Providence is a city in Rhode Island, capital of the state, along with seat of Providence County. Providence is located at the head of Narragansett Bay on the Providence River, within the northern part of the state. Moreover to being the seat of the state government, Providence is a commercial, manufacturing, as well as financial center. The city is noted for the production of jewelry, as well as lays claim to being the Costume Jewelry Capital of the Nation. Other leading manufactures include silverware, machinery, metal goods, and rubber products. The city is also a major seaport; it is used as port of entry for tankers carrying petroleum products for southern New England.
Providence is actually a transportation crossroads, with extensive road and rail connections to urban areas, scheduled air service through Theodore Francis Green State Airport, as well as ferry links to Newport and offshore Block Island, a famous summer resort.
Providence is the leading educational centers at the nation. The city is the seat of Brown University (1764), Johnson & Wales University (1914), Providence College (1917), Rhode Island College (1854), and the Rhode Island School of Design (1877).
Among Providence's various historic buildings, some way back to colonial times, include the State Capitol (1895-1904), with among the world's largest marble domes; the First Unitarian Church (1816), having a bell cast around the foundry of Paul Revere; the John Brown House (1786), created by a merchant who gained wealth in trade with China and also regarded as among the finest 18th-century homes within the country; and also the First Baptist Church (1775), the meeting house of the oldest Baptist congregation within the United States. Along Benefit Street is an outstanding concentration of colonial homes, a few of which are opened by their owners through the annual Festival of Historic Houses.
The state's only national memorial honors Puritan clergyman Roger Williams, a pioneer for religious freedom as well as the city's founder. Another park named for Williams boasts a natural history museum, planetarium, as well as zoo. Cultural institutions also include Providence Athenaeum (1753), one of the oldest libraries at the United States, along with the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design.
In 1636 Roger Williams, banished from Boston by the Massachusetts Bay Company because of his religious and political beliefs, founded Providence as the haven for those who shared his philosophy. He secured the land from the Narragansett people and also named the community in gratitude of God's "providence." The settlement soon captivated other dissenters, and also in 1638 a plan for local government was adopted. In 1644 the English granted a charter that joined Providence and settlements to the Colony of Providence Plantations.
In 1675 and 1676 a war led by Chief Philip, arising from land disputes among Native Americans along with settlers, spread to Rhode Island. Much of Providence was burned following deterioration of a Native American village. However the city rebounded, and also by the first 18th century the community was prospering as being a port for trade in molasses, rum, along with slaves with the West Indies as well as Africa.
In 1772 Providence residents burned HMS Gaspée, sent to enforce the British Navigation Acts, which protected English trade from foreign competition. They also protested English taxation by burning tea in the public square (see Stamp Act; Townshend Acts). Two months ahead of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Rhode Island Independence Act was signed on May 4, 1776, in Providence. Later, during the American Revolution (1775-1783), Providence was an major base for American and French troops, who were quartered in University Hall (1770) at Brown University.
Towards the end of the 18th century the manufacture of jewelry, textiles, and silverware began in Providence, and the community expanded large enough to incorporate being a city in 1831. A booming textile industry continued to draw large numbers of immigrants to the city, particularly from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Several other industries were developed in Providence through the 19th century, and by the century's end manufacturing had supplanted commerce as the city's leading economic activity.
In 1900 Providence became the sole capital of Rhode Island (Newport had been the joint capital since 1854). Providence's population dropped within the 1940s and also 1950s as many of its residents moved to the suburbs. During the same period the city began a transition from a manufacturing to a service economy.
Beginning within the 1970s the city experienced extensive restoration. Unlike urban renewal in other cities, where historic buildings often were razed, in Providence such buildings were revitalized for new uses. Within the 1990s a railroad freight yard was converted to a riverfront amphitheater, and also rivers which had for a long time been lidded by concrete were uncovered along with opened for public enjoyment. A modern convention center in downtown Providence was opened in 1993.
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