USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > History of Providence County, Rhode Island, Volume I > Part 47
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The Emmett Guards are one of the prominent Irish-American companies of the city and state. The organization had its begin- nings in a meeting held in the engine house on Page street, April 20th, 1869. This first organization was an independent corps, which adopted the name Emmett Zouaves. About 1870 the name was changed to Emmett Guards, the company then being designated in the militia as Company D, Battalion of Rhode Island Guards. Cap- tain William H. Grimes was elected in 1871, and he was succeeded in 1872 by Captain John Revens. In October, 1873, James E. Curran was elected captain, and he retained the office until his death, in
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1×76. In May, 1877, Captain John McElroy assumed command, and in July, 1884, he was succeeded by Anthony Mungiven. In 1887 the organization became Company H, of the 2d Regiment of Infan- try. Captain Mungiven remained in command until 1888. The officers on the roster for 1889 were: Peter A. Sweeney, captain; Edward H. Conway, first lieutenant; John A. Gasperry, second lieu- tenant. The first armory of this company was in the Harrington Opera House building, from which it removed to the old market building at the junction of High and Broad streets. The old Assembly Rooms in the Arnold Block on North Main street were their next armory. From there they removed to the hall in the building 98 Weybosset street, and thence to the historic Academy of Music, in the Phoenix Building on Westminster street, where they found themselves in possession of the best drill hall occupied by any organization in the brigade.
CHAPTER XIII.
PROVIDENCE CITY-A GENERAL RETROSPECT.
Growth as Shown by Directories .- Some Old Residents .- Personal Reminiscences of Former Old Residents .- The General Appearance of the Town a Century Ago .- Customs of that Time .- Roads and Mails .- Early Stages .- Packet Lines .- Cold Winter of 1779-80 .- The " Dark Day" of 1780 .- Town Action Forbidding Smoking in the Streets .- Street Improvement .- Origin of Street Names .- Part of the City Site Reclaimed from the Water .- Comparative View of the City in 1846 .- Growth during the last Quarter Century .- Streets and Bridges .- Salubrity of Site .- City Expenses .- The Brook Street District. - Vital Statistics .- Building Progress .- Street Lighting.
1 T is of much interest to one at all inclined to review the past to look at the various means by which the growth of the city may be observed in the comparison of its condition at different periods. Various means for doing this are afforded, and though they are more or less fragmentary and incomplete, yet it will afford in the main a fair understanding of the progress of the city to notice some of them that are accessible. One of the most definite and compre- hensive pictures of the growth of the city may be seen in the growth of the directory from time to time, since the first one was published in 1824. At the date mentioned the houses in the most important streets had just been numbered, and boards had just been placed on most of the principal streets to indicate their names. Providence then contained an estimated population of about 15,000, and the num- ber of names in the directory was 2,958, without counting the names of colored inhabitants. The names of that race, though there were about 1,400 of them residing here, were excluded from the directory until 1832, and then they were named in a separate list. This ar- rangement was continued until 1847, when they were merged in the body of the book, no distinction being made between them and the names of white people. Thus the directory incidentally gave expres- sion to the prejudices then existing, and afterward marked the gradual change in public sentiment in respect to the question of race and color. The first directory was published by Messrs. Brown & Danforth. At that time a large proportion of the business interests of the town were located on the east side of the river, principally on North and South Main streets, North Water (now Canal street), South Water street, Market Square, and what was then known as "Cheap- side," now a part of North Main street. The business center on the
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west side of the river was Weybosset, Broad and Westminster streets, only a part of the latter, and Westminster row.
