which ran the little Moshassuck and Woons-asquetucket Rivers. Eastward
the ridge stretched in a plateau to the larger Seekonk, which cut off
the peninsula. On the eastern side of the Seekonk, Roger Williams had
settled and planted, when Plymouth Colony significantly advised him to
move on. In June, 1636, with five companions, he crossed the Seekonk and
landed on the rock, since raised to the grade of Ives and Williams
streets. Here, as the tradition runs, Indians greeted him cordially,
“What Cheer, Netop! What Cheer!” He had arranged with the Narragansett
sachems, Canonicus and Miantinomi, for deeds of the lands about these
rivers and the Pawtuxet, with certain undefined rights extending
westward and northward.
The canoe kept away from What Cheer or Slate rock, south and westward
around Tockwotton and Fox Point, up the Providence River, to land near
where St. John’s Church stands. The spring of water attracting the
pioneer and kept as public property is in the basement of a house on the
northwest corner of North Main Street and Allen’s Lane. North Main was
the “Towne Streete,” occupied by
[Illustration: VIEW OF PROVIDENCE.
FROM THE SOUTH.]
the little band of settlers. Williams’s “home-lot” stretched easterly,
including the land of the Dorr Estate, at the corner of Benefit and
Bowen Streets. A stone in the rear of the buildings marks the spot where
Roger Williams was buried.
In this man was the germ of Providence, the adumbration of the little
commonwealth of Rhode Island. Whatever drove him from Massachusetts,
however the Puritans enforced their narrow political scheme, the result
was a free State founded on new principles of government. In the words
of Thomas Durfee:
“Absolute sincerity is the key to his character, as it was always
the mainspring of his conduct.... He had the defect of his
qualities;--an inordinate confidence in his own judgment. He had
also the defects of his race;--the hot Welsh temper, passionate and
resentful under provocation, and the moody Welsh fancy.”
The “Plantations of Providence” began in these “home-lots,” reaching
eastward from the “Towne Streete.” It was intended to give each settler
five acres. Some had, moreover, meadow-lands, and there were common
rights, as in all the plantations of New England. Chad Brown, John
Throckmorton, and Gregory Dexter were the committee who made
[Illustration: ROGER WILLIAMS RECEIVED BY THE INDIANS.
FROM A DESIGN BY A. H. WRAY.]
the first allotment. The land had been conveyed from the Indian sachems,
and Williams gave it by “initial deed” to his twelve companions, making
thirteen original proprietors.
“Probably in the autumn of 1638, and certainly prior to the 16th of
March, 1639,”[68] the settlers formed the first Baptist church in
America. Williams was pastor for about four months, with Holyman as
colleague. Chad Brown was ordained in 1642 with William Wickenden. The
latter was succeeded by Gregory Dexter. The present church, adapted by
James Sumner from designs of James Gibbs, architect, was built in 1775.
Earlier than this, though the date is not fixed, the proprietors had
made the following agreement, the importance of which can hardly be
overestimated:
“We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabit in the town of
Providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active or passive
obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for
public good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major assent of
the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together
into a town-fellowship, and such others whom they shall admit unto
them only in civil things.”
Here was laid the foundation of soul liberty. Let us refer to Diman:
“Thus, for the first time in history, a form of government was adopted
which drew a clear and unmistakable line between the temporal and
spiritual power, and a community came into being which was an anomaly
among the nations.” It was a pure democracy, controlling the admission
of its members.
