USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 21
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A viaduct was built by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad north of Post Office Square, constituting an eyesore that still prevails in that conspicuous spot. Starting from the train sheds in the Union Station, it cut through a section of the old merchandise depot (page 115) and overpassed Canal and North Main streets. A tunnel was constructed through the East Side, its west portal adjacent to the rear of the Art Club between North Main and Benefit, and its east portal east of Ives Street. From that portal a causeway was carried to the harbor line from which a steel bridge, with lift-draw, was con- structed across Seekonk river. Railroad tracks were laid from the Union Station to connect with the Warren and Bristol branch in East Providence, and were opened for service November 15, 1908 at which time the old Fox Point depot (page 119) was abandoned.11
Improvements to the water supply system were undertaken in 1902 for the purpose of clarifying the polluted waters of Pawtuxet river. A slow sand filtration plant, capable of filtering 20 million gallons daily, was constructed near Pettaconsett Pumping Station (page 135), and put in operation in 1905.
Work on the sewage disposal works at Sassafras Point (page 182) was continued with the construction of a chemical precipitation plant. Upon its completion in 1901 the sludge process was put in operation with the effluent outfall and storm sewage discharging into Providence river. Trunk sewers were laid in the Woonasquatucket, Moshassuck and West river districts in 1903 for the purpose of averting the discharge of sewage and mill waste into those rivers.
The placing of high-tension wires underground, in the downtown area, was completed in 1901. In that year the Narragansett Electric Lighting Company operated about 1900 arc lights on the principal highways and 1850 incandescent lamps on secondary streets. In outlying areas 800 gas lights were maintained by the Welsbach Street Lighting Company.12
Control of the police department, by act of the General Assembly November 22, 1901,
II. Passenger service on the Providence, Warren and Bristol branch was discontinued in July, 1937, since which time the tunnel has been used only for occasional freight traffic.
12. From Mayor Augustus S. Miller's inaugural address in City Manual, 1903.
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View of Seekonk river bridges from East Providence c. 1910. Providence, Warren & Bristol Railroad bridge and Washington Bridge (1885) in foreground. Tunnel bridge (1908) and Red Bridge (1895) in distance.
1900 - 1910
was placed in charge of a board of three commissioners whose members were appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Under an amended act, passed in 1906, appointments to the commission were made by the mayor with the approval of the Board of Aldermen. In 1902 a brick police station was erected for the seventh district at the corner of Hamilton Street and Potter's Avenue.
In addition to the new Central Fire Station (page 200), completed in 1903, new fire stations were erected on Laurel Hill Avenue and Douglas Avenue (both designed by Sanders and Thornton, 1902), Mount Pleasant Avenue (1904), Humboldt Avenue (E. T. Banning, architect, 1907), and Point Street (1908).
About 90 acres of land were added to the city's park estates during the first decade of the century. Blackstone Park (page 147) was enlarged in 1903 by purchase of 212 acres of shore property on its northern border. Two tracts aggregating 40 acres west of Plainfield Street, including a part of Neutaconkanut Hill,13 were purchased, through park loans approved by the General Assembly in 1903 and 1906, for the establishment of Neutacon- kanut Hill Park. By resolution of the City Council, in 1904, 372 remaining acres of the former Cove basin were dedicated to park purposes and designated the Public Garden. Tockwotton Park playground (page 165) was extended easterly 100 feet to Ives Street in 1907. The city acquired two adjacent parcels of land on Admiral Street, including the Esek Hopkins house (1756), by deeds of gift from Mrs. Elizabeth A. Gould in 1907 and Marshall Hopkins Gould in 1908; the joint estate, comprising 612 acres, was dedicated February 19, 1909 and named Hopkins Park. A strip of land, 17 acres in extent and from 100 to 200 feet in width, following the course of a stream from Promenade Street to Academy Avenue, was purchased by the city and named Pleasant Valley Parkway in 1909. Seven tracts of land, aggregating about ten acres, were dedicated for playgrounds between 1902 and 1906; one of these, in the Olneyville district, was donated by Sarah J. Eddy; two were properties already owned by the city, and the remainder were purchased.
The park treatment of Blackstone Boulevard (page 177) was completed in 1904. Follow- ing the extension of the electric car line through the parkway to Swan Point Cemetery a trolley shelter was erected at the terminus by that corporation.
