USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 16
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1870 - 1880
cathedral is cruciform in plan, with two massive towers flanking a rose window; construction was started in 1878 and the edifice was consecrated in 1889 (illustration, page 176).
Saint John's Roman Catholic Church on Atwells Avenue (1871-75), with a central tower, is of Romanesque influence. So too was the twin-towered Church of the Mediator at Cranston and Burgess streets (E. L. Howland, architect, 1869), now a cold storage warehouse. Bell Street Chapel (William R. Walker, architect, 1875) was modeled after Maison Carrée at Nimes, its facade composed of a Corinthian portico over a rusticated basement.
ODASI
R.I.H.S.
View east on Weybosset Street, c. 1880, showing Narragansett Hotel (1878) right and Dyer Block (c. 1880) left.
Providence Opera House was built in 1871 on the southern part of the lot bounded by Dorrance, Pine, Eddy and Weybosset streets. Narragansett Hotel was erected on the northern part seven years later (illustration above). The opera house, which soon became the city's leading theatre and so continued for 50 years, was constructed of brick with the main entrance on Dorrance Street. A short flight of steps led from the foyer to the parquet and continued to the dress circle. The stage abutted the north wall, with a green room and dressing rooms. On either side of the proscenium were three tiers of boxes. The horseshoe- shaped dress circle overlooked the parquet; above it was a gallery ("nigger heaven"), entered by a stairway from Eddy Street. The wide and comfortable seats of the auditorium, the unobstructed sight lines caused by a steep pitch of the parquet floor toward the stage, and the perfect acoustics combined to provide means for the enjoyment of plays unsurpassed by any modern theatre in Providence. The Opera House was under management of Robert
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Morrow, one-time director of Theatre Comique;34 he was succeeded by Felix R. Wendel- schafer who rose from the position of first violinist of the orchestra. The building was taken down in 1931 and its site used subsequently as a parking lot. Narragansett Hotel, designed by Walker and Gould and abutting the Opera House on the north, was erected in 1878. The walls, seven stories in height, were built of pressed brick with cast iron construction for the first story facades. The lower stories have been considerably altered from time to time but the building continues as one of the city's leading hotels.
For many years the principal auditorium of Providence was Infantry Hall, an assembly room 75 feet wide by 140 feet long which occupied the second story of Infantry Building, erected on South Main Street in 1879 by the First Light Infantry Regiment, a chartered command organized in 1818. The cornerstone of the building (George W. Cady, architect),
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R.I.H.S.
Infantry Building, 1879-1942, South Main Street.
was laid May 12, 1879 and the hall was opened in January, 1880, with a military fair. The building was constructed of brick, its four-story facade crowned by a tower. The hall was surrounded on three sides by galleries with a stage and dressing rooms at one end, and had a seating capacity of 2000. It was used for concerts, theatricals, military activities, food shows, political rallies, banquets, dog shows, charity balls, lectures, roller polo, prize fights and other purposes. The Arion Club, a choral society led by Jules Jordan, gave its concerts in Infantry Hall with well-known soloists as assisting artists. The American Band, organized 1837 as a unit of the First Light Infantry, was frequently heard in the hall under the baton of D. W. Reeves. For a number of years Sousa's Band played there annually. The Boston Symphony Orchestra gave over 200 concerts in the hall between 1882 and
34. Theatre Comique occupied the second story of a wood building at the corner of Weybosset and Orange streets from 1874 until 1888, when it was destroyed by fire.
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1870-1880
1926. Patti, Tetrazzini, Paderewski, Calvé, Matzenauer, Sembrich, Gadski, Schumann- Heink, Homer, Sarasate, Nordica, Melba, Hempel, Farrar, Galli-Curci, Bispham, McCor- mack, Hofmann, Gabrilowitsch, Grainger, Bauer, Heifetz, Kreisler, and Ysaye were among the artists who performed in the auditorium.35 Three presidents - McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Taft - made addresses in the building. After some years of deteri- oration the building was destroyed by fire October 4, 1942.
