USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > Story of the old City Hall [and Historic Newport] > Part 1
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Gc 974.502 N47s 1957698
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01146 7294
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/storyofoldcityha00unse
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The Story of the Old City Hall
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Issued by the NEWPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE R.I. in collaboration with the NEWPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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The Story of the Old City Hall
On July 24th, 1760, the Proprietors of Long Wharf made the following grant :-
"Whereas, the Proprietors of the Long Wharf, in Newport, aforesaid, have made a grant, on the twenty-fourth day of July, A. D. 1760, to the said town of Newport, of a lot of land, for erecting a Market House, &c., it is therefore voted, that Martin Howard and Josias Lyndon, Esqrs., be a committee, and they are hereby confirmed to make and give a good deed of said lot, to the town of Newport, agreeable to said grant. 1957698
"And that the upper part be divided into stores for dry- goods, and let out to the best advantage; and all the rents thereof, together with all the profits that shall arise on said building, shall be lodged in the Town Treasury of said town of Newport, towards a stock for purchasing grain, for supplying a Public Granary forever. And that said building be erected agreeably to a plan to be agreed on by said Proprietors, to be estimated at twenty-four thousand pounds, old tenor, to be raised by the lottery now on foot.
"The lower part thereof for a Market House, and for no other use whatsoever, forever; (unless it shall be found con- venient to appropriate some part of it for a watch-house.) A handsome brick building, to be thirty-three feet in front, or in width, and about sixty-six feet in length."-From the Records of the Proprietors of the Long Wharf.
A committee consisting of Henry Collins, Joseph Bell, Augustus Johnson and Joseph Lyndon, was appointed to confer with a Mr. Peter Harrison concerning the plans for this Market House. This Peter Harrison was a well known architect. He designed the Jewish Synagogue and Redwood Library, but the Old City Hall is considered the finest example of his work.
The building was intended as a Granary but was never put to such a use.
It was discovered that the lot granted by the Proprietors was too small, so they added more land on Long Wharf, totaling sixty-six feet depth, and a Mr. Gould gave a three foot portion on Thames street, which made thirty-three feet on Thames street.
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In 1762, the Brick Market was built. It was erected by the Town by lotteries, granted for that purpose by the General Assembly. It was after the Ionic order; the style was copied from that of the English market houses then in existence. There were three stories, the lower was made for a Market, and the second and third were let out for the retailing of dry goods, and for offices. The rear part of the lower floor was a watch-house. In the market, a stall was erected in the South side for the use of country people and not to be let or occupied by Inhabitants.
Immediately after the Revolution the upper stories were used only as a printing office.
In 1793, one Alexander Placide rented the upper part for a play house, remodeling a little. The first show acted there was "Jane Shaw." During the occupation as a theatre a restaurant was established in the Northeast corner of the first floor. Mr. Placide's lease was for six years.
The building was altered in 1842, for a Town Hall, at a cost of about $2000. The third floor was removed and the second converted into one large room, sixty feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and eighteen feet high with a gallery on three sides. Five hundred people could be accommodated there. The arches were fitted with windows or doors and used for stores.
From 1853 to 1900 the Market was used as a City Hall, and then finally passed into disuse, until 1928, when the exterior was restored and in 1930 the interior was entirely re-built by the generosity of John Nicholas Brown.
Through special arrangements with Mr. Brown, the City of Newport has leased this historic landmark to the Newport Chamber of Commerce for a period of thirty years. This is con- sidered ideal as it makes possible the reopening of the Old Market House to the general public and also assures that it will be kept in excellent state of preservation for considerable time.
Today the exterior of the old building has its original lines. The interior, although slightly changed, from the original, to provide adequate accommodations for the new use, still retains its Colonial atmosphere of simple beauty and dignity.
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The Chamber will have the building open to the public from nine o'clock to five o'clock daily, Sundays excepted, through- out the year.
