Providence, Rhode Island

Settlement

The area that is now Providence was first settled in June 1636 by Roger Williams and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies of the United States. Williams and his company felt compelled to withdraw from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Providence quickly became a refuge for persecuted religious dissenters, as Williams himself had been exiled from Massachusetts.

Revolution

Providence residents were among the first Patriots to spill blood in the leadup to the American Revolution during the Gaspée Affair of 1772. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776. It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790, once assurances were made that a Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution.

Incorporation as a city

Following the war, Providence was the country's ninth-largest city with 7,614 people. The economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, in particular machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry, and textiles. By the start of the 20th century, Providence boasted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware.

City Government

Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831 as the population passed 17,000. From its incorporation as a city in 1832 until 1878, the seat of city government was located in the Market House, located in Market Square, which was the geographic and social center of the city. The city offices quickly outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to create a permanent municipal building in 1845. The city offices moved into the City Hall in 1878.

Civil War

During the Civil War, local politics split over slavery as many had ties to Southern cotton. Despite ambivalence concerning the war, the number of military volunteers routinely exceeded quota, and the city's manufacturing proved invaluable to the Union.

20th century

By the early 1900s, Providence was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Immigrant labor powered one of the nation's largest industrial manufacturing centers. Providence was a major manufacturer of industrial products from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles. Giant companies were based in or near Providence, such as Brown & Sharpe, the Corliss Steam Engine Company, Babcock & Wilcox, the Grinnell Corporation, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, Nicholson File, and the Fruit of the Loom textile company.

From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national community development funds were invested throughout the city. In the 1990s, the city pushed for revitalization, uncovering the rivers (which had been covered by paved bridges), relocating a large section of railroad underground, creating Waterplace Park and river walks along the rivers' banks, and constructing the Fleet Skating Rink (now the Alex and Ani City Center) and the 1.4 million ft² Providence Place Mall.

21st century

Despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem as it does in most post-industrial New England cities. Approximately 27.9 percent of the city population is living below the poverty line. Recent increases in real estate values further exacerbate problems for those at marginal income levels, as Providence had the highest rise in median housing price of any city in the United States from 2004 to 2005.

Geography

The Providence city limits enclose a small geographical region with a total area of 20.5 square miles (53 km²); 18.5 square miles (48 km²) of it is land and the remaining 2.1 square miles (5.4 km²) is water (roughly 10%). Providence is located at the head of Narragansett Bay, with the Providence River running into the bay through the center of the city, formed by the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers. The Waterplace Park amphitheater and riverwalks line the river's banks through downtown.

Providence is one of many cities claimed to be founded on seven hills like Rome. The more prominent hills are: Constitution Hill (near downtown), College Hill (east of the Providence River), and Federal Hill (west of downtown and containing New England's largest Italian district outside of Massachusetts). The other four are: Tockwotten Hill at Fox Point, Smith Hill (where the State House is located), Christian Hill at Hoyle Square (junction of Cranston and Westminster Streets), and Weybosset Hill at the lower end of Weybosset Street, which was leveled in the early 1880s.

Neighborhoods

Providence has 25 official neighborhoods, though these neighborhoods are often grouped together and referred to collectively:

The city of Providence is geographically very compact, characteristic of eastern seaboard cities that developed prior to use of the automobile. It is among the most densely populated cities in the country. For this reason, Providence has the eighth-highest percentage of pedestrian commuters. The street layout is irregular; more than one thousand streets (a great number for the city's size) run haphazardly, connecting and radiating from traditionally bustling places such as Market Square.

Downtown Providence has numerous 19th-century mercantile buildings in the Federal and Victorian architectural styles, as well as several post-modern and modernist buildings located throughout the area. In particular, a fairly clear spatial separation appears between the areas of pre-1980s development and post-1980s development. West Exchange Street and Exchange Terrace serve as rough boundaries between the two.