A fire on September 27, 1877, originating in a building on Harkness Court, occupied by Waldron, Wightman and Company, wholesale grocers, and Charles W. Jencks and Brother, paper box manufacturers, destroyed that building as well as two business blocks on Custom House Street.36 On their sites were erected, respectively, the Aldrich Building at 13 Pine Street, the Daniels Building at 26 Custom House Street, and the Vaughan Building at 17 Custom House Street, all designed by Walker and Gould.37 Their walls were built of brick with granite and sandstone trim, each five stories high, in a style, typical of the period, in which piers, arches, corbeled work, pediments, and columns were used in profusion. Similar technique was employed by Stone and Carpenter in the design of Cheapside Block at 28 North Main Street. In the Wayland Building at 128 North Main Street, designed by Charles P. Hartshorn, the first use in Providence was made of cast stone ornamentation in conjunction with brickwork.38 The Equitable Building at the corner of Weybosset and Custom House streets (Walker and Gould, architects) is featured by ornamental cast iron facades. Hoppin Homestead Building39 at 357 Westminster Street (J. C. Bucklin, architect, 1875) has a steel frame, cast iron and glass store fronts and three stories of closely-spaced windows on the main facade. The fourth floor was designed for the use of Bryant and Stratton Business College, organized 1863 under private management (page 276). The Rhode Island School of Design occupied a part of the building 1878-1893 (page 194).
The domestic architecture of the seventies reflects the contrasting tastes of the older and more conservative families residing on the East Side and the newer families of wealth who were settling on Broadway, Elmwood Avenue and other streets on Weybosset Side. The newcomers, seeking to emulate the contemporary "villas" and "chateaux" of Newport, built their houses with an accent on flamboyance and the use of bay windows, towers, scrolls, brackets, wrought iron work, stained glass and other decorative features, with little restraint. Among surviving examples are the George W. Prentice house at 514 Broadway (illustration, page 156) with sun-bonnet gables and a tower crowned by a Chinese pagoda, and the J. B. Barnaby house at 299 Broadway with its twelve-sided tower. East Side dwellings of the period had more restraint in architectural form and detail. The George H. Corliss house, designed by its owner, at 45 Prospect Street (illustration, page 156) and the Francis W. Goddard house at 71 George Street, both red brick, have dignity and freedom from over-ornamentation. The three-story Italian facade of the former has a central Doric porch and side projections, one of which rises to a fourth story tower. The latter is an asym- metric, French-roofed dwelling, with a round-arched entrance porch on the side wall.
A building ordinance for the city of Providence, sponsored by the Rhode Island
35 . Providence Journal, July 25, 1926. See illustration, page 154.
36. Ibid,, Sept. 28, 1877.
37. Aldrich Building was razed in 1940, the Daniels Building in 1957.
38. A bust of Francis Wayland, president of Brown University (1827-55) occupies a niche in the facade of the building.
39. Hoppin Homestead Building was built on the site of the Benjamin Hoppin house (page 97).
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Chapter of the American Institute of Architects,40 became effective by act of the General Assembly in 1879.41 The only previous control over building operations was an ordinance, enacted in 1857, requiring a person intending to erect a building within ten feet of a public street to give notice of such intent to the Board of Aldermen who would, thereupon, designate an engineer to define the line of the street and report thereon to the board.42 This function was delegated to the city engineer in 1869. The building ordinance made various regulations with respect to the construction of buildings and established and defined bounds for a first (fire), a second, and an outer district. The chief of the fire district became ex-officio inspector of buildings.
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George W. Prentice house, c. 1880, 514 Broadway.
George H. Corliss house, c. 1875, 45 Prospect Street.
The system of railroads was extended in the seventies by three additional lines branch- ing from the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad. The Providence and Springfield branched westerly at Olneyville and was opened to traffic as far as Pascoag in 1873. Pawtuxet Valley Railroad, incorporated 1872 and first constructed as a branch of the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill (page 118) from Riverpoint to Hope, was later extended northerly to join the main line at Auburn. And the Warwick and Oakland Beach Railroad, constructed in 1874 with rails branching at Auburn and continuing through Cranston and Warwick, was extended in 1880 to Buttonwoods.
40. The Institute had its birth in 1856; the R. I. Chapter was organized in 1875 with Alpheus C. Morse president, Alfred Stone vice president, Charles P. Hartshorn secretary, and George C. Mason treasurer.
41. P.L., 1878, chapter 688, an act in relation to buildings in the city of Providence and for other purposes.
42. C.M., 1870-71, p. 13. Prior to 1857 the lines of highways had usually been defined by landmarks, many of which had disappeared. Permanent bound stones were set after that year and, upon establishment of the city engineer's department, plats and surveys were made, defining highway grades. The initial point for city mapping was the U. S. Coast Guard station set up at Field's Point.
