Rhode Island History I'ubli~htod by The Rhod e Island Historical Society. 110 &'n ..vel enl StT....l, Volume 48, Number 3 August 1990 Provid...nco.". Rhodc Island . 02'l0t>, ,md pnntoo by 01 grant trom t tw Stoll.. of RhOoJc Island and Pnwid...nc...Planeauons. Edward D. o.rrctc. Covemor. Contents Kathleen S Connell. Secreearv 01 Statt'. Kenneth W washburn. p''''Wffl/ \ burice A. Bi"'....m nett ..., l'I,r ,>rfl:ianrr Nancy Fi~h"T Chudacofl. secreterv Ha rboring History: The Providence Waterfront Thomas J. Reilly . J T . , l r(lI ~ l m' r Willia m A. Mck rut. a"si'/Iml Ir,'1hl4Ta \f,mcy K. C as~ iJy , asslSla"r ,....-"·r"rv Part Two Albert T. Klyb<.>rg, ai'Tl:tQr HllO""l)~ TlU SOCIEH ClTl BnJl"T1NU~h Sydney \ '. Jolme!> Antomette F. Downing Filling the Providence Cove: Richard K. Showman Gl...nn W l.aFanl.lsl... Image in the Evolution of Urban Fonn 65 PL'8L1CA no..... l"{'M\lITIEE MICH AEL t-10LLER A :'>J Leonard I, Levin. chaimwi J"l'1Cnlwn ~orman Fie rm~ Robert Allen Oreenc ramda A l<.:.. nnedv Alan Simp",,,n \Vaterfronts as a Key to City-Center Wilh.lm \k",.'nzLc Woodw.lrd Redevelopment 86 STAn CHESTER E. S \tOLSKI Albt,rt T. Kl\·tJo:rg, rdlt"r Dent....J. Ba~li..n, gr"I'hJfS,'all,,, Hilliard B.,n.'r . WI'!! .a'l'" C ITol Holscher. ...IIIorilll am"IllIlt Th.· Rh"..h·I,I,mJ His torical S".:ictv assumes no rt"'<ponsibilitv for lh.· The articles in thi s issue are based on ta lks deli vered a t "Harboring "pm ion.~ ot con tributors History: The Providence Waterfront; ' a lecture series cos ponsored by the Rhod e leland Historical Society and the Providence Preser­ vation Society in 1988. RHODE ISl A:'\D HISTORY i~ published III F..bruary. \-1.1)1 , Augu~t, an d Xovember 1:>)1 th...Rhode leland Hist orica l Soctetv. Seccnd-cla-,-, po~lagt' i~ p'lIJ at Provid en ce. Rhod., bl"nd SOClt'ly mem bers T{'("CLV<' each i~~ u.· ,\~ a member-hip N'n,·fil. Insli tutlonal subscnpuons to RHODE ISI.A!\ID HISTORY and the Society's g Ud rt...rtv ""w ~I "lI " r M I' 1tl 19'llJ by Th.· Rhod e IsI"nJ 1 1 1~lo nca ISnci" ly $15 annually Individ ua l cu pi.,s uf cu rrent a nd back issues arc available i W IIl lh.· Society fur $UlIl .\lanuscnpts and oth...r cur reepond ..nee ~hou ld be sent to Albt'rt T RHODE 1!>IA :'>O D HISTORY (ISS:" t"(}35-ko1'~) Klybt'Tg. OOl to r, .It th.. Socicty Tk PrtYf.'rdrnu CtYf.'l', lookinguvstu'Ord, circa J860.I" the cr'lln is the flfiplical COi ~ Basi", lind A-yondit lire tJu> Imfillt'd marshrs that would Mom/' Ihl' COl'l' IAnd ~ . Thomas Ttfft's tu 'rn -t ou~Tt'd UII/O" Dt'pot is IIllhe lefl: /ffft"T5lm Ptein. nflU' Ihi sit/'of the ~ f a ll' CQpilol, is at the righl. Pli norama photographrd by folrrr Gorham. RillS Collt'ctiml (Rlli X32 91, RHi X32 92, RHi X32 93). .L Filling the Providence Cove: Image in the Evolution of Urban Form Michael Holleran mine conclusively that the Cove's blank slate would be written one way and not ano ther. More than in most places, urban fu nction and site acted an d were d istorted here th rou gh a prism of images, changes in the way people fra med the question of what the ClIVe W,1S a nd w hat the city was. This pape r is about the second of the Cove's th ree transforrnattons. a t the end of the runen..-enth cen­ tury. But we must begin the story before the first one, with an understanding of the Cove as Providence's founders first saw it Between Wevbosset peninsula (now Providence's downtown) and the East Side flowed the Great Salt A visitor to Providence these days sees half the River, tod ay much reduced in size and called the downtown being remade: the Capital Center project Providence River. North of the peninsula was the is moving rivers and tra in tracks. building streets Great Salt Cove, several hu ndred acres in extent ,1Od clod highways, changing ground levels by 1\v 0 dee p enough for full-fledged saili ng ships. From the stories or more. A new tra in station ope ned recently, Cove's northern edge TOSt' Jefferson Plain, a steep big new buildings are almost finis hed, a nd more are sa nd bluff above" bea ch (the bluff has long since on the W,1y. This is the former Providence Cove, been graded less steeply and is ruuv crowned by the going through its third metamorphos is. It is doubt­ Rhode Island State House). Between jefferso n Plain It'SS the most reworked piece o f land in Rhode Island and the East Side was a narrow tidal estuary, anda and among the most reworked in No rth America .. Its few hundred yards upstream the Mcshessuck River initial transformation took place in the 1840s, when emptied into it over a 10\..