History of Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Journey back in time to Providence, Rhode Island, USA

• 1636 - ROGER WILLIAMS was banished from the colony of Massachusetts due to his outspoken views of religious inequality, fled to the head of Narraganset Bay, and there, with a few followers, planted the seed of the commonwealth of Rhode Island in 1636
  
  rhodeislandcolonialera.weebly.com/ culture.html
  
  
• 1647 - Three settlements united with Providence, formed single government
  Anne Hutchinson and her followers founded Portsmouth in 1638, while others of the same group established Newport. In 1643, several dissidents from Providence founded Warwick. The four settlements were given a charter by England in 1644, and they merged in 1647.
  
  www.u-s-history.com/ pages/ h1924.html
  
  
• 1662 - January 27 - 1st American lime kiln begins operation (Providence RI)
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1663 - King Charles II granted charter for Rhode Island, Providence Plantations
  THE CHARTER, GRANTED BY KING CHARLES II., July 8, 1663, and in force until the adoption of the Constitution, May, 1843.
  
  sos.ri.gov/ library/ history/ charter/
  
  In 1663, The Royal Charter of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations – the document that outlined the roles of government...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1764 - Brown University in Providence is the state's oldest institution of higher education and one of the oldest in the nation. It was chartered in 1764 as Rhode Island College.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ rhode-island.html
  
  
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  Brown University, 1898
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
  
  Brown was founded in 1764 — the third college in New England and the seventh in Colonial America. Brown was the first Ivy League school to accept students from all religious affiliations...
  
  Originally located in Warren, Rhode Island, and called the College of Rhode Island, Brown moved to its current spot on College Hill overlooking Providence in 1770 and was renamed in 1804 in recognition ... Read MORE...
  
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•  1772 - 1st naval attack of Revolutionary War takes place in Providence, RI
  Rhode Island residents burn British ship Gaspee to protest tax laws.
  
  The World Almanac of the U.S.A, by Allan Carpenter and Carl Provorse, 1996
  historyorb.com
  June 9, 1772
  
  
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  First Baptist Meeting House
  
  It is the oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States, founded in 1638 by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island. The present church building was erected between 1774 and 75 and held its first meetings in May 1775. It is located at 75 North Main Street in Providence's College Hill neighborhood. wikipedia
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• In 1791, Providence Bank was established with capital of $400,000.
  The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Volume 3
  Author Sir David Brewster
  Publisher J. & E. Parker, 1832
  Page 229
  
  
•  1804 - Brown university, founded in 1764, at Providence, Rhode Island, was known as Rhode Island college until 1804, when its name changed in honor of Nicolas Brown, American merchant, who had given it $100,000.
  
  The Morning Herald
  Hagerstown, Maryland
  May 7, 1926
  
  
• 1815 - Destructive hurricane hits New England
  "The Great September Gale" hit New England in September of 1815. It first made landfall on Long Island, N.Y., and then again in Connecticut. The storm flooded Providene, R.I., and caused extensive damage throughout the region.
  
  Hurricane timeline: The 1800s
  Sun Sentinel
  Fort Lauderdale, Florida...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1817 - An Elm tree is standing near Providence, R. I. which measures, 4 feet from the ground, 21 feet in circumference.
  There are 18 main branches, averaging 6 feet 3 inches in circumference; the circumference, of the whole outline of the branches is 378 feet!
  
  genealogybank.com
  Spectator
  New York
  September 16, 1817
  
  
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  The Arcade, Built 1828
  
  Located in the center of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, The Arcade Providence was built in 1828 and it is the oldest indoor mall in the United States. arcadeprovidence.com
  
  The Arcade is a 3-story, stucco rubble Greek Revival structure that provides both a covered walkway, and a commercial center in between Weybosset and Westminster streets in downtown Providence. The building began construction in 1827, and was completed in 1828 under original owners Cyrus... Read MORE...
  
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  Plant of Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co.
  
