USA > Rhode Island > Picturesque Rhode Island : pen and pencil sketches of the scenery and history its cities, towns, and hamlets, and of men who have made them famous > Part 17
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The Fletcher Manufacturing Company, established in 1793 and incorporated in 1865, manufacture boot, shoe, and corset laces, lamp wicks, yarns, braids and twines. Their mills are situated on Charles Street, in the north part of the city.
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The Allen Print Works is one of the best-known establishments of the kind in the country. In the first ward, near the North Burying Ground their buildings stand. Other establishments in the printing
The First Universalist Church.
and bleaching business are the Woonasquatucket Print Works, on the river of that name, the Silver Spring Bleaching and Dyeing Co., the Rhode Island Bleaching and Dye Works, and the Sun Bleach- ing, Dyeing and Calendering Works.
In the manufacture of silver-ware, Providence has one establish- ment whose reputation is world-wide, both in regard to the quality
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and workmanship of the articles produced, and the extent of the business carried on. It is the Gorham Manufacturing Company. The business was founded by Jabez Gorham in 1831, and at first only one small room was needed for it. Now the tall buildings of the factory cover nearly an entire square between North Main and Canal streets.
Very many large establishments are engaged in the manufacture of machinery. One of the largest works is that of the Corliss Steam Engine Co., situated in the northern part of the city, just above the Charles Street railroad crossing, on the line of the Boston and Providence, and Providence and Worcester Railroads. The buildings cover several acres of ground. Everybody knows that the engine which supplied the power for the machinery at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, was made in these shops.
The Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company are engaged in the construction of the Wilcox & Gibbs sewing machine, the mak- ing of fine tools, and various machines and contrivances for special uses. Their factory is on Promenade Street, a short distance west of the Cove basin. This company has a most enviable reputation for the exactness'and accuracy of its tools and machines. Darling, Brown & Sharpe, rule and gauge makers, occupy a part of the factory of the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company.
The works of the Providence Tool Company are among the largest of their kind in the country. The company was organized in 1845, and incorporated in 1847. Sewing machines and ship-chandlers' . hardware are now made in its shops, but its specialty is the Peabody- Martini breech-loading rifle. Trustworthy military authorities say that but for these wonderful Providence rifles, the Turks could never have held out half so long against their adversaries, the Russians, in the late sanguinary war. The factories of the company are situated on West River and Burt streets, in the Tenth Ward, and on Wick- enden Street, not far from Fox Point.
The American Screw Company, organized in 1860, is the largest screw manufacturing company in the United States. The works comprise five large brick mills-the Eagle Mills, Stevens Street, and the New England Mills, Eddy Street. When working at their full capacity they give employment to 2,500 persons.
The works of the Nicholson File Company are located on a plat of about four acres, on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River, fifteen minutes' walk from the railroad station. The company was organ-
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ized in 1865. The work of making the files is nearly all done by machinery. . A large proportion of this ma- chinery was patented by W. T. Nicholson, the founder of the company. About 250 persons are employed in the works.
Other large manufac- tories are the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, corner of Hemlock and Valley streets ; the Franklin Foun- dry and Machine Company, Charles Street, incorporated in 1836, manufacturers of cotton machinery ; the Prov- idence Steam Engine Com- pany, 373 South Main Street ; Providence Machine Company, manufacturers of cotton and worsted roving frames, and other machines The First Baptist Church. used in the manufacture of cotton and wool, 564 Eddy Street ; the Granger Foundry and Ma- chine Company, bleaching, dyeing, printing and paper machinery, Gaspee, corner of Francis Street; Spicers & Peckham, manufac- turers of the most approved patterns of American ranges, furnaces, and stoves, foundry on Cove Street ; the Barstow Stove Company, works on Point Street, corner of Chestnut ; City Machine Company, Harris Avenue, corner of Acorn Street; Phenix Iron Foundry, Elm, corner of Eddy Street, manufacturers of machinery for bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing cotton goods, etc. ; Volney W. Mason & Co., elevators and hoisting machinery, Lafayette Street, rear 405 High, and the Rhode Island Braiding Machine Company, Aborn Street.
