USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > The civic and architectural development of Providence, 1636-1950 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
13. E.R.P., IX, 59. This was one of the lanes in the original highway pattern of the town. See page 7.
14. R.I.C.R., IV, 442-445. 15. Kimball, p. 242. 16. E.R.P., IX, 76.
17. Ibid, 77-79.
18. Power had two gardens located, respectively, south and west of his homestead.
29
THE NECK
Mitchell's dwelling on the north; the revisal and widening of a highway19 "from the Town streete westward: Down to the salt water River: Where the Greate Bridge now standeth that Goeth over the River to Waybaset," 123 feet wide, between Colonel Abbott's still house (page 33) on the south and his land on the north. This was known subsequently as the Town Parade; it was the origin of Market Square, its breadth extending from the present School of Design Auditorium southward to include the lawn of the Market House. Also a highway 50 feet wide (Steeple Street) "Oppisate against the home stead Land of John Angel Esq'r It being the Place where they Usually Landed when Rod or Carted from the other side of the River," and running between Angell's warehouse on the south and his garden on the north; a highway (Haymarket Street) 37 feet wide bordering William Smith's house on the south and "the schoole house" on the north;20 and a highway 66 feet wide (Smith Street) between the Baptist Meeting House on the north and William Antram's dwelling on the south.
Another project of 1738 was a highway (Mill Street) laid out from Colonel Joseph Whipple's cooper shop on the Towne street, passing the house of the heirs of John Crawford, deceased (page 23) and extending northerly, by a bridge, across Moshassuck river.21 And the final undertaking of the year was the widening of the old path (South Angell, East River and Waterman streets) leading to the ferry at Narrow Passage.22
The wood dwellings erected in Providence after the colonial style had become estab- lished followed, as a rule, the center chimney plan (page 23). Like the earlier houses they were framed with heavy sills, posts and girts, dovetailed one into another, the horizontal timbers notched for joists and rafters. Vertical boards were nailed to the timbers and were faced with clapboards or shingles on the outside and with lath and plaster on the inside. The posts and beams were no longer left exposed in the rooms but were covered with beaded casings. Roof designs were of three general types - gable, gambrel and hipped.23
On some of the earlier gable-roof houses the cornice extended around all four sides and the walls of the gable ends were projected outward. The Christopher Sheldon house (c. 1755), with its huge brick pilastered chimney, which stood at 357 South Main Street until about 1908, was of that roof type (illustration, page 31). But in most instances, as noted on the Stephen Hopkins house (illustration, page 31), the cornice was built only on the long walls, with a return of the crown mouldings around the corner boards, and the end walls carried up straight into the flat gables, their intersection with the roof covered with rake mouldings. Stephen Hopkins, later chief justice of the Supreme Court, governor of Rhode Island, a member of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, purchased, in 1743, a small house which stood at the present northeast corner of South Main and Hopkins streets, to which he built an addition. It was moved halfway up Hopkins Street in 1809, and again moved to its present location at 12 Hopkins Street in 1928 where it was restored by Norman M. Isham (page 239). The rear wing is the original house and the front part, containing an entrance hall flanked by rooms of unequal
19. A highway "three poles wide" previously had been ordered in 1681. See page 1 5.
20. The origin of the schoolhouse is obscure. A committee was appointed, in 1752, "to have the care of the town school house, and to appoint a master to teach in said house." Two years later it was leased by the town to Stephen Jackson, schoolmaster. (Staples, p. 495.)
21. E.R.P., IX, 81; P.S.H., I, 9.
22. E.R.P., IX, 85. See page 13.
23. The gable roof, having sloping sides and gable ends, originated in the Greek temple; the gambrel roof, a modification of the gable roof with two pitches on each side, was of mediaeval origin; the hipped roof, with sloping sides and ends, was an innovation of the Renaissance.
30
1720-1760
MARINE
R.I.H.S.
Christopher Sheldon house, c. 1735 -c. 1908, 357 South Main Street
R.I.H.S.