  BROWN & SHARPE MFG. CO., Makers of Machinery and Tools. -- In manufacturing interests Providence is one of the leading cities in the country. There are various causes for this supremacy, among which are the transportation facilities by water and rail, and the enterprise and resources of the leading manufacturers. The largest concern in its line, machinery and tools, is the Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co., whose works are located on Promenade and Holden... Read MORE...
  
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  Kendall Mfg. Cos
  Established 1837
  Soapine
  The Dirt Killer
  Will Not Injure Hands or Fabric
  Providence, R.I.
  
  Henry L. Kendall (1805-1883) founded a soap manufactory in Providence, R.I. in 1827. The Kendall Manufacturing Co. was incorporated in 1860. The Company continued to manufacture soap into the mid-20th century. digital.librarycompany.org
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• 1839 - Providence
  Providence, Rhode Island
  Chief town, Providence county. Roger Williams was the founder of this beautiful city. He was banished from the Massachusetts colony for maintaining that all denominations of christians were equally entitled to the protection of the civil magistrate; that the church of Engla...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  PERRY DAVIS' PAIN KILLER
  IT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF FORTY YEARS' TRIAL.
  PERRY DAVIS & SON, Proprietors, Providence, R.I.
  
  Perry Davis' Pain Killer was an American opium elixir marketed globally after 1839. Perry Davis’ Pain Killer, a combination of opium, alcohol, and other substances, was formulated in 1839 and marketed successfully worldwide within 4 decades as both an internal and external pain remedy. anesthesiahistoryjournal.org
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•  1842 - May 19 – Dorr Rebellion: Militiamen supporting Thomas Wilson Dorr attack the arsenal in Providence, Rhode Island, but are repulsed.
  
  wikipedia.org
  May 19, 1842
  
  
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  The Old White Mill, Cranston St., 1912
  
  The Old White Mill was originally a state arsenal; garrisoned in May 1842; unsuccessfully attacked by Thos. W. Dorr and his forces; used in turn as a grist-mill; woolen mill and cotton mill; and purchased by the State of Rhode Island, Dec. 1895. The site is now occupied by the new State Armory, south of Dexter Training Ground, Providence, R.I.
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  Grace Church
  
  Grace Church is an historic Episcopal church at 300 Westminster Street at Mathewson Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1845-46 and was designed by Richard Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style.
  
  The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. wikipedia
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•  1848 - A man in Providence, Rhode Island, bet five dollars that he could eat a large basket of peaches in one hour.
  He was successful, having dispatched one hundred and fifty-two good sized peaches in fifty-two minutes.
  
  Another man ate a basket full without betting and died in consequence - of the eating, and not the bet.
  genealogybank.com
  National Aegis
  Massachusetts
  September 13, 1848
  
  
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  Arcade, Providence
  THE HISTORY & TOPOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, published by J & F Tallis in London about 1850.
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  St. Francis Xavier's Academy
  
  St. Francis Xavier Academy was opened by the Sisters of Mercy with twenty students in 1851. At that time, it was both a boarding school and a day school. In 1874, a building with convent and school was erected on Sixty Broad Street in Providence, RI. Two years later, Joseph Banigan, the “Rubber King” gave $25,000 for a new chapel to be designed by a master artist from England. Every detail of the chapel tells the story of the Mother of God. For many students, the ... Read MORE...
  
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• 1854 - Providence
  Providence, a city, port of entry and seat of justice of Providence county, Rhode Island, and semi-capital of the state, is situated at the head of navigation on the north-western arm of Narraganset bay, or Providence river, as it is called, 35 miles from the ocean, 43 miles S. S. W. from Boston, an...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Rhode Island State Normal School, 1912
  
  Rhode Island Normal School was a teacher preparatory college that has since become Rhode Island College. The school was established in 1854, and was housed in several different buildings in the city until 1898, when the building above opened. lostnewengland.com
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•  1857 - The Boiler Explosion at Providence.
  The Providence papers contain full accounts of the boiler explosion in the India Rubber works of NATH. HAYWARD, on Thursday morning. The Journal says:
  
  Such was the force of the explosion that the boiler, weighing some four tons, was thrown out, carrying with it the wall of the building, hitting a...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  1890s
  Horsfords Acid Phosphate
  Rumford Chemical Works
  Providence, R.I.
  