Providence is situated almost at the head of navigation, on Narra- gansett Bay. Two fresh-water rivers, the Woonasquatucket and the Moshassuck, flow into the Providence River, and at their confluence
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form a broad sheet of water called the " Cove." This body of water was originally much more extensive than at present, but its area has from time to time been reduced by filling in the surrounding low lands. It is now a circular basin about a mile in circumference, the sides of which are built up with stone. A public walk, the Cove Promenade, encircles it. The central passenger station is on the southeast of the Cove, and the railroads converging there run along its banks in both directions for a short distance. The Woonasqua- tucket River flows into the Cove from the west, the Moshassuck from the north, and the Providence River flows outward to the cast. Rising from the valleys of these three streams are the hills, on the slopes of which the city, is built.
One of the best places from which to get a view of the city is Pros- pect Terrace, a little park near the summit of Prospect Hill, on the east side of the river. From this point of view, the central portion of the city, - where the business is mainly transacted, -in the neighborhood of Westminster, Weybosset, and Dorrance Streets, the railroad station and Exchange Place, lies to the southward. The buildings of this section are mostly large blocks ; red brick is the most common material seen. The principal buildings of the city stand out in bold relief, the City Hall, the Butler Exchange, and the Nar- ragansett Hotel, being the more prominent. To the southwest, almost directly at the foot of the hill, is the circular basin of the Cove, with its fringe of trees ; and beyond it, to the westward, the broad expanse of lowlands through which flows the Woonasquatucket River. On these lands a number of large manufacturing establishments are located. Rising up on either side of these lowlands, are high sand- bluffs. On the north side of the valley is Smith's Hill, and on the south is Federal Hill.
To the southward of the Cove lies the most densely populated part of the city ; spires of churches are seen shooting up here and there, huge school-houses thrust their solid walls upward from the hills, and a few monster gasometers, with the great domes that give such an oriental appearance to the landscape, stand out prominently against the quiet sky.
The stately Rhode Island Hospital tells how well private benefac- tions have provided for public suffering, and the twin towers of the new Cathedral, on High Street -the largest place of worship in the city - of the wonderful strides the Roman Catholic Church has been making in Rhode Island during the last quarter of a century.
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Unlike most American cities, Providence has but few blocks of tenement-houses. Apart from each other and overshadowed by waving branches, stand the homes of the great mass of her citizens. Almost like a forest appears the portion of the city which is occu- pied by dwelling-houses, to one who looks upon it from the " Terrace."
Providence is divided into three well-defined parts by the two fresh-water rivers, the Woonasquatucket and the Moshassuck, and the Providence River in its pro- gress from the Cove to the bay. The most important and populous, though not perhaps in territorial extent TARAREID. the largest division, is that The Chestnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church. on the west side of the Prov- idence River, having this river for one of its sides, the Woonasqua- tucket for the other, and for the base of the triangle the towns of Johnston and Cranston. This division includes within its borders the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth wards, and most of the business portion of the city. In this section, also, are Roger Williams Park, at the extreme south of the city ; the Park Garden, on Broad Street ; Mashapaug Pond; Long Pond; Benedict Pond ; and Field's Point, the first shore-resort on the bay as we go down the river.
The eastern part of the city is situated on a range of hills extend- ing from Fox Point some distance, along the banks of the Moshas- suck River. In this portion, commonly called the " east side," are many of the finest residences.
At the head of College Street are the buildings of Brown Uni- versity, and further to the north are the Hope Reservoir and Pump-
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ing-Station of the Providence Water Works. Within this portion are the Friends' School, the Dexter Asylum, the Butler Hospital, the Reform School, the Athenaeum, the Court House, the Normal School, and Swan Point Cemetery. On the water-front and the banks of the Moshassuck River are many manufacturing establish- ments. Until very recently this was the principal part of the city, but of late years the business has moved across the river.
The third triangle includes Smith's Hill, and the country in its neighborhood, and is bounded on the east by the Moshassuck, on the south by the Woonasquatucket, on the north and northwest by North Providence and Pawtucket. This portion is perhaps the largest in territorial extent, but is the most thinly populated. Smith's Hill proper is mostly occupied by dwellings. In this part are several manufacturing villages, among which are Dyerville, Wanskuck, Geneva, and part of Olneyville.