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"To hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious con- cernments."-Royal Charter 1663
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Copyright 1933 by NEWPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
NEWPORT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 127 THAMES STREET NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
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Historic newport
HE old town of Newport is looking for- ward to its three hundredth year of life --- not now very far distant. In the centu- ries that have passed, many changes have come. What was at first an outpost of civilization became a thriving commercial port and capital of the colony. Revolution reduced the old town to the condition of a sleepy sea-side place, where the great- est charm was found in its quaint old-time aspect and in the beautiful old houses which had repre- sented the best work of Colonial builders of the middle of the eighteenth century. As these were more and more appreciated, the tide of summer visi- tors set toward Newport. This tide has never ebbed, but continues in ever greater volume, as Newport's fame spreads farther-its climate and situation com- ing in for a share in this happy result.
Old Newport was founded in 1639 by the An- tinomians and other religious refugees from the Bay Colony. It was an offshoot of the colony founded a year earlier on the northern part of the island. In 1640, the two towns, which then had a popu- lation of nearly 1,000, united to form the "Col- ony of Rhode Island". In 1647, the colony united
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with Providence. The Baptist Church, established here in 1640, except for the one in Providence, is the oldest in the United States. Here, too, was opened the first public school in America, and possibly the first school accessible to all, supported by the public charge, in the world. Quakers, Moravians, Baptists, Jews, all found at Newport a haven of refuge.
From 1739 to 1760, the foundation of New- port's prosperity was laid through the establishment of the "Triangular Trade". The merchants of New- port waxed wealthy, importing molasses from the West Indies, distilling it into rum, which they ex- changed in Africa for negroes, which in turn were exchanged in the Barbadoes for more molasses, and so the vicious circle ran on, to the great profit of Newport merchants, until through more molasses, more rum, more negroes, wealth accumulated and with it came fashion, function and ceremony. Be- fore the outbreak of the Revolution the foreign trade of Newport was greater than that of New York, and the exalted social status of its wealthy citizens was recognized not only throughout the colonies, but in Jamaica and Antigua.
During the Revolution, the English and later the French occupied Newport, as it was an impor- tant strategic centre. This naturally killed its com- merce. The British during their occupation greatly injured the town. Nearly a thousand buildings were destroyed. Trinity Church was the only important building not used as a hospital or bar- racks because of the crown on its
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of General Assembly of State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations WHITE HORSE TAVERN-(1730) A typical pre-Revolutionary Tavern. Once meeting place
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spire. The long military occupation and the suppres- sion of the slave trade, reduced Newport and Rhode Island generally to poverty. It was to Newport that Rochambeau sailed with his French army and made his headquarters while he restored the fortifications and redoubts which had been dismantled. Claude Blanchard, commissary-in-chief of the French for- ces, left some interesting records of his impressions of Americans as seen in Rhode Island: "The Amer- icans are slow and do not decide promptly in mat- ters of business. It is not easy for us to rely upon their promises. They love money and hard money. They do not eat soups and do not serve up ragouts at their dinners but boiled and roast and much vege- tables. They drink nothing but cider and Madeira wine with water. The dessert is composed of pre- served quinces and pickled sorrel. They do not take coffee immediately after dinner but it is served three or four hours after with tea. This coffee is weak and four or five cups are not equal to one of ours, so they take many of them. The tea on the contrary is very strong."
It was at this time that the Dumplings and the original Fort Adams were constructed. Brissot de Warville's record of his journey in the United States, in 1788, draws this melancholy picture of Newport at that time: "Houses falling to ruin; miserable shops; grass growing in the public square in front of the Court of Justice; rags stuffed in windows or hung upon hid- eous women and lean unquiet children."
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Washington Square, or the Parade, the centre of Old Newport, contains the statue of Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of Lake Erie. It stands near- ly opposite the old Seixas mansion, Perry's last resi- dence. At the head of the Square is the Old State House, built in 1739, and until recently used as the County Court House. At the foot of the Square is the Old Brick Market, designed and built by Peter Harrison in 1762. Close by, on the corner of Marl- borough and Farewell Streets is the old Nichols House which about 1739 became famous as the "White Horse Tavern", and the old jail where the prisoners grumbled because there were no locks and honor forbade them to escape,-a strange example, if it is true, of "honor among thieves". Below on the Market, is Long Wharf, where Washington and Rochambeau reviewed the French troops and where the funeral cortege of Admiral de Tierney landed in 1780. But wait - we cannot possibly see all of these treasures hurrying along in this fashion. Let us walk up the hill to the Old Stone Mill and here start our trip through Old Newport.