Stephen Hopkins house, c. 1743, 12 Hopkins Street
3I
1
THE NECK
EDWARDR YOUNG
TEA
ICS STAPLES JR.
G&WTOSTER
R.I.H.S.
Abbott Still House, c. 1730 - c. 1867, corner of South Main and College streets.
R.I.H.S. Richard Brown house, c. 1731, Butler Health Center grounds.
32
1720-1760
width, was the addition made by Mr. Hopkins. The house is owned by the state and is in the custody of the Society of Colonial Dames in Rhode Island.
One of the best known gambrel-roof houses of the period, a familiar landmark in the Market Square area until its demolition to provide an extension of College Street in 1867 (page 143), was Daniel Abbott's distill house (page 30; illustration, page 32). Originally a dwelling, erected c. 1730, it was later acquired by Judge Daniel Jenckes who converted it into shops and probably added the long monitor-type roof dormer. A smaller gambrel-roof example is the John Tripp house (c. 1725), still standing at 95312 Manton Avenue (illustra- tion, page 24), in the end wall of which is exposed a square section of stone chimney with a beehive oven.
The first brick house in the town was a gambrel-roof dwelling built about 1731 by Justice Richard Brown on his farm in the north part of the Neck, still standing on the grounds of Butler Hospital (illustration, page 32). The original floor plan, before enlarge- ment to the east, was similar to that of the late 17th century dwellings (page 16), except that diagonal fireplaces were built into the end chimney at the corners of the rooms. A similar fireplace arrangement was followed in the house built by Deputy Governor Elisha Brown in 1759; most of it survives at 597 North Main Street, but its symmetry has been lost through the removal of its north end.
Prior to 1739 the only means of crossing Seekonk river were by the bridge at Pawtucket and the ferry at Narrow Passage where Red Bridge is now located (page 13). Pursuant to a petition filed that year by Josiah Fuller and Elisha Tillinghast the General Assembly authorized the establishment of a lower ferry at India Point.24 It was reached from the Neck by a southerly and easterly extension of the highway at the head of the lots (Hope Street) and connected with a road to Bristol on the opposite shore (see map, page 27). It was the practice of the General Assembly to lease the ferries in the colony "to those who are best provided with a boat wharf and pier" and to require bonds as a condition of the lease. 25
The territorial bounds of the colony of Rhode Island were extended eastward in 1746 when certain lands which previously had been under dispute (page 12) were taken from the Massachusetts colony by direction of the Royal Commissioners. These were incorporated into five towns by the General Assembly in 1746-7, namely, Cumberland, attached to Providence County; Tiverton and Little Compton, added to Newport County; and Bristol and Warren, incorporated as the colony's fourth county, named Bristol.26 In 1850 Warwick and East Greenwich, together with Coventry and West Greenwich which had been set off from those towns in 1741, were divided from Providence County and incorporated as Kent County.27
The General Assembly in November, 1744, passed an act allowing a lottery of £15,000 for building a new Weybosset Bridge, thereby nullifying a previous act of 1733 suppressing lotteries.28 This was the commencement of the lottery system by which numerous public projects were financed during ensuing years. The new bridge, which replaced the former structure, was 18 feet wide with abutments carried out 30 feet on the east end and four feet on the west end. A stone pier supported the bridge in the center. The construction required two years, pending which time a ferry was kept in operation.29 The bridge was used princi- pally by the farmers who brought their produce from the agricultural lands on Weybosset side. Following its erection a hayward (hay scale) was set up near its easterly abutment