A good view of the lower part of the city and the central portion is obtained from the cupola of the City Hall. Other points from which extended views of the city may be had are Fort Hill, in East Providence, the heights at Field's Point, Smith's Hill, and Neutacon- kanut Hill, in Johnston.
The principal hotel in Providence is the Narragansett, a massive building, seven stories in height. Externally it is not a beautiful structure. The money which might have been expended to no pur- pose in outside decoration was wisely spent in furnishing its interior in the best style possible. It is situated on the corner of Broad and Dorrance streets, and is visible from any elevated out-look in the city or its suburbs. The next important public house is the Hotel Dor- rance, which attracts notice by its imposing front.
Brown University crowns the educational system of Rhode Island. It began its career in Warren, under the name of Rhode Island Col- lege. Dr. William Rogers, afterward for many years a distinguished professor in the University of Pennsylvania, was its first student. The first Commencement was held in the Warren Meeting House in 1769. In the following year the college was moved to Providence, and in May, 1770, the foundations of the first college-building were laid. A year afterward a portion of the building was ready for the use of students, but it was not until 1788 that the structure was com- pleted. During the Revolutionary War all college exercises were suspended. From 1776 to 1782 the " College Edifice " (this was the only name applied to University Hall - the central building - until
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1822) was devoted to the use of the American troops and their French allies, first for barracks, afterwards as a hospital. Under such cir- cumstances, it is not to be wondered at that the close of the war found it " in a very dilapidated condition." In 1804 the name of the college was changed to Brown University, in honor of Nicholas Brown, its generous friend and benefactor. In 1822 Mr. Brown erected and presented to the corporation Hope College - the building at the ex- treme left of the cut on page 134. (The name was given it in honor of his sister, Mrs. Hope Ives. ) Manning Hall - next to Hope Col- lege - (Dr. James Manning was the first president of Rhode Island College) he gave to the University in 1835. Towards the erection of Rhode Island Hall - at the extreme right - and the President's House he subscribed $10,000. In all he gave more than $160,000 to advance the interests of the institution which bears his name. Of the newer buildings, the Chemical Laboratory was completed in 1862. The beautiful Library Building, which testifies to the inherited . interest of the late John Carter Brown (the son of Nicholas) ; the stately Slater Hall - next to Rhode Island Hall - which com- memorates the liberality of Mr. H. N. Slater, and the magnificent Sayles Memorial Hall, the monument erected by Mr. W. F. Sayles to the memory of a son who died before his college course was half completed, have all been erected since the Rev. Dr. E. G. Robinson took his seat as the president of the University.
St. John's Church is the oldest of the Protestant Episcopal churches in Providence. The first clergyman to officiate in the par- ish was probably the Rev. James Honeyman, of Newport, though Dr. McSparran, in his America Dissected, claims the honor for himself. In 1722 Mr. Honeyman preached "in the open fields to more people than he had before seen together in America." The Rev. George Pigot was the first settled minister of the parish, but his stay was not a long one. On St. Barnabas' Day, June II, 1722, the erection of the first church-edifice was begun. It was called King's Church. In its steeple was placed the first church-bell hung in the town. This old building, having stood for almost a century, was pulled down in 1810 to make way for the present edifice. Grace Church, now the largest of the Protestant Episcopal Churches in the State, is a comparatively new parish, having been organized in 1829.
The First Congregational Church was formed about the year 1720. In 1723 its first house of worship was erected upon the lot where the
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new Court House now stands. In 1794 this building was sold to the town, and was ever after known as the " Old Town House." The second building of the society was erected at the corner of Benevo- lent and Benefit streets. It was destroyed by fire in 1814; two years afterward the present structure was finished. The Beneficent Congregational Church was erected in 1808. The building has been greatly enlarged since that time.
Jesse Lee, the leading apostle of Methodism in New England, was the first of the sect to preach in Providence. The first Meth- odist meetings were probably held in the " Old Town House." Not until 1816 was the society able to build a church. This house stood at the corner of Aborn and Washington streets. In the course of a few years, having become too small to accommodate its congrega- tion, it was sold, and converted into a dwelling-house. The second meeting-house, at the junction of Chestnut and Clifford streets, was dedicated Jan. 1, 1822.
