PROVIDENCE WALKS Providence Walks: The Jewelry District The Jewelry District Self-Guided HISTORIC WALKING WALKING HISTORIC A MANUFACTURING HUB FOR RHODE ISLAND PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE Number of companies in business from 1780-1990 How did Providence, Rhode Island become the Interstates I-195 and I-95 200 (19161988) Imperial Knife “Jewelry Capital of the World”? The fi rst steps When President Dwight Eisenhower signed (19131978) Little Nemo (Brier Manufacturing Co.) by Nehemiah Dodge and Jabez Gorham in the Federal Highway Act in June of 1956, he 150 (19121965) Speidel Company the late 18th century happened outside of the allocated $26 billion for the construction of a (19111979) Coro (Cohn & Rosenberger) Jewelry Jewelry District, but set the pace for what was to 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and (19071966) James Doran and Sons come. Jewelry made in Providence was going Defense Highways.” It promised “speedy, safe 100 (1883–1941) Vesta Knitting Mills to be affordable, mass produced and based on transcontinental travel” and “quick evacuation” in (1880–1977) Davol Rubber Company innovative technologies, particularly electro- case of an atomic attack. Many mayors lobbied 50 (1872–1932) Champlin and Son plating. After the Civil War, most of the state’s to have highways routed through their city centers (1836–1930) Barstow Stove Company jewelry manufacturing moved into the Jewelry in order to appropriate federal funds for urban NUMBER OF COMPANIES OF NUMBER (1827–1929) Kendall Manufacturing Company District south of downtown. renewal projects. 0 TOUR 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Between 1830 and 1890, the industry grew from The intersection of I-95 (the major East Coast highway YEARS 27 companies with 280 workers to 200 fi rms with from Maine to Florida) and I-195 (toward Cape 7,000 employees. At the turn of the 20th century, Cod) was placed close to downtown on the COMPANY NAME & YEARS IN BUSINESS 80 percent of all costume jewelry in the U.S. was western edge of the Jewelry District between 1958 produced in Rhode Island. Distinctive, multistory and 1964. (18721932) brick manufacturing buildings, with rows of tall CHAMPLIN AND SON: Produced gold rings, gold- While speeding up traffi c for travelers on the East windows, fl at roofs and heavy, slow-burning wood fi lled chains and wire supplies Coast and commuters into Providence, the highway fl oors appeared from the 1880s onward — such also cut a wide swath through the Jewelry District, as the Champlin and Doran buildings, or the taking down scores of industrial and residential structures at Imperial Place. Concrete post and buildings, churches, public parks and schools. beam structures with larger windows, such as the (1827–1929) (18361930) A.T. Wall, Little Nemo or Coro buildings followed Decades later, the highway’s concrete substructures KENDALL MANUFACTURING COMPANY: BARSTOW STOVE COMPANY: The largest in the early 20th century. showed unmistakable signs of decay. Between Produced soap (Soapine French Laundry Soap) stove manufacturer in New England 2006 and 2010, the 1.6-mile stretch through the The Great Depression of the 1930s, growing (18801977) (18831941) Jewelry District was moved 2,000 feet south, just international trade, increased labor costs DAVOL RUBBER COMPANY: Produced medical VESTA KNITTING MILLS: Producer of ribbed, (19071966) outside of the Hurricane Barrier, freeing up 20 and safety requirements at home, led to the devices and hot water bottles composed of rubber knit underwear for women and children JAMES DORAN AND SONS: A company acres of prime real estate close to the historic center industry’s local and global dispersion. Jewelry specializing in jewelry fi ndings (also umbrella of the neighborhood. The I-195 Redevelopment fi ttings, collar buttons and tools for making manufacturers began moving to “modern” single- Commission has overseen steady growth in the area, collar pins) story factories in the suburbs. Many buildings in with a mix of residential, business and educational the Jewelry District fell victim to the construction of (19111979) buildings. A park on the banks of the Providence the interstate highway in the late 1950s and early CORO (COHN & ROSENBERGER) JEWELRY: Once the largest costume jewelry manufacturer in the U.S. River and a footbridge on the foundation of the 1960s and the increased need for parking spaces old highway serve as a harbinger of the promising close to downtown. The district was listed on the rebirth of the once vibrant