USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. IV > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
Campus bonfires were very popular with the students; strictly prohibited by the college authorities. For one eventful period, the ivy-clad walls of the ancient
HOPE COLLEGE AND
UNIVERSITY
HALL
155
"THE OLD STONE BANK"
halls were brightly illuminated, once a week regularly, by the leaping flames of secretly built pyres, the combustibles for which were hurriedly transported from the attic of the old dormitory. The last and most memorable bonfire of this period was built upon the concrete not ten feet from the building. As soon as it was ignited, the doors of Hope College were fastened on the inside. The windows were all dark; the students apparently asleep. But when the flames mounted, and the authorities, reinforced by the policeman upon the beat, appeared upon the scene, pandemonium broke loose. Shouts, cat- calls, blasts of horns, and the intermittent barking of a brace of old horse pistols punctuated the din. As Dr. Munro noted : "Slop buckets, pitchers, and even coal from the meagre hoard went hurtling from the windows upon the heads of those who sought to quiet the riot and stamp out the blazing embers."
And thus, the college historian tells much, but only a comparatively small part of the story of forty-eight rooms, the undergraduate homes of men who have had a part, often important, in the evolu- tion of human progress. There, some first turned the pages of knowledge to which they later contributed enlightening chap- ters; there, embryonic teachers, preachers, scientists, healers, and leaders in all walks of life, studied, played, roughhoused, sang, plotted mischief, and above all, engaged the pleasant companionship of congenial friends.
Fortunately, now, many more chapters will be added to the story of life in old Hope College, named for Mrs. Hope Ives, sister of Nicholas Brown, great benefactor of the College, and wife of Thomas Poyn- ton Ives, first President of the Providence Institution for Savings and member of the firm of Brown & Ives, famous in the annals of Rhode Island ships and foreign trade.
EBENEZER KNIGHT DEXTER
THE level, open area in the southwest- ern section of the City of Providence, known to all citizens as Dexter Training Ground, is often the scene of other than military activities. Many a boy has learned to catch a fly, or boot a football upon its hard-packed surface, and many a homemade kite has safely danced in the skies above its wide expanse of treeless space. There, races have been run, hot- air balloons inflated and sent skyward, orations thundered, neighborhood babies sunned, and dogs walked, but Dexter Training Ground has never been the scene of a public execution. It is not because Rhode Island has long outlawed capital punishment that the vast irregular rec- tangle extending from Cranston Street to Westminster Street, bordered on the north by Dexter Street, has never accom- modated a morbid audience gathered to witness a public hanging or a head chop- ping, but because the public-spirited individual who gave the tract to his com- munity apparently disliked such spec- tacles. Ebenezer Knight Dexter, the gen-
erous donor, expressly stated in his will that this land should be used as a training field, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever, and further, that no public execution of criminals should ever be per- mitted to take place upon it. As far as the public executions are concerned, the will has not been broken, but until a high fence with barbed wire, or, perhaps, a wide and deep moat has been constructed around Dexter Training Ground, it will be pretty difficult to restrict this enticing neighborhood playground for military purposes only.
But, periodically it seems, this open space within the limits of the city must be quickly devoted to the serious business of preparing for war. The great yellow structure, with the castellated towers, having the appearance of some medieval castle, that stands at the east end of Dexter Training Ground, has often be- come a busy center of military prepared- ness. Erected in this century, the Crans- ton Street Armory occupies but a com- paratively small portion of Dexter Train-
156
PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS
ing Ground, although its huge drill hall is said to be one of the largest, if not the largest room under one roof in New England.
Perhaps some of those patriotic young men who have volunteered to serve their country in the National Guard, and de- parted for a period of active service, wondered how such an extensive area as Dexter Training Ground could have re- mained undisturbed within the limits of a growing city, in a densely populated, and closely built-up neighborhood. Perhaps too, the youthful volunteers in World War II who, like many before them, began their active careers as soldiers within the great armory on Cranston Street, or be- neath sheltering canvas on the adjacent parade ground, also wondered what the monument at the west end of the area might represent, or memorialize. No doubt, many others, not necessarily war- time or peacetime soldiers, may have won- dered the very same things. What is to follow will shed some light upon the origin and history of Dexter Training Ground, or Field, and also upon another important community institution that came from the same source of public benefaction.