The newer area, sometimes called "Capitol Center", includes Providence Place Mall (1999), the Omni Providence Hotel (1993) and The Residences Providence (2007), GTECH Corporation (2006), Waterplace condominiums (2007), and Waterplace Park (1994). The area tends toward newer development, since much of it is land reclaimed in the 1970s from a mass of railroad tracks referred to colloquially as the "Chinese Wall". This part of Downtown is characterized by open spaces, wide roads, and landscaping.

The historic part of downtown has many streetscapes that look as they did 80 years ago. Many of the state's tallest buildings are found here. The largest structure at 426 feet (130 m) is the art deco-styled 111 Westminster Street (formerly Industrial Trust Tower). By contrast, nearby to it is the second tallest One Financial Plaza, designed in modern taut-skin cladding, constructed a half-century later. In between the two is 50 Kennedy Plaza. The Textron Tower is also a core building to the modest Providence skyline. Downtown is also the home of the Providence Biltmore and Westminster Arcade, the oldest enclosed shopping mall in the U.S., built in 1828.

The city's southern waterfront, away from the downtown core, is the location of many oil tanks, a docking station for a ferry boat, a non-profit sailing center, bars, strip clubs, and power plants. The Russian Submarine Museum was located here until 2008, when the submarine sank in a storm and was declared a loss. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is also found here, built to protect Providence from storm surge like that which it endured in the 1938 New England Hurricane and again in 1954 from Hurricane Carol.

The majority of the cityscape comprises abandoned and revitalized industrial mills, double- and triple-decker housing (though row houses are rare, found so commonly in other Northeast cities), a small number of high-rise buildings (predominantly for housing the elderly), and single family homes. Interstate 95 serves as a physical barrier between the city's commercial core and neighborhoods such as Federal Hill and the West End.

Climate

Providence has a humid continental (Köppen Cfa or Dfa) with warm summers, cold winters, and high humidity year-round. The USDA places the city in Hardiness zone 6b, with the suburbs falling in zones 6a – 7b. The influence of the Atlantic Ocean keeps Providence, and the rest of the state of Rhode Island, warmer than many inland locales in New England. January is the coldest month with a daily mean of 29.2 °F (−1.6 °C), and low temperatures dropping to 10 °F (−12 °C) or lower an average of 11 days per winter, while July is the warmest month with a daily mean of 73.5 °F (23.1 °C), and highs rising to 90 °F (32 °C) or higher an average of 10 days per summer. Extremes range from −17 °F (−27 °C) on February 9, 1934 to 104 °F (40 °C) on August 2, 1975; the record cold daily maximum is 1 °F (−17 °C) on February 5, 1918, while the record warm daily minimum is 80 °F (27 °C) on June 6, 1925. Temperature readings of 0 °F (−18 °C) or lower are uncommon in Providence, and generally occur once every several years. The year which had the most days with a temperature reading of zero degrees or lower was 2015 with eight days total; one day in January and seven days in February. Conversely, temperature readings of 100 °F (38 °C) or higher are even rarer, and the year with the most days in this category was 1944 with three days, all of which were in August.

As with the rest of the northeastern seaboard, Providence receives ample precipitation year-round. Monthly precipitation ranges from a high of 4.43 inches (112.5 mm) in March to a low of 3.17 inches (80.5 mm) in July. In general, precipitation levels are slightly lesser in the summer months than the winter months, when powerful storms known as Nor'easters can cause significant snowfall and blizzard conditions. Although hurricanes are not frequent in coastal New England, Providence's location at the head of Narragansett Bay makes it vulnerable to them.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, the population consisted of 173,618 people, 162,389 households, and 35,859 families. The population density was 9,401.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,629.4/km²), characteristic of comparatively older cities in New England such as New Haven, Connecticut, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. Its population peaked in the 1940s, just prior to the nationwide period of rapid suburbanization.