24. Staples, p. 196. See map, page 27.
27. Ibid, 301-302. See map, page 34. 28.
25. R.I.C.R., IV, 376. Ibid, IV, 478; V. 100. 26. Ibid, V, 204-209. 29. Staples, p. 198.
33
MASSACHUSETTS
Burnt Svamp Corner
A Map of the State of RHODE ISLAND
CUMBERLAND Annexed from MASSACHUSETTS, 1747
showing
Ce
TERRITORIAL2 BouNDS for the Years
GLOCESTER Taken from PROVIDENCE 1731
SMITHFIELD Taken from PROVIDENCE 1731
estone
1703-1750
Prepared by the
State Planning Board
John H.Cady - Consultant
Pawtucket Falls
1936
S
quoHOS
COUNT Name Changed 1729
Mosyansıcut Pond
River
SCITUATE Taken from PROVIDENCE 1731
Pawtuxet
Line
Division of 1712
Mashapaug Pond
Batting on
WAR
Bullocks Nech
BRISTOL
Annexed from
COUN
COVENTRY Taken from WARWICK 1741
1747
Towoset Nech
A
KENT
COUNT
GREENWICH
OWOMUT
Patience Ts.
Popasquash' Pt
WEST GREENWICH
Taken from EAST GREENWICH 1741
TIVERTON Annexed from MASSACHUSETTS 1747
EXETER Taken from NORTH KING STOWN 1743
Queen Bider
NA
PORTS MOUTH
RICHMOND Taken from CHARLESTOWN 1747
MIDDLE- TOWN
Taken from
NEWPORT
1743
River
KING'S COUNTY Taken from PROVIDENCE COUNTY 1729
BOSTON NECK
NEWP
Sakonnet 'Pt
Beaver Tail
Brentons Reef
4
atuc
sha
River
CHARLESTOWN Taken from& WESTERLY
1723
CE
pa
20
Watchaug Pond 1738 9
Ninigret Ponds
Pt Judith
Quonochontaug Pond
I
BLOCK JSIAND
Babcock Pond
NEW SHOREHAM
Watch Hill
Part of Newport County
State Boundary finally adjusted 1728
RRA
PRUDENCE
IS
PRIVER
Name changed 1729
JAMESTOWN
EWPOR
SAKOXNEI
LITTLE COMPTON Annexed from MASSACHUSETTS 1747
STERLY
Wood
andatury
Worden Pond
SOUTH
KINGSTOWN Division of KINGSTOWN
NORTH_KINGSTOWN Division of KINGSTOWN 1723
Warwic
25
BRISTOL
MT. HOPE E
Taken from PROVIDENCE COUNTY 1750
EAST
SILISWHOIS
pocasset R
PAWTUYET
Ponga
anser
WARWICK
1
MASSACHUSETTS
CONNECTICUT
From Rhode Island Boundaries, 1636-1936
Fanssoyson
PROVIDE
PROVIDENCE
Shawomet
COUN
PORT
1768197
1720-1760
and the area became known as the Market Place until identified as the Parade in 1772 (page 47).
Through the activities of Deacon Joseph Snow and his son Joseph Snow, Jr., who with others had seceded from the First Congregational Church (page 26), the New Light Meeting House was built in 1746 on the road to Pawtuxet, near its junction with the Plainfield Road (Broad and Weybosset streets). Daniel Abbott, who gave the land for the meeting house, deeded to the town in the same year an adjacent tract of land for "the use of the Publick ... for passing and repassing training and the like all ways to be kept free and clear of any building fencing or any other incumbrance to the prejudice of the publick forever."30 This was the town's first village green, now known as Abbott Park. The younger Snow was pastor of the church until 1793 when he organized the Richmond Street Congre- gational Church (page 75). The New Light Meeting House was replaced by the Beneficent Congregational Church in 1809 (page 74). The Snows were instrumental in developing a large residential area in the vicinity of the meeting house.31
The Concord distil-house was built in 1752 on the water front (near the present corner of Pine and Dorrance streets) where a wide ditch extended to "Muddy Dock" (Weybosset and Dorrance), over which barrels were transported on scows from the dis- tillery.32 In the same year a highway bridge was built at Muddy Dock where the crossing previously had been made by a ford. Westminster Street had its origin in 1753 when a "streight street 40 feet wide"33 was ordered from Whitman's house (Turks Head) to Mathewson's land (Dorrance Street) across Waterman's marsh with a gangway (Orange Street) connecting it with "the old street" (Weybosset).
