USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 3
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1636-1676
house, where town meetings were held frequently, was probably a replica of Mowrys'.
Roger Williams' house, the site of which is marked by a tablet at 273 North Main Street, had the same plan, as revealed when the foundations were excavated and measured in 1906.50 Williams lived at his trading post in the Narragansett country (page 5) between 1645 and 1651 and may have enlarged or rebuilt his original shack when he returned to Providence. Little is known of the other houses on the home lots. Benedict Arnold paid the highest town rate and probably enlarged or rebuilt his father's house on the present Constitution Hill when he returned to Providence from Pawtuxet after his marriage. He lived here until 1651 when he moved to Newport, later becoming governor of the colony. A house built by Ezekiel Holliman and purchased by Hugh Bewitt in 1640 served as the town house from 1644 to 1647; a tablet at the street railway tunnel portal at the foot of Waterman Street marks the spot.
The house of Thomas Olney, the first town treasurer, was south of the lane that is now Meeting Street. Francis Weston built on the site of the First Baptist Meeting House; his estate was purchased after his death in 1645 by Thomas Angell, one of the original group of settlers. Richard Waterman, who gave Waterman Street its name, built within the present lines of that highway. Chad Brown, a surveyor, dwelt in the vicinity of the present College Street. Nicholas Power built on the south side of the lane now identified as Power Street. Gregory Dexter, a former London printer, and Robert Williams, brother of Roger, were allotted, respectively, the northernmost and southernmost home lots. Dexter, who later was town clerk and who served as president of Providence and Warwick,51 built on his lot. Williams, instead of building, purchased the house formerly erected by Daniel Abbott, north of Chad Brown. Pardon Tillinghast, an arrival of 1649, acquired a lot near Dexter's, allotted originally to Thomas Painter, where he built, later removing to the south end of the town (page 13).
The home owners on the Neck, outside the home lots, included Thomas Suckling and William Wickenden to the south, Arthur Fenner to the east, and John Browne, Christopher Smith, William Fenner and Mrs. John Smith, widow of the miller (page 7) to the north. Thomas Clemence and Thomas Slowe lived on their farms on Weybosset side.
The first bridge across Providence river was erected in 1660, at a cost of £160,52 con- necting the shore of the Neck with Weybosset Point and the Pequot path (see map, page 14) and providing access to the meadow lands. Previously a ford in the river had been used as an approach to that path which led through Pawtuxet and the Narragansett country into the lands of the Pequots in Connecticut. Not long after the bridge had been built two of its trestles gave way and specifications were drawn for its reconstruction, as follows: "They are to make Timber worke in the forme of a square, diamond fashion which shall serve in the steed of those two Tressels that are downe, and shall rare it up in the river to make up the Bridge and lay sufficient Gice over the said diamond unto the other Tressels next it on both sides and to planke with plankes untill it be sufficiently planked ... and also to procure posts and railes and raile up the Bridge where the defects are, and also to set up new posts where they are wanting at the end of the Bridge as well at the owne end as the other . .">53 Further repairs were required, from time to time, and eventually the cost of its maintenance proved so great that the bridge was abandoned and was torn down
50. Isham, "The House of Roger Williams," R.I.H.S.C., XVIII, 33.
51. The colony was disrupted, 1651-54, Portsmouth and Newport submitting to Governor Coddington's rule, and Providence and Warwick carrying on the government in accordance with the patent of 1644.
52. E.R.P., II, 130.
53. Ibid, XV, 109
II
THE NECK
or washed away. It was not until 1711 that another span was erected at that location (page 21) and the river ford was again used in the interim.
A bridge of smaller proportions was built across Moshassuck river, in 1662, where Randall Square is now located (see map, page 14), connecting the mill highway with the six-acre lots on the other side. According to the vote at town meeting in May of that year the bridge was to be completed "before the next hay tyme."54
Charles II,55 "by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c." granted a Royal Charter to the Rhode Island colony, in 1663, with the title "The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America." The charter, which superseded the patent of 1643 (page 6), was procured by John Clarke of Newport on behalf of the "ffree inhabitants of our island called Rhode Island,56 and the rest of the colonie of Providence Plantations." It recorded the desire of the colonists "to hold forth a livelie experiment, that a most flourishing civill state may stand and best bee maintained ... with full libertie in religious concernements." The charter named, as governor, Benedict Arnold who sub- sequently was elected by the freemen of the colony.57
The east bounds of the colony (see map, page 20), as defined by the charter, extended from the ocean, a distance three miles east and northeast of Sakonnet river and Narragansett bay to a point three miles northeast of the mouth of Providence river, thence southwesterly to that river, thence northerly, through the center of Providence and Seekonk rivers to Pawtucket falls, thence due north to the Massachusetts line. The west bounds followed the center of Pawcatuck river northerly to its easterly bend, thence due north to the Massachusetts line. The overlapping of the east and west bounds of the colony, as defined by the charter, upon those established by the Plymouth patent of 1629 and the Connecticut charter of 1662, respectively, caused disputes which continued for many years before adjustments finally were made.
