of Bristol. His gift has been more than just appreciated. It has made a positive difference for our community.”

Who was Dr. Ramon Guiteras?

According to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, Dr. Ramon Guiteras was a surgeon, statesman, and sportsman, and the most prominent Rhode Islander of Latin American heritage at the turn of the 20th century. Educated first in Bristol, then at Classical High School in Providence, Guiteras studied at Harvard, staying there through medical school.

His specialty was surgery and he further specialized in Urology, ultimately founding the American Urological Association (AUA) in 1900.
Guiteras had a lifelong interest in boxing and was a member of the New York Athletic Club. He served as a referee for boxing matches conducted in Madison Square Garden and as a judge for the amateur boxing championship of the New York Athletic Club in 1887.

Guiteras is reportedly the only man to knock down John L. Sullivan, heavyweight boxing champion from 1882 to 1892, during a sparring session at the Yale gymnasium.

Guiteras served as surgeon of the African Hunting Club, founded by his friend and Harvard classmate Theodore Roosevelt. According to Roosevelt, Guiteras was the best hunter and leader in times of danger.

Guiteras died suddenly at the age of 59 of meningitis, and his will stipulated that $350,000 of his estate was to go toward the construction of a junior high school in Bristol to honor his mother, Elizabeth Wardwell Guiteras. His sister Gertrude carried out his wishes.

According to Mello, when Guiteras directed the construction of a junior high school, it was at a time when kids routinely dropped out of school in the 8th grade, and some as young as 4th grade. “His intent was to create a school environment that would encourage the students of the times to remain in school.”

It’s heartbreaking to see it close, but it has had a wonderful life,” said Mello
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What’s next?

According to Town Administrator Steven Contente, the Town Council has been meeting in executive session to generate some possible ideas for Guiteras’ next chapter, that would still align with the civic spirit in which the memorial was built. “We will want to maintain the intention that it would be used for public purposes,” said Contente. “There will be public hearings once the Council has determined what the options are.”