USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 2 > Part 53
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A VIEW OF EXCHANGE PLACE AND THE COVE BEFORE THE RAILROAD IMPROVEMENTS.
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TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
All the principal railroads in the state have been operated since 1893 by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Corporation. Previous to that date, however, a number of important consolidations had occurred, which paved the way for the final combination. The first step in this direction was the lease of the Providence and Worces- ter to the Boston & Providence. The latter road, April 1, 1888, was leased to the Old Colony, and it in turn with all its associated lines, was on March 1, 1893, leased to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, which at the same time came into possession of the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad. The Providence, Warren & Bristol had been leased to the Old Colony in 1891. The Providence & Springfield Railroad was leased to the New York & New England, Oct. 1, 1890. The New York & New England Railroad was reorganized as the New England Railroad in 1895, at which time its leased roads were the Rhode Island & Massachusetts, the Providence & Springfield and the Woonsocket & Pascoag. The New England is now operated by the New York, New Haven & Hartford. The total length of roads operated in Rhode Island by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Corporation is 189.69 miles, and includes the Boston & Providence, the Providence & Worcester, the New York, Providence & Boston, the Providence & Springfield, the Providence, Warren & Bristol, the Old Colony, the New England line to Hartford, the Pawtuxet Valley, the Rhode Island & Massachusetts, and the Woonsocket & Pascoag. The only steam roads operated independently by their own stockholders are the Narragansett Pier, the Wood River Branch, the Newport & Wickford Railroad and Steamboat Company's line and the Moshassuck Valley, and their combined length is about twenty miles. The total steam railroad mileage in the state in 1900 was 209.29,1 which does not include the former Warwick & Oakland Beach road.
The consolidation of all the railroads under one management aided materially in settling the questions involved in the negotiations for improved railroad terminal facilities at Providence. As far back as the early seventies it became apparent that better railroad facilities were needed. Various plans were proposed, and for years a discussion was carried on in regard to the matter. In December, 1888, a plan formulated by a commission of three engineers was adopted by the City Council. Although this plan did not prove acceptable to the railroads, its presentation paved the way for negotiations which event- ually resulted in a beginning of the solution of the problem. This
1Railroad Commissioner's Report for 1900, p. 71 appendix.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
plan provided for the location of the proposed new passenger station on the north side of the cove. As a substitute, in June, 1889, the Old Colony, the New York, Providence & Boston, and the Providence & Springfield Railroad Corporations proposed a plan locating the station in the center of the cove and providing for overhead tracks with wide streets underneath. This substitute was accepted and an agreement was entered into between the city and the railroads early in November, 1889, to the effect that certain land belonging to the city was to be exchanged for land belonging to the railroads, and the railroads agreed to build the new station and its approaches, and all bridges over existing highways at their own expense, while the city of Provi- dence was to build the new highways and the bridges in connection with them.
The first important work necessary to carry out this agreement was the filling of the cove basin, on which undertaking work was begun in 1888, and the extensive area was filled by the fall of 1892. The rail- roads began work on their approaches in 1889 by widening the road beds and building retaining walls to hold back the steep sand hills. The building of the station was begun in 1896, and it was completed and occupied late in 1898. At the same time the freight facilities were greatly improved. The effect of all these changes was to put Provi- dence, which was now the heart of the state industrially and commer- cially, in a condition to handle its transportation in the best possible manner, as the facilities were now adequate and sufficient to provide for a large future increase in business and population.
