USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 26
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6. P.L., 1935, chapter 2198. The Executive Department was one of eleven departments created in 1935 under a state administrative reorganization. A provision of the act required the submission of every project of major importance to the State Planning Board for a recommendation thereon.
7. R. I. State Planning Board, First Annual Report, 1935.
8. P.L., 1939, chapter 660. The State Planning Board was discontinued in 1947, and its functions later were absorbed by the R. I. Development Council, created in 1951.
9. Under the state administrative reorganization in 1935 the airport was controlled by the Division of State Airports of the Department of Public Works.
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1930-1940
subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, ended its career when the City of Lowell made its last scheduled sailing from Providence in May, 1937. The Fall River Line closed two months later. Two of the most famous Fall River boats, the Priscilla (1894) and Providence (1904) were moored at the Fox Point dock at different periods and were opened to visitors before making their final trips to the junk yards. The only passenger lines continuing to operate out of Providence in 1940 were the Colonial Line to New York and a steamer to Block Island.
The reconstruction program carried out in the vicinity of Market Square (pages 238- 240) prompted the City Plan Commission to retain the services of Frederick L. Ackerman of New York as consultant, to study possibilities for the future development of the Crawford- Market-Memorial Square area. In his report, submitted to the commission December 15, 1931,1ยบ Ackerman recommended certain highway changes, including a revision of the lines of College Street (page 240), the elimination of wedge-shaped traffic ways and large unused areas of pavement, and the substitution of definite traffic lanes throughout the problem area. Certain features were suggested for the development of Memorial Square, including its extension northerly to the railroad viaduct, the screening of the viaduct with an archi- tectual facing, the creation of a landscaped area to provide a setting for the war memorial, and the allocation of a site, flanking the Federal Building on the north, for a future public building (page 261). Two alternate plans were proposed for the land in front of the Court House, between South Main and South Water streets, one providing for a park treatment and the other for two small public buildings opposite the wings of the Court House.11
The proposed revision of the lines of College Street (pages 240, 259) was stimulated by a gift from the state to the city, April 21, 1931 of a triangular strip of land extending 165 feet on College Street and 35 feet on South Main Street, for highway purposes. The City Plan Commission, in cooperation with Commissioner of Public Works Frank E. Waterman and the Court House Commission, entered into negotiation with the Rhode Island School of Design, owner of the property on the north side of College Street, for a transfer of land whereby the school would deed to the city a triangular strip at the Benefit Street end and would receive in exchange a similar strip at the North Main Street end, as proposed by Ackerman, at such time as a new building might be erected by the school. The exchange was consummated in 1936 when the Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf Building was erected in replacement of the old structures on the hillside. Those structures had undergone little change in nearly a century. At the foot of the hill were the Franklin House (1823) and the Pardon Brown house (before 1800), joined by a unit supported on wood lintels beneath which a gangway led to a cobbled court yard (page 89). Abutting the Brown house on the east was President Manning's house (1770), removed to that location from the Brown campus in 1840. On the corner of Benefit Street stood a late 18th century house built by Samuel Westcott, and between it and the Manning house was a three-story building erected soon after 1840 (illustration, page 236).
In the construction of the Metcalf Building (Jackson, Robertson and Adams, archi- tects, illustration, page 284) Franklin House, considerably altered, was preserved and the hillside units were designed to conform to the early 19th century style of which it served as a motive. The building, which was dedicated June 9, 1937, provided quarters for the school's administrative offices, library, and various departments.
IO. City Plan Commission, 18th Annual Report, 1931.
II. The city previously had designated its portion of the area as a site for a hall of records, but later dedicated it as a memorial park. See page 240 and illustrations pages 258, 284.
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From Annual Report of City Plan Commission, 1931
Providence County Court House, showing park treatment of west approach as proposed in 1931. Drawing by Jackson, Robertson & Adams and Frederick L. Ackerman.
