USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 15
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Water St
C
Abbott
1738
Weybosset
Providence River
Weybosset By Desti
Rebuilt
1764
Waterfront street 1792 Retaining wall 1792"
Br 1792
Market St.
Long Wharf
Westminster St
St
L
1
Thomas St
Crawford St
Market Sq
1
H.C Depot
Br. 1843!
Core
75
SI
Whitman Block
Turks Head Bldg 1913
Reproduced from Rhode Island History, VIII, 16
1940
College St
Hopkins
South Main St
Br. 1814
to
1870 - 1880
at the same location.5 The new structure, financed jointly by the state, the city and the town of East Providence, was erected between 1870 and 1873 and was named Red Bridge. The city acquired land abutting the west end of the bridge and erected thereon a brick dwelling for the keeper of the draw. The bridge was built of iron, 30 feet wide, with a span, including the draw, of 387 feet, and was continued in use until replaced by the present Red Bridge in 1895. Extensive repairs were made to the bridge at India Point, involving the replacement of one stone pier and the strengthening of two others;6 this bridge had been freed of toll in 1860.
Providence river, in 1870, was spanned by four bridges, as follows: Weybosset Bridge (1843) at Market Square; Washington Bridge (1828) at the south end of the present Memorial Square; Exchange Bridge (1848) running diagonally across Memorial Square; and Park Bridge (1848) in the Cove Promenade. All were of wood construction, supported on piles, with cobblestone roadways and plank sidewalks.7
Legislative authority had been secured in 1868 for the erection of a fifth bridge at a point south of the Dyer Street wharves, where 200,000 persons were being transported annually in small ferryboats (page 123) and on April 26, 1869, the City Council ordered the construction of an iron drawbridge opposite the end of Point Street.8 Work was com- menced in 1869 but replacements of faulty construction delayed its completion until October 22, 1872, when it was opened and named Point Street Bridge.9 The structure was 40 feet wide, with a 25-foot roadway, and was composed of two shore spans and a swing draw. From its east span the roadway was extended to South Water Street on filled land of the former Mile End cove (see map, page 10).
A committee was appointed by the City Council in 1870 to consider the erection of a public market on a fixed bridge to be erected across Providence river opposite Crawford Street and reported that "unless some active steps are taken to prevent it, this part of our river will soon be given up to old hulks and scows, and the wharves covered with ungainly wooden sheds, forming an intolerable nuisance in the center of the city."10 Authority for constructing the bridge and market was granted by the General Assembly February 24, 187111 and two years later plans were drawn by the city engineer for bridging the river between the harbor line walls from the southerly line of Crawford Street northerly to the southerly side of Weybosset Bridge, a distance of about 600 feet, and for erecting over the center of the span a public market, 60 feet wide and 400 feet long, supported on three walls built in the bed of the river. The plan was adopted by resolution of the City Council April 24, 1874 but under an amendment, passed September 7 of that year, the market was abandoned and two rows of wood piles were substituted for the longitudinal walls. The bridge was built of wood in three units, comprising a span the full river width at the Crawford Street end, and two spans extending longitudinally from the Crawford Street unit to Weybosset Bridge, and laterally from the harbor line walls to the new lines of piles. The shore spans provided increased widths for South Water and Dyer streets, leaving a river opening between the highways where the market was to have been built. Upon its completion in 1875 Crawford Bridge became the head of navigation of Providence river (see map opposite).
The only method for the disposal of city sewage up to this time was the occasional
5. C.D. No. 16, 1868-69.
6. Ibid.
7. C.E., Report, 1872-73. See pages 95, 107 and 115. 8. C.D. No. 43, 1868-69, p. 7.
9. C.M., 1872-73, P. 37 C.D. No. 50, 1870-71.
11. P.L., 1871, chapter 900, amended May 30, 1873 and February 10, 1875.
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WEYBOSSET SIDE
construction of drains and culverts.12 Under provisions of an ordinance, passed July 3, 1873, the construction and maintenance of all common sewers and drains, in public streets and private property, were removed from the Board of Aldermen and delegated to the board of water commissioners. In February, 1874, Chief Engineer Shedd of the water works transmitted a preliminary report13 for a comprehensive sewerage system, including the conveyance of storm waters, the drainage of the subsoil and foundations of buildings, and the removal of sewage from dwellings. The drainage districts proposed, and subsequently adopted, were the two natural divisions of the city separated by Woonasquatucket and Providence rivers, and a small division between Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers. Construction work was undertaken at once and, during the ensuing six years, 43 miles of sewers were constructed and 3000 private connections made, all draining into the rivers.