The first street railway in Rhode Island was the line from Provi- dence to Pawtucket and Central Falls, which was opened for travel in May, 1864. The Union Railroad Company, which was a consolida- tion of the interests of a number of companies that had obtained char- ters to build horse railroad lines, obtained a charter from the General Assembly in January, 1865, in which all the existing charters were merged except that of the Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls Company. William and Amasa Sprague were the principal promoters of the Union Company ; they owned a controlling interest, and Amasa Sprague was the first president, while William Sprague was a director. The first line that the Union Railroad Company put into operation was to Olneyville, at the west end of the city, which was reached through Westminster, Weybosset and High Streets, and this route was opened for travel Feb. 22, 1865. By the fall of that year cars were running on Broadway, and to Elmwood, South Providence and
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Cranston, and the equipment consisted of 35 cars and 250 horses. By the end of the first fiscal year 2,369,261 passengers had been carried over the lines. "In 1870 authority was obtained to lay rails on Broad Street between Thurber's Avenue and the village of Pawtuxet, and on Friendship, Beacon and Eddy Streets and Thurber's Avenue; in 1871 on Richmond and Smith Streets and Prairie Avenue; in 1873 on Elmwood Avenue to Roger Williams Park and on Public and Franklin Streets ; in 1875 on Mill, Charles, Orms and Smith Streets; on Federal and Bradford Streets and Atwell's and Academy Avenues; in 1876 on South Main, Wickenden, Brook, Meeting, Thayer, Hope, Governor, Waterman, Angell and Wayland Streets; in 1880 on Olney and Camp Streets, Branch and Douglas Avenues; in 1883 on Tockwotton and India Streets into the town of East Providence, and in 1884 on Manton Avenue, Hospital and Bassett Streets. From that time up to 1893, when the general transformation to an electric system was well under way, but few extensions made".1
The Union Railroad Company purchased in 1872 the Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls road, and thereby became the owner of all the street car lines then existing in the state. The Pawtucket Street Railway Company was organized in 1885, and very soon had its lines in operation in the streets of that municipality.
The horse car lines, on account of the steepness of the hills on the east side at Providence were laid out in a circuitous course, going around the hill instead of over them. This increased the distance two or three times, but thereby the residents along the lines were also accommodated. The long time required, however, to reach the important and populous section on and immediately beyond the hills opposite the centre of the city, caused a wish to spring up that some method of transit might be devised. A tunnel at one time was talked of but on account of the expense and the many disadvantages a pro- ject to build it came to nothing. For some years the building of a cable road was agitated, and finally the Providence Cable Tramway Company was formed for the purpose of constructing it. The road was built in 1889, began operations early in 1890, and extended from Market Square up College Hill, along Prospect, then through Angell, South Angell and East River Streets, and back through Waterman Street to the point of departure. The Cable Company ran its cars by horse-power over the tracks of the Union Railroad Company from Market Square to Olneyville, on the High Street route. The car
1Street Railway Lines of Rhode Island; by Henry V. A. Joslin, secretary of the Union Railroad Company, in The New England States, vol. 4, p. 2520.
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
house and power station for driving the cable was located on South Angell near the Red Bridge on the Seekonk river. In 1891 the Union Railroad Company purchased the stock of the Tramway Company, and thereby became once more the owner of all the street railroads in Providence.
Electricity was first applied to the propulsion of street cars in Providence, on Jan. 20, 1892, when the Broad Street line to the village of Pawtuxet was put in operation, twelve twenty-five feet body cars forming the equipment. This was an experimental line, but it proved so successful that the Company determined to equip its entire system with electricity. In order, so it is claimed, to secure the large amount of capital necessary to introduce electric traction, the Union Railroad Company "obtained from the General Assembly authority to make contracts with cities and towns for franchises for a term of years, not exceeding twenty-five, and also the right to issue its bonds, secured by a first mortgage upon its property, rights, privileges and franchises, to an amount not exceeding $3,000,000". Under this authority con- tracts were made with the city of Providence and with neighboring towns. Before, however, the work of equipping the lines with elec- tricity was begun, a syndicate of capitalists had purchased the major- ity of the stock of the Union Railroad Company at $250.00 per share and of the Pawtucket Company at $125.00 per share. This syndicate on March 1, 1893, organized as the United Traction and Electric Com- pany, chartered under the laws of New Jersey, and is now the owner of all the stock of the Union Railroad, the Pawtucket Street Railway, and the Providence Cable Tramway Co., but the Union and the Paw- tucket railroads are still operated under their own charters while the Union Railroad also operates the Cable Tramway Company's line.
