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'Downtown', also known as 'Downcity', is the central economic, political, and cultural district of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. Its is bounded on the east by Canal Street and the Providence River, to the north by Smith Street, to the west by Interstate 95, and to the south by Henderson Street. I-95 serves as a physical barrier between the city's commercial core and neighborhoods of Federal Hill, West End, and Upper South Providence.

Contents

History

Demographics

Government

Universities

Sports

Arts

Architecture

Parks

Central Downtown

See also

References

History

Originally known as 'Weybossett Neck' or 'Weybossett Side,' religious dissidents from the First Congregational Society established the first settlement in Downtown in 1746. Their settlement was located near present-day Westminster Street.^[1]
Downtown did not witness substantial development until the early 19th century, when Providence began compete with Newport, Rhode Island. British forces had destroyed much of Newport during the American War for Independence, making the city's merchants vulnerable to completion from Providence.^[1] This spurned the development of a commercial district along the western bank of the Providence River.
During the industrialization of the late 19th century, railroad tracks covered much of Downtown, including the Great Salt Cove and the two arms of the Providence River, the Moshassuck and the Woonasquatucket.^[3] These railroad tracks would become a hindrance to later development a century later.
Today, downtown trends toward newer development on land reclaimed from a mass of railroad tracks in the 1970s. The mass of train tracks been colloquially referred to as the "Chinese Wall".^[4] Because the land is adjacent to the state capitol, this area is often called Capitol Center.^[5]
New development includes a Westin Hotel (1993), the Providence Place Mall (1999), GTECH (2006), new condominium construction, and Waterplace Park (1994). In 2007, the Renaissance Providence Hotel opened in the long-neglected Masonic Temple building.^[6]
In 1994, the city completed to move parts of the Providence River east. This project led to the creation of Waterplace Park and the WaterFire festivals.^[7]

Demographics

According to the Providence Plan, a local nonprofit aimed at improving city life, 64% of residents are white and 8.6% are Asian, both above the city-wide averages of 54.4% and 6.2% respectively. 12% of the population is African-American, 11% is Hispanic, and 1% is Native-American. 43% of public school children speak a language other than English as their primary language.^[8]
The median family income is $42,558, over $10,000 above the city-wide average. 14% of families live below the poverty-line while nearly 3.7% receive some form of public assistance.^[8]
15% of children under the age of six have been exposed to high quantities of lead.^[8]

Government

From north to south, Downtown includes portions of Wards 12, 13, 11. These wards are represented in the Providence City Council by Terrance Hassett, John J. Lombardi, and Balbina A. Young.^[11] All three councilmen are Democrats. Hassett currently serves as the majority leader.
Providence City Hall is located at 25 Dorrance Street, at the corner of Dorrance and Washington Street. It is immediately next to Kennedy Plaza and the Biltmore Hotel. It houses the City Council, the Mayor's Office, and the offices of some municipal agencies.
The Rhode Island State House is located on Smith Street at the northern edge of Downtown. It includes the chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Governor's Office.
The Rhode Island Department of Education is headquartered in the Shephard Building at 255 Westminster Street.^[12]

Universities

Various universities have facilities in Downtown Providence. These include:

★ Brown University has recently bought several properties in the Jewelry District.

★ Johnson & Wales University has is central and largest campus in Downtown. This campus includes JWs business and technologies schools and its The Hospitality College.^[13]

★ The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), though centered along the western slope of College Hill, has extensive facilities in Downtown. These include the RISD Library, founded in 1878. It is located at 15 Westminster Street.^[14]

★ Roger Williams University includes a small campus in Downtown.^[15]

★ The University of Rhode Island's Feinstein Providence campus is centered at 80 Washington Street with other facilities in the Shepherd building. The program is named for Rhode Island philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein.^[16]

Sports

The Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League and the Providence College Friars men's basketball team play out of the Dunkin' Donuts Center (formerly the Providence Civic Center) at 1 LaSalle Square.^[17]

Arts

As part of the revitalization of Providence, the administrations of Mayors Vincent Cianci and David Cicilline have promoted Providence, especially Downtown, as an artistic center. WaterFire has become perhaps the most visible symbol of Providence's development into an artistic center. Waterfire is an environmental art event created by Barnaby Evans that includes bon fires, gondolas, and music. This event has become a major attraction for both Rhode Islanders and tourists.
Downtown includes two centers for the performing arts, the Providence Performing Arts Center and Trinity Repertory Company.^[18][19]
Downtown is also home to AS220, a non-profit community arts center that includes nineteen artist live/work studios, four galleries, a performance space, and a community darkroom.

Architecture

Downtown Providence has numerous 19th century mercantile buildings in the Federal and Victorian architectural styles, as well as several post-modern and modernist buildings, are located throughout this area. In particular, a fairly clear spatial separation appears between the areas of pre-1980s development and post-1980s development. Fountain Street and Exchange Terrace serve as rough boundaries between the two.

Parks

Downtown Providence contains two major parks:

★ Burnside Park is located adjacent to Kennedy Plaza. At its center is an equestrian statue of American Civil War general, Rhode Island governor, United States Senator Ambrose Burnside. Adjacent to the park is an outdoor ice skating rink, the Fleet Skating Center.

★ Waterplace Park extends from the Great Salt Cove to the Riverwalk along the Providence River. The park hosts WaterFire festivals.
Other parks and green spaces include:

★ Biltmore Park, a small green space across Dorrance Street from the Providence Biltmore Hotel. It is adjacent to the Fleet Skating Center.

★ Collier Point Park is located along the Providence waterfront. The park is home to a decommissioned Russian submarine, Juliet 484, which was used in 2000 for the filming of the movie in Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[20] On April 17-18, 2007, the submarine sank in a storm. The submarine's owners plan to salvage the submarine and reopen it.^[21]

★ Station Park, a green space adjacent to the Providence Amtrak Station.^[22]
In addition, Veterans Memorial Park and Market Square, along the border between Downtown and College Hill are sometimes counted as Downtown parks.

Central Downtown

The historic part of downtown has many streetscapes that look as they did eighty years ago. Most of the state's tallest buildings are found in this area. The largest structure, to date, is the art-deco-styled former Industrial Trust Tower, currently the Bank of America Building at 426 feet (130 m).^[23] By contrast, nearby to it is the second tallest One Financial Center (Sovereign Bank Tower), designed in modern taut-skin cladding, constructed a half century later.^[24] In between the two is 50 Kennedy Plaza. The Textron Tower is another core building in the Providence skyline. Downtown is also the home of the Providence Biltmore hotel and the Westminster Arcade, the oldest enclosed shopping mall in the U.S., built in 1828.^[25]
Kennedy Plaza is a major business and transportation hub. Surrounding the plaza are Providence City Hall, Burnside Park, the Bank of America Building, One Financial Center, 50 Kennedy Plaza, and the US District Court building. The plaza itself includes the central station for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) and a police substation.^[26][27]

See also

★ Jewelry District, a region of downtown

References

1. http://www.providenceri.com/Neighborhoods/downtwn.html
2. http://www.providenceri.com/Neighborhoods/downtwn.html
3. http://www.projo.com/news/content/Cianci_City_07-29-07_EN6HKE5.382643c.html
4. PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture, , William McKenzie, Woodward, Providence Preservation Society, 2003,
5. http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Northeast/Providence-Economy.html
6. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pvdbr-renaissance-providence-hotel/
7. http://www.waterfire.org/
8. http://204.17.79.244/profiles/dtn_main.html
9. http://204.17.79.244/profiles/dtn_main.html
10. http://204.17.79.244/profiles/dtn_main.html
11. http://providenceri.com/CityCouncil/councilpage.html
12. http://www.ridoe.net/
13. http://www.jwu.edu/prov/acad.htm
14. http://www.risd.edu/risd_library.cfm
15. http://50th.rwu.edu/history/history.aspx
16. http://autocrat.uri.edu/prov.html
17. http://www.dunkindonutscenter.com/teams.html
18. http://www.ppacri.org/
19. http://www.trinityrep.com/
20. http://www.juliett484.org/juliett/history/historyofjuliett484.html
21. http://www.juliett484.org/juliett/index.html
22. http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20051123_polo23.e35e333.html
23. Bank of America Building, Providence
24. One Financial Plaza
25. Providence Buildings, Real Estate, Architecture, Skyscrapers, and Construction Database
26. http://www.ripta.com/news/index.php?section=10
27. http://www.providencepolice.com/dist1sub.html