The most densely populated part of the town, in the middle of the century, was the north end. Two new streets were laid out there in 1752,34 now identified, respectively, as Charles and West River. A county alms-house and workhouse was established at the present corner of Charles and Smith streets by act of the General Assembly in 175335 and a new county jail was built in the same year, west of the schoolhouse lot (page 30) at the present corner of Canal and Haymarket streets. 36
The first major highway improvement affecting the original proprietors' lots in the Neck was the construction of Benefit Street. This was first proposed in 1743 by members of the Congregational Society, residing in the north end of the town, who wished to have a back street parallel with the Towne street to provide them with easier access to the meeting house. The town merchants, realizing that the Towne street was inadequate for the increasing population, favored the proposal for the new street. The lot owners, however, objected to the construction of a highway athwart their properties and succeeded, for a time, in blocking the project. It was revived in 1746 with the filing of a petition signed by Robert Gibbs, Daniel Jenckes, Stephen Hopkins, and about 40 other citizens. In substance, this petition recalled that the compact part of the town had recently expanded, with a corresponding increase in the business transacted; that the Towne street was not sufficient for business purposes; that the home lots adjoining the street had been mostly built upon or were in the hands of proprietors who did not care to sell; and that there were no lots available for gentlemen, tradesmen and others whose inclinations would be to settle in Providence; and praying that another highway be laid out northward from Power's Lane a convenient distance eastward of the present street.37 The following year the council
30. Arthur E. Wilson, Weybosset Bridge (Boston, 1947), p. 256. P.S.H., I, 21.
32. Kimball, p. 202.
35. A.&R., 1753, P. 78. 36. R.I.C.R., V, 371, 373, 402.
31. Ibid, p. 170-184. 34. Ibid, 7. 37. Dorr, p. 148.
35
THE NECK
appointed a committee to investigate the feasibility of constructing the new highway, and a plat of the proposed back street was made by Stephen Hopkins, surveyor, extending from the south end of the town northerly to intersect the present North Main Street at the head of Constitution Hill.38
Some years elapsed before the construction of the Back street commenced, owing to the continued opposition on the part of owners of the home lots who resented the removal of the family burial lots which had been located on the hillside for many years. Eventually the opposition yielded, the lines of the street were established in accordance with a new plat drawn in 1756, compensation was voted for damages to lot owners, and work on the highway, later identified as Benefit Street, was undertaken. The southern end was built first and by the summer of 1758 the whole length was completed (see map, page 70). The only burial lot which now survives is the one where Pardon Tillinghast and about 30 of his descendants are buried, near the corner of Benefit and Transit streets.
The area of Providence, which had been reduced in 1731 by the setting off of three towns (page 29), was further contracted by the removal of the southern and western areas which were incorporated, respectively, as Cranston in 1754 and Johnston in 1759.39 The revised bounds of Providence began at the head of Hawkins cove, where Rhode Island Hospital is located, ran westerly to the head of Benedict pond (near the junction of the present Terrace and Hillwood streets), then northerly to Woonasquatucket river (near Olneyville Square) and followed the lines of that river to Smithfield (see map, page 69).
The inhabitants of the compact part of the town, in 1754, represented to the General Assembly that there was "a great necessity to have a water engine of a large size, purchased, to extinguish fires, that may casually break out in said town; and that the best way to obtain one, will be by laying a tax on the houses, goods and other things, to be destroyed by fire."40 The necessary authority was granted, the tax levied, and the engine, purchased in London, was delivered in 1756 and quartered on the gangway north of the Baptist Meeting House (Smith Street).
In 1758 the County House (page 28) was destroyed by fire. The water engine proved to be of so little value that a new tax was levied and a larger engine was ordered from London which arrived in 1760 and was housed on the Town Parade. The General Assembly, in 1759, authorized the town of Providence to appoint fire wards, made certain rules and regulations governing the fighting of fires, including the ringing of church bells and the repairing of every able-bodied man to the fire with a bucket, and defined the limits of the compact part of the town in which the rules should apply.41
A colonial postal service was instituted in Providence in 1758, in which year Samuel Chase was appointed postmaster. The post office was first located in a two-story building, opposite King's Church, as an appendage to a bookseller's shop.42
38. P.S.H., I, 17.
39. R.I.C.R., V, 388-390; VI, 194. Cranston was named for Samuel Cranston, governor of the colony, 1698-1727; and Johnston for Augustus Johnston, attorney general, 1758-66.