The directory for 1884 contained the names of 21 old inhabitants whose names also appeared in the directory of 1824, a period of 60 years being thus covered by them. Through the enterprise and antiquarian interest of Messrs. Sampson, Murdoch & Co., the present directory publishers, we are enabled to name them and to give. in connection with each, the year and date of his birth. Some have since died, and the date of their death is also given. Resolved Wat- erman, 1787, died July 8th, 1886; Anthony B. Arnold, 1791, died Oc- tober 10th, 1884; George Burr, 1792, died February 16th, 1886; George WV. Bowen, 1794, died February 6th, 1885; Philip W. Martin, 1795, died May 17th, 1888; William Andrews, 1796, died April 25th, 1885; John Wardwell, 1797, died March 3d, 1886; Thomas Harkness, 1799; Edwin Stayner, 1799, died March 24th, 1885; Simon H. Greene, 1799, died April 26th, 1885; Lucien Draper, 1800, died October 27th, 1886; Jonathan G. Draper, 1801, died December 27th, 1887; James C. Buck- lin, 1801: James H. Read, 1801; David W. Pettey, 1801: R. H. N. Bates, 1801; Reverend Jonathan Cady, 1802, died July 18th, 1885; Ed- ward Congdon, 1802; Thomas R. Briggs, 1807; John S. Harris, 1809; Jeremiah S. Barrett, 1810. Those not otherwise marked still remained residents of the city in 1889. It will thus be seen that there were in 1889 nine persons living in the city who were 21 years of age, male inhabitants, in 1824.
Directories were published in the years 1826, 1828, 1830, 1832, 1836, 1838, 1841, 1844, 1847, 1850 and 1852, and after that date they have been published annually to the present time. The number of names contained in the directory in different years have been as follows: 1824, 2,958; 1830, 4,400; 1836, 4,965; 1841, 7,000; 1844, 7,600; 1847, 9,282; 1850, 8,784; 1852, 10,400; 1853, 11,760; 1855, 11,366; 1860, 15,772: 1865, 17,227; 1870, 25,435; 1875, 36,562; 1880, 39,227; 1885, 48,992; 1889, 59,693.
Some interesting hints as to the growth of Providence are given in the following personal reminiscence of an aged inhabitant, who wrote in 1854.
" My recollection extends back to 1790, and even earlier, when Providence was a mere village, with a population of about 6,000. At this period, I well recollect that on each side of Westminster street were meadows where the inhabitants pastured their cows. And very near the foot of Washington street, then the south shore of the cove, was a pottery, for the manufacture of earthen ware. Vessels were built at the north part of the cove, very near Smith's bridge, and even higher up, were floated down at spring tides, and passed Weybosset bridge by means of a draw. At this period, and for many years after, the cove afforded excellent fishing ground, and .
thousands of the finny tribe have I captured there, as well as from
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each side of the bridge. Numerous sail boats were then kept in the cove, and large parties of young persons then enjoyed themselves in the beautiful woods and groves at its margin. My memory oft re- calls those scenes, as well as the names and features of the loved ones who have passed away. Everything is now changed, the woods and groves have disappeared, and numerous manufacturing establish- ments have taken their place.
" At that period, if a man failed for a few thousand dollars it pro- duced an almost electric shock throughout the community-the man had broke, it was said, and woe to him if he could not show that he had been really unfortunate. It was not so easy to obtain credit then as it now is, and there were not so many temptations to folly and extravagance as at present. I think if many of our young men would return to the frugal habits of their fathers, they would enjoy more than they now do, and in many cases preserve life, health and reputation.
" But I am willing to allow there have also been important changes for the better. Among these may be mentioned the great and glori- ous change which has taken place in the public mind on the subject of temperance. I can recollect when many of our really respectable citizens were engaged in the sale and use of ardent spirits; and at that time, singular as it may now appear, a meeting house could not be raised, a public dinner given, an ordination or an election held, a funeral attended, or even a child be born, without the use of rum."
From the letter of another aged resident, who wrote more than half a century ago, of things pertaining to the then long past, we make extracts in the following paragraphs.
