Providence, Rhode Island Providence, Rhode Island Top: Downtown Providence horizon and the Providence River from the Point Street Bridge; Middle: Federal Hill, University Hall at Brown University, Roger Williams Park, and the First Baptist Church in America; Bottom: Water - Fire at Waterplace Park, and the Rhode Island State House.
Top: Downtown Providence horizon and the Providence River from the Point Street Bridge; Middle: Federal Hill, University Hall at Brown University, Roger Williams Park, and the First Baptist Church in America; Bottom: Water - Fire at Waterplace Park, and the Rhode Island State House.
Official seal of Providence, Rhode Island Nickname(s): The Creative Capital, Beehive of Industry, the Renaissance City, the Divine City, PVD, Prov Location in Providence County and the state of Rhode Island.
Location in Providence County and the state of Rhode Island.
Type Providence City Council Providence is the capital of and most crowded city in the U.S.
State of Rhode Island, established in 1636, and one of the earliest metros/cities in the United States. It is positioned in Providence County and is the third most crowded city in New England, after Boston and Worcester.
Providence has a town/city population of 179,154; it is also part of the Providence urbane region which extends into southern Massachusetts.
The Providence urbane region has an estimated populace of 1,604,291, which exceeds that of Rhode Island as a whole by about 60%. This can be considered, in turn, to be part of the Greater Boston commuting area, which contains 7.6 million citizens .
Providence was established by Roger Williams, a theological exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The town/city is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay.
Providence was one of the first metros/cities in the nation to industrialize and became noted for its machine tool, jewelry, and silverware industries.
Today, the town/city of Providence is home to eight hospitals and seven establishments of higher learning which have shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains some manufacturing activity.
Main articles: History of Providence and Timeline of Providence, Rhode Island The region that is now Providence was first settled in June 1636 by Roger Williams and was one of the initial Thirteen Colonies of the United States.
Providence quickly became a refuge for persecuted theological dissenters, as Williams himself had been exiled from Massachusetts. Providence inhabitants were among the first Patriots to spill blood in the leadup to the American Revolution amid the Gaspee 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 turn into part of the Constitution. Market Square was the center of civic life in the 19th Century, and Market House was home to the town/city council before City Hall was built. By the start of the 20th century, Providence boasted some of the biggest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware.
Providence inhabitants ratified a town/city charter in 1831 as the populace passed 17,000. From its incorporation as a town/city in 1832 until 1878, the seat of town/city government was positioned in the Market House, positioned in Market Square, which was the geographic and civil center of the city.
The town/city offices quickly outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to problematic a permanent municipal building in 1845. The town/city offices moved into the City Hall in 1878.
By the early 1900s, Providence was one of the wealthiest metros/cities in the United States. Immigrant workforce powered one of the nation's biggest industrial manufacturing centers. Providence was a primary manufacturer of industrialized products from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles.
In the 1990s, the town/city pushed for revitalization, ultimately resulting in uncovering the rivers (which had been veiled by paved bridges), relocating a large section of barns underground, creating Waterplace Park and river walks along the river's banks, and constructing the Fleet Skating Rink (now the Alex and Ani City Center) downtown and the 1.4 million ft Providence Place Mall. Approximately 27.9 percent of the town/city population is living below the poverty line. Recent increases in real estate values further exacerbate enigma for those at marginal income levels, as Providence had the highest rise in median housing price of any town/city in the United States from 2004 to 2005. Astronaut photograph of Providence, Rhode Island taken from the International Space Station (ISS) The Providence town/city limits enclose a small geographical region with a total region of 20.5 square miles (53 km2); 18.5 square miles (48 km2) of it is territory and the remaining 2.1 square miles (5.4 km2) is water (roughly 10%).
Providence is positioned 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.
Providence is one of many metros/cities claimed to be established 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 including New England's biggest Italian precinct outside of Massachusetts).
The Providence horizon viewed from College Hill Providence has 25 official neighborhoods, though these neighborhoods are often grouped together and referred to collectively: The Jewelry District describes the region enclosed by I-95, the old I-195, and the Providence River.
The South Side (or South Providence) consists of the neighborhoods of Elmwood, Lower South Providence, Upper South Providence, and the West End.
Downtown Providence at Burnside Park The Downtown Providence skyline, viewed from College Hill on the city's East Side Downtown Providence and the East Side, 2010.
The town/city of Providence is geographically very compact, characteristic of easterly seaboard metros/cities that advanced before to use of the automobile.
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 various 19th-century mercantile buildings in the Federal and Victorian architectural styles, as well as a several post-modern and modernist buildings positioned throughout the area.
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).
Downtown is also the home of the Providence Biltmore and Westminster Arcade, the earliest enclosed shopping mall in the U.S., assembled in 1828. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is also found here, assembled to protect Providence from storm surge like that which it railroadin the 1938 New England Hurricane and again in 1954 from Hurricane Carol. The USDA places the town/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 a several years.
Although hurricanes are not incessant in coastal New England, Providence's locale at the head of Narragansett Bay makes it vulnerable to them.
Climate data for Providence, Rhode Island (T.
