Revolutions: American and Industrial

Revolutions: American and Industrial. . , In the decade before the Revolutionary War, the British were enforcing revenue laws by stationing maritime law enforcement vessels in Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay. In 1769, Newport citizens burned the British sloop in protest of violations of their rights Meanwhile, the particularly aggressive British schooner Gaspee forced every vessel to strike its flag and allow boarding for customs inspection., On June 9, 1772, Captain Benjamin Lindsay of the packet Hannah, refused to strike the flag and be boarded. The HMS Gaspee fired upon the Hannah then pursued her towards Providence. Captain Lindsay, with extensive knowledge of the bay, sailed close to Namquit Point (since renamed Gaspee Point). The Gaspee, while trying to cut her off, ran aground. The Hannah continued on to the town wharf in Providence., Once the Hannah reached Providence, Captain Lindsay informed John Brown, Welcome Arnold and others of the confrontation. "A drum was beaten through the streets accompanied by a crier, calling on all Sons of Liberty to join in this meeting" at James Sabin's Tavern, South Main and Planet Streets. The angry crowd consisted mostly of the merchants and sea captains harassed by the Gaspee., In the dark of night, eight long boats embarked from Fenner's Wharf, across the street, and sailed to the grounded Gaspee. The British were surprised, they did not even have time to get their guns. The colonists fired shots and quickly boarded the schooner. The British were transferred to land and the Gaspee was burnt., "They set her men upon the land; And burnt her up we understand.", The colonists returned to Providence before daybreak, and by the next day "nobody knew who did it." This act of defiance outraged the British. King George III issued a reward to persecute the perpetrators and established a commission to investigate. However, no colonist would cooperate; possible witnesses were either supposedly too ill to testify or the weather conditions were too poor to travel to court. Even though up to 60-100 men participated, not one of Providence's 4,300 people could identify them., The burning of the Gaspee and other acts of defiance are recognized as an impetus to the American Revolution. Industry, trade and commerce were now freed of British rule and anchored in Providence with the establishment of the Custom House, developed on the East Bank., By the end of the 1700s, the western side of South Main Street contained dwellings, gardens, stores and wharves. Yet natural disasters were about to wreak havoc. In 1801, a great fire destroyed both sides of South Main Street from Planet Street to James Street, turning the neighborhood derelict. However, improvements had already begun to "Rotten Row," as it was since called, when the Great Gale of 1815 again devastated the area., South Main Street recovered and once again reconstruction began immediately. By 1822, the Crawford Allen Brick store was built below Crawford Street. The construction indicates the renewed commercial vitality of the avenue. Within a two block area were located such leading participants in Providence's industrial growth as the Tingley and Brothers Steam Marble Works, the Browne and Sharpe machine shop and the Palmer and Capron jewelry shop, with the Fuller Iron Works and the Providence STeam Engine Company to the south and the Gorham Manufacturing Company to the north., Commercial prosperity transformed the local population. By the late 1830s, many residents of the South Main Street / South Water Street area were no longer owners but boarders; stonecutters, machinists and jewelry workers. It was no longer fashionable for owners to live where among factory buildings and boarding houses clouded in pollution., By the 1880s, Browne and Sharpe, Tingley and Palmer and Capron all left the area to flourish elsewhere. Fuel companies such as the Rumford Chemical Works and the Providence Oil and Chemical Company moved in. Eleven of Providence's 25 chemical manufacturers thrived on the East Bank's reserve of workers and access to shipping routes. The foul smells of oil and chemical manufacturing, the dilapidated buildings and the other less desirable trades such as fish and oyster dealers again left the area in disrepair., Since the Civil War, the East Bank experienced unprecedented industrial growth followed by periods of transition, in a reoccurring cycle of prosperity and collapse.