By act of the General Assembly March 28, 1873, the city of Providence was given power to condemn the section of the Neck south of Wickenden Street for the general purpose of re-grading and, more specifically, for leveling historic Foxes Hill (page 52), the highest point of which was at the intersection of the present George M. Cohan Boulevard and Brook Street. That street originally was the bed of a brook, into which a considerable area of the lower East Side drained, the course of which turned westward, north of Wickenden Street, to discharge into Providence river at Mile End cove. With the grading of Brook Street in 1857 the brook was confined to a roadside stream and Mile End cove was filled except for a small pond into which the brook continued to drain. One purpose of leveling Foxes Hill was to provide an outlet for the brook into the river east of Fox Point. The district, populary known as "Corky Hill," was composed of narrow lanes and sordid tenements. Its rehabilitation was favored by Mayor Doyle as a means for opening up a valuable area for business purposes.14 A special committee of the City Council was appointed December 30, 1876, with power to condemn land in the Brook Street District, so called, and to undertake the re-grading and highway readjustment in the area south of Wickenden Street. The land condemned included about 400 acres from which 146 buildings were torn down or moved. Most of the material excavated was used for filling the western shore of Seekonk river, a project sponsored by the United States Coast Survey, permitting the construction of Gano Street and the covering of Slate Rock (see map, page 14) with 20 feet of fill. By 1880, when the project was completed, over 20 percent of the original lots had been conveyed to their former owners or were in process of conveyance.15
Prior to 1872 Providence offered little to its residents in the way of public recreational facilities. The city had acquired certain lands from time to time, mostly by gift or bequest, to be used for public purposes; with few exceptions, however, those spots were as yet undeveloped. Eleven park estates were listed in 187116 with an aggregate area of about 60 acres, as follows:
Abbott Training Field (Abbott Park), conveyed by Daniel Abbott, 1746 (page 35). A fountain was erected in 1875, the gift of William H. Charnley and others.
Abbott Lot at Tockwotton (part of Tockwotton Park), conveyed by Daniel Abbott, 1751 "as a watering place forever."
A lot at the corner of Atwells Avenue and Bradford Street, conveyed by Amos
12. C.M., 1871-72, p. 15. 13. C.D. No. 56, 1873-74. 14. Inaugural address, 1875. Mayor Doyle's optimism with respect to the development of the south shore of the Neck, like that of John Brown, 80 years earlier (page 61), proved to be but wishful thinking.
15. C.M., Brook Street District Reports, 1875-80.
16. C.E., Report, 1871-72.
146
1870-1880
Atwell and others, 1808, "for some public purpose or purposes, and for no other use or purpose whatever." It was named Franklin Square in 1857.
Dexter Training Ground, a nine-acre tract devised by Ebenezer Knight Dexter, 1824 (page 92).
A tract at India and Benefit streets, dedicated on a plat of Fox Point Association, 1830, as "a park to be kept open forever," and named Washington Square, 1857.
Cove Promenade Park, an 80-foot strip encircling the Cove basin, laid out 1846 and abandoned about 1890 (page 115).
What Cheer Square, a small tract bounded by Williams, Gano, Power and Roger streets, including Slate Rock, recorded on the What Cheer Estate Plat, 1848. It was accepted as a public park in 1893 and re-named Roger Williams Square.17
Blackstone Park, a five-acre estate on the shore of Seekonk river, north of Red Bridge, conveyed for a public park by William P. Vaughn and Moses B. Jenkins, 1866.18
A lot of land on the west side of Congdon Street, conveyed by Isaac Hale and other East Side residents, 1867, "to be forever a public square," first identified as Prospect Square and later changed to Prospect Terrace.19 Improvements to the property, including the erection of a retaining wall, were completed in 1877 (illustration, page 148) in which year a frog-and-dog fountain, given by George P. Phillips, was set up.
Elmwood Park (Columbus Park), conveyed to the town of Cranston by Joseph J. Cooke, 1864, and acquired by the city of Providence when a part of Cranston was re-annexed in 1868 (page 135).
Field's Point Farm, a 34-acre estate bordering the west shore of Providence river and including a part of Robin Hill (page 52), set aside for park purposes by authority of the General Assembly, 1869 (page 135; see map, page 142).