"The time is within my recollection when there were not more than six or eight buildings on Benefit street, and no street over the hill excepting that called Jail lane. The old jail, standing on the north side of it, was one of the buildings spoken of. All car- riages going to or from the east part of the town passed through Olney's lane, or through a street quite at the south part of the town. At that time I think I had some knowledge of nearly every family in town. As respects the river, I doubt whether the tide covers half the ground it did 70 years since; wharves first built, then Water street beyond the wharves; acres filled or raised south of Weybosset and Broad streets, where Westminster street is, and all north of it, the tide flowed. I am told that there was a knoll, or small round hill, near the head of what is now called the Long wharf, which at that time was an island. Old people have often told me of having picked berries on it. An old man long since told me that while there was difficulty with the Indians, several of them got slyly upon that hill and fired at a small company of young white men who were playing at nine piùis, near where the court house now stands [1842], and hit one of their pins. I am told that the first vessel which sailed from
25
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this town to the West Indies was loaded at a wharf that was then a little to the westward of the Canal market. I once saw a vessel of about 30 or 40 tons, a fisherman, unloading at a wharf then adjoining to what is now called Smith street. Many vessels of large burthen have been built on the west side of what is called the canal basin, and at other places north of the great bridge, which bridge, I believe, was 50 or 60 feet longer than it now is. There was a draw in it, for the purpose of letting vessels through. The channel, I think, is now covered by Water street.
"As respects schools, previous to about the year 1770 they were but little thought of. There were in my neighborhood three small schools, perhaps about a dozen scholars in each. Their books were the Bible, spelling book and primer. One was kept by John Foster, Esq., in his office, and one by Doctor Benjamin West. Their fees were ?s., 6d. per quarter. One was kept by George Taylor, Esq., for the church scholars. He, it was said, received a small compensation from England. Besides these there were two or three women schools. When one had learned to read, write and do a sum in the rule of three, he was fit for business. About this time, Doctor Jonathan Arnold made a move for building a proprietors' school house; by his exertions enough was obtained to build one at the northerly end of Benefit street, which was called Whipple Hall in consequence of Mr. Joseph Whipple giving the lot for two shares. George Taylor, Jr., was the first master. The town, a few years since, bought the proprietors out.
" At one time, many years since, I fell in with an old gentleman who stood viewing what was called the old Turpin house. He said to me, 'I am taking a view of the old house where the general assembly used to sit. I have been there, and should like to go in to see whether it looks as it formerly did or not.' I went in with him. After looking around he said: 'It is much as it was.' This house then was standing on the west side of North Main street, nearly opposite to the Fourth Baptist meeting house. It appears that in the days of Turpin, the original owner, this was a very sightly place, and a place of considerable business. He had a large yard with an elm tree in it, a fine garden, handsomely fenced in, through which there ran a small brook, which came from a small swamp, lying a little to the eastward of where the meeting house now is. The Reverend James Manning did great things in the way of enlightening and informing the people. Schools revived by means of his advice and assistance. Previous to him it was not uncommon to meet with those who could not write their names.
"Manners and fashions were very plain. The dress in general was meant to be durable. Men wore mostly wash-leather breeches; cloth for most purposes generally manufactured in their families; laborers of almost every description wore leather aprons; the best
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dress of the most opulent was of English manufacture, in plain style. Some who were a little flashy would wear a cocked hat, a wig or a powdered head, with their hair clubbed or queued; sometimes some would buy or borrow some hair for the purpose of giving the club or queue a better appearance. Women of the same neighborhood would visit each other with clean checked aprons, striped loose gowns, handkerchiefs over the shoulders and sun-bonnets on their heads; then pleasantly sit down and divert themselves over a dish of bohea tea and a piece of bread and butter. A few who considered them- selves somewhat superior would wear a silk or calico gown, with long ruffle cuffs, a lawn apron, a little roll over the head, resembling a crupper to a saddle, with the hair smoothly combed over it, a flat chip hat, with a crown about one inch deep, all covered with a thin silk- some black, some white, others red, green, &c. Young men would at times amuse themselves in the lots at ball, shooting at poultry or at a mark, now and then at wrestling or jumping; at times muster in small parties with young women, then have a dance; at harvest time would go miles to a husking, as the farmers generally would at that time make merry. At the season for pigeons there was too much diversion in destroying them. There were many stands set up around our cove by means of which thousands were an- nually destroyed by shooting. In the country they were mostly taken in nets, and brought to market by horse loads, in panniers. A man told me that he at a time carried a load in that way to Boston, that they were so plenty that he could not sell them, neither give them away; he thought that there might be those who had rather steal than to have it thought they were beggars, so set his panniers down by the side of a street, and there left them for a while. When he re- turned he found many more than he had left.
