USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island tercentenary, 1636-1936. A report by the Rhode Island Tercentenary commission of the celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations > Part 1
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1636 -1936 TERCENTENARY RHODE ISLAND'S
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 8863 M
"Those will not look forward to their posterity who never look backward to their ancestors"-BURKE.
WELCOME to historic RHODE ISLAND
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TERCENTENARY 1636 MAY-OCTOBER 1936
THE TERCENTENARY POSTER
ROGER WILLIAMS MONUMENT, ROGER WILLIAMS PARK, PROVIDENCE By FRANKLIN K. SIMMONS-Unveiled 1877
The figure as bere shown was the central design of the Rhode Island Tercentenary 3-cent Postage Stamp.
RHODE ISLAND TERCENTENARY 1636-1936
A Report by the RHODE ISLAND TERCENTENARY COMMISSION Of the Celebration of the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1636 by Roger Williams.
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS A PUBLICATION BY THE RHODE ISLAND TERCENTENARY COMMISSION 1937
RHODE ISLAND TERCENTENARY COMMISSION
Chairman VERY REV. LORENZO C. MCCARTHY, O.P. Providence
Vice Chairman REPRESENTATIVE FRANK E. BALLOU Providence
JOHN NICHOLAS BROWN Newport
IRA LLOYD LETTS Providence
SENATOR ALFRED G. CHAFFEE Scituate
SENATOR JOSEPH P. DUNN Portsmouth
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES H. KIERNAN Providence
Executive Secretary HORACE G. BELCHER
1744115
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME RHODE ISLAND
By HOWARD M. CHAPIN Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society
"HE first mention of the name Rhode Island or any of its variations in connection with Narragansett Bay is in the letter of Giovanni da Verrazzano, the explorer, dated July 8, 1524, in which he refers to an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay, and likens the island to the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean. The fact that Verrazzano probably referred to Block Island rather than to Aquidneck is of no great moment, the point being that he applied the name to one of the islands in this vicinity and that this fact was known in England for it had been printed in English long before the Pilgrims came to New England. This letter was printed in Italian in 1556 and in English in 1582, and again in 1600, so that it may be considered as easily accessible to the early settlers before they left England.
The earliest recorded use of the name by the English colonists is in 1637, when Roger Williams wrote "at Aquednetick, called by us Rode Island." It may be well to note that the Italian text is "isola di Rhode," while the English text is "Ilande of the Rodes." Williams still spelled the name without the "h" in 1666, when he explained, "Rode Island (in the Greeke language) is an Ile of Roses."
The name was first officially applied to the island on March 13, 1644 in these words: "Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Ile of Rods or Rhod-Island." The name "Isle of Rodes" is found used in a legal document as late as 1646. In 1663 the name Rhode Island was applied to the whole colony.
State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
A Proclamation BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THEODORE FRANCIS GREEN, Governor
WHEREAS, in 1636 Roger Williams and a small band of followers came in exile to establish on our shores a new community, later to be called "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," and now in 1936, three hundred years later, the people of this State propose to com- memorate and to celebrate by various fitting exercises and remembrances the tercentennial anni- versary of that far-reaching event, and
WHEREAS, out of favor with the forces of intolerance, Roger Williams became in his mature stature an enemy of bigotry and a champion of truth and freedom, and in this spirit established here under God the first truly democratic state, one where the equality of men and their natural rights in the manner of worship and the details of government were recognized, where all men fairly associated together for the good of all, and where each man was free in his heart and soul, and it is this spirit, suffusing the history of our State, inspiring the foundations of our Federal Government and shining uniquely as an ideal beacon in the world at large, that we would primarily celebrate in the twelve months to come:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, THEODORE FRANCIS GREEN, Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations do proclaim
1936 RHODE ISLAND'S TERCENTENARY
and do invite all to join us during this year in enjoying and celebrating the fruits of that lively experiment undertaken three hundred years ago "that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious concernments."