  George Francis Wilson was a school teacher and principal of the Chicago Academy in Illinois who had a desire to enter industry. He moved back to his native town of Uxbridge, MA, in 1854. That same year he entered into business in Providence with J. B. Duggan and Eben Horsford selling chemicals. In 1858 he and Horsford moved the business to Seekonk, MA (now East Providence, RI) renaming the company the Rumford Chemical... Read MORE...
  
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  Coleman & Remington
  Photographie Studio
  25 Westminster St.
  Providence, R.I.
  
  Founded by William Coleman and O. M. Remington, 1868
  
  Coleman never married or had children, and he lived in various boarding houses throughout his life. He worked for other photographers until 1868 when he partnered with Orville M. Remington and established a professional studio called “Coleman and Remington” located at 25 Westminster Street in Providence. This ended in 1876 when Remington gave up the... Read MORE...
  
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•  1873 - Joseph Sweet, ninety-one years of age, has been elected President of the Eagle National Bank at Providence, Rhode Island.
  Whether Joseph will make it sweeter for himself or the bank is not definitely known.
  The Indianapolis News
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  April 24, 1873
  
  
•  1873 - Providence, Rhode Island, has a big gasometer, and the city papers are confident its dome is the largest in the world, it being 140 feet in diameter, or one foot larger than the dome of St. Peter's in Rome.
  It holds, above the top of the tank, 1,540,000 cubic feet.
  The Indianapolis News
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  April 8, 1873
  
  
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  Butler Exchange,
  Soldiers and Sailors Monument, 1908
  
  The late 19th century was a time of growing prosperity for the city of Providence, and few buildings indicated this as well as the Butler Exchange. This massive commercial block was built in 1873, and was designed by prominent architect Arthur Gilman. Like many other public buildings of the day, it was designed in the Second Empire style, complete with towers on the corners and a large, two-story mansard roof at the top. On the inside, it ... Read MORE...
  
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  Scenes in Providence
  Picturesque America... Oliver Bell Bunce, William Cullen Bryant
  New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1872-1874.
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  The Callendar McAuslan and Troup Company
  
  Callendar, McAuslan and Troop’s “Boston Store” opened in the early 1870s at the corner of Westminster and Union Streets. The success of Providence’s first department store led not only to its substantial expansion by 1892, but also to the organization of competing firms, Shepard’s and the Outlet...
  
  Established as a department store — the first of its magnitude in Providence — in 1866, Callendar, McAuslan & Troup first opened in a smaller building... Read MORE...
  
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• 1877 - President Rutherford Hayes tested new telephone, call from Rocky Point to Providence, distance 8 miles
  The rich and the famous also came to Rocky Point. One of its most illustrious visitors was President Rutherford B. Hayes, who visited here in 1877, the summer after becoming president in the disputed Election of 1876. Hayes made history's first presidential telephone call when he called Dr. Alexand...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Narragansett Hotel, est. 1877
  
  NARRAGANSETT HOTEL, L. H. Humphreys, Lessee. -- The great hotel of the present has the population of a small village, yet the guests have extraordinary fare and every comfort. Humanity is in one of these mammoth establishments catered by wholesale, while at the same time each individual guest receives as much attention as though he had one whole hotel to himself; and it is this combination of large general figures with the closest attention to the minutest... Read MORE...
  