40. Ibid, V, 401.
41. A.&R., 1759, p. 79. The limits were as follows: "The House of Jabez Whipple, and that of Peter Randal, standing opposite to it [on Branch Avenue, opposite North Burial Ground], and, from thence South- ward, all the Buildings that are or shall be erected, butting on, or near adjacent to the Streets, both old and new, to the utmost Extent, together with all the Mills and Houses in that part of the said Town, which is called Charlestown as far westward as the Town-Pound [west of Moshassuck river between Smith and Orms streets]. and all such Part of the said Town as is called the Point [Weybosset], as far Westward as the Burying-Place [Weybosset and Broad streets]."
42. Dorr, p. 199.
36
CHAPTER 4 1760 - 1772
B Y the year 1760 commerce had become the most important factor in the development of the Rhode Island colony. Newport was still the leading port in Narragansett bay as well as one of the busiest on the American continent while Providence, with a population only half that of Newport, was on her way toward commercial exploits which were to bring her fame in later years of the century.
The principal sea activities were privateering and commerce with the West Indies and Africa. During the French and Indian War of 1756-63 the Rhode Island colony issued over 60 letters of marque to capture the vessels and merchandise of the enemies of the King of England. The vessels captured under those commissions were taken to the nearest British Admiralty Court and, if their seizures were declared legal, were condemned and sold with their cargoes and the proceeds divided, in each case, between the owners, officers and crew.1 In trade with the West Indies the vessels cleared from Rhode Island with cargoes of farm and dairy products, dried fish, beef, pork, horses and lumber, and returned laden with molasses, rum, sugar, and cotton. The only custom house in the colony was in Newport and smuggling was frequent. Many distilleries were in operation in Providence where molasses was converted into rum and shipped in vessels to Africa whence slaves were brought back to the West Indies on the return voyages.
Among the leading Providence merchants were the members of the Brown family. Obadiah Brown had continued the sea trade established by his brother James after the latter's death in 1739 (page 29), and prospered both as shopkeeper and ship owner. He also engaged in the manufacture of spermaceti candles. In the late 175os he organized the house of Obadiah Brown and Company, taking his nephews, Nicholas, Joseph, John and Moses, into the firm. After Obadiah's death in 1762 the nephews carried on the various enterprises of the firm under the name of Nicholas Brown and Company, and expanded the scope of activities with the construction and operation of Hope Furnace, near Pawtuxet river in Scituate, in 1765, for the manufacture of pig iron.2
Passenger service between Providence and Newport was instituted about 1764 by regular sailings of a packet from Hacker's Wharf, located near the foot of the present Planet Street. Joshua Hacker, its proprietor, formerly of Salem, built a house on the east side of the Towne street, opposite his wharf, which he later converted into a place of enter- tainment known as Hacker's Hall. Balls and parties were held there by the elite of the town, invitations to which were printed on playing cards. Among the distinguished guests entertained at the hall were Washington, Varnum, Gates and Rochambeau.3
The erection of a new Colony House, to replace the County House that had been destroyed by fire (page 36), was undertaken in 1760. A lot was acquired "northward of that whereon the meeting house of the people called Quakers, stands,"4 extending from the
I. Howard W. Preston, Rhode Island's Historic Background, published by Rhode Island Tercentenary Commission, 1936, p. 24.
2. James B. Hedges, The Browns of Providence Plantations, Cambridge, 1952, pp. 12-15, 124. An earlier furnace and foundry had been established at an ore bed in that vicinity by Daniel Waldo in 1735.