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THE OLD STONE MILL
ITHIN an iron fence on the north side of Touro Park stands one of the oldest buildings in the United States. The lat- est possible date for its erection is 1677, a poor fifty years from the landing of the Pilgrims; and indications are not lacking that would make it fully nine hundred years old. Of its erection, there are no records. When first mentioned, it is of con- siderable antiquity. From its vantage point on the hill, it has surveyed Narragansett Bay and local his- tory. In its shade drilled the cadets of the Naval Academy when in '61 it was transferred to this city; about it has raged controversy interminable. It has been the scene of political banquets and the rendez- vous of McAllister's 400. Celebrated by Longfel- low's "Skeleton in Armor":
"There for my lady's bower Built I this lofty tower Which to this very hour Stands looking seaward."
and Fenimore Cooper's "Red Rover", its reputation is as firmly established as its supporting piers.
That the Old Stone Mill was not the work of the Indians is obvious to any who are acquainted with the customs of the aborigines. Discounting as possible but improb- able innumerable theories, two sup- positions stand out prominently. The first supposes that the mill
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THE OLD STONE MILL-One of America's oldest structures. Theory often advanced that tower was built by Vikings about year 1040 A. D.
is all that remains of a Norse church or baptistery, such as are to be found in Europe today. If correct, this would date the tower from around the year 1040 A.D. It presupposes that Narragansett Bay was the "Hop" of the sagas, the Vinland of Adam of Bremen, and the diocese of Bishop Eric. To the first, the name of Mount Hope, a nearby eminence, may be a witness. Wild grapes are still abundant along the local shores, so that Vinland is not inappropriate. And for the last, the tower itself may be the sole sur- viving evidence. A further evidence that here is Vinland is the fact that north of Vinland, and to the east, the sagas speak of the "Wonder Sands"; can these be other than the long rolling dunes of Cape Cod?
The received tradition that the tower is the ruin of a windmill built by Governor Arnold, an early executive of the colony, is unprovable. There is no direct evidence that it was used as a windmill. It was early regarded as a ruin and good place for temporarily storing powder, for which purpose it was used in the early French wars. Nor is it likely that the infant colony, not forty years old when it is mentioned in the Governor's will, could have af- forded as magnificent a building or the skill to erect it. It is possible and even probable that the settlers found and rebuilt an earlier ruin, using it temporarily for a mill. Of such a remodeling the superstructure bears unmistakable signs to the archaeologists' eyes.
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Redwood-1747-One of America's First Libraries .
A further interest attaches to this building for those versed in esoteric symbolism. The orientation of the piers and the windows; the use of geometrical forms; and finally the insignia of Freemasonry on a prominent stone in the south side; all should pro- vide, and have provided, much material for contem- plation.
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REDWOOD LIBRARY AND ATHENAEUM
N interesting piece of Colonial Newport is the Redwood Library on Bellevue Av- enue. Founded September 4, 1747, as the successor of the Philosophical Society of 1730, with which Bishop Berkeley was closely associated, it is probably the seventh oldest existing library in the country. Only those of three col- leges - Harvard, William and Mary, and Yale - and three Philadelphia libraries - the Library Com- pany, the Carpenters' Company and the Ameri- can Philosophical Society -- antedate it. But un- like these libraries, the Redwood still uses its orig- inal building built in 1750 and enlarged in 1859, 1875 and 1913. The architect of the original build- ing which is now the Bellevue avenue end of the structure was Peter Harrison, one of the most fam- ous of Colonial architects, other specimens of whose work in Newport may be seen in the Market House and the Touro Synagogue. The Library received its name from its principal founder, Abraham Red- wood, a Quaker who gave five hundred pounds and served as its president from 1747 to 1788. Perhaps the most distinguished name connected with it is that of President Ezra Stiles of Yale College who served for many years as librarian.