Ebenezer Knight Dexter was born April 26, 1773, and he spent his entire life in Providence. It might be noted that he came into this world one year after the burning of the Gaspee, three years before the Declaration of Independence, and he was a lad of nine when the war came to an end and peace was proclaimed. Ebenezer was a descendant in the sixth generation of Gregory Dexter, the London printer and stationer who produced the printed edi- tion of Roger Williams' "Key into the Language of America." This important publication, from which we have our sole source of information concerning the meaning of local Indian names and words, appeared under Gregory Dexter's imprint during the period spent in England by Roger Williams when the latter was seek- ing the first Charter for this Colony. Later, Gregory Dexter came to Provi- dence, becoming one of the most able and prominent proprietors in the early settle- ment.
Ebenezer's father was one of the pio- neers in public school education, and it is
reasonable to assume that the son received as complete an education as the local schools then existing could afford. Inci- dentally, the father was one of a group of seventeen who "from regard to the in- struction of youth in the most necessary parts of learning," had, prior to 1770, joined with the Town of Providence in erecting a commodious brick schoolhouse, two stories high, therein. Available refer- ences do not reveal the exact nature of Ebenezer Dexter's business experience, but, it is recorded that he was educated a merchant, and pursued his business with such strict attention and industry that he was able to retire with a fortune when most men begin to think of accumulating one. His success, however, was probably not due wholly to his industry, but partly, also, to his having had the good fortune to embark in business on that rising tide of prosperous trade and commerce which followed the adoption of the Federal Con- stitution. One definite point is known of his public life. He was appointed, in 1810, United States Marshal for the District of Rhode Island, and he held that office in most inauspicious times for himself. Those were the days of embargo, and war, and a Marshal's duties required unlimited tact and patient good judgment. He managed to conduct himself in an efficient and skill- ful manner, without losing either the es- teem and respect of his fellow citizens or the confidence of the government. Wealthy, and a large landowner, Ebenezer Knight Dexter died on August 10, 1824, at the age of fifty-two, leaving no direct de- scendants, his wife and only child having died previously: Generous and charitable throughout his life, Mr. Dexter was re- vealed as a munificent public benefactor when his will was executed some two and a half months before his death. The will gave to the Town of Providence, the spa- cious plain for perpetual use as a training field, and known now as Dexter Training Ground. It also gave forty acres of land, where the Dexter Asylum now is located, for the use and accommodation of the poor of the town; and, finally, Mr. Dexter's will, subject to a few comparatively small legacies, and to the charge of a few annui- ties, gave all the residue of his estate, real and personal, to be kept, with power to
157
"THE OLD STONE BANK"
convert it into other forms of investment, as a permanent fund forever for the bene- fit of the poor of the town.
At a special town meeting, Providence gratefully accepted the gift, and voted that it be henceforth called, "The Dexter Donation." At the time, suitable provi- sions for the care and management of the legacy were made, and, it was then esti- mated that the property had a value of $60,000, a very sizable amount a century and a quarter ago.
Measures were taken immediately to erect an Asylum for the poor, according to Mr. Dexter's will. In January, 1826, Isaac Brown, Caleb Earle, and Truman Beckwith, were appointed the Building Committee, and under the supervision of these gentlemen, the Asylum was com- pleted in 1830. The sum expended by the town was somewhere in the neighborhood of $43,000. The main structure of the institution is a familiar landmark for all Providence citizens, but, even more so is the high stone wall that encloses the plat upon which stands the old Roman-Doric building, the architectural product of John H. Greene. Mr. Dexter directed in his will that this lot should be surrounded with a stone wall, three feet thick at the surface of the ground, and eight feet high. The directions of the testator were scrupu- lously adhered to in this particular. The wall was completed a little over a hundred years ago, and cost about $22,000, and is 6,220 feet in length, containing 7,840 cords of stone.
Perhaps hundreds of thousands of years from now when eager archaeologists are digging down beneath the earth to find the buried evidences of nineteenth and twentieth century civilization in the place once known as Providence, they will come upon the rugged walls of Dexter Asylum. Thereupon, they may deduce from this remarkable discovery that the original Town of Providence was upon a high hill, and that it was fortified with an impreg- nable wall, like some ancient Roman or Grecian stronghold. But, Dexter Asylum, practically to this day, has served the community according to the benevolent wishes of its unselfish sponsor. Gideon Palmer was the first master, or superin- tendent, of the institution, and the orig-
inal group of inmates numbered sixty- four, including five children. In 1842, the number of inmates reached one hundred and three, including fifteen children.