They soon found that some delegation of power was needed for civil
administration, and in 1640 they elaborated their system somewhat, and
established rudimentary courts. They perceived that they could not
remain safely between the unfriendly colonies of Massachusetts on one
side, and the alien Dutch of New York on the other. They sent Williams
to England, whence he returned in 1644, bringing a parliamentary
charter. Under this, the towns of Providence, Portsmouth and Newport
were united, with the name “The Incorporation of Providence Plantations
in the Narragansett Bay in New England.” In 1645 there were, according
to Holmes, 101 men in Providence capable of bearing arms. Staples thinks
this estimate includes the population of Shawonet or Warwick. In 1663
John Clarke of Newport obtained the royal charter, which was adopted by
the freemen of the towns, and the commonwealth was entitled the “Colony
of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” The oldest tax or rate bill
extant dates from 1650, when Roger Williams was assessed £1.13.4. In
1663 the whole tax was £36. assessed in “Country pay,” which performed
such important functions in the currencies of New England, viz., wheat
at 4_s._ 6_d._, peas, 3_s._ 6_d._, butter, 6_d._
An important factor in the daily life of Providence has always been in
the crossing of the main stream which limited the early village on the
west. Mr. Fred. A. Arnold’s careful investigation[69] shows that a
bridge at Weybosset, “formerly Wapwayset,” or “at the narrow passage,”
was built before 1660. It was repaired and renewed at various times. In
166-7/8 Roger Williams undertook, in a most interesting document, to
maintain it by co-operative labor from the townsmen and tolls from
strangers. It was enlarged until, in the middle of our century,
tradition claimed it to be the widest bridge in the world. Other bridges
spanned the river, and in the present year the old Weybosset is being
replaced by an elaborate steel structure laid on piers of granite.
[Illustration: THE ROGER WILLIAMS MONUMENT.]
In 1675-1676 King Philip’s War, in which the Narragansetts joined, raged
through southern New England, and our little plantation was devastated.
The women and children generally, with the greater part of the men,
sought safety in Newport, Long Island or elsewhere. Thirty houses were
burned, chiefly in the north part of the town. After the Indians were
beaten, the village was slowly rebuilt. At this time the administration
of the settlement was in the hands of the Friends. Their influence was
second only to that of the Baptists, until after the Revolution. The
only original house standing is the interesting Roger Mowry[70] tavern,
built in 1653 or earlier, called also the Whipple or Abbott house.
Guarded by a large elm, it stands on Abbott Street, which runs eastward
from North Main. The town council met there, and tradition says Williams
conducted prayer-meetings in it.
Some of the sites of the early planters are interesting. Richard Scott,
a Quaker and antagonist of Williams, lived on the lot next north of St.
John’s churchyard. Mary Dyre went from here to be hanged on Boston
Common. Near Dexter’s (afterward Olney’s) lane lived Gregory Dexter.
Chad Brown, the ancestor of so many men of mark, lived on land now
occupied by College Street. The purpose of the original allotment was to
give fronts upon the “Towne Streete” and river, and equal shares of
farm-lands. According to Dorr[71]:
“This attempt at democratic equality only created a multitude of
small estates widely separated, and in some instances nearly or
quite a mile apart. Besides his home-lot of five acres, each
proprietor had a ‘six-acre lot,’ at a distance from his abode; and
in a few years one or more ‘stated common lots,’ which he acquired
by purchase from the Proprietary, or by their occasional land
dividends among themselves.”
The chief holdings were on “Providence Neck,” but they gradually
extended into “Weybosset Neck.”
The latter years of Roger Williams were largely occupied by
controversies with his neighbors, including his especial opponent,
William Harris. The germs of a new State, rendered indestructible by the
complete separation of church and state, if slumbering, yet lived in
spite of the petty social stagnation of an agricultural community.
Early in the eighteenth century, the plantation took a new departure.
Nathaniel Browne, a shipwright, had been driven out from Massachusetts,
because he had become “a convert to the Church of England.” In 1711 the
town granted him one half-acre on “Waybosset Neck on salt water,” and
again another half-acre for building vessels. His vessels were among the
first to sail from Providence for the West Indies. Horse-carts and
vehicles had been used before 1700 by the wealthy, but Madame Knight’s
journey to New York from Boston in 1704 shows that the saddle and
pillion were the common conveyance along the bridle-paths. Galloping on
the Town Street was prohibited in 1681. Through Pawtucket, the
Bostonians came by the present North Burying Ground into the Town
Street, then crossed Weybosset Bridge on their way toward the southwest.
In the wider part of Weybosset thoroughfare, there stood a knoll, which
has been levelled away. The road swept around and created the bulging
lines of the street. Travel went on through Apponaug and North
Kingstown, over Tower Hill and by the Narragansett shore, over the
Pequot path toward New York. At this period, the road was opened toward
Hartford, and improved communications were made with the surrounding
towns. It was not until 1820 that a direct turnpike was opened from
Providence to New London.