1930-1940
College Street was reconstructed in 1937 from North Main Street to Benefit, to a width of 60 feet, with a slight curve near its easterly end; and due to advance planning and cooperation, the city was able to add 12 feet to the width of that heavily traveled street at no expense for land taken. The new highway lines were extended westerly to Market Square and the former section of College Street, between South Main and South Water, was transferred to the Market House estate (see map, page 144). Pending a more permanent development that area, and the land in front of the Court House, were sown to grass.12
The section of the old Neck road, between Blackstone Boulevard and the Pawtucket line, was abandoned as a public highway by action of the Board of Aldermen March 16, 1933. It reverted to Swan Point Cemetery and Butler Hospital, abutting owners, and upon the relinquishing of the hospital's rights became the sole property of the cemetery corpora- tion. It was reconstructed as a cemetery avenue, identified as the Old Road, and a gate was set up at each end. A portion of the cemetery property, west of Blackstone Boulevard (page 149), had been developed by erection of a greenhouse (1917), a superintendent's house (Clarke and Howe, architects, 1923), and a service building and housing group (Cady, architect, 1933). In November, 1933, Swan Point Cemetery donated two parcels of land in that area to the city, one providing for an extension of Lorimer Avenue to Blackstone Boulevard and the other, comprising six acres at the junction of the boulevard and Hope Street, conveyed for park purposes.
That conveyance of land by Swan Point Cemetery and a gift of the spring site13 on North Main Street by Judge J. Jerome Hahn were the only additions to the park system in the thirties. The spring, where the town was planted in 1636, for many years had been concealed in the cellar of a building at the corner of North Main Street and Alamo Lane. The property was purchased by Judge Hahn in 1930 and given by him to the city in memory of his father, Isaac Hahn, the first citizen of Jewish faith to be elected to office by the voters of Providence. A wall, steps and well curb (Norman M. Isham, architect) were erected in 1933 and an evergreen garden was laid out by the park department. It was designated Roger Williams Spring Site. The Blackstone Boulevard estate was developed in 1938 under direction of Martin F. Noonan who succeeded Thomas as superintendent of parks in 1935, and was named Alexander Farnum Lippitt Memorial Park in honor of a World War I victim. The area was landscaped, tennis courts were constructed, and in 1940 a fountain (Jackson, Robertson and Adams, architects) was erected in memory of Henry B. Anthony, United States Senator from Rhode Island, 1859-84, with funds provided in a bequest to the city under his will.
Considerable progress was made during this period in the development of playground areas by the layout of ball fields, tennis courts, wading pools and skating rinks and the erection of field houses, concrete bleachers and playground apparatus. Facilities at Triggs Park (page 241) were improved by the construction of a club house and a caddy house. In 1935 work was commenced in the development of Fort Independence (page 222), including the erection of retaining walls and steps leading to "ramparts" at the summit, where cannon, received from the War Department, were set up. Flag-raising ceremonies were held July 4, 1938. The park was abandoned in 1942 (page 278).
The public recreational areas, in 1940, comprised 27 parks (seven of which included
12. These areas were landscaped in 1951. See page 283.
13. See page 3. By a reservation in a deed from the Proprietors in 1721 the spring was made available to the townspeople forever.
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playground facilities), two parkways, a municipal golf course, and 47 playgrounds,14 with a total area of about 1, 150 acres. The Civic Improvement and Park Association,15 which had initiated a movement for extending the system of parks and playgrounds, engaged the serv- ices of L. H. Weir of Columbia University for a study of existing facilities. His report showed that the total acreage of parks and playgrounds was less than one-half required to conform to the standard of one acre of recreational land for every 100 persons.16
The city maintained public comfort stations on Exchange Place (page 217), Weybosset Street (1913), Olneyville Square (1927), Davis Park, and America Street. Public bath houses were located at Tockwotton, Hopkins and Franklin parks and on Blackstone Street, Manton Avenue, Pocasset Avenue and Quaid Street. Swimming pools were operated by the Provi- dence Boys' Club at its South Main Street headquarters and its Olneyville branch.