I invite our sons and daughters who have gone elsewhere and our friends old and new of other states and countries to visit us here; not merely because of our three hundredth birthday, but as well because Rhode Island is a fair and good land, a favored part of rugged New England, sharing a part of that sea-swept coast which challenged the newcomers to America. It has its own unequalled beaches, its woodlands, lakes and countryside of a variety and quality of beauty far greater than its actual size would justify. Here, around the shores of Narragansett Bay, the visitor will discover that refreshment and that ingenuity which have made Rhode Island famed throughout the world as a resort, as an industrial power, and as a seat of intellectual and artistic endeavor.
I invite also our fellow-citizens of this State to recall and by their deeds to refreshen the spiritual values of Rhode Island's great past: that we may, in these times of uncertaintly and experiment, take renewed vigor from the daring, the integrity, the truth-seeking, and the unre- mitting tolerance which characterized our founders. Let us celebrate the great men and days of our past, not only in the pride of what has been done, but as well in the consciousness of what we are because of them, and in the faith of what, more nearly approaching their ideals, we may yet become.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the State to be affixed this first day of January in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, and of Independence the one hundred sixtieth.
By the Governor: SourM. Coppell.
Governor
Secretary of State
THE RHODE ISLAND TERCENTENARY
URING 1936, particularly in the recreational months from May to October inclusive, Rhode Island observed the Tercentenary of its founding in 1636 by Roger Williams.
It is a remarkable fact that this event, whose three hundredth anniversary reminded the world of the first establishment of a government "Only in civil things", should have been accomplished at a time not now known, by a man of whose place of birth, age, time and place of death there now exists no record.
For while it now is well established that Roger Williams was the son of James Williams, citizen and merchant tailor of London and of his wife Alice, nee Pemberton, residing in Cow Lane on Snow Hill without Newgate in London, the third of four children in a family well to do and related to genteel families on the mother's side, the Great London Fire of 1666 destroyed the records of the parish of St. Sepulchre and with them all clues to the birthplace and the birth dates of the children of James.
Of his death there now exists only the reference in a letter from John Thorndike of Providence to Rev. Samuel Hubbard under date of May 10, 1683, where he says "The Lord hath arrested by death our ancient and approved friend, Mr. Roger Williams, with divers others here." Thus his death occurred probably at Providence Plantations, where he founded a State, sometime between January 16 of that year, the day on which he wrote a letter on the Pawtuxet lands controversy and May 10.
Of the date of that founding we know only that it was in late spring or early summer, for he and the few companions who had joined him at the spring still flowing and until this Tercentenary in its original condition in East Providence, had planted their crops when they received warning that they were yet within the claimed limits of Plymouth Colony and were forced to move to "the spring beside the Mooshassuck" where they finally settled.
·7 ·
A Report of the Tercentenary Commission
"The new settlement", said Williams, "from the freedom and vacancy of the place and many other Providences of the Most High and Only Wise, I called Providence."
Like the spring at his first settlement in East Providence, the spring beside which Williams built his home is still flowing in a setting of marble and turf, a heritage to the people of Providence forever, through the munificence of a representative of an ancient race which found in Rhode Island the refuge denied them in other colonies.
At the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Providence in 1886 the date of the settlement was accepted from tradition as June and the anniversary events were held on June 23 and 24. The Rhode Island Tercentenary Commission, appointed on behalf of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to "plan, prepare, supervise and carry out a suitable observance of the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Rhode Island by Roger Williams", chose for the opening date of the Tercentenary May 4, the 160th anniversary of the Rhode Island Declaration of Inde- pendence, first official replacement of the authority of King George III of England by that of the Colony, by any of the English colonies in America.
The Rhode Island Tercentenary Commission was created by House Resolution H-507, approved May 31 at the Special May Session of the General Assembly in 1935. Under this resolution it was to be a bi-partisan body, the Governor appointing three representative citizens, the Lieutenant-Governor as President of the Senate, two Senators, one from each party; and the Speaker of the House, two Representatives, one from each party.