Besides its 77,000 volumes, the Redwood Li- brary possesses a large collection of oil paint- ings and sculpture of which the most impor- tant works are on exhibition in its public rooms. Among the gems of the
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collection are five oil paintings by Gilbert Stuart; two of them painted at the age of fifteen. There is a splendid bust of Stuart, of which a copy in bronze may be seen in New York in the Hall of Fame. Other painters represented are Sir Thomas Law- rence, Robert Feke, John Smybert, Washington All- ston and Thomas Sully. More than half of the oil paintings are from the brush of Charles Bird King, who gave or bequeathed to the library over a hun- dred of his canvasses; among them portraits of twenty Indian chiefs painted from life.
Other noteworthy objects are Mrs. Redwood's table and fifteen fine old chairs whose history is un- known. On either side are two links and a swivel from the huge iron chain stretched across the Hud- son River during the Revolution to keep the British ships from ascending the stream. On the left is a wheel from the first locomotive used on the first railroad of any length in America - from Charles- ton, S. C., to Augusta, Ga. At the corner of Bellevue Avenue and Redwood Street is a beautiful fern-leaf beech tree.
The idea of a free public library originated in the middle of the Nineteenth Cen- tury. The Redwood Library, found- ed a hundred years earlier, naturally followed the then prevailing model of the Society Library. However, it welcomes subscribers among the summer and other visitors and many
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CODDINGTON HOUSE-(1641) House of William Coddington, a founder of Newport and Governor 1640-47, 1674-76, 1678. House demolished 1835
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avail themselves of its privileges. While a charge is made for the use of the books and of the reading room, the exhibits in the beautiful Marquand Room. are free to all visitors during library hours - daily, except Sundays and legal holidays, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The entrance to the building is on Redwood Street.
THE SEVENTH DAY BAPTIST CHURCH
The Newport Historical Society, at 82 Touro Street, is rich in the possession of many rare and valuable objects, among which perhaps the most precious is the Seventh Day Baptist Church, pur- chased by the Society in 1884. For eighteen years, this edifice was the Society's home; in it were stored its library, its documents, its historic relics; and all its meetings and literary exercises were held within its walls. When the present home of the Society was built, the little church was incorporated in the .structure, and the entrance to it is at the farther end of the main hall.
Visitors to the Society's room are always strong- ly impressed with the view of the little old church. It is a pure example of colonial architecture, the moulding and paneling is all handwrought; the carv- ing of the railing of the curved flight of steps which lead up to the pulpit, is of exquisite workmanship. The size of the room itself is unique, only 36 feet in length by 26 in
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SEVENTH DAY BAPTIST CHURCH Built in 1729. A marvelous example in an excellent state of preservation of pure Colonial architecture.
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breadth. It was built in 1729, and is therefore only a few years younger than Newport's famous old Trinity. The pulpit and the sounding board are beautiful in design and execution, and the clock which hangs opposite them in the gallery is a work of art in itself. It was made by William Claggett, a Newport clock maker, in 1731, has the same works in it which he placed there, is still running, and keeps excellent time. There is a clock of William Claggett's make in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.
On the wall is a bronze tablet on which is in- scribed:
"To the memory of 'William Hiscox, Stephen Mum- ford, Samuel Hubbard, Roger Baster, Sister Hubbard, Sister Mumford, Sister Rachel Langworthy, etc.', who for greater freedom in the exercise of religious faith in the observance of God's Holy Sabbath - the Seventh Day of the week - reluctantly severed their connection with the parent church of Newport, and 'entered into a church covt. the 23 day of December 1671', thereby establishing the Seventh Day Baptist Church of that faith in the new world."
The little old church is the Mecca of the Sev- enth Day Baptist's Society in the United States. But a few years ago, the organization came to Newport for the sole purpose of celebrating in this sanctuary the two- hundred-and-fifti- eth anniversary of
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its organization in this country. The Society's rooms were thronged with the gathering of devout wor- shippers, and their singing, without instrumental accompaniment, was particularly beautiful and im- pressive. Since then, once a year, in October, they come to hold a commemorative service in our little church. Its chief use, however, is as a meeting room for the Newport Historical Society itself, and for various organizations which find it particularly con- venient and adaptable for their purposes. Many eloquent addresses have been delivered from the platform beneath the pulpit - addresses that have swayed public opinion, or led the imagination into fields old and new, of beauty and charm, in our own country and abroad.