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• 1878 - George M. Cohan was born in Providence in 1878. He wrote, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and a wide variety of other musical entertainment.
  
  www.ereferencedesk.com/ resources/ state-facts/ rhode-island.html
  
  
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  City Hall
  
  Providence City Hall is the center of the municipal government in Providence, Rhode Island, and is located at the southwest end of Kennedy Plaza at 25 Dorrance Street. The building was constructed between 1875 and 1878 and designed by Samuel J. F. Thayer in the Second Empire style. wikipedia
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  Hotel Dorrance, 1909
  
  Built in 1878, demolished in 1978
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  Empire Theatre
  
  The Empire Theatre has a long history that began in 1878 as Low's Opera House, when it was a rival to the Providence Opera House on Dorrance Street, opened seven years earlier in 1871. It was re-built, reopening on October 24, 1898 with a seating capacity of 1,801.
  
  In the seventy-one years of its existence in the center of downtown Providence, it served as an illustrious home to theatre and vaudeville and films, under the later names of Keith’s Theatre, B.F. Keith’s New... Read MORE...
  
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  English High School
  
  In September 1878, a “magnificent” new high school was dedicated on Pond Street from plans made by prominent Providence architect William H. Walker. The old high school at Benefit and Waterman Streets had been overcrowded for years. The expansion of the school system--both the number of students served and the buildings that served them--was one of Mayor Thomas Doyle’s major achievements during his eighteen years as mayor... rhodetour.org
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•  1882 - Six of the persons injured in yesterday's fire in the Callender building, Providence, Rhode Island, have already died, and it is expected that the injuries of others will prove fatal.
  
  The Indianapolis News
  Indianapolis, Indiana
  November 22, 1882
  
  
•  1888 - MORE FIRES IN PROVIDENCE. THE THIRD LARGE BLAZE WITHIN FIVE DAYS.
  PROVIDENCE, R. I., Feb. 19. - The third large fire during the last five days occurred this afternoon on the scene of the disastrous conflagration of September, 1877. At 4:10 o'clock a man in a broker's office on the second floor of the Daniels Building in Custom House-street, a structure which rose ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  S. S. Peter's and Paul's Cathedral
  
  In 1873, Patrick Keely was selected to draw the plans for one of the finest churches in the country. The following year, work on the foundation of a temporary church began when Bishop Hendricken signed a contract for the construction at a cost of $18,950. The old rectory was demolished and a new one built at the corner of Fenner and Pond Streets where it still stands.
  
  The cornerstone of the current cathedral was laid in 1878... On June 30, 1889, more... Read MORE...
  
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•  1890 - THE BIG PROVIDENCE FIRE. THOUSANDS OF CURIOUS PERSONS WATCHING THE RUINS.
  PROVIDENCE, R. I., Dec. 14. - Thousands of spectators flocked around the scene of Saturday's half-million-dollar fire to-day. Chief of Police Child ordered the circle of the ropes contracted to within safe distance of the tottering walls in order that the crowds might better survey the ruins. Trains...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Good Will Engine Co., No. 13
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  Murray, Spink & Co.
  Jobbers of Fancy Goods,
  Show Cases in Large Variety,
  26, 28, & 30 Pine Street, & 26 Hay Street,
  Providence, R.I.
  
  MURRAY, SPINK & CO., Importers and Jobbers of Fancy Goods, Nos. 26, 28 and 30 Pine Street and No. 30 Hay Street. -- This immense business dates its inception back to 1852, when it was founded by Messrs. Burrington & Hutchins, who developed most important interests and far-reaching connections, which their successors have built upon to great advantage.... Read MORE...
  
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• 1894 - April 10 - Providence, RI received 9 inches of snow
  
  The Weather Channel
  
  
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  Crown Hotel
  
  Built in 1894, designed by Gould, Angell & Swift for the Providence Athletic Association, the seven-story building grew by two floors in 1901 when it was refitted for use as a hotel. In the 1950s, Johnson & Wales Business College purchased the building for dormitory use. It was demolished in 1992. oldpvd.com
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•  1895 - KILLED BY A BOILER EXPLOSION - The Accident Occurs Just as a Crowd of Rhode Island Ice Harvesters Begin Work on Mashapang Pond.
  PROVIDENCE, R. I., Feb. 4 - A boiler exploded at the icehouses of Earl, Carpenter & Sons, at Mashapang Pond this morning. Four men were killed and sixteen other injured.
  