By a provision in the will of Betsey Williams, who died in 1871, the city was bequeathed her 100-acre estate, located partly in Providence and partly in Cranston, on condition that a monument be erected therein in memory of her ancestor, Roger Williams. The farm, originally purchased in 1662 by Joseph, youngest son of Roger Williams, extended from the Stonington Railroad to Pawtuxet (Broad) Street and comprised "wide stretches of table land, picturesque valleys, and wooded hills, intersected here and there with running brooks, and embracing within its boundaries all desired requirements for a park and resort for all seasons of the year."20 The bequest included a farm house (Betsey Williams Cottage,
17. In the division of six-acre lots to the early settlers Roger Williams was allotted the tract on the shore of Seekonk river where Slate Rock was located, and named it What Cheer. In 1798 the tract was a part of Governor James Fenner's 57-acre farm which was bounded by the present Pitman and Governor streets, George M. Cohan Boulevard and Seekonk river (Chace, plate II). On June 19, 1848, the heirs of Governor Fenner recorded a plat of the farm, entitled What Cheer Estate, which established the present street pattern in that area and set aside, for public use, What Cheer Square, a tract of 40,000 square feet, containing Slate Rock, the easterly portion of which was under water. Shortly thereafter Governor and Ives streets and several cross streets were constructed. When Gano street was built on filled land in 1878 Slate Rock was left in a hollow, west of the highway, 20 feet deep. During the eighties the hollow was filled and a portion of the rock was raised and enclosed by an iron fence. Both rock and fence were removed when the present monument was erected in 1906 by the Providence Association of Merchants and Mechanics.
18. Committee on Parks, Report, 1873-74. "It is a glen, full of the most picturesque and romantic scenery, through the center of which a brook of the cleanest water winds its tortuous way. In material beauty this little park is a gem. It is to be regretted, however, that its dimensions are so attenuated."
19. Ibid. "Owing to its elevated position it has a magnificent outlook over the west portion of the city, but so abrupt is the side hill on which it stands that a heavy stone wall is required to support the park." 20. Ibid.
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WEYBOSSET SIDE
illustration, page 55), erected by Nathaniel Williams in 1773, and the Williams family burial ground. The city accepted the farm as a public park by resolution of the City Council February 19, 1872, and named it Roger Williams Park. In the following year the Cranston portion of the estate was re-annexed to Providence.21 Improvements made to the property, soon after its acceptance, included the removal of stumps and underbrush, the dredging of a section of Mashapaug brook to open up a pond, and the layout of roads. A monument to Roger Williams, with bronze figures designed by Franklin Simmons of Rome and cast in Munich, was erected on a high bank west of the pond and dedicated August 16, 1877.22
R.I.H.S.
Prospect Terrace, 1867, Congdon Street.
The committee on parks recommended the construction of an avenue to connect Roger Williams Park and Field's Point Farm,23 but the project was not carried out as the proposal for a park development at Field's Point was abandoned.
North Burial Ground, established 1700 (page 19), was increased in area from time to time and, by 1870, included a total tract of 122 acres, nearly one-third of which was in the town of North Providence. Swan Point Cemetery, founded 1846 (page 119), had been
21. A.&R., 1873, chapter 315. See map, page 130.
22. C.M., 1878. 23 . C.C. Resolution No. 292, 1873.
148
1870-1880
extended to include 103 acres between the Neck road and Seekonk river and 28 acres adjoining the Neck road on the west, all included within the corporate limits of North Providence. By act of the General Assembly, March 28, 1873, all of the portion of North Providence embraced within the limits of North Burial Ground and Swan Point Cemetery was re-annexed to the city of Providence.24
By further act of the General Assembly in the January session, 1874, the town of North Providence, taken from Providence in 1765 (page 42), was subdivided, its southerly portion re-annexed to Providence and its easterly portion annexed to Pawtucket.25 Provi- dence thus acquired about six more square miles of territory, identified as Ward Io, which included 30 miles of streets, seven district schools, 26 manufacturing plants, and over 2000 houses.26 The new bounds extended from Woonasquatucket river, north of the village of Manton, northeasterly in a straight line to Smithfield Avenue, thence on Power Road (Cemetery Street) southerly to the railroad bridge, and easterly in a straight line to Seekonk river. By the combined re-annexations from Cranston and North Providence the area of Providence was increased to 16 square miles.