Roger Williams Park was benefited by a large bequest of Anna H. Man, in whose honor the city erected a bronze memorial gateway at the Elmwood Avenue entrance in 1903. In that year a statue of the Pancreatist, a replica of the Greek masterpiece, was set up near the boat house, a gift of Paul Bajnotti. On a small knoll, overlooking one of the lakes, a circular seat was erected as a memorial to Richard H. Deming, park commissioner, 1891-1902, upon which was mounted a bust of Deming.
The theatres operating during this period included Providence Opera House on Dorrance Street (plays, operas and musical shows); Keith's Opera House, 260 Westminster Street (vaudeville, except in summer seasons when plays were given by the Albee Stock Company); Westminster Theatre, "The Sink," 368 Westminster Street (burlesque); Empire Theatre, 412 Westminster Street (popular-priced drama); and Imperial Theatre, 56912 Westminster Street (varied entertainments).14 The earliest motion pictures were shown at
13. The hill was mentioned as one of the bounds in the deed executed by the Indians in 1637. See page 4. 14. The Imperial Theatre (W. H. Colwell, architect, 1902), later known, successively, as the Colonial and the Capitol, became a motion picture house; it was still in operation in 1955. Providence Opera House (page 153) was razed in 1931. The Empire, opened in 1898, was torn down when Empire Street was constructed in 1915 (page 215). Westminster Theatre (page 161) was converted for movies in 191 5 under the name of Empire Theatre, later known as the Bijou; it was razed in 1950. Keith's (page 160), re-christened the Empire in 1935, was replaced by the W. T. Grant Building in 1949.
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Keith's as the American Biograph. Several picture houses were established in downtown buildings between 1907 and 1910, including Casino Theatre at 126 Mathewson Street, Bijou Theatre at 156 Westminster Street, Bullock's Temple at 34 Richmond Street (formerly the Richmond Street Congregational Church), and Scenic Theatre at 121 Mathewson Street (formerly Westminster Congregational Church).15
There were a number of small assembly halls in Providence at this time, used for dances, chamber concerts, and other social gatherings. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel D. Spink erected a dance hall, about 1891, at the rear of their dwelling at 183 Weybosset Street for a dancing school that was used also for private dances.16 The Trocadero, lavishly decorated with mirrors and gilded relief work, occupied the rear end of the Burrill Building (1891) at 291 Westminster Street, with an entrance on Mathewson Street;17 the Trocadero Ball was a leading social event for a number of years. The Eloise was established in the
Courtesy of the Brown Alumni Monthly
John Carter Brown Library, 1904, Brown University
Charles E. Paine house (1858) at 77 Franklin Street where a ballroom was added about 1886. These downtown assembly places, patronized principally by East Side residents, declined in popularity after the Rhode Island Women's Club erected Churchill House (Thornton and Thornton, architects) at 155 Angell Street in 1907, where a ballroom drew a large amount of society patronage.
The grounds of the Providence Base Ball Club, first located on Messer Street, were shifted in the nineties to Adelaide Park, an area west of Broad Street constituting a part of the former Park Garden (page 161). A new ball field, with a grandstand and bleachers,
15. See page 99. The Mathewson Street building was still standing in 1955, converted to business uses. The other buildings in the group have been razed.
16. The Spinks had been dancing teachers since 1870; Mr. Spink died before 1900 and Mrs. Spink con- tinued the school for another decade. The Weybosset Street dwelling was built by Stephen Waterman c. 1818; a fragment of the house was still standing in 1955.
17. Now a part of Gladding Dry Goods Company.
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1900 - 1910
was established about 1906 at Melrose Park, a 61/2 acre tract west of Melrose Avenue, near Roger Williams Park, and was used a number of seasons by the Providence club of the International League. The professional ball field was shifted in the twenties to Kinsley Park at Kinsley Avenue and Acorn streets, and has since been abandoned.
The inauguration of Dr. William H. P. Faunce as president of Brown in 1899 was followed by an extensive building program at the university. The Van Wickle gates (Hoppin and Ely, Hoppin and Koen, associated architects) was built at the College Street entrance (illustration below) and the Administration Building (Hoppin and Ely, architects) was erected on the site of the University Grammar School,18 in 1901-02, with funds received from a bequest of Augustus Stout Van Wickle of the class of 1876. The old wooden fence
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Van Wickle gates (1901) and John Hay Library (1910), Brown University
around the campus subsequently was replaced by an iron fence with brick piers; most of its sections were paid for by classes, or by individuals in memory of classes, with class numerals inscribed thereon. Memorial gates were erected at the minor entrances, including the Class of 1872 gate (1903) on Prospect Street, the Class of 1887 and the Robinson gates (1903) on Waterman Street, and the John Nicholas Brown (1904) and William Goddard (1910) gates on George Street. The Engineering Building (Clarke and Howe, architects) and Caswell Hall (Hoppin and Ely, architects) were built on the former Lincoln Field in 1903-04 and Rockefeller Hall (McKim, Mead and White of New York, architects), donated by John D. Rockefeller, was constructed on the Middle Campus in 1904. These are all brick buildings, the last two mentioned reviving Early Republican