· waterfall. To the west the railroads first entered the city renter and most of the Cove extended for mo re than a nule as a broad flal ground was made.. It was transformed a second time valle)' of salt marshes, through which the at the end of the nineteenth century. when a park wconasquatucket River meandered. and the remaining tidal basin were destroyed to By the last decades of the eighteenth century, create the enormous railroad complex that has just Providence's town center was \Iarket Square, at the been dismantled. south edge of the Cove. Maritime commerce, located Changes in urban structure at this scale come mainly along Sou th Main Street. extended up North about ma inly from changes in urban fu nction: the decline of the maritime economy, ior example, or the advent and then the decline o f railroads. But these \hchill'l Holleran teach.... In 11'1., DIVision 01 Archil.....tural Stud Ies at th., Rh,>dt' Island 5.:1'1(101 "I D....,!'n . In 1'1'11 I'll' will ~lin forces are too big to explain the details of form they 11'1., faculty uf th., Uni\"t'rsity uf Colorado ,1IlJ<:nvt.'ras an assistant crea ted in Providence, nor did topography deter- professor of urban and rcgtonal pl,lnnin~ 65 FILLING THE r eovms vc e C OVE Main to use wharves in the CO\'l'; sh ips w ere built there, and the weybossct Bridge at Market Square r-r- , c," could open to them p.1SS.1 , , 1t.1 , , The to..... n regulated wbarfing and filling ad hoc, ,, , , '- if at all , until 1782, when a committee appointed to high-water line _____ct r, set a limi t on encroachments. into the Cove drew , ,, ,, , Providence's first ha rbo r line along present-day , , ,,- Ca na l Street . The town requested that one wharf channel ,, which a lready extend ed beyond the new line be cui , ) back. In 1797 harbor lines were drawn all the way ,, arou nd the Cove, lon g before they were cons id ered ,, for the lower harbor.' Harbor hnes imposed planned \ r~~~ >' \ r ( order on waterfront developmentand - most , - ,, .-- important in the comparatively shallow Cove­ ...- - -- --- -- -- - ---- - - ~- - ~ - . -J/ defined .10 area meant to be kept as open water. The Cove waterfro nt saw the first appearance of another innovation in Providence's form , the frontage street. These streets served both wa ter Cot'!' harblJr lmts .179i commerce, by making communication betw een wharves and wa rehouses easter. and land com­ interests. A new fixed sp.1n would be built at Market merce, by adding street frontage. They increased Square, and No rth Main Street wa rehouses would public access to the shore, for practical reasons: to no longer be directly accessible by ship. That Sep­ guard against dumping and to provide \·vater for tember the Great Gale forced the town's timetable firefighnng (the town required wharf owne rs to by destroying the old bndgc.' As soon as rebuildi ng bui ld steps into the Cove for layin g hoses).' Even commenced , the Cove was no longer a navigable more tha n harbor lines . the streets blocked encroach­ arm of the sea, bu t a protected tidal lake. ment on the public wa ters. Whil e fronta ge streets Bu t wha t was th e Cove pro tected for? An 18]8 south of Markel Sq ua re became starting points for painting by Alvan Fisher shows it as a placid scenic further wharfing (in the broader harbors of Boston foreg ro und for the city, People interested in th e port .1Od New York, ge ne rations o f frontage streets valued the Co ve as a reservoir which twic e a d ay succeeded one ano the r), in the Cove Providence flushed the harbor clea n. The Blackstone Canal soon perm itted little of suc h expa nsion. gan' ye t another utilitarian an swer . When it was The Co ve's tran sformation began when the town co nstructed from w orcester to Providence between so ught to extend this planned order by d ra wing 1823 and 1828, it dammed the Cove's northeast harbor lint'S for the lower ha rbor. In July 1815 the co mer ,150 its tidewater terminal.