Of more importance even was the way into the world outward, through the
bay. Pardon Tillinghast had been granted land twenty feet square for a
storehouse and wharf “over against his dwelling-place,” in 1679-80, at
the foot of the present Transit Street. There was struggle and
competition for “lands by the sea-side,” or “forty-foot lots, called
warehouse lots,” throughout this time, and complete division of the
shore privileges was not effected until 1749. All these restless
movements showed that the town was waking up and sending its commerce
abroad into foreign countries. The first effectual street regulations
were in 1736.
The next church organized after the First Baptist followed the faith of
the Six-Principle Baptists. The Friends, as they were expelled from
Massachusetts, settled in various towns of Rhode Island. Mention has
been made of Richard Scott. In 1672 George Fox visited Newport, and he
held a meeting “in a great barn” at Providence. Here was a contestant
worthy of our doughty champion, Williams. They disputed with voice and
pen, recording their angelic moods in these argumentative titles: _The
Fox Digged out of his Burrowes_ begged one side of the question; this
was answered with equal logic in _A New England Firebrand Quenched_. The
Friends built a meeting-house about 1704.
The First Congregational Pedobaptist (now Unitarian) Society was formed
about 1720. They built a house for worship in 1723, at the corner of
College and Benefit Streets, where the Court House now stands. This
building became the “Old Town House,” when the society moved to its
present location at the corner of Benevolent and Benefit Streets.
Meanwhile the adherents of the Church of England, yet to become the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, were gathering in our
town. There is some dispute as to the first movements, but Dr. McSparran
of Narragansett affirmed that he “was the first Episcopal minister that
ever preached at Providence.” The society thus formed finally took the
name of “St. John’s Church, in Providence.” The church was raised in
1722, on the spot where the present building succeeded it in 1810. It
will be observed that these new ecclesiastical developments moved along
with the broader commercial life which was animating the community.
Any historical student should examine Rhode Island for what it is, and
even more for what it is not. Roger Williams and his fellows tried a
“lively experiment” as daring as it was fruitful. They severed church
and state, cutting off thereby the help of an educated clergy. They
founded a political democracy, tempering it with the best aristocracy to
be obtained, without the ordinary facilities of education derived
through such help. Neither the Williams Independents nor the Quakers
followed the common formulas of education, which were generally in the
hands of Anglicans or Presbyterians. This does not prove that societies
can safely drop scholastic education. Many communities have failed for
lack of such education. It does prove that the Anglo-American stock
engaged in political and economical development will educate itself. At
first sight, it was hardly to be expected that isolated and unlettered
Providence would be prominent in resisting England, or in forming a new
government. But she did this, in full share, and the embodiment of her
citizenship, the type of her republican character, was in one man,
Stephen Hopkins--“great not only in capacity and force of mind, but
also--what is much rarer--in originative faculty.”
Born a farmer in 1707, removing to Providence in 1731, a member of the
General Assembly in 1732, Chief Justice in 1739, one of the committee to
form Franklin’s plan of colonial union at Albany in 1754, a signer of
the Declaration in 1776--we have here the full measure of a republican
citizen, whether by the standard of Cato, or by the later models of
Franklin and Washington. “A clear and convincing speaker, he used his
influence in Congress in favor of decisive measures.”
[Illustration: Step. Hopkins
FROM “APPLETONS’ CYCLO. OF AM. BIOG.” COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY D. APPLETON &
CO.]
In 1758 the first postmaster was appointed by Dr. Franklin. The State
House on North Main Street was erected in 1759; the Fire Department
began in 1763; a “vigorous effort” was made for free schools in 1767.
A great change was wrought about 1763 by the opening of Westminster
Street. A town named for Mr. Fox’s political district had been projected
on the west side. It was strangled by the influence of the southern
counties. Finally the way across the marsh was laid out. As late as
1771, there were only four houses on the southern and one on the
northern side of Westminster Street.
Joseph and William Russell, Clark and Nightingale, with James Brown, the
father of the four brothers mentioned below, were among the prominent
merchants before the Revolution.