  The Dead.
  
  The dead are:
  
  DARY, MICHAEL, aged twenty-one
  HEHIR, JOHN, aged thirty-five; leaves a wife and three children
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• 1895 - Blizzard - THE STORM STILL HOVERS OVER THE UNITED STATES. IT IS SEVEREST IN THE EAST. TRAFFIC ALMOST ENTIRELY AT A STANDSTILL -- RAILROAD TRAINS BLOCKADED -- BUSINESS PARALYZED -- PEOPLE FROZEN TO DEATH AT SEVERAL PLACES...
  ...Damage Done By High Tide.
  Providence, Feb. 9. - The high tide has done damage in this city almost equal to the great flood of September 1868. Basements were flooded all over the city. The Narragansett Electric Lighting company plant on Elk street was rendered completely powerless, a tidal wave r...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1895 - Providence
  Providence, a city (the second of New England in population, wealth, and importance), port of entry, and one of the capitals of the state of Rhode Island, and the county seat of Providence co., is situated at the head of navigation, N. of Narragansett Bay, 30 miles by rail and boat above Newport, 64...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  R.I. Institute for Deaf and Dumb
  
  Built in 1895, the Rhode Island School for the Deaf was called the R.I. Institute for Deaf and Dumb from 1895 to 1930.
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•  1896 - Gotta De Mon' - An Italian Banker Skips From Providence, Rhode Island
  Providence, R. I., Sept. 2. - The Banca Popolare has closed its doors and today there was an excited lot of depositors in the Italian colony on Federal hill. The institution was run by Valentino and Plumbo, and the latter is missing. He departed Saturday last, leaving four children behind. Valentino...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1896 - November 22 - Announcements
  E.W. Theinert, of Providence, R.I., will deliver an address upon socialism in U. V. W. Hall this evening at 7:30...
  Worcester Daily Spy
  Worcester, Massachusetts
  November 22, 1896
  
  
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  Banigan Building, built 1896
  
  Hailed as the first tall, steel-frame, “fireproof” building in Providence, the ten-and-one-half-story granite-sheathed Banigan Building was built on speculation by Joseph Banigan, founder of a large plant for rubber goods in Woonsocket and eventually also one of the founders of U.S. Rubber when his company went into the giant conglomerate.
  sah-archipedia.org
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• 1898 - Providence - The Colony of Hope by William B. Weeden
  The capital of Rhode Island, the second city of New England, an agricultural village in the seventeenth, a commercial port in the eighteenth, and a centre of manufacturing in the nineteenth century, lies at the head of Narragansett Bay. The mainland of the State westward to Connecticut, according to...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  View of Providence, from the South, 1898
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
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  The Capitol, 1898
  
  Historic Towns of New England. (1898). United Kingdom: G. P. Putnam's sons.
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•  1899 - Socialist Labor Party. E. W. Theinert of Providence Was the Orator of the Evening
  
  Pawtucket Times
  Pawtucket, Rhode Island
  March 31, 1899
  
  
•  May 15, 1900: Rain and fish fell from the sky in Olneyville, Rhode Island. Most of the fish measured 2- to 4-inches long.
  NOTE: Olneyville is a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island
  The Old Farmer's Almanac www.almanac.com
  May 15, 1900
  
  
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  The Mall, Exchange Place, Providence, R.I.
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  Civic Center
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  Concert Pavilion and Casino, Roger Williams Park, Providence, R. I.
  
  The Park was created when Betsey Williams, great, great, great granddaughter of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, left 102 acres of farm and woodland to the City of Providence.
  