"Captain Jabez Whipple, who lately died in his one hundredth year, told me that when a young man he with several others kept a pack of hounds, with which they would at times divert themselves in a fox chase; that at a time they followed one most of the day, at even- . ing they holed him, then made a fire at the hole in order to keep him in during the night; they came with tools for digging, went to work, and soon found him, suffocated as they supposed, took him out, handed him from one to the other, he maintaining every appearance of being dead, then threw him on the ground, when he instantly took to his toes, and so gave them another day's chase.
" As for particular places of resort, I can hardly say that I know of any; the great bridge was a considerable of a place for it in pleas- ant weather. Captain Joseph Olney kept the principal public house. As the town increased it settled the fastest nearer the tide water. Colonel Knight Dexter opened a public house where the people could be more conveniently accommodated; this and other houses being opened for the same purpose, drew the custom from the old place,
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HISTORY OF PROVIDENCE COUNTY.
so that it became abandoned. Elisha Brown at a time was doing a very considerable business to the northward of Captain Olney's, near Joseph Turpin's. To him there was great electioneering resorting. For several seasons party ran high between Samuel Ward, of New- port, and Stephen Hopkins, of this town. No one more zealously en- gaged in the cause than Brown, for Ward, and himself for deputy governor. His zeal, I believe, was rather expensive, as he left to his family near nothing of a good estate.
" The first coach that I ever saw, and I do not know but the first one that was ever in this town, was owned by a Mr. Merritt, an Englishman, who came and purchased the farm and built the house where the venerable Moses Brown lately died, in his 99th year. This coach would once in a while come into the street by way of Olney's lane, then there would be a running of the children and a looking from the windows to see the new, wonderful thing. About this time there would be now and then a person who wanted a passage to Bos- ton. Colonel William Brown, who lived quite at the northeast corner of the town, on a farm, kept what was called a curricle, drawn by two horses; he would be their carrier. It would take him about three days to go and return. After a while, Thomas Sabin, I think, was the first that set up a stage; he generally went once a week. After him Robert Currey, then Samuel Whipple. When they got through by daylight they thought they had done well. The mail was carried by a Mr. Mumford, on horseback, once a week, between here and New London, and so back again. In May, 1776, I went to Pom- fret, 36 miles, in a chaise. The road was so stony and rough that I could not ride out of a slow walk but a very little of the way. I was nearly two days in going, such was the general state of our roads at that time.
" Business and occupation was similar to what it now is, except machine manufacturing. Furniture in general was very plain, and mahogany was but little known. Almost every article of wood was straight, without much paint or polish. There was but little crock- ery, and that of a coarse kind. Pewter and wood were the principal table furniture. Two would be often eating out of the same dish, and perhaps a dozen drinking out of the same pewter quart pot or earthen mug. In my youngest days there were butt few carriages besides carts, consequently when women wanted to go abroad it was very common for them to go on horseback, sitting on a pillion behind a man. Women would often be at market on horseback, with a pair of panniers, selling butter, cheese, eggs, &c.
" The time hath been when an abundance of bass and perch, par- ticularly bass, were taken through the ice on Seekonk river, in the night season. About 50 years ago I was there with perhaps a dozen or twenty others. That night there were several tons taken, the most that was ever known to be taken in one night. Since then some
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would be taken every winter, until lately that business seems to be about done. It is supposed that the filth washing from the abund- ance of cotton mills prevents their coming into the river."