On March 30, 1676, Providence was attacked by the Indians. Previously a large proportion of the citizens had removed to Newport with their families and effects, leaving only 27 men to defend the town.58 They established a garrison in William Field's house (page 9), the windows of which had been fitted with gratings; and while those men were successful in defending their garrison, the Indians burnt most of the other houses on the Towne street as well as the mill, the tannery, and the miller's house on Moshassuck river. John Smith, Jr., the miller, was then town clerk and the records were in his possession. "They were thrown from his burning house into the mill pond to preserve them from the flames, and to the present day they bear plenary evidence of the two-fold dangers they escaped, the two-fold injury they suffered."59
A few weeks after the Indians' attack a King's Garrison of seven men was established in Providence, under Captain Arthur Fenner. No further fighting developed in the town, however, and the inhabitants gradually drifted back to Providence and commenced to clear away the ruins and to start rebuilding.
54. E.R.P., III, 25.
55. Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and for the succeeding decade England was governed by the Commonwealth under which Oliver Cromwell held the office of Lord Protector, 1653-58. The throne was restored in May, 1660, when Charles II was proclaimed king.
56. At a General Court of Election held at Newport March 13, 1644, it had been ordered "that the Ysland commonly called Aquethneck [Aquidneck, page 5] shall be from hence forth called the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island."
57. R.I.C.R., II, 3-21. 58.
E.R.P., XV, 151. 59. Staples, p. 166.
I2
CHAPTER 2 1676- 1720
D URING the first forty years after its settlement Providence had been exclusively a community of planters. This was only natural, since food was the first consider- ation and the main supply could be obtained only from the soil.1 The reconstruction period, after the Indian attack in 1676, marked the beginning of a commercial and industrial development. Shops were opened in the town in which farming tools, building materials, food, and clothing could be obtained. In addition to the grist mill and tannery, both of which were rebuilt, a saw mill and an iron works were established.
A ferry was put in operation across Seekonk river at Narrow passage, in 1679, for the accommodation of traffic over Indian trails to Boston and Plymouth. A franchise was granted to Captain Andrew Edmunds for that purpose by the town, as well as two acres of land whereon to build a house by the landing, where Red Bridge now stands.2 Four years later the town surveyors were directed "with all convenient speede" to "state a highway" to the ferry.3 This extended from the Towne street to Seekonk river, following, approximately, the lines of the present Meeting, Hope, Angell, South Angell, and East River streets.
Although the waters of Narragansett bay had been used since the earliest years of the colony for traffic with Portsmouth and Newport, and for the occasional transportation of supplies and materials from other colonies, the potential resources of the sea were not at first evaluated as an asset to Providence. The sea trade, which was destined to become an important factor in the later development of the town, had its origin shortly after the settlement had been rebuilt. In 1680 Elder Pardon Tillinghast, who had moved from the north end of the town (page II) to a lot north of the present Transit Street, originally owned by Hugh Bewett, was granted "a Little Spott of Land (against his dwelling place above high water mark) of Twenty ffoott Square, for ye building himshelfe A store house, with ye prieveladge of A whorfe Alsoe."4 This was the first wharf built in the town; others were erected along the water front in ensuing years, as far north as the present Market Square, by certain townspeople who foresaw more profits to be made from seafaring than from farming. Among their number were Arthur Fenner and his son-in-law, Gideon Craw- ford, whose wharves and shops adjoined one another just south of the present Crawford Street. Captain Fenner, a former lieutenant in Oliver Cromwell's army, settled in Providence about 1647 and was town treasurer 1672-73. He erected two houses, one on a large estate near Seekonk river5 and the other in the present city of Cranston.6 Crawford arrived in Providence in 1670, bought the John Field lot and built a house where the Old Stone Bank stands (page 127). Others who entered seafaring trade were Thomas Harris, Samuel Winsor, Samuel Whipple, Thomas Hopkins, Zachariah Field, Providence Williams, Peter Place, Ephraim Pray, and John Whipple, Jr. By the end of the century a trade was maintained with the West Indies and other colonies.7
1. Field, II, 389.
2. E.R.P., VIII, 44. 3. Ibid, 129. See map, page 14.
4. E.R.P., VIII, 62. See map, page 14.
5. Kimball, p. 80. The house was located near the present Governor Street (see pages 11, 147).
6. Isham, p. 24.
7. Field, II, 395.
I3
Third Lane Brook
Windmill Hill
Robbins Brook
Road to Louisquissel 1683
Common Road to Pawtucket.