Although intimate details of Ebenezer Dexter's life have not been preserved, the nature of his benevolences reveal him as a man actuated by two of the purest and loftiest of human motives, public spirit
Courtesy, Rhode Island Historical Society THE CURRY & RICHARDS BUILDING, WESTMINSTER AND DORRANCE STREETS, ERECTED IN 1867 AND DEMOLISHED IN 1900.
and benevolence. His gift of a wide open space for the specific purpose of training patriots in the profession of arms, is a clear clue to the convictions he must have held in respect to national defense, and to its importance in the perpetuation of democratic self-government. His provi- sion of a perpetual harbor of refuge for the poverty-stricken and the unfortunate in his community, definitely places Mr. Dexter among those who have been truly charitable upon this earth.
The monument erected in 1893 at the west end of the Training Ground in honor of Ebenezer Knight Dexter, and presented to the citizens of Providence by Henry C. Clark, bears this well-chosen inscription, "Leaving nothing but a headstone to mark our passage through life does not make the World better. They live best who serve humanity the most."
Courtesy, Earl R. Davis
THE ALDRICH HOUSE, CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND EDDY STREETS, WAS OPENED IN 1860 AND ENJOYED A WIDE POPULARITY UNTIL ITS DESTRUCTION BY FIRE ON FEBRUARY 15, 1888.
158
Courtesy, Town Criers of Rhode Island
THE ALDRICH HOUSE AFTER THE FIRE.
Courtesy, Town Criers of Rhode Island
IN THE GAY AND EXCITING "NINETIES" WHEN A THREE-HORSE HITCH ON A SMOKE-BELCHING PUMPER HEADED FOR A BLAZE WAS THE THRILL OF THRILLS IN PROVIDENCE.
159
160
PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS
STEAMBOAT DAYS
TT is difficult to comprehend what re- 1 markable strides have been made in American transportation during the past century unless one can associate certain events in travel history with a particular locality that happened to be located on or near the main arteries of land and sea transportation. Providence happens to be such a point whose destiny has been af- fected considerably by constantly chang- ing and improving modes of travel, par- ticularly after man discovered that steam could be harnessed to turn paddle wheels and drive pistons. Previous to that period, Providence was an important terminal of the old turnpike system, the adoption of which led to great improvements in stage coach traveling, and to the recognition of this Rhode Island community as a com- mercial and industrial center. Therefore, Providence should provide an excellent locale for the following brief review of the history of transportation, starting at the time when steam was first applied to loco- motive purposes in America.
It is a little known but actual fact that one of the earliest, if not the first, steam- boats ever constructed was made in Provi- dence and successfully operated on Narra- gansett Bay. In 1792, years before Ful- ton's attention was directed to the sub- ject, Elijah Ormsbee constructed his pioneer steamboat, the "Experiment," and this showed that a steamboat was a practicable, attainable thing, and not merely the dream of an enthusiast, as it was claimed up to that time by practical men.
Ormsbee's invention was a monument to his ingenuity, but the fact that his discovery was not utilized immediately reflects none too highly upon the foresight and wisdom of early Rhode Island capi- talists. Certainly, Ormsbee was ahead of his time and the development of steam- boats waited until the days of Robert Fulton's "Clermont" on the Hudson. It was Wednesday, May 28, 1817 before a commercially practical steamboat entered Providence harbor, and she was "The Firefly," built in New York, and the first
steamboat that ever rounded wind-swept and wave-beaten Point Judith. "The Firefly " and her maiden trip up the Sound was the biggest news of the day, and on the following Friday she made the round trip between Providence and Newport in a little less than eleven hours. She made regular trips between these ports on the Bay for a brief period but the project was finally given up for lack of patronage. Previous to this time, steamboats were used to shorten the journey to New York - passengers took a stage as far as New London, where they embarked on a steamer that ran to New Haven, there an overnight stop was made to "wood- up," an expression that antedated the days of "coaling ship," and the boat com- pleted the trip to New York the following day. It was in the summer of 1821, two years after the founding of "The Old Stone Bank," before a steamboat arrived at a Providence wharf direct from New York. This was the "Robert Fulton " on an excursion trip.