Under the state reorganization act of 193517 the Metropolitan Park Commission (page 223) became absorbed by the Division of Forests, Parks and Parkways of the Department of Agriculture and Conservation. In its final report for the year 1934 the commission listed 34 state parks, reservations and monuments under its jurisdiction, located in 13 cities and towns, with a total area of 4,330 acres. The parks and reservations provided facilities for baseball, tennis, golf, cricket, skating, bathing and other sports and included 2,700 acres of forest land in which a number of wild-life sanctuaries were maintained. Many picnic areas were provided and equipped with stone fireplaces. The historic sites included the Stephen Hopkins house (pages 30, 239) in Providence, the Indian Burial Ground and the General Stanton monument in Charlestown, the Bull Garrison site and the Great Swamp Fight site in South Kingstown, and Queen's Fort in Exeter. The commission had control of eight miles of parkways besides drives, bridle trails and foot paths.18 After control had been vested in the Division of Forests, Parks and Parkways additions were made to certain of the estates and eight new reservations were acquired, increasing the aggregate area of state park land to 8,577 acres.19
Passenger traffic over the United Electric Railway system declined over 30 percent between 1926 and 1936.20 The company commenced, in 1935, the operation of trackless trolleys on certain of its street car lines, and by 1940 it continued to use only about one-half its former system of tracks (page 217). Of the routes in operation that year 14 were railway lines, 18 were bus lines, and 10 were trackless trolleys. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad curtailed its schedules during this period and closed a number of its branch lines, including the Providence, Warren and Bristol in 1937.
By act of the General Assembly, in 1931, a Board of Public Safety for the city of Providence was created, consisting of three commissioners appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate21 in which were vested the functions of the former police and fire commissions. The board appointed Edward J. Kelly chief of police, Frank
14. The playgrounds included 28 under jurisdiction of the Board of Park Commissioners, 13 school play- grounds, and 6 state reservations.
15. The association suceeded the League of Improvement Societies (page 213) in 1922.
16. Civic Improvement and Park Association, Report of a Study of Public Recreation in the City of Provi- dence, R. I. by L. H. Weir, Director, Park-Recreation Service, National Recreational Association (Providence, 1935); State Planning Board, Second Annual Report, Recreation in Rhode Island, 1936.
17. P.L., 1935, chapter 2198.
18. Metropolitan Park Commission, Annual Report, 1934.
19. Department of Agriculture and Conservation, Annual Report, 1941.
20. Report of the United Electric Railway Company, 1936.
21. The commissioners appointed were George T. Marsh, Michael H. Corrigan and Benjamin P. Moulton, the latter succeeded in 1932 by Everitte St. J. Chaffee, former superintendent of state police.
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1930 - 1940
Charlesworth chief of the fire department, and Ralph W. Eaton (public service engineer since 1915) traffic engineer. Through a reorganization effected in 1933 certain police precincts were combined and the total number reduced from eight to six.22 In addition to the uniformed force and the detective department two new units were established in 1934, namely, a bureau of criminal investigation and a central bureau of records. The Board of Public Safety was superseded June 18, 1935, by a Bureau of Police and Fire,23 the members of which were appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the Board of Aldermen. In that year a police teletype system was put in operation by state and city police and cruising cars were equipped with short-wave radios for receipt of instructions.
The Central Fire Station (page 200) on Exchange Place, together with adjacent water areas, was sold to the Federal Government for the sum of $200,000 as a site for a Federal Building Annex, by resolution of the City Council, signed by Mayor James E. Dunne (1927-39) April 23, 1935.24 In 1936 the school department, which had maintained head-
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Federal Building Annex, 1940, Exchange Place
quarters in the third story of the building, removed to the Technical High School (page 192) and the fire department took up temporary quarters in the old Richmond Street fire station. The Central Fire Station was razed in 1938, in which year the city purchased the former LaSalle Academy property (page 152) on LaSalle Square as a site for a combined police and fire station, identified as the Bureau of Police and Fire Building. Plans were
22. The precinct stations in operation were the Central Station on Fountain Street (page 184), Chad Brown Street (page 245), Sessions Street (page 217), Hamilton Street (page 203), Plain Street (page 166), and Chaffee Street (page 184).
23. P.L., 1935, chapter 2275. The members first appointed were Thomas H. Roberts, Benjamin P. Moulton and Joseph C. Scuncio.
24. Proposals were invited by the United States Treasury Department, in 1932, for the sale or donation of land, convenient to the railroad, on which to erect a parcel post office. Following rejection of the sites sub- mitted the City Plan Commission proposed the site occupied in part by the fire station, as laid out in the Ackerman plan for the development of Memorial Square (page 257).
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drawn in the office of the Commissioner of Public Buildings and the building was completed and occupied in 1940. The former Central Police Station on Fountain Street (page 184) was then vacated by the police department and later became headquarters for the depart- ment of public welfare and other municipal agencies.