Next to the political change of colony into State, the greatest monument
of the larger Rhode Island is the University. Rhode Island College, to
become Brown University in 1804, was located under President Manning at
Warren in 1766. By the “resolute spirits of the Browns and some other
men of Providence,” University Hall was built in 1770. A government
stable and barrack during the Revolution, it has been a beacon-light
ever since.
We said not much might have been expected of little Rhody, by common
rules of historic proportion, but the overt acts of the American
Revolution began right here in 1772. The oppressive colonial
administration, begun by Grenville, was especially vexatious in
Narragansett Bay. The British cruiser _Gaspee_, attempting an illegal
seizure, ran aground on Namquit, since known as Gaspee Point. The news
ran like lightning through the town, that the _Hawk_ was fettered on our
shore. Four brothers, Nicholas, Joseph, John and Moses, descended from
Chad Brown, were all prominent merchants. John was a man of the time.
Afterward, his powder, seized in a raid in the British West Indies,
arrived in time to be issued in the retreat from Bunker Hill. Brown
planned a daring attack on His Majesty’s vessel in James Sabin’s inn.
The historic room has been transferred bodily by the Talbots to their
home at 209 Williams Street. Eight long-boats were provided by Brown and
moved under the command of Abraham Whipple, afterward a commodore in the
Revolutionary navy. A boat from Bristol joined the party. Lieutenant
Duddingston answered the hail of the patriot raiders and was severely
wounded,
[Illustration: BROWN UNIVERSITY.]
shedding the first British blood in the War of Independence. Whipple’s
men boarded the cruiser, drove the crew below, took them off prisoners,
then fired and destroyed the vessel. It shows the firm temper and new
American loyalty prevailing in the town, that large rewards brought out
no information which would effectively prosecute Brown and Whipple or
their fellow offenders. Brown was arrested and imprisoned during the
occupation of Boston, but for want of sufficient proof he was
discharged.
Providence contributed its full share to the Revolution. Stephen Hopkins
signed the Declaration of Independence with a tremulous hand, but a firm
heart. Troops were freely furnished and privateers brought wealth to the
town. The second division of the French contingent passed the winter of
1782 in encampment on Harrington’s Lane. The street is now known as
Rochambeau Avenue. Newport, hitherto the more important port, lost her
commerce through the British occupation. The natural drift of commerce
to the farthest inland waters available was precipitated by these
political changes. Newport never recovered her lost prestige, and
Providence developed rapidly after the peace. Voyages, which had been
mostly to the West Indies with an occasional trip to Bilbao and the
Mediterranean, soon stretched around the world to harvest the teeming
wealth of the Chinese and Indian seas. The _General Washington_, the
first vessel from Providence in that trade, sailed in 1787. Edward
Carrington sent out and received the last vessels in 1841. In the early
years of the nineteenth century, the profits of the Oriental trade were
very great.
The manufacture of cotton was attempted by several parties, but it was
not established in Providence. Samuel Slater located in Pawtucket in
1790. He was induced to come to our State through the sagacity,
enterprise and abundant capital of Moses Brown. After about a year, a
glut of yarns occurred, and Almy, Brown and Slater had accumulated
nearly six thousand pounds. Brown said: “Samuel, if thee goes on, thee
will spin up all our farms.” The manufacture extended rapidly and became
the chief source of the prosperity of the State. It absorbed the
capital, which was gradually withdrawn from commerce and shipping.
An important element in the development of our city has been the free
banking system. The first institution in our State and the second in
New England was the Providence Bank, chartered in 1791.
Newspapers only slightly affected the life of the eighteenth century.
They began, in a humble way, the great part they were to play in later,
modern development. _The Providence Gazette and Country Journal_ was
first published in 1762 by William Goddard. _The Manufacturers’ and
Farmers’ Journal_, still continuing its prosperous career, appeared in
1820. The _Gazette_ was enlivened by advertisements in verse, of which
this is a specimen, from the year 1796:
“A bunch of Grapes is Thurber’s sign,
A shoe and boot is made on mine,
My shop doth stand in Bowen’s Lane,
And Jonathan Cady is my name.”