The following year a regular steamboat line was established between Providence and New York, and the trip required twenty-three hours, the hungry fire boxes under the boilers consuming about four- teen cords of wood in the passage. After steamboating had become mechanically practical experts began to devise means by which running expenses could be sharply reduced. Again Providence came to the front when John Babcock, a local mechanic, introduced his famous Babcock boiler engine and ran the steamer "Bab- cock" from Newport to New York, in 1826, with a consumption of less than two cords of wood. That really marked the beginning of the steamboat era, an excit- ing, picturesque and romantic period of nineteenth century local history.
Just a word or two about some of the early steamboats. The "Washington," one of the finest boats of the time and valued at from sixty to seventy thousand dollars, was lost in 1831 when she collided with the "Chancellor Livingston," another famous craft of her time. In August of that same
A A ACRYSTAL WAVE # 1
.....
.... . ....
"CRYSTAL WAVE" AND "BAY QUEEN."
THE AMERICAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY WAS ORGANIZED IN 1865 AND SUCCESSFULLY RAN A REGULAR LINE TO NEWPORT AND EXCURSION STEAMERS TO BAY RESORTS. MOST FAMOUS AMONG THIE COM- PANY'S PALATIAL "SIDE-WHEELERS" WERE THE "CRYSTAL WAVE," "BAY QUEEN," AND "DAY STAR." IN 1876, THIS COMPANY WAS REORGANIZED AS THE CONTINENTAL STEAMBOAT COMPANY.
161
162
PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS
WHAT CHEWS
THE "WHAT CHEER," BUILT IN 1867 AT KEYPORT, NEW JERSEY, FOR THE PROVIDENCE, FALL RIVER AND NEWPORT STEAMBOAT COMPANY. LONG FAMILIAR ON NARRAGANSETT BAY - LAST INSPECTED MAY 29, 1916.
year, the latest and most improved boat on the Sound, the "Boston," was then described as 150 feet long with copper boilers and two engines. "The President" had three decks, lower cabin, wash rooms, etc., and was 160 feet long, with no less than thirty-four staterooms containing 150 berths.
By this time Providence had become a great stage coach center, providing termi- nals for lines running from New Bedford, Taunton, Boston, Worcester, New York and many other thriving colonial towns and cities. The famous old Manufac- turer's Hotel, which was located on lower North Main Street just above Market Square, was the point of starting and arrival for the majority of the lines, and it was not uncommon to see a dozen or fifteen coaches, each with six fiery horses, lined up in front of the Manufacturer's Hotel at one time, some surrounded by groups of gay laughing townspeople wel- coming friends from some distant point
upon their arrival in Providence, while the drivers of other coaches would be anx- iously awaiting the signal that would start them off on another dash over the rough dusty turnpikes of Rhode Island, Massa- chusetts or Connecticut. Regarding the time made by these coaches we may refer to an article written by the editor of the old Providence Gazette in 1832 where he states exultantly that "we were rattled from Providence to Boston last Monday in four hours and fifty minutes, including all stops on the road. If any one wants to go faster, he may send to Kentucky and charter a streak of lightning, or wait for a railroad, as he pleases."
It was figured that one horse hauling a car on rails could carry twenty-seven pas- sengers eleven miles per hour for seven hours in a day, and could haul eight tons of freight for ten hours per day at three miles per hour. This service could of course be carried on very cheaply once the roadbed and the rails were laid, and
"THE OLD STONE BANK"
163
many enterprising men in Providence be- gan to consider seriously a railroad be- tween Providence and Boston. The total cost of laying a firm roadbed between these two points was estimated at $400,000, and under the charter of 1831 the project was completed. It is interesting to note that in the building of this first railroad there was no thought whatsoever of ever using steam locomotives, the owners be- lieving that each individual could employ his own carriage and horse on the road, and pay a toll for using the rails just as he had paid tolls for using the turnpikes.
This old railroad turnpike between Boston and Providence continued for only four years, for, in 1835, the first "steam carriage," as it was then called, arrived at the railroad station, then located at India Point, from Boston. The stage coach lines continued to run in competition for
several years, but the horse-drawn stages were no match for the so-called "steam carriages" that could cover the forty-five miles from here to Boston in the remark- able time of two hours and a half.