CITY LINE 1936
of Miles
WANSKUCK
Wanshuck
1/4
1/2
Great
Swan Point
Swamp
1700
Bridge
Hurtleberry Hill
Bailey's Butts
Saw Mill 1679
THE
Turpin Tavern 1685
Olmaya Javern
Small
Brook
Meadow's Kon
Goal 1699 Jannery 1677
Grist Mill Hebuilt 1677
MWhipple Javem 1671
Burnley "Marsh
.1 Baptist Church 1700
-
The Ferry 1680
The
Six Acte Tots
Cold Spring
Weybosset! Bridge 1660
Dielo Garrison House
ybosset
atur
Venter Brook
Venter Plain
FoxesHilly
Mike End
Gotham Valley
- Solitary Hill
Meadow's
Neutaconhanut Hill
Pawtuxet
Hawkin Cole
GREAT
Benedict Pond
Long Pond
Road
Meadows
Rocky Hill
Tove
ongue Pond
Pantuxet Division Line of 1712
Jabanapauge "Pand
Mashapaug Pond
Set
POMEGANSETT
1
Intashantuck Pond
Spectacle Pond
CITY LINE 1936
Brook
Many Holes
Pesaumhamesquesit Pons
Map of a Portion of the CLOWNof PROVIDENCE In the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England. In America, in the Year 1700
Papaquinabous
State Planning Board 1936 John Hutchins Cady consultant
Wm. A Perry del.
The town bounds included all of Providence County as of 1938, west of the Blackstone River.
bona
fact
Nech
Tots
Hiver
Cove
EJax PIE
WACHEMOQUIT
Six Acte Lots
COPE
Great Pt.
The Downe Street!
Proprietors H
Highway at the
NECK
Common 1651
Mill Bridge 1662
Flocks Dexters \Lane
Bailey's Tower Cove
Wolle's Swamp =
Stated Common
Cat Swamp
Bodeys Upper Cove
-
Howry Tatarn 1653
Rive
Road 1685
Burying Ground Tous
Road to Pantughet Falls 1680
Scale
CITY LINE 1936
Antushantuck Nech
road
RIVER
4
SALT
the Tots
Narrow Passage ferry
"Ratenoust
awtuxen Division Tinte of 1640
Mockassuch
1676-1720
In view of the increasing development along the water front by private owners the town determined to reserve certain of its water rights. Accordingly, in 1681, it was voted "that there shall be a sufficient highway kept for ye Townes use of three poles wide from the Towne street to ye water side, that ye Towne may if they see cause [which they did not] sett up a warfe at ye End of it."" The location selected was opposite Weybosset Point, near the eastern end of the bridge which formerly had spanned the river there (page II). The Towne street was becoming so heavily traveled that in the same year the General Assembly enacted the first traffic regulation, forbidding riding "a gallup on horse, gelding or mare, in the street lying against the great river . . . between the land of Pardon Tillinghast, and the northerly corner of John Whipple, Sen'r, where his dwelling house stands" in the north end, under penalty of a fine of five shillings for each offense.9
In order to provide access to the farms, located in the northerly part of the Neck, the town stated several roads during this period (see map, page 14), by which action certain cartways or trails, which already were in general use, were established or rectified. One of the earliest of these was the Common Road to Pawtucket which provided intercourse with Blackstone Valley. The year of its origin is unknown but it was referred to, in 1684, as "ye ancient & Comon Road."10 The town surveyor was directed, in that year, "in sum Con- venient time [to] state ye Highway from the head of the lane Called Dexters lane [Olney Street] & so through the great swampe from ye said lane to runn at the place called ye first opening;"11 Morris Avenue is its present name. And in town meeting, 1685, it was "Ordred that a highway shall be & Remaine from the Lane called Hearntons lane Eastward through the place called the second opening in ye great swampe & so to ye salt water about ye poynt called Swann poynt."12 That highway is now Rochambeau Avenue from North Main Street as far as Blackstone Boulevard; from that point northeastward it was known, for many years, as the Neck road and, upon its abandonment by the city in 1933, became the property of Swan Point Cemetery (page 259).