Governor Theodore Francis Green appointed Very Rev. Lorenzo C. McCarthy, O. P., President of Providence College; Mr. John Nicholas Brown of Newport, Mr. Ira Lloyd Letts of Providence. Lieutenant Governor Robert E. Quinn appointed Senator Alfred G. Chaffee of Scituate and Senator Joseph P. Dunn of Portsmouth. Speaker William E. Reddy appointed Represen- tatives James H. Kiernan and Frank E. Ballou, both of Providence.
No thought of politics ever entered the discussions of the Commission and it has remained to the end a completely har- monious body, carrying through most successfully its own pro- gram along lines which through early agreement with the other
· 8 .
The Rhode Island Tercentenary 1636-1936
two major bodies planning Tercentenary events, supplemented and complemented their planned courses.
The Commission organized in August, 1935, electing Presi- dent McCarthy as chairman and Horace G. Belcher of Warwick as executive secretary. In mid-summer of the Tercentenary year, 1936, President McCarthy ended his term as head of Providence College and was transferred, to the general regret of Rhode Islanders of every creed and station, to New Haven, Connecticut. While he retained his interest in the execution of the program he had been so active in planning and carrying out, Mr. Ballou was elected vice chairman and acting head, on nomination of Mr. Kiernan, House leader of the opposing majority party.
On its organization the State Tercentenary Commission found another body with State-wide representation, functioning. This was the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Tercente- nary Committee, Inc. an unofficial, chartered organization grow- ing out of a movement originating five years previously in the Rhode Island Historical Society. Its aim was to assure a suitable celebration of the anniversary, but this movement, although long organized, had made comparatively little progress.
This citizens committee, commonly termed the Tercentenary Jubilee Committee to distinguish it from the State Commission -the similarity of official names being so marked as to cause endless confusion-was reorganized with former U. S. Federal Judge Ira Lloyd Letts, also a member of the State Commission, at its head and a drive for funds and membership was started. Its success was less than had been hoped for, but the committee raised something more than $61,000.
Allotments from these funds were made to sectional com- mittees created in its enlargement to plan and carry out town or sectional celebrations. Under their direction many of the older towns held many most successful events, a large number of his- toric sites and buildings were marked, exhibits of historic or civic interest were held and much was accomplished reminding citizens of the present, of their heritage from the past.
The Jubilee Committee had instituted a competition for a design of a commemorative half-dollar to be minted by the Gov- ernment at several mints and to be sold by the committee at the usual premium of double its monetary value. As the State Com-
· 9 .
A Report of the Tercentenary Commission
mission had from the beginning determined to enter into no commercial transactions, and as the Jubilee Committee proposed to devote its profits from the sale of coins toward the expenses of town celebrations, it was agreed between the State Commission and the Jubilee Committee that the committee should thus handle the Tercentenary coin, while the State Commission arranged for the Tercentenary postage stamp.
The coin was issued on March 5, the stamp on May 4, the opening date of the celebration. Each is described under separate headings.
The Jubilee Committee issued and sold an excellent large historical map of Rhode Island, drawn by William A. Perry, a draftsman of the State Planning Board.
The Jubilee Committee financed the Olympic swimming trials at Rocky Point, July 10-12, offered prizes for the Tercente- nary rifle shoots at the State Range at Rumford, bought the land on which the Roger Williams spring in East Providence is located, thus making possible the dedication of this historic spot as a public park, the East Providence committee raising an equal sum for laying out the grounds.
The committee conducted at the Cranston Street Armory, in September a largely attended and most successful Industrial Exposition in which the methods of Colonial times were shown with old time tools and workmen beside the modern ones.
Through its sponsorship, with material aid from Miss Caroline Hazard of Peace Dale, former head of Wellesley College, the Jubilee Committee published in close imitation of its original format, an edition of Roger Williams' "Key to the Language of America", the pioneer study of the language and customs of the New England Indian. This was issued by a committee including Howard M. Chapin, Librarian of the Rhode Island Historical Society; Miss Caroline Hazard; William Davis Miller, President of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Public Library; Clarence E. Sherman, Librarian of the Providence Public Library; Rush Sturges of the Board of Trustees of the Library; Dr. Lawrence C. Wroth, Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library of Brown University; and Miss Alice Brayton.