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1870-1880
Improvements to the harbor facilities of Narragansett bay and its estuaries were undertaken in 1877 under direction of harbor commissioners appointed by the General Assembly.43 Providence harbor originally contained many shoals which constituted an increasing menace to navigation as larger vessels entered the waters. This condition was partly corrected by dredging operations in 1853 and 1867 (page 123). The harbor lines, established in 1815 southerly from Weybosset Bridge (page 83) were later extended, under legislative authority, by running the easterly line east from Fox Point to India Point in 1865, and north along the west shore of Seekonk river to Central Bridge in 1870, and by continuing the westerly line south to Sassafras Point in 1855 and to Field's Point in 1872. Certain revisions were made to the harbor lines between Crawford and Point Street bridges in 1879.44 The first important project of the harbor commissioners was the dredging of a channel, 17 feet deep at mean high water, extending from Crawford Street Bridge to deep water in the bay, completed in 1880 by means of funds appropriated by the Congress.
This was an era of steamboats. From docks on the south shore of the Neck, between Fox Point and India Point, passengers and freight were transported to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk, and a fleet of boats was sailed, from docks below Crawford Bridge, to places on Narragansett bay.
Regular trips to New York were inaugurated by the Rhode Island and New York Steamboat Company in 1822 (page 85), followed shortly afterward by the operation of several independent lines. After the opening of the Boston and Providence Railroad in 1835 (page 104) the Boston and New York Transportation Company ran the steamboats Boston (1831), Providence (1832), President (1829), Benjamin Franklin (1828), Massachusetts (1836), Rhode Island (1836) and Narragansett (1836) from the railroad docks on India Street. Another boat, the John W. Richmond, was built at Eddy's Point in 1837 by the Atlantic Steamboat Company for trips to New York. The patronage of steamboats out of Providence was reduced upon the inauguration of a line from Stonington to New York in 1837 and the Fall River Line in 1847. Business was revived, however, in 1851, when the Continental Steamboat Company acquired the Fox Point wharf and commenced regular sailings to New York; the line was sold to the Neptune Steamboat Company in 1864 and was merged with the Stonington Line in 1866 as the Merchants Steamship Company. This was succeeded, the following year by the Providence and New York Steamship Company which was consolidated with the Stonington Steamship Company in 1875 as the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company. Included in its fleet were four "palace" steamers, the Rhode Island (1873) and Massachusetts (1877) on the Providence run and the Narra- gansett (1869) and Stonington (1869) on the Stonington run.45
The Empire Line of steamboats to Philadelphia was established, in 1866, with the Providence terminal at the Boston and Providence Railroad dock on India Street. This became the Keystone Line in 1870 and Winsor's Line in 1872. The Boston and Philadelphia Steamship Company, owner of this line, removed the terminal to Ives Wharf in 1875.
The Merchants and Miners Transportation Company opened the Providence, Norfolk and Baltimore Steamship Line, in 1873, with sailings from Lonsdale Wharf on India Street (illustration, page 106), at the foot of Hope Street. Among the fleet of steamers were the Blackstone, McClennan, and William Kennedy.
The steamboat line between Providence and Fall River, organized by the Fall River
43. Field, I, 385.
44. P.L., 1878, chapter 696, amended 1879.
45. Field, II, 520.
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Iron Works in 1827 (page 85), continued operations under the same ownership from its dock on South Water Street. Its principal boats were the Bradford Durfee (1845) and Richard Borden (1874), the latter a "double-ender."
Steamboat service between Providence and Newport, inaugurated in 1822 on the New York run, was continued, with occasional interruptions, by various companies. In 1865 the American Steamboat Company was organized and operated steamboats to Newport from a wharf on Dyer Street. The line was succeeded by the Continental Steamboat Company, in 1878, with the inclusion of Rocky Point,46 Conanicut Park and other bay ports in its itinerary. Among the steamboats were the Crystal Wave (1875), City of Newport (1863), Bay Queen (1865), Day Star (1873), and What Cheer (1867).4
46. Rocky Point, a resort on the east shore of Warwick Neck, was acquired by the American Steamboat Company in 1869 and developed as an amusement park. It was noted for its shore dinners which for many years were managed by Randall A. Harrington. The park dining hall and other buildings were destroyed by the 1938 hurricane (page 270), and were rebuilt and reopened in 1948.