  It was built to provide a respite to residents of a rapidly industrializing Providence, factory and mill workers. It was designed before the automobile and many traveled by streetcar to the Park... rwpconservancy.org
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  Washington Bridge. Providence, R. I.
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  Public Library, 1919
  
  Providence Public Library of Providence, Rhode Island was founded in 1875. The central library building at 225 Washington Street opened in 1900 and was constructed in a Renaissance style with private donations including a large donation from John Nicholas Brown I, and a large addition was built in 1954. wikipedia
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  Union Trust Building
  
  The Union Trust Company Building is a historic building at 170 Westminster Street and 62 Dorrance Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
  
  It is a twelve-story steel-framed structure, faced in brick and stone. Originally four bays deep, it was expanded to seven bays in 1920. It was designed by Stone, Carpenter & Willson and built in 1901–02 to house the offices of the Union Trust Company, which occupied the first two floors and leased the remaining space. wikipedia
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•  1904 - SLIPPERY SIDEWALKS - City Ordinance Does Not Appear to Be Effective.
  The sidewalks in the city of Providence are beginning to assume the same condition as last winter, many of them being already covered with snow and ice sufficient to make the walking quite a little dangerous.
  
  For several days the commissioner of public works has had men on the streets with teams ...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  John Carter Brown Library, Brown University
  
  John Carter Brown’s famed Americana collection was initially formed in 1846 through a series of three spectacular purchases – in February, June, and November of that year – that made the Brown family residence on Benefit Street the site of a monument to American history writ large...
  
  The John Carter Brown Library (JCB) as we know it today came into being when it opened its doors to the scholarly world (in 1904) as an independently funded and... Read MORE...
  
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  Carrie Tower, Brown University, Providence, R. I.
  
  Carrie Tower was erected in 1904, a gift of Paul Bajnotti of Turin, Italy, and a memorial to his wife, born Caroline Mathilde Brown, granddaughter of Nicholas Brown 1786, for whom the University is named, and daughter of Nicholas Brown 1811. She died in Palermo in 1892 after sixteen years of marriage to Bajnotti, who also erected a fountain in her memory in Burnside Park in Providence.
  brown.edu
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•  1905 - $100,000 FIRE IN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
  Providence, R. I., March 16 - Fire and water today damaged Music Hall block in the center of the city to an amount estimated at $100,000.
  The Piqua Daily Call
  Piqua, Ohio
  March 16, 1905
  
  
•  1905 - PANIC FOLLOWS EXPLOSION. All Providence Scared Over Prediction of Christmas Disaster.
  Special to The New York Times.
  
  PROVIDENCE, R. I., Dec. 22. - A slight explosion in a jewelry factory, within a short block of the shopping district caused by a panic to-day among the several hundred employes[sic] in the building, two men being painfully injured and a dozen women fainting before a...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1905 - PIRATE DRUGGED HIM. Arrested Shipmate Tells Strange Story of Sloop Dorado.
  Special to The New York Times.
  
  NEWPORT, Oct. 24. - The arrest of Otto Steifel in Providence to-day proved of great importance in clearing up the mystery about the sloop Dorado and the plunder found on the two pirate boats held here. Steifel confessed to the Providence police that he had been with...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Providence Protective Dept. House on Richmond St.
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  Randall Square
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• 1906
  Providence, a city, port of entry, capital of the state of Rhode Island, and the county seat of Providence co., is situated at the head of navigation on Narragansett Bay, where the Seekonk (or Blackstone) River joins the narrow arm of the bay called the Providence River, 44 miles SW. of Boston, Mass...Read MORE...
  
  
  
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  Journal Building. Providence, R. I.
  
  The ornate new building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Robert Swain Peabody of the noted Boston firm of Peabody & Stearns. It was completed in 1906. wikipedia
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  Ezeja Le. N.S. Do. Rozario. Open September 9, 1906.
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  New State Armory
  
  The Cranston Street Armory is an historic building in the Broadway–Armory Historic District of Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1907 at a cost of $650,000.00. wikipedia
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  Corner of Elwood and Potter Ave., 1907
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  Providence Novelty Co., 1907
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  Bird's Eye View of Providence River, 1907
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  Union Station and Capitol Hill
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  Westminster Street looking East, 1907
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•  1908 - Luxury Tax on Bachelors
  The Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, has issued an "irade" declaring that bachelors should be taxed. Evidently His Honor believes that single-blessedness is a luxury that should be paid for. However that may be in Providence, Rhode Island, it certainly does not hold good in Scranton.
  The Scranton Truth
  Scranton, Pennsylvania
  August 24, 1908
  