The edition followed as closely as type would permit, was printed in London in 1643, the book being written by Williams
· 10
The Rhode Island Tercentenary 1636-1936
while on a voyage from Providence Plantations to England, for a charter for his settlement. The Committee also contributed about $15,000, making possible the start of work on the long delayed memorial to Roger Williams, in Providence. It also helped defray the cost of several Providence events. Early in 1937 the Jubilee Committee published a well written book on its activity, for distribution to its workers.
With the State Commission planning a program largely edu- cational, with features of permanence like the unique and much praised road markers and the Jubilee Committee organizing the towns, Providence, site of the original settlement, organized the Providence Tercentenary Committee, appointed from the City Council to arrange a fitting celebration for the second city in New England.
This committee was headed by Councilman David A. Dorgan and soon announced an ambitious program under a director. The opening event on May 4, the date set by the State Commission for inaugurating the Tercentenary, was a representation of the session at the old State House at Providence, of the General Assembly at which the Rhode Island Declaration of Independence was passed. Planned by Colonial Dames and sponsored by the committee, this was followed by the "Fashion Festival" at Brown Stadium during the week of June 8.
This mis-named event, in reality a cycle of the years, was a brilliant and pleasing spectacle directed by men of long and suc- cessful experience in such affairs, but through a variety of causes the results were a financial disappointment. The Colonial costume ball at Cranston Street armory on May 28 drew a large crowd with inadequate return and the Olympic trials at Brown Stadium on July 4 also disappointed financially.
The direct result of the failure of these events to produce the anticipated revenue, combined with exhaustion of its appro- priation, made necessary the cessation of its activities, which were to have included an historic pageant "Soul of Liberty", planned for production at Roger Williams Park with 3000 participants.
The Cape Cod cottage built by the committee on the lawn at City Hall Park overlooking the Mall in front of the railroad station, was kept open as an information station, being serviced with literature by the State Commission. Meanwhile the activities of the Providence Committee came to an abrupt end, with a long
· 11 .
A Report of the Tercentenary Commission
drawn out investigation following; ending in discharge of the committee.
Early in the Tercentenary the Providence Committee designed and sold a metal automobile plate which proved very popular. This showed the landing of Roger Williams at Slate Rock, as given on the city seal of Providence.
The Providence Tercentenary Corporation, incorporated December 24, 1935 by the Providence Committee to handle con- tracts, prepared and late in 1936 issued a book of the Tercentenary entitled "Official Chronicle and Tribute Book of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." The Corporation was composed of Col. Joseph Samuels, Percival O. De St. Aubin, Carl B. Marshall, Michael F. Dooley and Dr. Angelo M. Parente. No criticism rested on the corporation.
THE STATE COMMISSION
The Tercentenary program of the Rhode Island Tercentenary Commission was planned not as the celebration of a transitory event, but for its permanent value to the people of the State. The program was largely educational and its major expenditures were for objectives of lasting worth.
The Commission's publications were in wide demand the country over, with many requests for school use; its unique road markers remain as a lasting memorial to the event and to the founders of the State; its log cabin information booths will be continued in service for years to come in the natural environment of the State parks and forests; its welcoming log portals still stand at the State border beside 26 of the main roads entering the State.
Its showing of a three reel motion picture of the history of the State and its people, continued throughout the Tercentenary, is now carried on by the State Department of Education. Its new historical and pictorial map of Rhode Island, published in conjunc- tion with the Department of Education, is in every room of every Rhode Island school and 1000 copies, framed by the Commission, provide at least one for each school, public, parochial and private.
For general distribution at its log cabins and elsewhere, the Commission provided 72,500 State highway maps.