In 1939 the police department included a personnel of 488 men and the fire department 467 men. The fire-fighting equipment included 28 pumpers, 16 ladder trucks, a water tower and a salvage wagon. The activities of the fire department were extended to include periodic inspections of cellars with authority to cause the removal of accumulated rubbish.
The Federal Building Annex (Jackson, Robertson and Adams, architects), erected on the site of the fire station, was opened June 12, 1940. In design it is modernized Federal style with simple Greek ornamentation (illustration, page 261). Part of the building was built over the river on piers, thereby concealing from view all but a small part of the remaining water area under Memorial Square. A tunnel connects the new building with the Federal Building and an elevated covered passage leads to the railroad viaduct.
Several highway projects were carried out in Providence by the state under a Federal aid program sponsored by the Public Works Administration. The lines of Reservoir Avenue were revised between Elmwood Avenue and Downing Street in 1936, including the erection of a concrete and steel bridge, 68 feet wide, overpassing the railroad between the former Reservoir Avenue and Adelaide Avenue bridges (page 237), both of which were then discontinued. Elmwood Avenue was reconstructed, eliminating all traces of its boulevard status (page 177) by the removal of car tracks, trees and planting strips, and providing a 54-foot asphalt roadway. Allen's Avenue and a portion of Smith Street were re-paved with asphalt.
Various means for the control of highway traffic were put in operation under city ordinances. These included an extension of one-way streets, the designation of certain areas for rotary traffic, the establishment of boulevard stops, the limitation of speed to 25 miles per hour, and restrictions imposed for curb parking.25 Under direction of Traffic Engineer Eaton signal lights were set up at important highway intersections.
A steel and concrete viaduct was constructed as a Public Works Administration project in 1940, designed by Eaton as a by-pass to relieve traffic congestion at the intersection of Point and Eddy streets. It is a 20-foot wide one-way traffic lane, supported on pylons, starting at a ramp 100 feet west of Point Street Bridge, curving southerly into Eddy Street, and ramping down-grade to Allen's Avenue. Portions of property bordering Point and Eddy streets were condemned for the project. By City Council resolution the viaduct was desig- nated Major General Clarence R. Edwards Viaduct in honor of the World War I commander of the 26th Division, A.E.F.
Under a provision of the building laws as adopted in 1927 (page 234), authorizing the repair or removal of buildings found to be unsafe, 190 structures were rehabilitated and 73I were razed between 1932 and 1940 by direction of Inspector of Buildings Alexander Addeo.26 As many of those buildings were vacant their owners were quite willing to tear them down to save taxes. Most of the areas so cleared in the business section were converted into parking lots. The first off-street parking space was provided by resolution of the City Council February 14, 1920, permitting the use of the Public Garden area (page 203) for
25. Parking meters were installed at certain locations in the business area in February, 1937, but were removed two years later by order of the Superior Court which held that the city had no right to collect parking fees. Use of the meters was sanctioned by authority of the General Assembly in 1947 in which year they were re-installed.
26. Providence Journal, July 21, 1940.
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1930- 1940
that purpose, and the first private parking lot was opened on Friendship Street in 1924. By the year 1940 there were 64 parking lots in operation for profit within a radius of 2,000 feet from City Hall, covering more than 24 acres of land and accommodating 6000 auto- mobiles.
The population of Providence, which had increased steadily up to 1930, remained practically stationary between that year and 1940.27 The causes, retarding its growth, included a decline in birth rate, curtailing of immigration in the United States, lack of opportunity for employment, and a migration of city workers to houses in the suburbs.28 The birth-rate factor was reflected in public school enrollment which showed a sharp decrease in attendance at elementary schools, no change in junior high schools, and an increase in senior high schools.29
New schoolhouses, built between 1929 and 1938, included one elementary school, five junior high schools and two senior high schools, all designed in the office of the Commis- sioner of Public Buildings. The Windmill Street Elementary School (1933), erected in the
Oliver Hazard Perry Junior High School, 1930, 370 Hartford Avenue.