18. See page 79. The Administration Building is now a departmental building, its name changed to Van Wickle Hall.
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traditions. John Carter Brown Library (illustration, page 204), erected on the Middle Campus in 1904, is Greek revival with limestone walls and a red tile roof; and John Hay Library (illustration, page 205), constructed on Prospect Street in 1910, is a marble structure in the English Renaissance style (both designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston). The first was built by the trustees under the will of John Nicholas Brown and was presented to the university, together with a collection of books and manuscripts started by his father, John Carter Brown. The second, named for John Hay of the class of 1858, whose bust, by Saint-Gaudens, was set up in the vestibule, was erected with funds donated
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Pendleton House, 1904, Rhode Island School of Design, Benefit Street
by Andrew Carnegie and others to house the university library. A bust of Dante, on a pedestal, was erected on the terrace in 1921, the gift of Italians of Providence. The campus was adorned by three monumental works, namely, the Carrie Tower (Guy Lowell of Boston, architect, 1904), given by Paul Bajnotti in memory of his wife, Carrie Mathilde Brown Bajnotti, and replicas of the Roman statues of Caesar Augustus and Marcus Aurelius, presented in 1906 and 1908, respectively, by Moses B. I. Goddard. Two buildings were erected for the women's college on Cushing Street, namely, Sayles Gymnasium (Stone, Carpenter and Willson, architects, 1907), given by Frank A. Sayles, and Miller
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Hall (Andrews, Jacques and Rantoul, architects, 1910), a dormitory erected under the bequest of Dr. and Mrs. Horace J. Miller.
Rhode Island School of Design acquired, by gift of Stephen O., Jesse H. and Manton B. Metcalf in 1903, the vacated Central Congregational Church (page 128) on Benefit Street, which was remodeled and named Memorial Hall. Pendleton House (page 64, illustration, page 206) was built north of Memorial Hall in 1904, designed by Stone, Carpenter and Willson in the Early Republican style of domestic architecture.
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Providence Journal Building, 1906, Westminster and Eddy streets.
Annmary Brown Memorial (Norman M. Isham, architect), a small granite building, was erected at 21 Brown Street in 1907 by General Rush C. Hawkins as a memorial to his wife, Annmary Brown Hawkins. Both are entombed in a mausoleum adjoining the Memo- rial. The building, later acquired by Brown University, contains a library of incunabula and two galleries of paintings by early and late masters.
A State Armory, financed by an armory loan approved by the people November 7, 1905, was constructed in 1907-08 on Cranston Street, south of Dexter Training Ground.
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View southeast from City Hall c. 1920. Turks Head Building (1913), upper left; Butler Exchange (1873-1925), left center; Union Trust Building (1901), right; roof of Howard Building (1859-1956) in foreground.
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William R. Walker and Son were architects of the building which includes a large drill hall flanked at each end by a four-story structure with a castellated tower.
The Union Trust Building (illustration, page 208), designed by Stone, Carpenter and Willson, was erected at the corner of Westminster and Dorrance streets in 1901 and enlarged
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First Church of Christ Scientist, 1908, Prospect and Meeting streets.
20 years later. It is a brick and stone structure, 12 stories high, ornate in design, containing banking rooms on the street floor and offices in the upper stories. The Providence Journal Company put up a building at 207 Westminster Street (illustration, page 207) in 1904-06, in replacement of the building which it had occupied since 1899. It was a three-story
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structure, designed in the French Renaissance style by Peabody and Stearns of Boston, with Corinthian columns and a mansard roof. Successive alterations since its vacating by the Journal in 1934 (page 265) have completely transformed the building except the roof. Several churches were erected in Providence during the first decade of the century. The most conspicuous, by reason of its high elevation on Prospect Street (illustration, page 209) is the First Church of Christ Scientist (Hoppin and Field, architects, 1908), designed in
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Saint Ann's Church, 1910, Hawkins Street.