Not all of its funds were thus spent for projects which remain
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The Rhode Island Tercentenary 1636-1936
in service after the occasion for them has passed into memory, but the greater part were thus expended. And by taking advantage of opportunities afforded by existing agencies of the Federal Gov- ernment, the Commission is able to return to the State Treasury a very considerable balance from its appropriation, while reporting completion of a program which without this Federal aid could not have been carried out for less than double the amount appro- priated by the State.
The State Tercentenary Commission built and serviced the eight log cabins used as information booths for motorists, on main roads of the State. These cabins attracted much favorable atten- tion and the service made an excellent record. At the end of their service, these cabins were turned over to the State parks and forest service, for continued use there. The important work of these cabins is described, further on.
The State Commission also serviced with travel or other litera- ture on the State and the section, the four information stations established by local governments or other agencies. This work is described under a special heading, later in the report.
The Commission made and placed 120 cement and aluminum road markers on main highways where town lines meet and also at the State borders. These markers were widely praised for their beauty, novelty and their continuous usefulness, being absolutely unique. They are described under another heading, including their inscriptions and coats of arms.
The Commission also erected the log portals which still wel- come the motorist at the State border on 36 of the roads entering Rhode Island. These are planned and prepared for long years of service, and are described later on.
The program of events and exhibits throughout the State for the year was compiled and printed by the State Commission in an edition of 75,000 with three revisions as changing arrangements warranted. This was distributed from many divergent sources.
The Commission also issued the official poster which was shown in and out of the State, its appropriate design of a Puritan attract- ing attention and being generally taken for Roger Williams, the founder. From this was made a small sticker for use on mail. Of this sticker 405,000 copies were privately distributed, the sticker being handled by a local firm, with official sanction.
· 13 .
A Report of the Tercentenary Commission
Its first publication was a 62-page history of the State and its people, called "Rhode Island's Historic Background, with a Rhode Island Historical Calendar." This was issued in an edition of 26,000 for free distribution and went all over these United States.
The Commission's second publication was "Rhode Island Boundaries, 1636-1936" a cloth-bound book with six maps, on a phase of Rhode Island history now covered for the first time. This was issued in an edition of 1000 copies, largely for the use of college and public libraries. It is the first printed account of the changes in size and boundaries of the State through the years since its founding.
An endowment from the Commission made possible the com- pletion at Brown University of five miniature models built to scale, of historic Colonial buildings-all with one exception being in New England and most of them in Rhode Island-as examples of the principal trends in Colonial architecture. These were shown throughout the State during the summer months, by Brown Uni- versity and the Community Art Project and will be used in the courses on architecture at Brown.
A lecture series on Rhode Island Birds was financed by the State Commission and delivered in the winter of 1935-36 under auspices of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
The State Commission did much for Rhode Island Schools, both public, private and parochial. Several thousand copies of the historical map issued as a part of the State highway map, were sent to these schools. Late in the Tercentenary year it printed, in con- junction with the State Department of Education, 5000 copies of a new historical and pictorial map of the State, in six colors, a number sufficient to place a map in every school room.
At its own expense, the State Commission framed 1000 of these maps providing a framed copy for every school.
Throughout the year it showed in schools requesting it, a fine three-reel motion picture made by Providence school children and illustrating the history of Rhode Island from the time of the Narragansett Indians to the passage of the Rhode Island Declara- tion of Independence in 1776. At the end of this service, the Commission handed its motion picture equipment and films to the State Department of Education, that this service might be con- tinued for all schools desiring it.
· 14 .
The Rhode Island Tercentenary 1636-1936
Its contributions made possible a number of events, including the big Firemen's Muster in Providence, the reunion of the Society of the 55th Division, the convention of the National Guard Asso- ciation, the elaborate program of the dedication of the State Air- port at Hillsgrove on Decoration Day, and others.
One of its last services was the appropriation of $2500 to print the History of the 103rd Field Artillery During the World War- the glorious record of one of the finest light artillery regiments in the A. E. F. in France-an organization which grew out of the Providence Marine Corps of Artillery, which organized the first light battery in the militia of the United States-an organization which throughout the World War remained at least eighty per cent Rhode Islanders.
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