North End near Charles Street, is modern in design with a central unit and two wings. For reasons of economy cast stone was used as trimming for the brick walls, and defects in that material made it necessary to reconstruct the building in 1940. The junior high schools included Nathan Bishop School (1929) on Sessions Street, Oliver Hazard Perry School (1930, illustration above) at 370 Hartford Avenue, Nathanael Greene School (1930) at 721 Chalkstone Avenue, Gilbert Stuart School (1931) at 160 Bucklin Street, and Roger Williams School (1932) at 278 Thurbers Avenue. They are similar in plan, each having an assembly room with stage, two gymnasiums, and from 31 to 42 class rooms. Hope High
27. According to the United States Census the population of Providence was 252,981 in 1930 and 253, 504 in 1940, a gain of only 523.
28. Largely as a result of the migration the combined populations of North Providence, Johnston, Cranston and East Providence increased by over nine percent between 1930 and 1940.
29. The annual report of the School Committee for 1938-39 showed a decrease in the total school enroll- ment from 44,620 in 1930 to 42, 635 in 1939; this was further decreased to 31,713 in 1946. Alexander J. Stoddard was school superintendent, 1929-37, and was succeeded by James L. Hanley.
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School (1938) was built on a portion of the abandoned Hope Reservoir site (page 135) to replace the former Hope Street High School (page 192) erected on the opposite side of Hope Street 40 years earlier. It is a four-story building of brick and limestone, containing a large assembly hall, gymnasiums, offices, and class rooms for 2000 pupils. The remainder of the reservoir site was reserved for an athletic field. Mount Pleasant High School (1938) was built in the northwest section of the city (page 219) with facilities similar to those of Hope High School and rooms for 2,400 pupils (illustration below). School properties in active use, in 1940, included four senior high schools with three annexes, eight junior high schools, 66 elementary schools, and a trade school, besides 46 special schools located, for the most part, in class rooms of regular schools.
Dr. Clarence M. Barbour, who followed Dr. Faunce as president of Brown, died January 17, 1937 and was succeeded by Dr. Henry M. Wriston. In 1938 the Metcalf Research Laboratory (Day and Klauder, architects) was erected on the Back Campus,
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Mount Pleasant High School, 1938, Mount Pleasant Avenue.
the gift of Senator Jesse H. Metcalf. The campus fence was extended easterly along George Street in 1940, including a memorial gateway (Albert Harkness, architect) given by Psi Upsilon Fraternity and dedicated June 22. University Hall was reconditioned in 1939-4030 through the generosity of an anonymous friend of Brown; architects Perry, Shaw and Hepburn of Boston effected a restoration of the exterior to a condition approximating its early status and remodeled the interior for administrative purposes, with a degree of
30. See page 44. This was the fifth major reconstruction project of the college edifice since its erection in 1770. It was repaired and rehabilitated in 1782 following its occupancy by troops in the Revolutionary War. In 1834 its exterior walls were covered with stucco, new windows were installed, the roof balustrade was removed, and a new bell (still in use) was hung in the cupola. Alterations in 1883 included new stairways, a new roof, new large-paned window sash, new chimneys and a heating plant. The exterior was restored in 1905, with funds donated by Marsden J. Perry, by removing the stucco and installing new small-paned windows.
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1930- 1940
elegance characteristic of that firm's restorations at Williamsburg, Virginia. The building was re-dedicated May 4, 1940. The former Administration Building (page 205) was re-named Van Wickle Hall and was turned over to the Department of English.
Aquinas Hall (Oresto DiSaia, architect) was erected at Providence College, east of Harkins Hall (page 225) in 1939. It is a dormitory with end wings, somewhat modern in design with buttressed walls, large window areas, and a center entrance tower.
Rhode Island School of Design acquired, by gift of Stephen O. Metcalf in December, 1938, the block bounded by Market Square, Canal, Drowne and North Main streets as a site for an auditorium. The buildings standing on the block were of interest architecturally but were partly vacant and shabby in appearance. Fronting on Market Square were Granite Block and two of the few remaining buildings of the brownstone era (illustration, page 133). Cook's Block was on North Main Street and Central Hotel31 had until recently stood on Canal Street. The site was cleared in 1939 and the Auditorium was constructed the following year from plans by Philip D. Creer, instructor in architecture at the school. While the interior is modern in lighting, sound, decorative design and stage technique, the outside was designed to harmonize with the Market House and the new buildings on College Hill (illustration, page 254).
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