The populace density was 9,401.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,629.4/km ), characteristic of comparatively older metros/cities in New England such as New Haven, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. Also like these cities, its populace peaked in the 1940s just before to the nationwide reconstructionof rapid suburbanization.
Providence has a racially and ethnically diverse population.
Non-Hispanic whites, historically dominant in the city, were 37.6% of the total population, down from 89.5% in 1970. Providence has had a substantial Italian populace since the start of the 20th century, with 14% (a plurality) of the populace 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 inhabitants claiming Irish heritage. The town/city also has a sizeable, active and meaningful Jewish community, estimated at 10,500 in 2012 or roughly 5% of the city's population. In 2010, citizens of Hispanic or Latino origin comprised 27.8% of the city's populace and presently form a majority of town/city enhance school students. The biggest Hispanic groups are those having origins in Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala.
African Americans constitute 16% of the city's population, with their greatest concentrations found in Mount Hope and Upper and Lower South Providence neighborhoods. Asians are 6% of Providence's populace and have enclaves scattered throughout the city.
Providence, like some close-by Massachusetts communities, has a considerable improve 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 comprise 2%. The Providence urbane area, which includes Providence, Fall River, Massachusetts, and Warwick is estimated to have a populace of 1,622,520.
In the last fifteen years, Providence has experienced a sizeable expansion in its under-18 population.
The median age of the town/city is 28 years, while the biggest 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 nationwide average of $21,587. The median income for a homehold was $26,867, and the median income for a family in Providence was $32,058, as stated to the 2000 census.
The town/city has one of the highest rates of poverty in the country with 29.1% of the populace and 23.9% of families living below the poverty line in 2000, the biggest concentrations being found in the city's Olneyville, and Upper and Lower South Providence areas. Poverty has affected kids at a disproportionately higher rate, with 40.1% of those under the age of 18 living below the poverty line, concentrated in particular west of downtown in the neighborhoods of Hartford, Federal Hill, and Olneyville. Compared to the nationwide average, Providence has an average rate of violent crime and higher rate of property crime per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2010, there were 15 murders, down from 2009's 24. In 2010, Providence fared better regarding violent crime than most of its peer cities.
Springfield, Massachusetts has approximately 20,000 severaler inhabitants than Providence but reported 15 murders in 2009 i.e., the same number of homicides as Providence, but a slightly higher rate per capita. New Haven, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut have approximately 50,000 severaler citizens than Providence, but they reported 24 and 26 murders in 2010 in the order given, decidedly 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. Providence also is the site of a sectional center facility (SCF), a county-wide core for the U.S.
Postal Service. It is the capital of Rhode Island, so the city's economy extraly consists of government services.
Prominent companies headquartered in Providence include Fortune 500 Textron and United Natural Foods, Fortune 1000 Nortek Incorporated, privately held engineering firm Gilbane, and GTECH Corporation, who recently moved their world command posts to downtown Providence. Citizens Bank is also headquartered in Providence and is the 15th biggest bank in the country. Fleet Bank is another business whose origins were in the city, and it was once Rhode Island's biggest bank.
The town/city is home to the Rhode Island Convention Center, which opened in December 1993. Along with a hotel, the meeting hall is connected to the Providence Place Mall, a primary retail center, through a skywalk. The Port of Providence, the second-largest deepwater seaport in New England, handles cargo such as cement, chemicals, heavy machinery, petroleum, and scrap metal.
Providence is also home to some of toy manufacturer Hasbro's company operations, with command posts remaining in Pawtucket.
According to the City's 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top twenty employers in the town/city are: Providence City Hall in the Second Empire Baroque style As the state capital, Providence homes the Rhode Island General Assembly as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor in the Rhode Island State House.
Providence's town/city government has a mayor-council form of government.
The Providence City Council consists of fifteen town/city councilors, one for each of the city's wards.
District Court for the District of Rhode Island is positioned downtown athwart from City Hall adjoining to Kennedy Plaza.
Cicilline rather than his term as mayor in 2010, eight years after taking office as the first openly gay mayor of an American state capital. Providence was the biggest American town/city to have an openly gay mayor, until Sam Adams took office in Portland, Oregon, on January 1, 2009.
The flagship campuses of five of Rhode Island's universities and universities are in Providence (city proper): Rhode Island College, the state's earliest enhance college.
In addition, the Community College of Rhode Island (Downcity and Liston campuses), Roger Williams University (Providence campus) and University of Rhode Island (Providence campus) have satellite campuses in the city.
La Salle Academy is positioned in the Elmhurst region of the town/city near Providence College.
The enhance charter schools Time Squared Academy (K-12) and Textron Chamber of Commerce (9 12) are funded by GTECH Corporation and Textron in the order given. In addition, the city's South Side homes 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. The Providence Public School District serves about 30,000 students from pre-Kindergarten to undertaking 12.
The Providence Public School District features magnet schools at the middle and high school level, Nathanael Greene and Classical in the order given.
The overall graduation rate as of 2007 is 70.1%, which is close to the statewide rate of 71% and the nationwide average of 70%. Rhode Island also operates two enhance schools in Providence.