Providence Gas Company, having abandoned its original plant (page 121) was now manufacturing gas in holders which had been built in various parts of the city. The largest of these, erected at the corner of Hospital and Crary streets in 1872, had a capacity of 550,000 gallons and its circular enclosure, designed by Clifton A. Hall, was an excellent example of brickwork, its plain wall surfaces broken by piers with corbeling in the frieze and cornice. The metal dome, rising above the walls, was a landmark for many years.27
Exchange Place in 1870 extended from Washington Row to Dorrance Street (see map, page 117). Along its north border, following the curve of the Cove basin, stood the railroad passenger depot (page 118). Its south side was flanked by a row of business buildings. At its east end were Washington and Exchange bridges, separated by an open stretch of Providence river. And at its west end, bordering Dorrance Street, was a city-owned tri- angular lot and beyond it, on the opposite side of Dorrance Street, the City Hall lot on which Harrington's Opera House (page 137) was then standing. The development of this area, during the succeeding decade, marked the beginning of the present civic center.
In 1871 the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was erected on the triangular lot as a Civil War memorial.28 The shaft and steps were built of granite with sculptured figures in bronze, designed by Randolph Rogers. On one face of the shaft is the inscription: "Erected by the people of Rhode Island to the memory of the brave men who died that their country might live;" bronze tablets record their names.
On the south side of Exchange Place, opposite the west wing of the passenger depot (see map, page 164) Butler Exchange was built in 1873. This building extended through to Westminster Street with an alley on either side, and was the largest private structure erected in Providence up to that period. Designed by Arthur Gilman of New York, it was four stories high to the main cornice, above which were two additional stories in a high French roof, with pavilion towers at the four corners, influenced by those of the Louvre at Paris. The walls of the two principal facades were composed of iron columns and
24. A.&.R, 1873, chapter 316. See map, page 130.
25. A.&R., 1874, chapter 365. See maps, pages 69, 130. 26. C.D. No. 64, 1873-74.
27. The holders were abandoned when a production plant was erected by the Providence Gas Company at Sassafras Point in 1900. The Crary Street structure was razed in 1938.
28. See illustration, page 216. The monument was moved to the present location, in the center of the mall, in 1906.
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WEYBOSSET SIDE
entablatures, enclosing closely-spaced round-topped windows (illustrations, pages 208, 216). A wide corridor extended from highway to highway through the center of the building. Butler Exchange was razed in 1925 and the Industrial Trust Building was erected on its site (page 247).
A fire station was built at the east end of Exchange Place in 1873, supported on piles set in the river between the two bridges (illustration, page 178). It was a two-story building with a French roof and tower, designed by George W. Cady, and was popularly known as the Three Ones. The first story provided quarters for Hose No. 1, Hook and Ladder No. I and Protective No. I, and offices were located on the second story for the chief engineer, superintendent of lights, overseer of bridges, and the public buildings department. This building replaced the Hydraulion Fire Station (page 87); it was demolished in 1902 when a new station was erected (page 200).
A joint special committee was appointed by the City Council March 26, 1874, to procure plans and estimates for a City Hall to be erected on the lot already designated (page 137) at the west end of Exchange Place. E. L. Anthony was named advisory architect in developing preliminary floor plans and, subsequently, a competition was held for the design. A total of 21 plans were submitted and judged by the committee and its two advisors, Alpheus C. Morse and Henry Childs. The design selected was that of Samuel J. F. Thayer of Boston who described the style of the building as "Renaissance, of the character widely adopted for civic buildings in the most advanced cities of the world." The plans provided for a granite building, 133 by 158 feet in area, five stories in height, with a dome over the main entrance facing Exchange Place.29 The cornerstone was laid June 24, 1875, and the building was dedicated November 14, 1878 (illustration, page 218). The old Market House on Market Square, now vacated as the City Building (page 134), was leased in 1880 to the Providence Board of Trade.
The General Assembly passed an act, March 9, 1875, to provide a Court House for Providence County to accommodate the state courts, sessions of which had been held in the State House (originally the Colony House) since its erection in 1762, and selected for a site the Town House lot (page 67) at the corner of College and Benefit streets. The design of the building, by Stone and Carpenter, followed French Gothic tradition with Lombard brick detail in the corbeled cornices. The walls were brick with brownstone trimmings and the many gables, turrets, buttresses and pointed-arched windows were blended to form an interesting hillside facade. A tower, 20 feet square, rose 125 feet above the Benefit Street entrance with clock faces set in small pediments on its four sides (illustration, page 151). The building provided quarters for the Supreme and Superior Courts, judges' chambers, offices for the attorney general and sheriffs, jury rooms and a law library. It was dedicated December 18, 1877 and after a half-century of use was razed to be superseded by the present Providence County Court House (page 239).