3. Edwin Martin Stone, Our French Allies (Providence, 1884), p. 253. 4. R.I.C.R., VI, 207.
37
THE NECK
Towne street to Benefit Street. A committee, consisting of Allen Brown, William Smith and David Harris, was appointed to procure materials for a brick building with the under- standing that the timber required would be furnished by Obadiah Brown at cost.5 Con- struction work proceeded slowly and in June, 1762, the General Assembly appointed Daniel
R.I.H.S.
Colony House, 1762, as enlarged in 1851
Jenckes and William Wheaton a committee "to complete the outside .. . so far as to keep it from taking damage, lay the floors, build the stairs, and complete two rooms in the chamber, suitable for the General Assembly to sit in."6 The Colony House (also known as the Court House), as completed late in 1762, was about 40 by 70 feet in area, having two stories and a basement, with a hipped roof and balustraded deck surmounted by a tower. The basement walls were of coursed-stone and the walls above were brick with rusticated stone trimmings. A new collection of books was purchased and installed in replacement of the library which had been burned. The building was financed, partly by lotteries and
5. R.I.C.R., VI, 196, 209. 6. Ibid, 327.
38
1760- 1772
partly by grants from the general treasury.7 It was enlarged and altered, in 1850-51, by the addition of a front projecting entrance and tower with a wood belfry and a long flight of stone steps, designed by Thomas A. Tefft (illustration, page 38). The interior also was altered, except the northwest room in the second story which retains to this day its original character. An addition to the east end, facing Benefit Street, was constructed later from plans by Alfred Stone. Washington, Lafayette and Rochambeau were visitors at the building. Following the Declaration of Independence in 1776 it became the State House and so continued until 1900. It has since been headquarters for the Sixth District Court.
The condition of the town highways, at the time the Colony House was built, is described in the words of a petition made by several of the inhabitants to the General Assembly in February, 1761, which represented that the streets "are so bad that at some seasons of the year it is almost impracticable to pass; that this inconvenience is rendered still greater, by the great number of carts and other carriages coming into the said town; that the said streets, from the nature and situation of the ground, can never be made good and passable, unless they be paved; and therefore they prayed that a lottery or lotteries may be granted for raising such a sum of money as shall be sufficient for paving the said streets, or at least such parts thereof, as shall be judged more immediately necessary."8 The Assembly granted the petition and authorized a lottery for raising the sum of £6000 to be applied toward paving the streets of Providence under direction of Nicholas Cooke, John Brown, Knight Dexter, Joseph Bennett, Joseph Bucklin, and George Jackson. The paving program was in three parts, each starting from Weybosset Bridge and radiating, respec- tively, "up town" (north), "down town" (south), and "westward" and extending, in each case, "as far as the nett proceeds will carry it." An enlargement of the program was permitted by the authorization of a lottery for raising an additional £6000 in September, 1761.9 The paving technique consisted in the laying of large, round stones with a line of stones of still larger size in the middle, called the crown of the causeway.10
On the night of October 24, 1761, there was a hard gale of wind which brought the highest tide into the harbor of Providence that had been known in the memory of man, carried away Weybosset Bridge, and beat down part of its "buttments and pillers." Forth- with the town deputies presented a petition to the General Assembly, recalling that the bridge had been built "from time to time, at the expense of the colony, excepting the last time, when it was re-built by money raised by a lottery," and praying that the Assembly "grant a sum of money, sufficient to re-build the said bridge." The sum of £1ooo was appropriated from the general treasury for the purpose, under protest of six subscribers who argued that "there being but thirty-five members now present, and fourteen of that number belonging to the county of Providence; we think they have a great advantage of voting money to their own county."11 The bridge as rebuilt in 1764 was 22 feet wide and its total cost was £4357. Subsequently a lottery was granted for building a draw in the bridge (illustration, page 40). "After this, vessels from the West Indies, with full cargoes, went up as far as the foot of Bowen-Street. The tradition is, that the first square rigged vessel that ever sailed from the port, sailed from a wharf as high up as the canal market."12
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.