the style of the Italian Renaissance with walls of yellow brick, trimmed with limestone and terra cotta. Surmounting the roof is a round colonnade, crowned by a copper dome and lantern, which dominates the East Side sky line. Polychrome terra cotta was used with brick in the construction of two Catholic churches, namely, Holy Ghost on Knight Street (1901-08) and Saint Ann's (illustration above) on Branch Avenue (1909-10). Both were designed by Murphy, Hindle and Wright and are featured by tall campaniles.19 Calvary
19. Saint Ann's established a parochial school at 42 Monticello Street and erected, in 1916, an industrial school at 253 Branch Avenue. Holy Ghost opened a school in the former Saint Adelbert's Church at 55 Ridge Street in 1923.
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Baptist Church, a large yellow brick building of irregular shape with a corner tower, lancet windows and an octagonal dome over the auditorium, was erected at the corner of Broad and Stanwood streets in 1915 (Arthur Eaton Hill, architect.) Across Broad Street, at the corner of Glenham, Temple Beth El, a classic structure with Corinthian portico (E. T. Banning, architect) was built in 1911 by the Congregation Sons of Israel and David who vacated their former synagogue erected on Friendship Street in 1890. The Broad Street building became the temple of Congregation Shaare Zedek following the opening of a modern synagogue by the Sons of Israel and David on Orchard Avenue in 1954 (page 249).
Among the Roman Catholic institutions built during this period were Saint Vincent de Paul Infant Asylum (Murphy and Hindle, architects, 1900), a brick Colonial-type building on Regent Avenue, east of Davis Park, and a new Saint Mary's Parochial School (Murphy,
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I. Gifford Ladd house, c. 1900 (Bryant College), I Young Orchard Avenue.
Hindle and Wright, architects, 1904) on Bainbridge Avenue, adjoining Saint Mary's Church (page 189).
Providence Young Women's Christian Association (organized 1867) erected a six-story building (Hoppin and Ely, architects) at the corner of Washington and Jackson streets in 1905, providing club rooms and bedrooms for working girls.
In the early years of the century four large East Side estates were developed, respec- tively, by Henry Pearce at 182 George Street, I. Gifford Ladd at I Young Orchard Avenue, James Coats at 13 Brown Street, and Patrick Banigan at 510 Angell Street, each having a three-story dwelling, a stable and driveways. The Pearce house (Angell and Swift, architects) was built of granite in the Romanesque style. The Coats house (Ogden Codman of New York, architect) and the Banigan house (Martin and Hall, architects) were brick and their designs were influenced, respectively, by English Colonial and Tudor styles. The Ladd house
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(Carrère and Hastings, architects, illustration, page 211), also brick-walled, was a complete reconstruction of the Sprague-Hidden house (c. 1845) into a mansion of the French chateau type.20 An equally imposing house, on a smaller lot but without a stable, was erected by Francis W. Carpenter (Carrère and Hastings, architects) in the modern French manner at 276 Angell Street.
Except for these large estates the trend was toward smaller and more compact houses with an emphasis on utility, comfort and warmth. Bath rooms were more numerous and were featured by open plumbing and tiled walls. As new methods of steam, hot water and vapor heating were evolved fewer fireplaces were installed. Electricity superseded gas for illumination and the heavy Victorian chandeliers passed into history. Gas ranges were installed in kitchens. Other innovations included hardwood floors, enclosed porches and private garages.
The more typical of these houses reflect the symmetry and proportions of the Colonial revival. The design trend is exemplified by adjacent houses on Meeting Street, one of wood with a high gambrel roof at No. 144 (Stone, Carpenter and Willson, architects) and the other of brick with a hipped roof at No. 150 (Clarke and Howe, architects). Other examples are the steep gable-roof house at 194 Arlington Avenue (Hilton and Jackson, architects), the brick house with parapeted gables at 37 Cooke Street (Stone, Carpenter and Sheldon, architects), the hipped-roof stucco house at 170 Blackstone Boulevard (Clarke and Howe, architects) and the brick hipped-roof house at 140 Morris Avenue (Norman M. Isham, architect), the latter reminiscent of the works of John Holden Greene (page 75).
20. The Pearce estate was occupied by St. Joseph's Convent 1922-1954, then was acquired by Brown University. The Ladd estate served for several years as Hope Hospital, later becoming Bryant College (page 276). The Coats house was the governor's mansion during R. Livingston Beeckman's administration (1915-21) and was purchased by Brown in 1922 for a faculty club and converted in 1938 to Andrews House, the college infirmary. The Banigan house was razed about 1920 and replaced by Wayland Manor (page 252).