A highway was ordered in 1683 "from ye Towne up into ye Countrey through Loquas- qussuck woodes"13 which branched northwesterly, at the present Branch Avenue, from the Common Road to Pawtucket, followed Smithfield Avenue through Pawtucket, and con- tinued on the lines of Cobble Hill Road and Louisquisset Pike in Lincoln. A road to "Wanskuck meadow" was stated in 1685, following Branch Avenue westerly from Smith- field Avenue. 14
As Providence increased in size and importance more strangers had occasion to visit the town, and it became necessary to provide for their comfort and entertainment. In the earliest days the only lodgings available for visitors were in private houses and, as the accommodations of few of those houses exceeded two rooms, the guest quarters were neither sumptuous nor particularly private. The first tavern on the Towne street of which there is record was the one opened by John Whipple in 1674,15 halfway up Constitution Hill. This was followed by another, immediately north of the home lots, maintained by Epenetus Olney. In a more secluded spot some distance to the north (Abbott Street) Roger Mowry had, for some years, conducted an "ordinaire"16 in a house, erected in 1653, which survived until about 1900 (page 8).
8. E.R.P., VIII, 106.
9.
R.I.C.R., III, 105.
IO. E.R.P., VIII, 138. II. Ibid, 142.
I 2. Ibid, 139, 149. Benjamin Hearnden was owner of meadow and swamp land through which the lane ran.
13. E.R.P., VIII, 132. 14. Ibid, 159.
I 5. Ibid, IV, 8.
16. Ibid, II, 22.
15
THE NECK
Toward the end of the century public houses were becoming more numerous and more commodious. One of these was built by Epenetus Olney, replacing his former tavern which had been destroyed by the Indians (page 12). It stood for many years and was the ren- dezvous for travelers over the Common Road to Pawtucket. The town stocks were erected on Dexter's lane, adjoining the tavern17 and close by a blacksmith shop was established by John Olney in 1699.18 Another tavern, opened in 1685 by William Turpin a short distance north of Olney's, within the present Carleton Davis Boulevard, was maintained for several generations and was used, at times, for sessions of the General Assembly and town meetings.19
The houses erected in the last quarter of the century retained the general characteristics of the earlier period but were of somewhat larger size. Although there are no survivals within the present corporate limits of Providence several are still standing in the outlying portions of the 17th century town which included all of the present Providence County west of Blackstone, Seekonk and Providence rivers. Three of these are of interest in showing the later development of the stone-ender (see plan, page 9).
The Thomas Fenner house (1677) at 1538 Plainfield Street, Cranston, originally was like Mowry's except that it had 212 stories with fireplaces in the hall and the second story chamber;20 it has been enlarged and modernized and is still used as a dwelling. The Thomas Clemence house (1680) at 38 George Waterman Road, Johnston, had only 112 stories but included, in addition to the hall, a bed room adjoining it on the side away from the chimney, and a kitchen and bed room in a rear leanto. The hall and kitchen each had a fireplace, flanking one another in the stone chimney. This house, which had been enlarged and altered, was purchased by Henry D. Sharpe in 1938, restored to its original status by Isham in association with Cady,21 and given to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1947 (illustrations, pages 17, 18). The Eleazer Arnold house (1687) on Great Road, Saylesville, was similar to the Clemence house in floor plan but was 212 stories in height (illustration, page 18). It was given by the Arnold heirs to the New England Society in 1918 and was restored under direction of Russell H. Kettell in 1951.22 The outside chimneys of these houses are well preserved although that of the Fenner house has a modern brick cap. The tops of the others have the original stone pilasters and water tables. The only original inside wood finish was the chamfering of the exposed timber edges and the moulded beading of the sheathed partitions.
English prototypes of these houses are standing in a part of Sussex from which certain Providence settlers emigrated (illustration, page 17). In the neighboring villages of Twineham and Wineham are several Tudor-Gothic 15th century cottages, similar in plan to the Rhode Island examples noted even to the dimensions of rooms and fireplaces, and differing only in having masonry exterior walls.23
The 17th century closed with three public undertakings. The first jail was built on the Towne street, about 400 feet south of Dexter's Lane24 (Olney Street). The first church edifice was built for the Baptist society, by Elder Pardon Tillinghast, at the present corner
17. E.R.P., VIII, 142. 18. Ibid, XI, 49. 20. Isham, p. 31.
19. Ibid, XIII, 9; Staples, p. 602.
21. Cady, "The Thomas Clemence House, R.I.H.S.C., XXXIV, 65.
22. Isham, p. 41; Kettell, "Repair and Restoration of Eleazer Arnold's Splendid Mansion," Old Time New England, XLIII, 2.