At the October session in 1736, Alexander Thorp and Isaac Cushno petitioned and were granted the exclusive right to run a stage to Massachusetts. The record does not show the precise points to and from which it was to run. The following copy of the record in re- gard to it will be read with interest:
"Whereas, Alexander Thorp, livery stable keeper, and Isaac Cusno, saddler, both of Boston, within the Province of Massachusetts Bay, by petition to this Assembly, did set forth that the petitioners, being about to set up the business of keeping stage coaches for the transporting of passengers and goods to and from this colony and the Massachusetts government, which would tend to the great advantage of the inhabitants of both governments; and as the petitioners must be put to great expense and cost in procuring coaches, with horses and other conveniences for the purpose aforesaid, humbly requested that they might have the liberty and license to keep two stage coaches for the service aforesaid, and of improving the same for the space of ten years, in regard of the great charge and expense they must be at, as aforesaid, that all and every person and persons might be de- barred from the like liberty or license during said term ;--
"All which, being considered, it is enacted by the General Assem- bly, that the petitioners' request is granted for keeping and improv- ing two stage coaches for the space of seven years, upon such terms and conditions as shall be agreed on between the petitioner and Samuel Vernon, William Coddington and Joseph Whipple, Esqs., who are appointed a committee to enter into articles on behalf of this colony, with the petitioners, who are to give bond for the perform- ance of their part of said articles; and the whole charge thereof to be paid by the petitioners."
In July, 1767, we meet the first announcement of a regular stage coach running between Providence and Boston. At that date Thomas Sabin advertises that " one starts every Tuesday morning from the house of Richard Olney, inn-holder, to carry travellers to Boston, on the most expeditious and cheap rate." The coach returned on Thurs- day mornings. The notice does not state whether the coach went through in a day, or stopped the first night at Wrentham, as it did, according to tradition, in earlier times. In those times, it is said that the owner of a stage coach occasionally gave notice a week or ten days beforehand that on a given day he would start for Boston, if sufficient encouragement offered, taking care to give notice so that his patrons might have time to arrange their worldly affairs in a manner befitting the magnitude of the journey upon which they were to start. In 1783 the stage to Boston ran twice a week.
A line of packets which was soon after that date established be-
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tween here and New York excited great admiration. In speed and accommodations they were said to be equal to any in the world. These conveyed most of the passengers travelling between New York and this town and the towns eastward, including Boston, until the New London Turnpike was established, about 1820. Travellers found it quite a relief from the jolting and thumping they received in the old heavy stage coaches, to get into the comfortable cabin of a packet and pursue their journey in the swift-gliding boat as she sped over the comparatively smooth face of the waters. Stage coach riding in those days had more practical points than poetical, however the imagination of later poets may have pictured it. The coaches were built heavy and strong, substantial durability being the pervad- ing idea of their builders and owners. Although the roads had lost their original corduroy character, they had not acquired that level smoothness which invited sleep. An occasional rock or stump would try the strength of the carriage and the patience of the traveller. Connected with the stage coaches over the New London Turnpike, was a line of steamboats from New London to New York. The more ample accommodation of these boats over even the luxurious pack- ets, together with the certainty of making the passage within a defi- nite time, gave this route a ready popularity. The sailing packets were soon given up to the freighting business. About the same time Captain Elihu S. Bunker came from New York to Providence with the steamboat " Connecticut," thus demonstrating by actual experi- ment that it was possible for a steamboat to make the hazardous run around Point Judith. Before that trial it was considered an impos- sible feat. Still the public were not willing to trust their lives in such a practice, and for some time the inside line by way of New London carried the passengers. After repeated trips had been made without loss or damage, confidence was established, and the travel- ling public accepted the boats running through from here to New York as a decided improvement over the combination of stage and boat. The New London Turnpike and boats were then abandoned. The Point Judith steamers were supposed to possess unequalled fa- cilities for the traveller. Speed, certainty, safety and ease, combined to render them the favorites of the public. On the completion of the New York, Providence & Boston railroad to Stonington, there connecting with a line of steamers to New York, a portion of public favor was withdrawn from the Point Judith steamers.
Providence has always been on the line of the great thoroughfare from Boston to New York. In early times the traveller passed on horseback from Providence through East Greenwich, Wickford, over Tower Hill, and through Westerly into Connecticut. Over this line lay the regular route to New York. It also was the only direct road from Providence to Connecticut for many years after the settlement of this town. It is said that the first team from Connecticut that
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