  
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  Crown Hotel and Hof Brau Hous
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  Fields Point
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  N.Y.N.H. & H. Station & Capitol
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  Gorham Mfg. Co. Plant and Elmwood Railway Station
  
  Gorham Silver was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, 1831 by Jabez Gorham, a master craftsman, in partnership with Henry L. Webster. The firm's chief product was spoons of coin silver. The company also made thimbles, combs, jewelry, and other small items. In 1842, the Congress enacted a tariff which effectively blocked the importation of silverware from outside the United States, which aided the American silver industry. Jabez Gorham did... Read MORE...
  
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  Rhode Island State Capitol
  
  Overlooking downtown Providence from Smith Hill, the State House is the center of Rhode Island government. It was designed by the renowned New York firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1891- 94 and constructed between 1895 and 1904.
  sos.ri.gov
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  Birds Eye View from State House
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  Hope Street, showing residences of Wm. Gammell and Col. R. H. I. Goddard
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  New Post Office
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  Westminster Street
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  Weybosset Street, Providence, R.I.
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  Y.M.C.A. Building
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•  1912 - Cotton Mill King Dead
  Providence, Rhode Island, Nov. 26. - Robert Knight, owner of more cotton mills than any other individual in the world, died today, aged eighty-six. Knight controlled twenty-two spinning, weaving and finishing establishments, employing seven thousand operatives.
  The Wilmington Dispatch
  Wilmington, North Carolina
  November 26, 1912
  
  
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  Weybosset St. from Matthewson St.
  
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  State Normal School
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  Telephone Building
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  Webster Street Grammar School
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  Moses Brown School
  
  One of Moses Brown's last great contributions to Rhode Island life was his role in the revival of the New England Yearly Meeting School. It had existed intermittently in the 1770s and 1780s, but died out through lack of interest. In 1814, Brown presented the Yearly Meeting with 43 acres of land in Providence, and worked diligently toward the creation of a school on this land. He provided important financial assistance, and also donated his impressive book collection to the ... Read MORE...
  
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  Turks Head Building
  
  The Turks Head building was designed in 1913 by New York architects Howells & Strokes. The building was erected by the Brown Land Co. as an investment for members of the Brown family, and was part of a highway improvement plan that would encourage more useful road relocation movements in the future. A portion of the original lot was taken by the city for widening the highway at the street intersection. The Turk's Head which has been familiar to nearly every resident of... Read MORE...
  
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•  1914 - Theinert Nominated by State Socialists Lincoln Man Named for Governor in State Convention of Party
  
  Pawtucket Times
  Pawtucket, Rhode Island
  October 12, 1914
  
  
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  Court House, 1914
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  The New R.R. Station
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  Patents - U.S. and Foreign
  Joseph A. Miller & Company
  
  New Bedford ... directory : of the inhabitants, business firms, institutions, streets, societies (1915) Author: W.A. Greenough & Co Volume: 1915 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Greenough & Co.
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  Exchange Place, 1916
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  Rhode Island Hospital Trust Co.
  
  Location: 15 Westminster Street, Providence,
  Built: 1917
  Architect: York & Sawyer
  
  Incorporated on October 24, 1867, Rhode Island Hospital Trust was the first trust company in New England. It owes its unique name to the fact that it was chartered by the board of trustees of Rhode Island Hospital. The new hospital had been founded four years earlier and the trust company was intended to help finance it. Hospital Trust’s original charter required the bank to ... Read MORE...
  
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  Providence College, Providence, R. I.
  
