Advertisements announce the sale of lottery tickets to support construction of the schoolhouse that will eventually be named West College.
When the funds from Ephraim Williams’s estate were transferred to the trustees of the Free School, it was found that the sum, $11,277, was not sufficient to erect a school house. Consequently, the School trustees petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to hold a lottery to aid in funding construction of the building. In 1789, the petition was granted and in 1790, lottery tickets were advertised in such newspapers as the Massachusetts Centinel. Over $3449 was realized in this way.