Providence has a racially and ethnically diverse population. In 2010, white Americans formed 49.8% of the population, including a sizable white Hispanic community. Non-Hispanic whites were 37.6% of the total population, down from 89.5% in 1970. Providence has had a substantial Italian population since the start of the 20th century, with 14% of the population claiming Italian ancestry. Italian influence manifests itself in Providence's Little Italy in Federal Hill. Irish immigrants have also had considerable influence on the city's history, with 8% of residents claiming Irish heritage. The city also has a sizeable Jewish community, estimated at 10,500 in 2012 or roughly 5% of the city's population.

In 2010, people of Hispanic or Latino origin composed 27.8% of the city's population and currently form a majority of city public school students. The largest Hispanic groups are those having origins in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. Hispanics are most concentrated in the neighborhoods of Elmwood, the West End, and Upper and Lower South Providence. The city elected its first Hispanic mayor in 2010, Dominican-American Angel Taveras.

African Americans constitute 16% of the city's population, with their greatest concentrations found in Mount Hope and the Upper and Lower South Providence neighborhoods. Asians are 6% of Providence's population and have enclaves scattered throughout the city. The largest Asian groups are Cambodians (1.7%), Chinese (1.1%), Asian Indians (0.7%), Laotians (0.6%), and Koreans (0.6%). Another 6% of the city has multiracial ancestry. American Indians and Pacific Islanders make up the remaining 1.3%. Liberians compose 0.4% of the population; the city is home to one of the largest Liberian immigrant populations in the country.

Providence has a considerable community of immigrants from various Portuguese-speaking countries, especially Portugal, Brazil, and Cape Verde, living mostly in the areas of Washington Park and Fox Point. Portuguese is the city's third-largest European ethnicity, after Italian and Irish, at 4% of the population; Cape Verdeans compose 2%.

The Providence metropolitan area includes Providence, Fall River, Massachusetts, and Warwick, and is estimated to have a population of 1,622,520. In 2006, this area was officially added to the Boston Combined Statistical Area (CSA), the sixth-largest CSA in the country. In the last 15 years, Providence has experienced a sizable growth in its under-18 population. The median age of the city is 28 years, while the largest age cohort is 20- to 24-year-olds, owing to the city's large student population.

The per capita income as of the 2000 census was $15,525, which is well below both the state average of $29,113 and the national average of $21,587. The median income for a household was $26,867, and the median income for a family in Providence was $32,058, according to the 2000 census. The city has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation with 29.1% of the population and 23.9% of families living below the poverty line in 2000, the largest concentrations being found in the city's Olneyville, and Upper and Lower South Providence areas. Poverty has affected children at a disproportionately higher rate, with 40.1% of those under the age of 18 living below the poverty line, concentrated west of downtown in the neighborhoods of Hartford, Federal Hill, and Olneyville.

Crime

Compared to the national average, Providence has an average rate of violent crime and a higher rate of property crime per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2010, there were 15 murders, down from 24 in 2009. In 2010, Providence fared better regarding violent crime than most of its peer cities. Springfield, Massachusetts has approximately 20,000 fewer residents than Providence but reported 15 murders in 2009, the same number of homicides as Providence but a slightly higher rate per capita. New Haven, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut have approximately 50,000 fewer people than Providence, but they reported 24 and 26 murders respectively in 2010, significantly higher murder rates per capita than Providence. The police chief asserted that Providence's violence was not stranger-to-stranger, but relationship-driven. The pattern of violent crime was highly specific by neighborhood, with the vast majority of the murders taking place in the poorer sections of Providence such as Olneyville, Elmwood, South Providence, and the West End.

Economy

Around 1830, Providence had manufacturing industries in metals, machinery, textiles, jewelry, and silverware. Manufacturing has declined since, but the city is still one of the largest centers for jewelry and silverware design and manufacturing. Services also make up a large portion of the city's economy, in particular education, healthcare, and finance. Providence also is the site of a sectional center facility (SCF), a regional hub for the U.S. Postal Service. It is the capital of Rhode Island, so the city's economy additionally consists of government services.