The Providence Performing Arts Center See also: Media in Providence urbane region Much of Providence culture is synonymous with Rhode Island culture.
Providence also shares Rhode Island's affinity for coffee, as the former has the most coffee/doughnut shops per capita of any town/city in the country. Providence, like many other towns, is also assumed to have the highest number of restaurants per capita, many of which established and/or staffed by its own Johnson & Wales University graduates. Providence has a several ethnic neighborhoods, prominently 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 improve organizations and arts associations positioned in the city. The town/city gained the reputation as one of the most active and burgeoning gay communities in the Northeast; the rate of reported gay and lesbian relationships is 75% higher than the nationwide average and Providence has been titled among the "Best Lesbian Places to Live". The former mayor, David Cicilline, won his election running as an openly gay man, making him the first openly gay mayor of a U.S.
State capital. Former Mayor Cianci instituted the position of Mayor's Liaison to the Gay and Lesbian improve in the 1990s. Providence is home to the biggest gay bathhouse in New England. The town/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 like The American Band, once associated with noted American composer D.
Providence is also the home of a 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 scene, centered on artist-run spaces such as the now-defunct Fort Thunder, 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. See also: List of Registered Historic Places in Providence, Rhode Island Providence is home to a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) park system, prominently Waterplace Park and Riverwalk, Roger Williams Park, Roger Williams National Memorial, and Prospect Terrace Park, the latter featuring expansive views of the downtown region as well as a 15-foot tall granite statue of Roger Williams gazing over the city.
As one of the first metros/cities in the country, Providence contains many historic buildings, while the East Side neighborhood in particular includes the biggest adjoining region of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S., with many pre-revolutionary homes. The East Side is also home to the First Baptist Church in America, which was established 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 chief art exhibition is the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, which has the 20th-largest compilation in the country. The town/city is home to the Providence Athen um, the fourth earliest library in the country, in addition to the Providence Public Library and the nine chapters of the Providence Community Library. Edgar Allan Poe met and courted a love interest here titled Sarah Helen Whitman on one of his many visits to Providence. Poe was a regular fixture here, as was H.
The Alex and Ani City Center (formerly the Bank of America Skating Center, and Fleet Skating Center) is positioned 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. Another well-known site is the Providence Biltmore Hotel positioned downtown near Kennedy Plaza, a historic locale built in 1922. The hotel is still a very prominent site for travelers going in and out of the state every day.
Providence, Rhode Island and region at evening, as seen from space. The town/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 town/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.
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 primary league franchises: the NFL's Providence Steam Roller in the 1920s and 1930s, and the NBA's Providence Steamrollers in the 1940s.
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 prosperous "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 primary leagues by sending him to finish the season playing for a minor league team in Providence that was also known as the Grays.
Major universities and universities fielding NCAA Division I athletic squads are Brown University and Providence College.
Formed in 2004, it presently 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 command posts of the American Athletic Conference (The American). Providence from downtown exit ramp off I-95 Providence is home to eight hospitals, most prominently Rhode Island Hospital, the biggest general acute care hospital in the state.
The Rhode Island Blood Center has its chief headquarters in Providence.
Since 1979, the Rhode Island Blood Center has been the sole organization in charge of blood compilation and testing and distribution of blood products to 11 hospitals in Rhode Island.
RIPTA buses in front of Providence City Hall Providence Station, positioned 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.
I-95 runs from north to south through Providence while I-195 joins the town/city to easterly 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 town/city commissioned and began a long-term project, the Iway, to move I-195 in 2007 not only for safety reasons, but also to no-charge up territory and to reunify the Jewelry District with Downcity Providence, which had been split from one another by the highway. The universal was estimated to cost $610 million.
Kennedy Plaza, in downtown Providence, serves as a transit hub for small-town enhance transit as well as a departure point for Peter Pan and Greyhound bus lines.
RIPTA also operates the Providence LINK, a fitness of tourist street cars in downtown Providence.
In 2016 Sea - Streak began operating the Providence - Newport ferry route. RIPTA began a rapid bus service called the R Line in June 2014.
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 lesser bodies of water.
List of citizens from Providence, Rhode Island National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island Neighborhoods in Providence This motto may appear rhetorical, but it was an earnest expression from the traditional account of Roger Williams' arrival in Rhode Island with pioneer William Harris, John Smith, Joshua Verin, Thomas Angell, and Francis Wickes. The party was greeted by a group of Narragansetts, with the description of their exchange as follows: It is this incident which is pictured upon the seal of the town/city of Providence.
Providence was listed as a town (not a city) by the US Enumeration Bureau until the Enumeration of 1840.
Official records for Providence kept at downtown from November 1904 to May 1932 and at T.
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Categories:
Providence, Rhode Island - Cities in Rhode Island - Populated places established in 1636 - Port metros/cities and suburbs of the United States Atlantic coast - Early American industrialized centers - County seats in Rhode Island - 1636 establishments in Rhode Island - Providence urbane region - Cities in Providence County, Rhode Island - Populated coastal places in Rhode Island2nd-millennium establishments in Rhode Island
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