47. The What Cheer, one of the smaller paddle-wheelers, carried the figure of a little Indian above the pilot house.
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I IMOUNT HOPEI
R.I.H.S.
A Narragansett bay steamboat.
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CHAPTER 14 1880 - 1890
T HE introduction of telegraph, telephone, and electric lighting systems was the prelude to modern civic development. The first telegraph line out of Providence was run to Worcester, Massachusetts, connecting with a line from Boston to New York, in 1848, four years after Samuel F. B. Morse established the first telegraph line in the United States.1 Telegraph instruments were operated in 1882 at the Union Depot, Narragansett Hotel, Butler Exchange and various railroad, steamboat and other offices.2 The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 18763 and first demonstrated at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that year, was introduced in Providence two years later, followed by the incorporation of the Providence Telephone Company in 1879 with headquarters in Butler Exchange. Under an ordinance passed by the City Council October 1, 1881, that company was authorized "to erect poles and use and maintain thereon a line of wires and appurtenances thereto for telephone use" upon certain specified streets, and by later ordinances the system was further extended within the city. In 1882 the Rhode Island Electric Lighting Company was organized with a station located on Dyer Street, between Dorrance and Ship, and was authorized by the City Council to erect poles and wires for conducting electricity for light, heat and motive power to consumers. On August 6 of that year the committee on lamps contracted with the electric lighting company for the installation of ten arc lights, an invention of Charles F. Brush of Cleveland, Ohio, for highway lighting on Market Square and Westminster Street and by January, 1884, 40 more street lights had been put in use in the center of the city.4 Illumination was provided for private consumers by means of the incandescent lamp, patented in 1879 by Thomas A. Edison. In 1888 the General Assembly authorized the city of Providence to hire a sum of money to be expended for laying underground the wires belonging to the city in the fire district. 5
As late as 1882 the system of street lighting was regulated by the moon, whose light was utilized as much as possible; if the sky was clouded on full moon nights a flag was displayed from the staff on Prospect Terrace as a signal to light.6 In 1887 the superintendent of lights reported a total of 4,397 street lights in use, including 2,560 gas, 1,035 naphtha, 627 gasoline, and 175 electric.
Among the many highway projects undertaken during the eighties was the widening of North Main Street where it adjoined North Burial Ground. The old road to Pawtucket and the Pawtucket Turnpike,7 which ran side by side northerly from the former city line at Cemetery Street, had been incorporated into a single highway in 1869-70 as far as
I. "What hath God wrought!" was the first message, telegraphed from Baltimore to Washington in 1844.
2. Moses King, King's Pocketbook of Providence (Cambridge, 1882), p. IIO.
3. Mr. Bell was assisted in his experiments by Eli Whitney Blake, professor of Physics at Brown, who invented the Blake transformer.
4. Report of Mayor Hayward in City Manual, 1884.
6. King's Pocketbook, p. 108. 5. P.L., 1888, chapter 670.
7. See page 85. The turnpike was freed in 1869.
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Hillside Avenue, previous to its re-annexation from North Providence.8 In 1876 an agree- ment was made between the city of Providence and the Randall heirs whereby a strip of land in North Burial Ground, 115 feet wide, should be alienated from burial purposes and should be known as Randall Park, it being understood that a section thereof might be used by the city, when required, for widening North Main Street.9 On April 20, 1882, the Board of Aldermen authorized that project from Sexton Street to Cemetery Street, at a uniform width of 99 feet,10 by which act that section of North Main Street superseded Broadway as the city's widest thoroughfare (page 124).
Under a highway act passed by the General Assembly April 30, 1886, the commission of estimate and assessment11 was abolished and the layout, widening and extension of streets was vested in the Board of Aldermen with authority, in the case of each project, to appoint three appraisers, none of whom should be interested in the land in question, to determine benefits and damages. A board of public works,12 organized in 1880 with control over high- ways, waterworks and sewerage, was superseded in 1888 by the office of commissioner of public works,13 the first incumbent of which was John A. Coleman, appointed by the City Council in February, 1889.