After the innovation of the steam engine, progress in local transportation assumed great proportions. Every year seemed to mark the opening of some new railroad line; Westerly, New York, Worcester, Hartford, and many other leading trade centers were soon connected with Provi- dence. The steamboat companies in- creased their scheduled runs to cover practically every major port in the East, and the towns and cities of Rhode Island were given an opportunity to become leaders in the world of trade.
As soon as a scheduled steamboat pas- senger service between New York and Providence came into existence, there was
#MOUNT HOPEI
DINNER SO CENTS
Courtesy, Rhode Island Historical Society
ONCE UPON A TIME, NOT SO LONG AGO, WHEN THE OLD "MOUNT HOPE" CARRIED GAY EXCURSIONISTS TO A PLACE OF VACATION ENCHANTMENT - BLOCK ISLAND, WITH ITS "DOUBLE-ENDERS" IN THE INNER BASIN OF THE OLD HARBOR; THE MEMORABLE SCENES OF THE FISHERMEN COMING IN WITH THE DAY'S "CATCH"; THE FRINGED-TOPPED SURREYS FOR A RIDE AROUND THE ISLAND; AND THE SHORE DINNERS (WITH LOBSTER) FOR ONLY FIFTY CENTS.
164
PROVIDENCE INSTITUTION FOR SAVINGS
started a very profitable stage coach line which carried passengers bound for Bos- ton, directly from the wharf in Providence over the Old Post Road to their destina- tion. It is interesting to note the signal system used by this first steamboat com- pany in notifying the owners of the coach line as to the number of passengers ex- pecting transportation to Boston. The stages and horses used by the line were quartered at Copeland's Stables, which were located near the center of the town. As the New York boat approached its landing at Field's Point one of the crew would signal the number of Boston pas- sengers on board to a person stationed on the wharf. This person would in turn give the signal to some watching eye at Copeland's Stables, and at once the mad rush of wheeling out coaches from the sheds, harnessing the horses and hitching- up would begin. The drivers would spring to their seats, dash down the waterfront to the Field's Point wharf, and there be wait- ing serenely as the boat shut down its pounding engines and ran out the gang- plank.
The next great local development in transportation was the opening of the
Blackstone Canal in 1828. This famous inland waterway connected Providence with Worcester and many of the growing industrial towns along the Blackstone Valley. This proved to be a great boon to manufacturers along its route as it pro- vided a very cheap means of transporting freight, and at one time there were some twenty or twenty-five freight boats in service. This canal, however, was far from being a financial success and finally was forced to close when its capital diminished to such a point that upkeep was impossible.
By the year 1829, the transportation of passengers and freight by stage coach and wagon over the old turnpike roads was considered far too slow and costly, and a movement to establish a railroad system was inaugurated. To give an idea of the extent of business being carried on over the turnpikes, let us turn to some of the sta- tistics computed during this period. More than 23,000 tons of freight were carried over the roads between Boston and Provi- dence annually, and the number of pas- sengers carried by only two stage coach lines between these points during a one year period amounted to the amazing total of 24,100.
FROM TOWN TO CITY
TTSUALLY when a community emerges from the adolescent town stage and is ready to don the long pants of citified ma- jority, the transformation is something which the citizens unanimously seek, and proudly acclaim, but a little more than a century ago when Providence began to have growing pains, there were many who just did not want their community to be anything more than a town. The question became a major issue, and when it came to deciding for or against the adoption of a City Charter for. Providence, certain things happened that seem almost unbe- lievable in this day and age.
In 1830, the population of Providence was 16,832, a substantial increase over the total number of inhabitants recorded five years before that time. This increase in
population, the consequent difficulty of holding town meetings, and the generally agreed upon injudicious expenditures of public money, induced some of the free- men to propose a change in the form of the municipal government of the town. In 1829, the proposition to adopt a city form of government was agreed to by the free- men, by a vote of 312 to 222. Keep in mind that only freemen, qualified prop- erty holders, could vote in those days, and that is why only a small proportion of the total population had any say in the matter.
In January, 1830, the Rhode Island General Assembly granted a City Charter with the provision that it should again be referred to the freemen, and unless again adopted by three-fifths of the persons vot-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.