Prominent companies headquartered in Providence include Fortune 500 Textron, an advanced technologies industrial conglomerate; United Natural Foods, a distributor of natural and organic foods; Fortune 1000 Nortek Incorporated; Gilbane, a construction and real estate company; and GTECH Corporation, which recently moved its world headquarters to downtown Providence. Citizens Bank is also headquartered in Providence and is the 15th largest bank in the country.

The city is home to the Rhode Island Convention Center, which opened in December 1993. Along with a hotel, the convention center is connected to the Providence Place Mall, a major retail center, through a skywalk. The Port of Providence is the second largest deep-water seaport in New England. It handles cargos such as cement, chemicals, heavy machinery, petroleum, and scrap metal. Providence is also home to some of toy manufacturer Hasbro's business operations, although their headquarters are in Pawtucket.

Top employers

According to the City's 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top twenty employers in the city are:

Government

As the state capital, Providence houses the Rhode Island General Assembly, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor in the Rhode Island State House. The city itself has a Mayor-council government. The Providence City Council consists of 15 councilors, one for each of the city's wards, who enact ordinances and pass an annual budget. Providence also has probate and superior courts. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island is located downtown across from Providence City Hall adjacent to Kennedy Plaza.

David N. Cicilline finished his term as mayor in 2010, eight years after taking office as the first homosexual mayor of an American state capital. Providence was the largest American city to have a homosexual mayor until Sam Adams took office in Portland, Oregon on January 1, 2009. The city's first Latino mayor was Angel Taveras, who assumed office on January 3, 2011. Jorge Elorza succeeded him on January 5, 2015.

Postsecondary

The main campuses of five of Rhode Island's colleges and universities are in Providence (city proper):

In addition, the Community College of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, and University of Rhode Island have satellite campuses in the city. Between these schools, the number of post-secondary students is approximately 44,000. Higher education exerts a considerable presence in the city's politics and economy, compounded by the fact that Brown University is the city's second-largest employer.

Private and charter schools

There are several private schools in the city's East Side, including Moses Brown, the Lincoln School, and the Wheeler School. La Salle Academy is located in the North End (Elmhurst neighborhood), near Providence College. The public charter schools Time Squared Academy High School (K-12) and Textron Chamber of Commerce (9–12) are funded by GTECH Corporation and Textron respectively. In addition, the city's South Side houses Community Preparatory School, a private school serving primarily low-income students in grades 3–8. There are two separate centers for students with special needs.

Public schools

The Providence Public School District serves about 30,000 students from pre-Kindergarten to grade 12. The district has 25 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and thirteen high schools. The Providence Public School District features magnet schools at the middle and high school level, Nathanael Greene and Classical respectively. The overall graduation rate as of 2007 is 70.1%, which is close to the statewide rate of 71% and the national average of 70%. Rhode Island also operates two public schools in Providence.

Culture

Much of Providence culture is synonymous with the culture of Rhode Island as a whole. Like the state, the city has a non-rhotic accent that can be heard on local media. Providence also shares Rhode Island's affinity for coffee, with the most coffee and doughnut shops per capita of any city in the country. Providence is also reputed to have the highest number of restaurants per capita of major U.S. cities, many of which are founded or staffed by Johnson & Wales University graduates.

Providence has several ethnic neighborhoods, notably Federal Hill and the North End (Italian), Fox Point (Portuguese), West End (mainly Central American and Asians), and Smith Hill (Irish with miscellaneous enclaves of other groups). There are also many dedicated community organizations and arts associations located in the city.

The city gained the reputation as one of the most active and growing homosexual communities in the Northeast. The rate of reported homosexual and lesbian relationships is 75% higher than the national average, and Providence has been named among the "Best Lesbian Places to Live". Former mayor David Cicilline won his election running as an openly homosexual man, Former Mayor Cianci instituted the position of Mayor's Liaison to the Gay and Lesbian community in the 1990s. and Providence is home to the largest gay bathhouse in New England.