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Bajnotti Fountain, 1902, City Hall Park
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CHAPTER 17 1910 - 1920
P ROVIDENCE had grown up into the 20th century without a plan to guide its over-all development. Such problems as highway and bridge construction, railroads, water supply and sewage disposal, constituting fragments of a city plan, were faced as the need arose and each individual project was carried out, usually after long delay, with little regard either for its coordination with other civic projects or for a future expansion to meet the needs of a growing community.
Soon after the opening of the 20th century there arose a nation-wide movement for comprehensive city planning with an emphasis on economy, utility and public welfare. The pioneering organization to espouse the cause of planning in Rhode Island was the Public Park Association (page 163). Through its activities the Metropolitan Park Commission was created in 1904 (page 223) and the League of Improvement Societies was organized in 1905, the latter, headed by Luther D. Burlingame, comprising about 30 affiliated organizations throughout the state.
One of the earlier planning problems in Providence involved a better means of approach from the downtown area to the East Side, in which consideration was given both to an easy grade highway for street cars and vehicular traffic, and to a tunnel limited in use to the traction lines. An East Side thoroughfare committee, created by the City Council in 19041, recommended the construction of a tunnel, as designed by C. R. Makepeace. An East Side approach commission, created in 19102 during the administration of Mayor Henry Fletcher (1909-13), proposed an easy grade highway, designed by John R. Freeman, starting at Post Office (Memorial) Square, overpassing Canal and North Main streets, crossing Benefit Street at grade, and underpassing Prospect Street3 (illustration, page 214).
A joint special committee on railroad franchises, appointed to investigate the street railway system and make recommendations for its improvement and development, engaged the services of Bion J. Arnold, a consulting engineer of Chicago.4 His report, made to the City Council June 1, 1911,5 disclosed that "the community has outgrown its present streets, and should create new or enlarged ones for double-track operation. The downtown roadways especially are very cramped, and the citizens do not seem to properly appreciate the neces- sity of wider ones. Routing the majority of cars over a few main streets appears to have been unduly influenced by the presence of private or business interests. The convergence of radial arteries has only accentuated this difficulty. Street obstruction has discouraged fast scheduled speed ... Thorough re-routing in the terminal district is necessary to relieve congested streets." The report made specific recommendations with respect to traction improvement; for the speeding of traffic it proposed various service improvements as well
I. C.C. Resolution, June 7, 1904. The committee included Abraham A. Gray, G. Richmond Parsons, C. R. Makepeace, Joseph Balch, Henry A. Grimwood, John E. Kendrick and George P. Peterson.
2. C.C. Resolution, February 8, 1910. The commission was composed of Mayor Fletcher, Benjamin P. Moulton, Walter F. Slade, John R. Freeman and Judge John H. Stiness.
3. Report of Commission on East Side Approach (Providence, 1912), pp. 8-13.
4. Resolution of Joint Special Committee on Railroad Franchises, January 11, 1911.
5. Bion J. Arnold, Report on the Traction Improvement and Development within the Providence District (Providence, 1911, pp. 10-11).
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as the widening and double-tracking of certain highways, the establishment of a loop around Exchange Place, and the construction of an East Side tunnel for street cars.
The tunnel plan was revived as the "citizen's plan" at a public hearing April 21, 1911. It was approved by the City Council and referred for further study, as an alternate to the easy grade highway, to the East Side approach commission, under whose direction plans were prepared by City Engineer Otis F. Clapp, and subsequently approved by the City Council.
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From Reports of the Commission on East Side Approach, 1912
Easy grade approach to East Side, proposed by John R. Freeman, 1911.
On May 27, 1912, the city granted the Rhode Island Company an exclusive franchise to operate street railways in Providence for a 20-year period. Under terms of the franchise the company agreed to construct the tunnel, remove the rails from College and Prospect streets and sections of Angell and Waterman Street, lay new rails on certain highways, including a loop on Exchange Place, pay a portion of the cost of highway improvements, and effect certain surface refinements. And the city agreed to carry out a specified program of highway widenings and extensions. The tunnel was started in 1912 and was completed in 1914. It was 24 feet wide, 1800 feet long, overpassing the railroad tunnel (page 201) beneath Brown Street. The North Main Street portal (illustration, page 215) was located a
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