neighborhood. National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The tall manufacturing buildings were converted into condominiums and the last jewelry manufacturing shop closed in 2017. Since the arrival of several educational institutions and technology fi rms in (19121965) (19131978) recent years, innovation is once again driving SPEIDEL COMPANY: Produced LITTLE NEMO (BRIER MANUFACTURING CO.): growth in the district. chains, and later, extendable bracelet Second largest jewelry company in the U.S., named (19161988) watchbands (“Twist-O-Flex”) after a popular comic strip character IMPERIAL KNIFE: Largest knife manufacturer in the U.S. Providence Personalities Thomas Arthur Doyle Sarah Elizabeth Doyle (1827–1886) (1830–1922) Thomas Arthur Doyle was mayor of Providence for three intervals between 1864 until Sarah Elizabeth Doyle was an educator his death in offi ce in 1886. He turned Providence from a “large manufacturing village” and educational reformer, helping found of 54,000 inhabitants into a “little metropolis” of 120,000. He oversaw the construction the Rhode Island School of Design and of City Hall, introduced the police force and a sewer system, greatly improved the Providence Athenaeum. She led the school system, and acquired the land for Roger Williams Park. campaign to admit women to Brown University, succeeding in 1891 with the PROVIDENCE WALKS “Doyle’s mayoral career was absolutely free from the taint of jobbery, admission of the fi rst six women, and was dishonesty, or malfeasance and deserving of studious attention on the part of the fi rst woman to receive an honorary The Jewelry District those interested in the diffi cult and undefi ned art of municipal government.” degree from Brown University in 1894. Self-Guided HISTORIC WALKING TOUR WALKING HISTORIC Boston Advertiser, 1886 Nehemiah Dodge Jabez Gorham (1769–1843) (1792–1869) Nehemiah Dodge is often called Jabez Gorham, a silversmith and merchant, the “father of America’s jewelry founded his fi rst company in 1815 with industry” and Providence’s fi rst jewelry three partners, inventing and producing a maker. His innovations in plated gold popular jewelry chain (“Gorham Chain”). paved the way for the production of In 1831 he founded his own company affordable jewelry for a mass market. (initially called Gorham & Webster) to produce coin silver spoons. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) Stanton Browning Champlin Amos Chafee Barstow Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a (1827–1895) (1813–1894) prominent American novelist, a feminist and activist for social reform. Champlin and Son was founded by Stanton and his son Amos Chafee Barstow was a successful businessman, She wrote ad copy and designed George in 1872 and produced gold rings and chains. George politician and civic leader. Founding the Barstow Stove trade cards for soap manufacturer Champlin founded the United Wire and Supply Corporation Company in 1849, he also served as fi rst president of Kendall Manufacturing Co. Her best in 1900. The family’s Champlin Foundation exists to this day, the YMCA, mayor for one term and fi nally in 1875, remembered work is the short story - Malcolm Grear (1931–2016) Grear Malcolm - having disbursed more than $600 million in charitable grants President Grant appointed him to the Board of Indian “The Yellow Wallpaper,” an important since its founding in 1932. Commissioners, which led to several trips to the milestone for feminist literature. “Design — like music, language, mathematics, art, music, language, — like “Design science of the mind … (curiosity) — is part of the structure and the rest us with and by elegance with blind but dazzling nature Done by it is in us.” confection; cultural is no mere human purpose, design American West. T. S OLNEY S MI TH ST. ST YNE . A T . W ST. TT AVE S BERNON T. VERE YDIA S E N E L AVE. OL C VE. A A I A ONE N ST. S ST. ALUMN ST S D D ORM W LK T AR . HA . N DD E C GO E A Y . M V C T A O . S N T U O S B N T . R H T E E E O S T S V K W HA G LS A S EY ST. T U N . N E I N D S K T O . T MS ST. G R P O N I R L O CRE IGHTON ST. R S S A MI P TH E T ST. ST C NES ST. T T JEWE . BAR JE S NCKE T H S ST. O B P A E T S H T. T PARK S . S EST T W KEENE ST. P R SMITH S A T. T . T . KLE ST LLOYD AVE O S T F . B T R . E AVE S A LOYD N L Y N RHODE ISLAND L . E T R C H ST RC F U H E I STATE HOUSE CH ST. S N V . I OWE L T T B A A S S Y C S N T T E . E . R T B D S S . R L N ST O E . E N T D O T W BO . W I O TH H S D S E N T. E G S P . N . ST T T S DY O A CA . S G C CUSHING ST. E. PROMENADE D N AV ST N MSO .