During the summer months, the city regularly hosts WaterFire, an environmental art installation that consists of about 100 bonfires which blaze just above the surface of the three rivers that pass through the middle of downtown Providence. There are multiple Waterfire events that are accompanied by various pieces of classical and world music. The public art displays change on a regular basis, most notably the sculptures.

The city is also the home of the Tony Award-winning theater group Trinity Repertory Company, the Providence Black Repertory Company, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as groups such as The American Band, once associated with noted American composer David Wallis Reeves. Providence is also the home of several performing arts centers, such as the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, the Providence Performing Arts Center, and the Providence Festival Ballet. The city's underground music is centered on artist-run spaces such as the now-defunct Fort Thunder and is known in underground music circles. Providence is also home to the Providence Improv Guild, an improvisational theatre that has weekly performances and offers improv and sketch comedy classes.

Sites of interest

Providence is home to a 1,200-acre (4.9 km²) park system, notably Waterplace Park and Riverwalk, Roger Williams Park, Roger Williams National Memorial, and Prospect Terrace Park. Prospect Terrace Park features expansive views of the downtown area, as well as a 15-foot tall granite statue of Roger Williams gazing over the city. As one of the first cities in America, Providence contains many historic buildings, while the East Side neighborhood in particular includes the largest contiguous area of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S., with many pre-revolutionary houses.

The East Side is also home to the First Baptist Church in America, which was founded by Williams in 1638, as well as the Old State House which served as the state's capitol from 1762 to 1904. Nearby is Roger Williams National Memorial. The dome of the State House is the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world and the second-largest marble dome after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The Westminster Arcade is the oldest enclosed shopping center in the U.S.

The main art museum is the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, which has the 20th-largest collection in the country. The city is home to the Providence Athenæum, the fourth oldest library in the country, in addition to the Providence Public Library and the nine branches of the Providence Community Library. Edgar Allan Poe met and courted a love interest here named Sarah Helen Whitman on one of his many visits to Providence. Poe was a regular fixture here, as was H. P. Lovecraft (who was born in Providence), both influential writers of gothic literature.

The Alex and Ani City Center (formerly the Bank of America Skating Center and Fleet Skating Center) is located near Kennedy Plaza in the downtown district, connected by pedestrian tunnel to Waterplace Park, a cobblestone and concrete park below street traffic that abuts Providence's three rivers.

The southern part of the city is home to the famous roadside attraction Nibbles Woodaway (also known as the "Big Blue Bug"), the world's largest termite. Roger Williams Park contains a zoo, a botanical center, and the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium.

Another well-known site is the Providence Biltmore Hotel located downtown near Kennedy Plaza, a historic location built in 1922. The hotel closed in 1974; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and it reopened in 1979.

Sports

The city is home to the American Hockey League team Providence Bruins, which plays at the Dunkin' Donuts Center (formerly the Providence Civic Center). From 1926 to 1972, the AHL's Providence Reds (renamed the Rhode Island Reds in their last years) played at the Rhode Island Auditorium. In 1972, the team relocated to the Providence Civic Center, where they played until moving to Binghamton, New York, in 1977.

The city has two rugby teams, the Rugby Union team Providence Rugby Football Club, and the Semi-Professional Rugby League team The Rhode Island Rebellion, which play at Classical High School. In 2013 the Rebellion finished the USA Rugby League (USARL) regular season in third place. Their playoff run took them to the USARL Semi-Finals, the first time the Rebellion made the playoffs in its short three-year history.

The NFL's New England Patriots and MLS's New England Revolution play in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is situated halfway between Providence and Boston. Providence was formerly home to two major league franchises: the NFL's Providence Steam Roller in the 1920s and 1930s, and the NBA's Providence Steamrollers in the 1940s. The Rhode Island Auditorium also hosted won 29 of the 49 boxing fights of Rocky Marciano.