The meetings of the Universalist Church Society were begun in 1772. In 1822, the first house of worship was erected, corner of Washington and Union streets. This was burnt in 1825, and in the following year a new one took its place.
The Rev. Robert D. Woodley was the first Roman Catholic priest regularly stationed in Providence. He was sent to the town by Bishop Fenwick in 1827, and remained in the place about three years. At that time there may perhaps have been two hundred members in his congregation. The first services of the church were held in Mechanics' Hall ; afterward for four or five years the " Old Town House" was used. In 1832, a lot of land was purchased, and on this the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul was erected five years later. The diocese of Providence was set off from that of Hartford in 1872. The imposing Cathedral, on High Street, which is just approaching completion, is altogether the largest house of worship in the city.
CHAPTER IX.
WARWICK -SAMUEL GORTON-FAMOUS SHORE RESORTS-ROCKY POINT-OAK- LAND BEACH-BUTTONWOODS -MANUFACTURES - CAPTURE OF THE "GASPEE." COVENTRY - EARLY DAYS AND SETTLERS. EAST GREENWICH -JEMIMA WILKINSON. WEST GREENWICII - THEOPHILUS WHALLEY. EXETER AND HOPKINTON.
W
ARWICK. - The settlement at Shawomet, as the town of Warwick was first called, was due to the determined persistency, not to say obstinacy, of one of the most re- markable men that ever dwelt within the boundaries of New England. Hardly a name arrests the eye more frequently from the pages of early Rhode Island history, than that of the " most prodigious minter of exorbitant novelties," the "proud and pestilent seducer," Samuel Gorton. Even in their strangely copious vocabulary the Puritan writers of his age could not find epithets harsh enough to express their hatred of him and of the ideas he promulgated. And yet, notwithstanding the load of obloquy that has been heaped upon him, it must appear to those of unprejudiced minds who scan the record of his life that his character was greatly misunderstood. Faults he undoubtedly had, and great ones, but the same were to be found in the career of every one of his opponents. They belonged to the age rather than to the individual. The historian Arnold well says that " his career furnishes an apt illustration of the radicalism in action, which may spring from conservatism in theory. The turbulence of his earlier history was the result of a disregard for existing law, because it was not based upon what he held to be the only legitimate source of power - the assent of the supreme authority in England. He denied the right of a people to self-government, and
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contended for his views with the vigor of an unrivaled intellect, and the strength of an ungoverned passion. But when this point was conceded, by the securing of a patent, no man was more submissive to delegated law."
In 1636 Gorton came to Boston. Of his life before his coming to America, almost nothing is known. Cotton, Hubbard and Mather, those fierce old partisans, who could never see anything to commend in those who disagreed with them, assert that he left England " to escape the claims of a creditor." This seems rather absurd, inas- much as his removal to America would not have secured to him immunity from arrest. Less prejudiced and more trustworthy histo- rians make no mention of such a reason. The charge is undoubtedly a portion of the persecution which fell to Gorton's lot in this country. About a year after his arrival at Boston he incurred the enmity of one Ralph Smith, who had once been a minister in Plymouth. Of him Gorton had hired a portion of his house, and some of Smith's household were at once drawn to attend the religious services the new comer held daily, morning and evening, in his own family. The ex-minister, a man of very moderate mental capacity, seems to have been endowed with an unusually fiery temper. He could not endure the preference thus plainly shown for his tenant's glowing discourses, and therefore ordered him to leave his house. Gorton, who was nothing if not pugnacious, refused to go, and Smith had recourse to a warrant from the General Court.
Very shortly after the " beast," " miscreant," and " arch-heretic" had thus called to himself the attention of the public, he was guilty of an almost unpardonable offence. One of his female servants was seen to smile in church. To escape the direful consequences of her levity she fled into the woods, having before her flight received an assurance from her master that he would undertake her defence. At the session of the court which followed, Gorton conducted him- self in such a "rude and contemptuous " manner that he was bound over to appear at the next session, and ordered to find sureties for his conduct until that time. Immediately he left Plymouth and went to Aquidneck. June 20, 1638, he was admitted an inhabitant of the latter colony, and somewhere about this time he was banished in due process of law from Massachusetts.