As soon as this organization was perfected the work of equipping the lines with electricity was pushed vigorously, and electric traction was in general operation on all lines in the city of Providence early in 1894. The last horse car was withdrawn from the streets of Providence April 24, 1894, and in Pawtucket a few months later. The cable road was also successfully operated by electricity, with the exception that on College Street, where there is a grade of 16 per cent., a counterweight is used to balance the car so as to enable it to over- come the grade.
Every section of the city of Providence, and all the suburban places are now reached by the electric street lines of the Union Railroad Company. Because of the topography of the city and its surroundings all the lines radiate from the centre of the city, like the spokes of a
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wheel. On this account the problem of getting "across town" is a serious one, and yet remains to be solved by the street railroad com- pany either by the building of a belt line, or by inaugurating a system of transfers, or possibly by a combination of both these methods.
The first electric railway to be put in permanent operation in the state was at Newport in 1889 by the Newport Street Railway Com- pany, which since that time has continued to operate a little over four miles of street railroad by electric traction. The Woonsocket Street Railway Company, organized in 1886, experimented with an electric motor on its cars in 1888, but it is said did not adopt electricity as a motive power until after the Newport road was in operation. The Woonsocket road now has about seventeen miles of track in the state.
The Pawcatuck Valley Street Railway Company was organized in 1893, and operates by electricity a line seven miles long from Westerly to Watch Hill.
The Pawtuxet Valley Electric Street Railway Company was organ- ized in 1893, but the United Traction Company secured control, and the road was built under its direction. This road was opened July 21, 1894, has about twelve miles of track and runs through all the Paw- tuxet Valley villages from Hope to Clyde and thence to Washington and Crompton.
The Interstate Street Railway Company constructed an electric line from Pawtucket to North Attleboro in 1892, which was the first sub- urban electric road of any considerable length that was put in opera- tion in Rhode Island. Another line was soon after built to East Attle- boro by this company. For some time the Interstate Company was in financial difficulties. Its lines were finally purchased by a syndicate composed of capitalists interested in the United Traction Company, and the company was reorganized April 20, 1895, the Attleboro, Nortlı Attleboro and Wrentham Street Railway also being absorbed, and was thereafter known as the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway Com- pany, which now operates lines from Pawtucket to Attleboro, North Attleboro and Plainville, Mass.
The Cumberland Street Railway Company was organized in 1898, and operates a line from Lonsdale to Cumberland Hill, through the picturesque scenery of the Blackstone Valley. Jan. 1, 1900, the road was sold to the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company.
The Newport and Fall River Street Railway Company, organized in 1898, operates a line from Newport to Fall River which traverses the island of Rhode Island and crosses to the mainland by the old Stone Bridge. From its connection with the Newport Street Railway until
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
it unites with the Fall River line, this road is about fifteen miles in length.
The Sea View Railroad from Wickford to Narragansett Pier, a dis- tance of twelve miles, was opened for travel in 1899. An electric line constructed by the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, and put in operation in 1900, runs from Providence through Norwood, Hillsgrove, Greenwood, Apponaug, and East Greenwich to Potowomut where connection is made with the Sea View Railroad. By this means a through electric line to Narragansett Pier has been secured.
The Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company is, next to the Union Railroad Company, the most important electric railroad corporation in the State. Both companies are controlled by the same group of capitalists, have the same general officers and the roads are operated as one system. The Suburban Company, as its name implies, controls the long lines running to places at some distance from the city. The most important line this company now operates is the former steam road originally known as the Warwick and Oakland Beach, which was equipped with electricity by this company and put into operation as an electric line in 1900. This company also operates the line to Apponaug and East Greenwich, and a line to Barrington, Bristol, and Warren, opened in 1900, while in 1900 it also acquired by purchase the Cumberland Street Railway and the Pawtuxet Valley Electric road. In 1900 an extension was built from Buttonwoods Beach-the terminus of the original line belonging to this company-to a connec- tion with the River Point line at Westcotts, and by this means the inhabitants of the Pawtuxet Valley villages have a direct route to the shore places.