Some of the objects of especial interest in the collections of the Newport Historical Society are: the Commission of William Coddington, 1651; the log of the "Lawrence", flagship of Commodore Oli- ver Hazard Perry; the will of John Clarke, founder of Newport; the pillory which was in use on Wash- ington Square by the side of the Old Court House in 1825; the old bow show window, used in Dr. Feke's Shop on Washington Square and Dr. Johnson's Shop on Thames Street; the stove used in Trinity Church in 1810; the organ keyboard given to Trin- ity Church by Dean Berkeley in 1773; the first cook stove made in Newport by the Stanley Iron Works in 1845; the wainscot chair owned and used by Governor Benedict Arnold while
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JOHN CLARKE CHURCH-Organized in 1638 it claims distinction as oldest Baptist Church in America, Found- ed by Dr. John Clarke, author of the Royal Charter of 1663.
governor of Rhode Island, 1657; the mahogany desk, made by Thomas Goddard, famous cabinet maker of Newport; portrait of the MacGregor family, also carpet bag and cradle which belonged to them- the father, Alexander MacGregor, coming over from Scotland with his family in 1825 to help build Fort Adams; town measures and weights issued to the town of Newport in 1713; exhibit of Quaker cos- tumes, hats, shawls, etc .; files of Newport Mercury from 1758 to present day including one copy of the Newport Gazette, printed by the British during their occupation of Newport, 1776-1779; model of a typewriter patented by S. W. Francis, October 27, 1857; boat given to Ida Lewis, "the Grace Darling of America", by the citizens of Newport, 1869.
FIRST BAPTIST JOHN CLARKE MEMORIAL CHURCH
Situated on the east side of Spring Street, mid- way between Touro Street and Broadway, is the meeting house of the First Baptist John Clarke Me- morial Church, which is the oldest church organiza- tion in Newport. Its founder and first pastor was Dr. John Clarke. Born in England and educated in Holland, Dr. Clarke was a man of recognized learn- ing and ability. He was by profession both a phy- sician and a clergyman. He was among the first settlers of Portsmouth in 1638 and of Newport in 1639, was well versed in law as well as in medicine
and theology, and his guiding hand is recognized in the earliest legislation of the Rhode Island Colony. He was the author and procurer of the famous Royal Charter of 1663, granted by King Charles II, which made Rhode Island the first free commonwealth of the world. Dr. Clarke was influential in securing a free school for Newport in 1640, and the John Clarke School on Mary Street has been named for him. The Newport Medical Society has a tablet on the walls of the Newport Historical Society to " John Clarke, Physician". The First Baptist John Clarke Memorial Church was organized in Ports- mouth in 1638. Dr. Clarke remained its pastor un- til his death in 1676. It claims the distinction of being the oldest Baptist Church in America. The church has occupied several meeting houses in diff- erent locations. The present structure was erected in 1846. Communion ware of ancient date is owned by the church; and valuable records of historic interest, of which the Newport Historical Society is custodian, have been preserved. Near the corner of Callendar Avenue, on West Broadway, is an an- cient burial ground belonging to the church, which is a part of some property once owned by Dr. Clarke and deeded by him to the church. Here his grave is to be found. On a stone erected by his assigns is a long inscription reciting the outstand- ing events of his illustrious life. The bur- ial ground is protected by a concrete
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wall which the Men's Club of the First Baptist Church erected by popular subscription and the place is given perpetual care by the assigns of the John Clarke estate.
THE GOVERNORS' CEMETERY
At the corner of Farewell and North Baptist Streets is a small cemetery which contains the graves of several early colonists of Rhode Island among them being five Governors; Nicholas Easton, the two Coddingtons, Henry Bull and John Easton. The monument marking the grave of the first Cod- dington was erected by the town of Newport on May 12, 1839, in connection with the second cen- tennial anniversary of the settlement of the town. The inscription reads: "to the memory of William Coddington, Esq., that illustrious man, who first purchased this island from the Narragansett sa- chems, Canonicus and Miantunomu, for and on account of himself and seventeen others, his asso- ciates in the purchase and settlement. He presided many years as chief magistrate of the Island and the colony of Rhode Island, and died much re- spected and lamented on the first day of November 1678, aged 78, and was here interred."
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