Place:Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Providence is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Located in Providence County, the city is the second-largest city in New England. The population within the city limits is estimated to be 176,862 as of 2005, and is the anchor of the 35th largest metropolitan population in the country, with an estimated MSA population of 1,622,520, exceeding that of Rhode Island by about 60%.

Providence was named by Roger Williams in honor of "God's merciful Providence" in his finding this spot to settle when expelled by the Puritans from Massachusetts. The city was one of the first cities to industrialize in the United States and was noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today, Providence city proper alone is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, causing its economy to be heavily dominated by service-oriented industry and, in recent years, retail. The city was once nicknamed the "Beehive of Industry" and, since the 1990s, "The Renaissance City," though as of 2000 census, its poverty rate was still among the ten highest for cities over 100,000.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

This area was first settled in 1636 by Roger Williams, and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies. Williams secured a title from the Narragansett natives around this time and gave the city its present name. Williams also cultivated Providence as a refuge for persecuted religious dissenters, as he himself had been exiled from Massachusetts. However, Providence's growth was slow during the next quarter-century. The Providence territory would become smaller as more and more of the land would become part of different towns. The city's slow growth was also due to the rocky, hilly, and heavily wooded land which made farming difficult, as well as the tradition of dissent and independent-mindedness.

In the mid-1770s, the British government's passage of several laws levying various taxes impeding Providence's primary economy of maritime and fishing industries caused Providence to join the other colonies in renouncing allegiance to the British Crown.^[1] One such law was the Sugar Act, which impacted Providence's distilleries and its trade in rum and slaves. In response to enforcement of unpopular trade laws, Providence residents spilled the first blood of the American Revolution in 1772 in the notorious Gaspee Affair. During the Revolutionary War, the city suffered major interruptions in education and trade as a result of its location, and facility as quarters for many troops passing through the area.

Following the war, Providence's main economic focus shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, particularly in machine tools, silverware, jewelry and textiles.^[1] At one time, Providence boasted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware.^[1] The city's industries attracted many immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, England, Italy, Portugal, Cape Verde, and French Canada. Nevertheless, the city experienced social strife, notably with a series of race riots between whites and blacks during the 1820s. In response to this and its growth, Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831. The city became the sole capital of Rhode Island in 1900.^[1]

The city began to see a decline by the mid-1920s as industries, notably in textiles, shut down.^[1] The Great Depression hit the city hard, and Providence's downtown was flooded by the New England Hurricane of 1938 soon after. The city saw further decline as a result of the nation-wide trends, with the construction of highways and increased suburbanization. From the 1950s into the 1980s, Providence was notorious as a bastion of organized crime. The legendary mafia boss Raymond Patriarca ruled a vast criminal enterprise from the city for over three decades, during which murders and disappearances associated with organized crime would become commonplace.

The city began to revive beginning in the 1970s. From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of Community Development money, including funds from local and national sources, were invested throughout the city, and the population began to stabilize.^[1] In the 1990s, Mayor Vincent Cianci, Jr continued revitalization efforts by showcasing the city as a center for the arts and pushing further efforts. These included opening up the city's natural rivers (which had been nearly paved over), moving a large section of railroad underground, building Waterplace Park and riverwalks along the river's banks, and constructing the Fleet Skating Rink (now the Bank of America Skating Rink) in downtown and the 1.4 million ft² Providence Place Mall.

The recent renaissance has triggered new investment within the city, including many new condo projects, hotels, and a new office tower, which are quickly filling in more of the land freed up by the railroad relocation (see also Current and Recent Construction Projects in Providence). However, there is fear that they will ruin the historic look of the city. Additional concerns include an equitable taxation policy for several of the new luxury highrises. Despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem as it does in most New England post-industrial cities, with nearly 30 percent of its population 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.

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