Consideration was given to the safety of public buildings in 1882 by a joint special committee appointed by the City Council to examine the theatres and halls used for public gatherings with respect to strength of construction, fire hazard, means of egress and ventilation. The buildings examined were Providence Opera House (page 153), Music Hall,14 Amateur Dramatic Hall,15 Infantry Hall (page 154), Theatre Comique (page 134), Low's Opera House,16 Central Congregational Church,17 Union Congregational Church (page 152), and Beneficent Congregational Church.18 In a report made by experts retained by the com- mittee various recommendations were made for reducing the danger in case of fire, including additional exits and stairways, exit signs, stair handrails, the fireproofing of proscenium arches and stairways, the protection of gas footlights by wire screening, and the installation of sprinklers and fire extinguishers. The owners of the buildings were notified by the committee of the specific recommendations and made general compliance with them.19
8. See page 149. This section of the highway was established at a width of 9212 feet. 10. Ibid, 309.
9. E.R.P., XVIII, 289.
II. See page 123. Under the act of 1854 one-half the cost of each project was paid for by the city and the balance by property owners in proportion to the benefits accrued. An amended act, in 1871, reduced the city's obligation to one-fourth the cost of each project.
12. Appointed under authority of Chapter 815, Public Laws, April 15, 1880.
13. Appointed under authority of Chapter 677, Public Laws, March 23, 1888.
14. A hall used for concerts, lectures, and other purposes in a brick building on Westminster Street, opposite Aborn. The auditorium was on the second story with a main gallery around three sides and a second gallery at the rear, providing a total seating capacity of 2200. Above the stage was a Hook and Hastings concert organ. The Providence Public Market occupied the first story in 1895. The building was damaged by fire March 16, 1905 and in its reconstruction Music Hall was eliminated. The building was razed in 1955.
15. Formerly the Power Street Methodist Church (page 111) and later known as Talma Theatre.
16. Low's Grand Opera House at Westminster and Union streets was built in 1877 as a public hall and was remodeled into a theatre the following year. The main entrance and foyer were on Union Street, opposite the stage, and overlooking the parquet was a horseshoe-shaped gallery. A new entrance and lobby were opened from Westminster Street in 1882 and a second gallery constructed, providing a total seating capacity of 1600. The name of the theatre was changed to B. F. Keith's Gaiety Opera House in 1889, Keith's New Theatre in 1912, Victory Theatre in 1919, and Empire Theatre in 1935. It was razed in 1949 (see page 285).
17. Now a part of the R. I. School of Design. See page 207.
18. See page 74. It is commonly known as the Round Top Church.
19. Report of Joint Standing Committee on Safety of Public Buildings, December 4, 1882.
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1880-1890
The joint special committee urged the adoption of amendments to the building laws to provide for the safety of public buildings thereafter erected. Its recommendations were approved by Spencer B. Hopkins, whose election by the Council to the office of inspector of buildings followed legislative action April 10, 1883, removing the enforcement of the building laws from the fire department (page 156). It was not until 1895, however, that the desired amendments were passed by the General Assembly.20
In addition to the theatres and auditoriums several places of amusement were well patronized at this period. The Park Garden, located on a 30-acre tract bounded by the present Broad, Sumter, Niagara and Sackett streets, was a summer resort, with lawns, paths, and a pavilion, that was opened in 1878 with "A Feast of Lanterns;" a production of "H. M. S. Pinafore" was given there on an artificial lake in the summer of 1879. Another summer resort, San Souci Garden, containing a theatre and shooting gallery, was on Broadway, opposite Jackson Street. Nearby, on Aborn Street, where the Manufacturers Building now stands, was Amos C. Barstow's Providence Roller Skating Rink, a large wooden building with a rink and galleries; it was destroyed by fire May 21, 1893. The Providence Base Ball Ground, home of the Providence club that won the National League championship in 1879, was at the corner of High (Westminster) and Messer streets. There were two small places of amusement on Westminster Street; the Dime Museum stood on the site of the present Albee Theatre (page 227), and Westminster Musee, later rebuilt as Westminster Theatre (page 203) was a short distance westward.
About 200 horse cars were in operation over 41 miles of tracks in 1882. The fares, within the city limits, were six cents for adults and three cents for children. Blue uniforms were worn by conductors and gray uniforms by drivers. The routes and destinations were identified by the colors of cars and signal lights, as follows:21
Broad Street to Pawtuxet, maroon, purple lights.
Broadway to Olneyville, blue and white, blue lights.
Brook Street to Olneyville by way of Wickenden, South Main, Westminster and High streets, green and white, green lights.22
Chalkstone Avenue to Mount Pleasant, drab, red and white lights.
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