 Providence, Rhode Island - United States of America |
Providence, Rhode Island - United States of America
North America » United States » Rhode Island » Providence
September 15th 2007 by airwolf09
Sep 15, 2007
- City official name :Providence
- Founded date :
- Location :Rhode Island State
- Elavation :? ft (? m)
- Area :Approximately ? square miles (? km²).
- Facts :Providence is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the estimated third-largest city in the New England region. Despite having an estimated population of 175,255 as of 2006, it anchors 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% due to its reaching into southern Massachusetts. Situated at the mouth of the Providence River, on Narragansett Bay, the city's small footprint is crisscrossed by seemingly erratic streets and a rapidly changing demographic using them.
Providence was founded by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence" which he believed was responsible for his finding such a haven to settle. After being one of the first cities in the country to industrialize, Providence became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today, Providence city proper alone is home to eight hospitals and seven institutions of higher learning, which has shifted the former's economy into service industries, though it still retains significant manufacturing work. The city was once nicknamed the "Beehive of Industry", while today "The Renaissance City" is more common, though as of 2000 census, its poverty rate was still among the ten highest for cities over 100,000.
The area which 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 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. Providence's growth would be slow during the next quarter-century — the subsuming of its territory into surrounding towns, difficulty of farming the land, and differing of local traditions and land conflicts all slowed development.
In the mid-1770s, the British government levied taxes that impeded Providence's maritime, fishing and agricultural industries, the mainstay of the city's economy. One example was the Sugar Act, which impacted Providence's distilleries and its trade in rum and slaves. These taxes caused Providence to join the other colonies in renouncing allegiance to the British Crown. In response to enforcement of unpopular trade laws, Providence residents spilled the first blood of the American Revolution in the notorious Gaspée Affair of 1772.
Though during the Revolutionary War the city escaped enemy occupation, the capture of nearby Newport disrupted industry and kept the population on alert. Troops were quartered for various campaigns and Brown University's University Hall was used as a barracks and military hospital.
Following the war, the economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, particularly machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry and textiles. At one time, Providence boasted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware. The city's industries attracted many immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, England, Italy, Portugal, Cape Verde, and French Canada. Economic and demographic shifts caused social strife, notably with a series of race riots between whites and blacks during the 1820s. In response to these troubles and the economic growth, Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831.
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. Providence thrived postwar, waves of immigrants and land annexations brought the population from 54,595 in 1865 to 175,597 by 1900.
The city began to see a decline by the mid-1920s as industries, notably textiles, shut down. 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 nation-wide trends, with the construction of highways and increased suburbanization. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Providence was a notorious bastion of organized crime.[10] The legendary mafia boss Raymond Patriarca ruled a vast criminal enterprise from the city for over three decades, during which murders and kidnappings would become commonplace.
The city's eponymous "Renaissance" began in the 1970s. From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national Community Development funds were invested throughout the city, and the hitherto falling population began to stabilize. In the 1990s, Mayor Vincent Cianci, Jr showcased the city's strength in arts and pushed for further revitalization, ultimately resulting in the opening up of the city's natural rivers (which had been paved over), relocation of a large section of railroad underground, creation of Waterplace Park and river walks along the river's banks, and construction of the Fleet Skating Rink (now the Bank of America Skating Rink) in downtown and the 1.4 million ft² Providence Place Mall.
New investment triggered within the city, with new construction including numerous condo projects, hotels, and a new office highrise all filling in the freed space. Despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem as it does in most post-industrial New England cities. Nearly 30 percent of the city population lives 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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