The reception accorded to Gorton upon his arrival at Pocasset was most cordial. The fact that his is one of the four names, on the list of fifty-nine inhabitants, which bear the prefix Mr. (Mr.
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A View of Phenix.
was used as a special mark of respect in those days), shows the esteem in which he was held. This esteem was quickly forfeited by his outrageous conduct upon the island. He carried his doctrine of " soul-liberty " to such an extreme, and showed so many repulsive traits of character, that he was soon thrust out from Aquidneck, with even more severity than had attended his expulsion from Plymouth. Not only was sentence of banishment pronounced against him, but he was soundly whipped as well.
Respecting this matter, Gorton says in his own defence, that he conducted himself " obediently to the government of Plimouth, so farre as it became me at least, for I understood that they had commission wherein authoritie was derived, which authoritie I rev- erenced; but Rhode Island at that time had none, therefore no authoritie legally derived to deale with me. Neither had they the choice of the people, but set up themselves. I know not any man that was present in their creation but a clergie man, who blessed them in their inauguration, and I thought myselfe as fitt and able to governe myselfe and family as any that were then in Rhode Island." The account of his " contention" with the islanders, though most interesting, is yet too long to be transcribed.
From Aquidneck the twice-exiled man went to Providence, and
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there stirred up so much strife that Roger Williams deliberated seriously whether he should not himself abandon the plantation and remove to Patience Island. While in religious matters Gorton "main- tained with Williams the great doctrine of the underived indepen- dence of the soul, in civil concerns he was an absolutist, a stickler for authority, yielding, theoretically at least, entire obedience to char- tered power, but ignoring any other, and steadily denying the right of the people of Aquidneck or Providence to govern themselves, and hence refusing to be controlled by them. And because of this defect in the basis of their government he used every effort to weaken or destroy it, assuming for that object the attitude of the veriest leveller recorded in history." So entirely subsersive of all order was his course, that his application for admission to the rights of citizenship was denied. In November, 1641, the tumult this " insolent, railing and turbulent person " had aroused, culminated in a riot. Some blood was shed upon both sides, and many of the inhabitants, following a strange precedent which had been established some time before, invoked the aid of the neighboring colony of Massachusetts in the interests of peace.
Finding that the sentiment of the colony was so strongly against him, Gorton and his adherents moved to Pawtuxet, whereupon its few, scattered inhabitants, well knowing what was coming, hastened to submit themselves to the government of Massachusetts Bay. The " letter " this action drew forth from Gorton is a most marvelous composition, but one that is not likely to receive a very careful exam- ination at the hands of this impatient generation. It occupies nearly twenty-six closely printed octavo pages, and is filled from beginning to end with scorching invective and bitter sarcasm. To its writer it brought trouble without end ; for the Massachusetts magistrates were able on every page to single out heretical doctrines upon which to ground the pretexts for their vengeance. The Gortonists (Gorton- oges, the Indians called them) left Pawtuxet soon after it was written, and having purchased land from the Indians, began at Shawomet, in the wilderness, and beyond the jurisdiction of Providence, the settle- ment which now bears the name of Warwick.
As the purchasers of Shawomet were but twelve in number, they deemed it unnecessary at first to adopt any regular form of govern- ment. Until a charter from England could be obtained they pro- posed to adjust any differences that might arise by arbitration. The action of the authorities of the Massachusetts Colony soon rendered
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the acquisition of the desired charter an absolute impossibility. By the men of the Bay the Warwick sachem was induced to submit him- self to the authority of the Massachusetts government, and to deny the sale he had made to Gorton. A voluminous correspondence, con-
A View of Rocky Point.
ducted on Gorton's part with consummate ability, and with a most exasperating weight of argument upon his side, followed this submis- sion. The upshot of the matter was, that in the early fall of 1643 a company of Massachusetts soldiers were sent against the contuma- cious Gortonoges.
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