The city carried out an extensive school building program in the seventies. Four brick French-roof grammar schools, each with a bell tower, were erected, namely, Point Street30 (1874), Oxford Street (1877), Doyle Avenue (1876) and Candace Street (1877), the first two designed by Clifton A. Hall and the others by E. L. Angell. Each of these had an auditorium on the top story. A high school was built at the corner of Summer and Pond streets (William R. Walker, architect, 1877), superseding the Benefit Street building (page
29. Joint Special Committee on City Hall, reports, Sept. 21, 1874, June 16, 1879; City Auditor's report, 1881. The top floor was remodeled in 1914 from plans by Jackson, Robertson and Adams.
30. Point Street School burned January 4, 1940 and was rebuilt.
150
R.I.H.S. Superior Court House, 1877-1930, corner of Benefit and College streets.
WEYBOSSET SIDE
103). It contained nine large class rooms, each lighted by a set of mullioned windows in one wall, an auditorium, and wide corridors leading to three outside entrances. The three-story brick walls were crowned by a roof of florid design. Eleven primary schools were erected during the decade, prominent among which was Bridgham Street (1878), later converted into a trade school.
The former high school was purchased by the state for use as a normal school and was enlarged by the erection of a rear ell for laboratory and other purposes. This school, incorporated 1871 with the board of education (page 138) as trustees and J. C. Greenough as principal, was first opened in the vacated High Street Congregational Church.31
The English and Classical School erected a brick building on Snow Street in 1875. This private school for boys, of which William A. Mowry and Charles B. Goff were proprietors, was opened in 1864 in the Lyceum Building and had a distinguished career for over 30 years. It was merged with the University Grammar School (page 79) in 1898 as the University School, and was absorbed by Moses Brown School (page 87) in 1904.32
Several parochial schools, maintained by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rhode Island, were in operation at this time. The earliest was Saint Xavier's Academy, established by the Sisters of Mercy at the corner of Broad and Claverick streets in 1851, followed by Saint Patrick's School on Davis Street in 1851 and the Immaculate Conception School on West River Street in 1867. The Academy of the Sacred Heart was organized in 1872 and acquired the William Grosvenor estate on Smith Street (page 126). LaSalle Academy, formerly the Christian Brothers School, was opened in 1872 in a building on Fountain Street. The others were Saint Mary's School, established 1872 at Broadway and Barton streets, and Cleary School, opened in 1879 on John Street, near Saint Joseph's Church.
Church design in the seventies usually followed either Gothic or Romanesque technique, the walls fabricated of brick with stone trimmings. Noteworthy among the brick Gothic churches were Trinity Methodist (Morse and Hall, architects, 1872) at 375 Broad Street, the First Universalist (E. L. Howland, architect, 1872) at 250 Washington Street and the Union Baptist (1876) on East Street, each with a corner spire; Hope Street Methodist (1874) at 121 Hope Street (page 121) had a steeple rising from the center of the facade; and the Union Congregational (William R. Walker, architect, 1877) on Broad Street, near Stewart, was featured by twin towers.33
All Saints Episcopal Church at Westminster and Stewart streets (Potter of New York, architect, 1871) and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (P. C. Keeley, architect) are brownstone Gothic. All Saints has a large lancet window in the nave and an entrance set in the base of a corner tower from which a spire was intended to rise. The
31. The church was erected c. 1834 on High Street, opposite Summer Street, and was vacated following the merging of its society with the Richmond Street Congregational Church to form the Union Congregational Church, in 1868. It later became the Star Theatre and was destroyed by fire February 11, 1899. The Normal School occupied the Benefit Street building until 1898 when the state erected a new building for its use on Francis Street (page 194).
32. The University School occupied the Benefit Street schoolhouse vacated by the Normal School. The 1875 building was converted to business use and was remodeled following damage by fire January 22, 1956. 33. Trinity Church gave the name to Trinity Square; a large addition was built to the church on Bridgham Street in 1915. The First Universalist succeeded the earlier building on Westminster Street (page 97). The spires have been removed from the Hope Street and the Union Baptist churches; the former is occupied by the Tockwotton Branch of the Providence Public Library. The Union Congregational Church was razed about 1928.
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