  Providence College was founded in 1917 by the Dominican Friars at the invitation of Bishop Harkins to provide a Catholic education in the arts and sciences.
  about.providence.edu
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  Shubert Majestic Theatre
  
  Built in 1917, first named Emery’s Majestic, it was later renamed Shubert’s Majestic before it became simply the Majestic.
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  Market Square
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  Crompton & Knowles Loom Works
  
  Firm was established in 1897 by the consolidation of Crompton Loom Works (established 1851) and Knowles Loom Works (established 1855). It had manufacturing facilities in Worcester, Mass., Providence, R.I., Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C.
  snaccoopertive.org
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  New Industrial Trust Building, Exchange Place
  
  INDUSTRIAL TRUST COMPANY, No. 57 Westminster Street. -- During the last few years a class of institutions has sprung up in the United States intended to meet the requirements of holders of property, for their 'better protection during life', and the more certain and speedy transmission of property to heirs at death. These trust companies not only receive money on deposit like banks, but also securities and other articles of value, and are... Read MORE...
  
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  Weybosset St., 1920s
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  Providence Biltmore Hotel
  
  The Providence Biltmore was constructed by the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain, founded by John McEntee Bowman and Louis Wallick. It was built in the neo-Federal Beaux-arts style and designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore, who also designed Grand Central Terminal. The hotel opened on June 6, 1922, and was the second-tallest building in the city after the Rhode Island State House... wikipedia
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• 1927 - The Dartmouth [New Hampshire] football team, scheduled to play Brown at Providence, R. I. tomorrow, was marooned at Hanover, N. H.
  Overflowing of the White River had flooded a bridge between Hanover and White River Junction, Vt., making it impossible for the team to reach White River Junction by train...
  The Oelwein Daily Register
  Iowa
  November 4, 1927
  
  
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  "Front Campus"
  Brown University
  Providence, R.I.
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  La Salle Academy, 1935
  
  ...In 1871, three brothers arrived in Providence to operate the school and instill it with the values of their order’s founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle. Brother Ptolemy (Dandurand) became the school’s first principal. The Brothers gave the school direction and purpose and a set of core values that the school still holds dear today. A school, our school, was born.
  
  With the Brothers’ arrival in the fall of 1871 a new era was about to begin for Catholic education ... Read MORE...
  
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• 1938 - "Long Island Express" - HURRICANE, FLOODS SWEEP NEW ENGLAND. 296 WERE KILLED IN STORM ALONG ATLANTIC COAST; PROPERTY DAMAGE ENORMOUS.
  ...Providence Struck By Tidal Wave.
  Providence was one of the chief sufferers in Rhode Island, tremendous tides sweeping 1,000 feet into the city and flooding streets eight to 25 feet deep...
  
  The staff of the Providence, R. I., Journal-Bulletin, driven from the plant, went to Boston, 50 miles aw...Read MORE...
  
  
  
• 1944 - HURRICANE HITS NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND COASTS. HIGH WINDS LASH JERSEY, LONG ISLAND.
  ...In Providence the water of the Providence River was but three feet from the floor of the Point Street bridge. The river empties into Narragansett Bay which was being kicked up in sheets by the hurricane force wind.
  
  State guardsmen were mobilized in that state and throughout Massachusetts......Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1945 - March 29 - Providence, RI, hit 90 degrees to establish a March record for the New England area.
  
  The Weather Channel
  March 29, 1945
  
  
• 1949 - July 10 - WJAR TV channel 10 in Providence, RI (NBC) begins broadcasting
  
  historyorb.com
  
  
• 1954 - Hurricane Carol - HURRICANE ROARS ACROSS LONG ISLAND. FIVE KILLED BY STORM IN NEW ENGLAND.
  ...Providence, R. I., was flooded when the storm struck at high tide. Water pushed into the downtown area to within two feet of the level reached in the disastrous hurricane of 1938.
  
  Thousands of workers were marooned in downtown Providence office buildings when the water submerged buses and cars...Read MORE...
  
  
  
•  1960 - October 20 - 1st fully mechanized post office opened, Providence, RI
  
  historyorb.com
  October 20, 1960
  
  
• 1975 - August 2 - Temperature reached 104 degrees at Providence, RI
  
  The Weather Channel