Meanwhile the Union Railroad Company had built many lines into the suburbs of the city, among the most important of which are the lines to Centredale, Crescent Park and River Point, the latter the longest suburban line belonging to the company.
The cars of several long lines from adjacent cities now enter Provi- dence over the tracks of the Union Railroad. These are the roads to Taunton, which has been in operation several years ; the road to Fall River through Swansea and Somerset, opened in 1901, and the Provi- dence & Danielson, which runs from Providence through the hill country of Western Rhode Island. The latter road was opened in 1901.
The total length of electric roads in Rhode Island at the end of June 30, 1900, was 218 miles, and the number of passengers carried for the fiscal year ending on that date was 52,922,041.
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TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
The changes in the methods of travel and transportation in the period of less than three centuries comprised in the history of the state of Rhode Island, illustrates an evolution as striking as any that has taken place in any other department of human activity. From the foot patlı and birch bark or hollow log canoe of the Indian to the express train, the electric car, and the palatial steamboats of the present day, it is a change so great that its significaunce and influence on human life can hardly be realized. By means of this evolution time and space have in a measure been annihilated, and the relations of men to each other have been radically altered. The interpretation of the meaning of these new relations and the adjustment of society to the new status thereby brought about are problems that confront the world to-day.
The white pioneer, as we have seen, improved on his Indian prede- cessor, by being the possessor of the horse, which enabled him to travel farther and transport larger loads. He also had the skill to start and manage ferries, to improve the roads, and to build bridges. Slowly the roads were developed into highways over which wheeled vehicles could travel, and both the road and the conveyance were gradually brought to such a high degree of perfection that the fast stage coach became a possibility. Mechanical invention at this point stepped in and by the use of the steam engine, at first applied to the steamboat and soon after to the railroad train, accelerated the evolution of the means and methods of travel in an immense degree over anything that had previously existed. Still this progress was similar in kind to that which had already taken place. The increase in the rate of progress, however, changed the conditions of life greatly in ways which as yet are hardly comprehended. The world thereby became one neighbor- hood, and while the struggle for existence did not lessen in its inten- sity, yet economic opportunities were vastly widened, and larger num- bers of people were able thereby to accomplish results and secure for themselves the good things of life than was ever the case before. In the sense that human intelligence, comfort and happiness, were greatly increased by these material improvements, civilization has thereby been enormously advanced.
One of the most noticeable recent economic effects of the improved methods of transportation has been the influence of electric street or suburban lines on the distribution of population. Previous to the introduction of electric traction the steam roads had aided in distrib- uting population along their lines, and had in a measure thereby relieved the congestion of the cities. But their power in this direction
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as we now realize, had very definite limits, as they could only afford an outlet along main lines of travel, where the conditions for living might not be ideal or even endurable. The horse car likewise could only operate within a very limited radius. With the advent of electric traction however, as applied to street or road cars, the possibilities became illimitable. Every section was open for settlement, and the outskirts and neighborhood of every city has thereby been brought within the radius of the city as available places of residence for the population. The economic effect has been to lower rents and land values in the crowded quarters of the cities, to destroy the slums and to make life easier for large numbers of people. These effects have occurred in Rhode Island in a noticeable degree. The suburbs of the city of Providence have grown greatly in many directions since the introduction of the electric cars in 1894, and the process is still going on rapidly. What the limit of urban growth will be only the future can determine, but already the electric roads are opening up the hill country which was neither accessible by the steam road or the ordinary highway. Undoubtedly the automobile will ultimately have an appre- ciable effect in the same direction as the electric car.
Robert Greve
The Printer and the Press.
36
CHAPTER V.
THE PRINTER AND THE PRESS.