The city's defunct baseball team, the Providence Grays, competed in the National League from 1879 through 1885. The team defeated the New York Metropolitans in baseball's first successful "world championship series" in 1884. In 1914, after the Boston Red Sox purchased Babe Ruth from the then-minor league Baltimore Orioles, the team prepared Ruth for the major leagues by sending him to finish the season playing for a minor league team in Providence that was also known as the Grays. Today, professional baseball is offered by the Pawtucket Red Sox, the AAA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, which plays in nearby Pawtucket. Most baseball fans—along with the local media—tend to follow the Boston Red Sox.

Major colleges and universities fielding NCAA Division I athletic teams are Brown University and Providence College. The latter is a member of the Big East Conference. Much local hype is associated with games between these two schools or the University of Rhode Island.

Providence has also hosted the alternative sports event Gravity Games from 1999 to 2001, and was also the first host of ESPN's X Games, known in its first edition as the Extreme Games, in 1995. Providence has its own roller derby league. Formed in 2004, it currently has four teams: the Providence Mob Squad, the Sakonnet River Roller Rats, the Old Money Honeys, and the Rhode Island Riveters. Providence is also home to the headquarters of the American Athletic Conference (The American).

Health and medicine

Providence is home to eight hospitals, most prominently Rhode Island Hospital, the largest general acute care hospital in the state. It is also the Level I Trauma Center for Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Connecticut. The hospital is in a complex along I-95 that includes Hasbro Children's Hospital and Women and Infants Hospital. The city is also home to the Roger Williams Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital For Specialty Care (a division of St. Joseph Health Services Of Rhode Island), The Miriam Hospital, a major teaching affiliate associated with the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, as well as a VA medical center.

The Rhode Island Blood Center has its main headquarters in Providence. Since 1979, the Rhode Island Blood Center has been the sole organization in charge of blood collection and testing and distribution of blood products to 11 hospitals in Rhode Island.

Transportation

Providence is served by the international airport of T. F. Green Airport in nearby Warwick. General aviation fields also serve the region. Because of overcrowding and Big Dig complications in Boston, Massport has been promoting T. F. Green as an alternative to Boston's Logan International Airport.

Providence Station, located between the Rhode Island State House and the downtown district, is served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail services, with a commuter rail route running north to Boston and south to a recently opened station at T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction. Approximately 2400 passengers daily pass through the station.

I-95 runs from north to south through Providence while I-195 connects the city to eastern Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, including New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Cape Cod. I-295 encircles Providence while RI 146 provides a direct connection with Worcester, Massachusetts. The city commissioned and began a long-term project, the Iway, to move I-195 in 2007 not only for safety reasons, but also to free up land and to reunify the Jewelry District with Downcity Providence, which had been split from one another by the highway. The project was estimated to cost $610 million.

Kennedy Plaza, in downtown Providence, serves as a transportation hub for local public transit as well as a departure point for Peter Pan and Greyhound bus lines. Public transit is managed by Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA). Through RIPTA alone Kennedy Plaza serves over 71,000 people a day. The majority of the area covered by RIPTA is served by traditional buses. Of particular note is the East Side Trolley Tunnel running under College Hill, the use of which is reserved for RIPTA buses. RIPTA also operates the Providence LINK, a system of tourist trolleys in downtown Providence. From 2000 to 2008, RIPTA operated a seasonal ferry to Newport between May and October. In 2016 SeaStreak began operating the Providence – Newport ferry route. RIPTA began a rapid bus service called the R Line in June 2014.

Utilities

Electricity and natural gas are provided by National Grid. Providence Water is responsible for the distribution of drinking water, ninety percent of which comes from the Scituate Reservoir about ten miles (16 km) west of downtown, with contributions coming from four smaller bodies of water. Drinking water in Providence has been rated among the highest quality in the country.

Sister cities

As of 2008, Providence had three official sister cities: