Downtown Providence in Providence County, Rhode Island — The American Northeast (New England)
The Changing Face of the West Bank / The West Bank
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 19, 2020
1. The Changing Face of the West Bank side of the marker
Inscription.
The Changing Face of the West Bank, also, The West Bank. .
The Changing Face of the West Bank. Unlike the straight waterline of the east bank of the Providence River, formed by the steep, rising hillside, the west bank was irregular and swampy. By 1819, while the entire length of the east bank was crowded with ships, only a handful of maritime features had been established on the west bank. Long Wharf was a landing at the end of what later became Custom House Street. Muddy Dock, then just a boardwalk over a stream, later evolved into Dorrance Street. The Eddy family and Benjamin Tallman built ships for the Browns at shipyards at the end of Ship Street, and Long Point was the future bridgehead for the Point Street bridge., Adjacent to the shipyards at Ship Street was a grassy meadow known as Cowpen Point. Ever since the founding of Providence in 1636, the townspeople had pastured their herds on the west side of the river. They drove their beasts back and forth across the fords at low tide and, in later years, over the Weybosset bridge. As late as 1819, when Alvin Fisher finished the landscape painting above, the grazing which once dominated the Matthewson Street area had shifted southward to the meadows at Cowpen Point., Within two short generations, wharves replaced the meadows and ships replaced cows. The upper cove would no longer be directly accessible by ship after a new fixed-span bridge was built at Market Square in 1816. The east bank of the Providence River soon became overcrowded with wharves that boomed with sloops, schooners, and brigantines. Providence merchants looked to the marshy west bank. there they began the first large-scale cutting-and-filling project in 1837, followed by the building of long finger piers reaching out to the deep, navigable portion of the river. By 1823, Anthony's Wharf, Butler's Wharf, Lippitt's Wharf, and Central Wharf defined the harbor line between Long Wharf and Dorrance Street., By the time all these wharves were completed, Providence's golden age of foreign shipping had begun a gradual shift in emphasis to the export of domestic goods. Ships brought in cargos of cement, grain, and lumber, but the city's most visual import was coal, which fueled the steam engines in factories, locomotives of the railroads, and coal stoves in area homes. The emergence of the west bank as the main shipping center was confirmed by the relocation of the Customs Office from South Main Street to the Federal Building erected on Weybosset Street in 1857., During the second half of the 19th Century, the coastal sailing packets, schooners, and slops were gradually replaced by steamboats. In 1873 the Market Square bridge decking was expanded southward to reach the Crawford Street bridge. Passenger trade replaced coal and lumber in the upper harbor, and by 1868 coastal steamers, transporting 200,000 passengers annually, were making regular year-round runs from Providence to Nayatt, Warren, Bristol, Sakonnet, FAll River, and Newport. In the summer, increasing numbers of shore resorts and waterfront parks created the need for a fleet of steamships including the Bay Queen, City of Newport, Rhode Island, Mount Hope, Priscilla, and the New Shoreham. They steamed to Crescent Park, Rocky Point, Oakland Beach, Newport, Narragansett Pier, and even Block Island. Streetcar lines extending to the docks provided convenient access from the city's neighborhoods., The steamboat excursion era gradually came to an end during the first decades of the 1900s. Trolley lines began to compete by extending their routes to major resort locations. Then came the development of summer cottages, which replaced the need for many of the seaside hotels, boardinghouses, and dining halls. perhaps the final blows to the steamboat industry came with the proliferation of the automobile.,
The West Bank: The Last of Its Ships and the Buildings that Served Them. The back side of this panel shows how the shoreline changed over time to accommodate shipping. this side tells the story of the buildings along the west bank: which new buildings were constructed to serve the merchant fleet, and how the uses of the remaining four buildings evolved over time., Shortly after the migration of ships and businesses from the east shore, the 1857 construction of the Custom House on Long Wharf catapulted the west bank into prominence by stimulating the proliferation of new wharves and waterfront buildings. Ammi Burnham Young, an architect for the U.S. Treasury Department, designed this three-story granite building with a highly visible dome to serve as a landmark for the ships in the Providence Harbor., The bustle at the Long Wharf was short-lived. In 1873, the slips were filled in and the river was decked over to make way for expansion of the public market southward to Crawford Street. The landlocked Custom House was to become a Federal office building., While the open air market expanded southward, land-based produce merchants displaced the maritime commerce tenants. The Hay Building and the adjoining Owen Building are rare survivors of the many 19th Century warehouses, which once lined the west bank. This 1925 photograph highlights the Hay Building's typical uses until 1930, when the market relocated inland close to the railroad tracks. Today, the Hay and Owen Buildings offer historic waterfront offices with street level retail space., Long gone was the produce market that once dotted Dyer Street. J.H. Preston and Co. at 11 Dyer Street is now home to Textron's corporate headquarters. Cooper and Sisson at 73 Dyer Street has been reduced to a parking lot., As the public market expansion transformed Anthony's and Custom House gangways into streets, the buildings and wharves along the west bank to the south continued to service ships bringing coal, lumber and grain. These shipments replaced the more exotic cargoes of the early 1800's. The Providence Coal Company, shown in this 1893 photograph, grew to monopolize the entire Central Wharf at the corner of Dorrance and Dyer Streets., Prior to 1873, lumber was unloaded at a Dyer Street wharf and then moved by horse-drawn carriage to an inland location. Used to build houses and workplaces of the growing city, lumber became the second-highest volume of all cargo transported. The expansion of the open air market pushed the timber off-loading operation further south, as shown here at Hill's Wharf, located off Crary Street east of Allen's Avenue, now the site of Collier Point Park., This 1882 bird's eye view depicts the Samuel Sprague Company's Columbia Grain Mill (shown here as building no. 53) on Butler's Wharf. Here, a crew of 25 handled up to 825,000 bushels of corn meal and feed in a typical year. The wharf was sold in 1897 to Narragansett Electric Lighting Company for $100, and they used it as a storage battery station. Over the years, additions and alterations were made to many of the original structures., The shift from steamship to railroad and automobile was a major strike leading to the demise of the west bank's maritime heyday. Trains and automobiles linked harbor communities to each other and to inland localities. The increasing demand for coal storage. Eventually, oil became the fuel of choice, and larger ships moved further south to more modern docking facilities and deeper water., Finally, the Hurricane of 1938 swept away the last steamship from the once glorious Providence Harbor, and the waterfront buildings fell into greater disrepair and disuse. In 1955, the State of Rhode Island acquired the shoreline area, demolished many of the remaining maritime buildings, and constructed Interstate Highway 195. These changes steadily obliterated the riverfront landscape. By 1983, the view toward the west bank had degraded to a terrain of congested roadways and parked cars., In 1984, the city and state approved "The Old Harbor Plan" to reclaim the Providence River and restore the shore to its historic grandeur. Bridges and parks were constructed and interstate highways were rerouted., Today, just to the left of this picture, you can see the dome of the Custom House, the Hay and the Owen Buildings, and the old Narragansett Electric Lighting Company building. These Dyer Street edifices witnessed the transformation of the west bank: from a maritime commerce hub; to a produce market center; to a declining harbor-front ringed by highway access roads; and finally regaining its splendor, graced by the river park you now enjoy.
The Changing Face of the West Bank
Unlike the straight waterline of the east bank of the Providence River—formed by the steep, rising hillside—the west bank was irregular and swampy. By 1819, while the entire length of the east bank was crowded with ships, only a handful of maritime features had been established on the west bank. Long Wharf was a landing at the end of what later became Custom House Street. Muddy Dock, then just a boardwalk over a stream, later evolved into Dorrance Street. The Eddy family and Benjamin Tallman built ships for the Browns at shipyards at the end of Ship Street, and Long Point was the future bridgehead for the Point Street bridge.
Adjacent to the shipyards at Ship Street was a grassy meadow known as Cowpen Point. Ever since the founding of Providence in 1636, the townspeople had pastured their herds on the west side of the river. They drove their beasts back and forth across the fords at low tide and, in later years, over the Weybosset bridge. As late as 1819, when Alvin Fisher finished the landscape painting above, the grazing which once dominated the Matthewson Street area had shifted southward to the meadows at Cowpen Point.
Within two short generations, wharves replaced the meadows and ships replaced cows. The upper cove would no longer
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be directly accessible by ship after a new fixed-span bridge was built at Market Square in 1816. The east bank of the Providence River soon became overcrowded with wharves that boomed with sloops, schooners, and brigantines. Providence merchants looked to the marshy west bank. there they began the first large-scale cutting-and-filling project in 1837, followed by the building of long finger piers reaching out to the deep, navigable portion of the river. By 1823, Anthony's Wharf, Butler's Wharf, Lippitt's Wharf, and Central Wharf defined the harbor line between Long Wharf and Dorrance Street.
By the time all these wharves were completed, Providence's golden age of foreign shipping had begun a gradual shift in emphasis to the export of domestic goods. Ships brought in cargos of cement, grain, and lumber, but the city's most visual import was coal, which fueled the steam engines in factories, locomotives of the railroads, and coal stoves in area homes. The emergence of the west bank as the main shipping center was confirmed by the relocation of the Customs Office from South Main Street to the Federal Building erected on Weybosset Street in 1857.
During the second half of the 19th Century, the coastal sailing packets, schooners, and slops were gradually replaced by steamboats. In 1873 the Market Square bridge decking was expanded southward to reach the Crawford
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 19, 2020
2. The West Bank side of the marker
Street bridge. Passenger trade replaced coal and lumber in the upper harbor, and by 1868 coastal steamers—transporting 200,000 passengers annually—were making regular year-round runs from Providence to Nayatt, Warren, Bristol, Sakonnet, FAll River, and Newport. In the summer, increasing numbers of shore resorts and waterfront parks created the need for a fleet of steamships including the Bay Queen, City of Newport, Rhode Island, Mount Hope, Priscilla, and the New Shoreham. They steamed to Crescent Park, Rocky Point, Oakland Beach, Newport, Narragansett Pier, and even Block Island. Streetcar lines extending to the docks provided convenient access from the city's neighborhoods.
The steamboat excursion era gradually came to an end during the first decades of the 1900s. Trolley lines began to compete by extending their routes to major resort locations. Then came the development of summer cottages, which replaced the need for many of the seaside hotels, boardinghouses, and dining halls. perhaps the final blows to the steamboat industry came with the proliferation of the automobile.
The West Bank: The Last of Its Ships & the Buildings that Served Them
The back side of this panel shows how the shoreline changed over time to accommodate shipping. this side tells the story of the buildings along the west bank:
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), June 19, 2020
3. The Changing Face of the West Bank / The West Bank Marker
which new buildings were constructed to serve the merchant fleet, and how the uses of the remaining four buildings evolved over time.
Shortly after the migration of ships and businesses from the east shore, the 1857 construction of the Custom House on Long Wharf catapulted the west bank into prominence by stimulating the proliferation of new wharves and waterfront buildings. Ammi Burnham Young, an architect for the U.S. Treasury Department, designed this three-story granite building with a highly visible dome to serve as a landmark for the ships in the Providence Harbor.
The bustle at the Long Wharf was short-lived. In 1873, the slips were filled in and the river was decked over to make way for expansion of the public market southward to Crawford Street. The landlocked Custom House was to become a Federal office building.
While the open air market expanded southward, land-based produce merchants displaced the maritime commerce tenants. The Hay Building and the adjoining Owen Building are rare survivors of the many 19th Century warehouses, which once lined the west bank. This 1925 photograph highlights the Hay Building's typical uses until 1930, when the market relocated inland close to the railroad tracks. Today, the Hay and Owen Buildings offer historic waterfront offices with street level retail space.
Long gone was the produce market
that once dotted Dyer Street. J.H. Preston & Co. at 11 Dyer Street is now home to Textron's corporate headquarters. Cooper & Sisson at 73 Dyer Street has been reduced to a parking lot.
As the public market expansion transformed Anthony's and Custom House gangways into streets, the buildings and wharves along the west bank to the south continued to service ships bringing coal, lumber and grain. These shipments replaced the more exotic cargoes of the early 1800's. The Providence Coal Company, shown in this 1893 photograph, grew to monopolize the entire Central Wharf at the corner of Dorrance and Dyer Streets.
Prior to 1873, lumber was unloaded at a Dyer Street wharf and then moved by horse-drawn carriage to an inland location. Used to build houses and workplaces of the growing city, lumber became the second-highest volume of all cargo transported. The expansion of the open air market pushed the timber off-loading operation further south, as shown here at Hill's Wharf, located off Crary Street east of Allen's Avenue, now the site of Collier Point Park.
This 1882 bird's eye view depicts the Samuel Sprague Company's Columbia Grain Mill (shown here as building no. 53) on Butler's Wharf. Here, a crew of 25 handled up to 825,000 bushels of corn meal and feed in a typical year. The wharf was sold in 1897 to Narragansett Electric Lighting Company for $100, and they used it as a storage battery station. Over the years, additions and alterations were made to many of the original structures.
The shift from steamship to railroad and automobile was a major strike leading to the demise of the west bank's maritime heyday. Trains and automobiles linked harbor communities to each other and to inland localities. The increasing demand for coal storage. Eventually, oil became the fuel of choice, and larger ships moved further south to more modern docking facilities and deeper water.
Finally, the Hurricane of 1938 swept away the last steamship from the once glorious Providence Harbor, and the waterfront buildings fell into greater disrepair and disuse. In 1955, the State of Rhode Island acquired the shoreline area, demolished many of the remaining maritime buildings, and constructed Interstate Highway 195. These changes steadily obliterated the riverfront landscape. By 1983, the view toward the west bank had degraded to a terrain of congested roadways and parked cars.
In 1984, the city and state approved "The Old Harbor Plan" to reclaim the Providence River and restore the shore to its historic grandeur. Bridges and parks were constructed and interstate highways were rerouted.
Today, just to the left of this picture, you can see the dome of the Custom House, the Hay and the Owen Buildings, and the old Narragansett Electric Lighting Company building. These Dyer Street edifices witnessed the transformation of the west bank: from a maritime commerce hub; to a produce market center; to a declining harbor-front ringed by highway access roads; and finally regaining its splendor, graced by the river park you now enjoy.
Location. 41° 49.373′ N, 71° 24.452′ W. Marker is in Providence, Rhode Island, in Providence County. It is in Downtown Providence. Marker can be reached from the intersection of Dyer Street and Friendship Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 144 Dyer St, Providence RI 02903, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 8, 2023. It was originally submitted on June 22, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 155 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on June 22, 2020, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