Housekeepers in our day consider the servant-girl question a hard
problem, but hear the complaint a century ago. There had been taken away
“from the servant girls in this town, all inclination to do any
kind of work, and left in lieu thereof, an impudent appearance, a
strong and continued thirst for high wages, a gossiping disposition
for every sort of amusement, a leering and hankering after persons
of the other sex, a desire of finery and fashion, a never-ceasing
trot after new places more advantageous for stealing, with a number
of contingent accomplishments, that do not suit the wearers. Now if
any person or persons will restore that degree of honesty and
industry, which has been for some time missing,”
then this rugged censor offers $500 reward.
In 1767 the first regular stage-coach was advertised to Boston. In 1793
Hatch’s stages ran to Boston and charged the passengers a fare of one
dollar, the same sum which the railway charges to-day. In 1796 a
navigable canal was projected to Worcester, John Brown being an active
promoter. The project was not carried through until 1828, when the
packet-boat _Lady Carrington_ passed through the Blackstone Canal. The
enterprise had poor success. John Brown built Washington Bridge across
the lower Seekonk, connecting the eastern shore to India Point, where
the wealth of Ormus and of Ind was discharged from the aromatic ships.
In this period the first steamboat came from New York around Point
Judith and connected with stages to Boston.
The international disputes concerning the embargo and non-intercourse
with Great Britain, which led up to the War of 1812, found Providence
opposed in opinion to the Executive of the United States. But the
opposition was loyal and the government received proper support. Peace
was very welcome when it was proclaimed in 1815. This year, a tremendous
gale swept the ocean into the bay and the bay into the river, carrying
ruin in their path. The waters were higher by some seven feet than had
ever been known. The fierce winds carried the salt of the seas as far
inland as Worcester. Thirty or forty vessels were dashed through the
Weybosset Bridge into the cove above. Others were swept from their
moorings and stranded among the wharves. Shops were smashed or damaged
and the whole devastation cost nearly one million of dollars--a great
sum in those days. It was a radical measure of improvement. New streets
were opened and better stores rose amid the ruins. South Water and South
West Water Streets date hence, and Canal Street was opened soon after.
In 1832 the city government was organized, with Samuel W. Bridgham for
mayor. A serious riot occurring the previous year had shown that the old
town government was outgrown. The railways to Boston and Stonington
changed the course of transportation. In 1848 the Worcester connection,
the first intersecting or cross line in New England, gave direct
intercourse with the West.
[Illustration: FRANCIS WAYLAND.]
We sent out Henry Wheaton, one of the masters of international law, and
we adopted Francis Wayland,--a citizen of the world,--who set an
enduring mark on Rhode Island. President of Brown University, 1827-1855,
his work in the American educational system has not yet yielded its full
fruit. He brought teacher and pupil into closer contact by the living
voice. He projected a practical method for elective studies and put it
in operation at Brown University in 1850. Started too soon, and with
insufficient means, it opened the way to success, when the larger
universities inaugurated similar methods after the Civil War. Nine
hundred and forty-six students now attend where Manning and Wayland
taught.
An armed though bloodless insurrection in 1842 brought our State to the
verge of revolution. The old charter of 1663 limited suffrage to
freeholders and their oldest sons. Thomas Wilson Dorr was the champion
of people’s suffrage. His party elected him governor with a legislature,
by irregular and illegitimate voting. They mustered in arms and tried to
seize the State arsenals in our city. Dorr had a strong intellect; he
was a sincere and unselfish patriot, though perverse and foolish in his
conduct of affairs. The suffrage was widened by a new constitution in
1843, which has just been revised by a constitutional commission.
The early cotton manufacture was fostered by the well-distributed
water-power of Rhode Island. The glacial grinding of the land had left
numerous ponds and minor streams,--admirable reservoirs of
water-power,--just the facilities needed for weak pioneers. As the
century advanced, greater force was needed. About 1847 George H. Corliss
bent his talents and energies to extend the power of the high-pressure
steam-engine. He adapted and developed better cut-off valves, which
preserved the whole expansive force of the steam, stopped off before it
filled the cylinder. It was a new lever of Archimedes, and Corliss’s
machines went over the whole world. This new mastery of force stimulated
all industries.