23. Cady, "The Stone-Ender from Sussex to Rhode Island," Providence Sunday Journal, Oct. 9, 1949. 24. Staples, p. 179. The location was between the present North Main and Benefit streets, near their junction.
16
1676-1720
Courtesy of Providence Journal
Thomas Clemence house (1680), 38 George Waterman Road, Johnston, as restored 1938.
Courtesy of Dorothy Boykett
Fifteenth century cottage, Twineham, Sussex.
17
THE NECK
F
: J
R.I.H.S.
Eleazer Arnold house, 1687, Great Road, Saylesville, as restored 1951.
R.I.H.S.
Fire room, Clemence house, as restored 1938.
18
1676 - 1720
of North Main and Smith streets.25 And a tract of common land was ordered "for the use of millitarey affaires for training of souldiers & ctr; & also to a place to be for the use of Buireing of the dead,"26 thereby establishing the North Burial Ground.
When the 18th century opened the colony of Rhode Island was composed of nine corporate towns whose relative standing in wealth may be inferred by the proportioning of a colony tax of £400 in 1701, as follows: Newport £112 IOS, Providence £65, Kingstown £61 IOS, Westerly £24, Warwick £23, Portsmouth £20, Jamestown £19, [East] Green- wich £13, and New Shoreham £12.27 Newport's high rating was due to the sea trade in which her townspeople had engaged from the early years of the settlement. Providence, still principally a farming community, was just awakening to a realization of the potential resources of the sea.
By act of the General Assembly in 1703 the colony was divided into two counties designated, respectively, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, each having two inferior courts of common pleas.28 Rhode Island County included Newport and Portsmouth on the island of Rhode Island (formerly Aquidneck), New Shoreham on Block Island, Jamestown on Conanicut Island, and the other islands in Narragansett bay. The county of Providence Plantations comprised the mainland towns of Providence, Warwick, East Greenwich, Kingstown, and Westerly (see map, page 20).
Providence, at that time, had about 1200 inhabitants. Although seafaring activities had effected a commercial growth in the southern part of the town the industrial center continued, for the time, in the north end. In 1704 William Edmunds opened a blacksmith shop, and William Smith a weaver's shop,29 both located near the Olney Tavern (page 16). In 1706 land was granted to Richard Arnold and John Smith on the east side of Moshassuck river, below the grist mill, for setting up a saw mill.30
Most of the inhabitants lived in dwellings on the east side of the Towne street. The wharves and warehouses of the sea merchants were conveniently located opposite their houses on the water front. The farmers, on the other hand, were obliged to cross the river to reach their meadows and grazing lands on Weybosset side; some already had erected dwellings on their farms. A bridge had been erected in 1660, where Market Square is now, but had not long survived (page 11). The only public land designated between the Towne street and the water front was a highway, stated in 1681 (page 15), which practically coincided with the portion of the present Market Square between the School of Design Auditorium and the Market House. The farmers crossed the river in boats and canoes and sometimes made use of the ford (page II) through which they rode on horseback or drove their carts. In the summer of 1704 the Town Council took steps to remedy those primitive conditions in two ways; first, by designating a portion of the waterfront as common land and, second, by initiating a movement for a new bridge across the river.
The problem of the water rights arose as a result of the increasing number of requests for warehouse lots. The purchasers and the proprietors met together in July, 1704, and considered "how greatly detrementall it will proove & be unto the Towne if so there should be a grant of waare house lotts all along the Salt Water by the Towne Streete, by reason that People thereby would be so much obstructed of Recourse to and from the Waterside as they have Continuall ocation for; ... because there is so Constant a Passing to & from
25. The church was "in the shape of a haycap, with a fireplace in the middle, the smoke escaping from a hole in the roof." - Kimball, p. 132.
26. E.R.P., XVIII, 2.
29. E.R.P., XI, 79-80.
27. R.I.C.R., III, 426. 28. Ibid, 477-479. 30. Ibid, 102.
19
MASSACHUSETTS
A Map
ATTLEBORO GORE Disputed territory i between Rhode Island
of the State of RHODE ISLAND
and Massachusetts
showing
Seven
TERRITORIAL2 BouNDS For the Years
Way unheke Hill
1659-1703
R.
Prepared by the State Planning Board
John H.Cady - Consultant 1936
PRO I
E
Seek
Walling's Pond
Moswansicut Pond
River
River
Pawtuxet Division Line
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