The story of the beginning of printing in Rhode Island, the found- ing of the first newspaper, and of the development of the art and industry in succeeding years, becomes almost a history of printing in America, and is laden with features of deep interest to the reader of the present time. Very few of the arts, industries or occupations have undergone so many and such startling changes. The leap from the rude wooden printing press of James Franklin and his illustrious brother Benjamin, to the modern web machine with its countless parts and its marvelous speed, is a grand one ; not less remarkable is the gulf that separates the imperfect types of the early printers, laboriously made by hand, and the product of the very modern linotype machine, whose almost thought-endowed mechanism not only places the type in reading order, but makes a metal cast of every line ready for the press, and with a degree of speed equaling the best efforts of half a dozen typesetters. The production of paper, too-that first essential of newspaper and book-making-has been revolutionized in a similar manner. The old, rough-surfaced, hand-made sheets of small size and doubtful color, are superseded by the great rolls each containing miles of smooth, white fabric, which flies with almost inconceivable speed among the cylinders of great presses. Book-binding, also, has been amazingly changed in character, and particularly in cost. The beau- tiful and artistic hand binding of old as well as modern times cannot, of course, be excelled ; but to meet the demands of millions of readers, machinery has been brought into use in almost every department of this industry, until now an attractive, substantial ordinary octavo book, with cloth covers, can be obtained for a few cents. And it is the same story with engraving. Little of this was done in the early years. even for books and pamphlets-almost none at all for newspapers. When it did finally come more into use, it was of the crudest character. The artist took his wood block and slowly cut his coarse lines, the printing following directly from the wood, which the slightest acci- dent might destroy or a few hundred impressions greatly injure. To- day, as is well known, the copper-faced electrotype takes the place of the wood block, the photograph of the pencil in drawing, and the mar-
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
velous half-tone processes bring out every detail of portrait or land- scape with infallible fidelity upon a durable metal plate and at nom- inal cost.
The news-getting methods and facilities of the modern daily journal are so far removed from those of the early printer and publisher, that the contrast is amusing as well as startling; much of this change is due to the railroad and the telegraph. With all of these marvelous improvements the newspaper editor has taken on a new character. From the old-time citizen who issued the small weekly newspaper, with whom every townsman was acquainted and who met his neighbors every day to talk of public and private affairs, the modern editor of a great paper has grown to be an impersonal and almost intangible being who merely controls the actual pen-work of others.
All of this would not, perhaps, possess paramount interest to the reader of these days or for rehearsal in these pages, were it not for the important fact that the dwellers in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations during the past century and a half have seen all of these momentous changes take place on their own soil; their own fellow citizens have contributed towards making them from their very incep- tion. Newspaper establishments are still in existence wherein most of them have been developed. That should be sufficient.
There were notable names closely associated with the introduction of printing into Rhode Island. It is now almost two hundred years since the first newspaper was issued in New England; that was the Boston News Letter, the first number of which appeared April 20, 1704. Fifteen years elapsed before the second one was published- the Boston Gazette, founded in 1719, to be followed in 1721 by the New England Courant, also published in Boston.
James Franklin, a practical printer, came over from London, bring- ing with him a Ramage press and a small quantity of type, settled in Boston and began doing job printing, in connection with the publica- tion of the Courant. With him as an apprentice was his brother Benjamin, who was destined to greatly outshine his master. James Franklin incurred the displeasure of the Massachusetts authorities through some of his criticisms of public affairs, and at one time was four months in jail, Benjamin conducting the newspaper meanwhile. Finally, Benjamin, as is well known, went to Philadelphia and started upon his famous career. James, hampered in his work and in con- stant fear of arrest, was induced by another brother, John, who resided in Newport, to remove thither and establish a newspaper. This he did, and on the 27th of September, 1732, issued the first number of the Rhode Island Gazettte, the first newspaper in Rhode Island and the fourth in New England. This pioneer sheet was only 12 by 8 1-2 inches in size. The imprint reads, "Newport, R. I. Printed and sold by James Franklin at his printing house under the Town School
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