F 1 -SifeSOVTHEFN GATE- 'WAY'^OF «»eAEW ENGLAND o» ^ PBOVD of its HONORABLE^ HISTOIQf ^ HAPPY «i /iU' PRESENT PBD5PE- RITY-* CONHDENTo/^ itsY VT V B^E- o k t *^ I £L. 1 \ mil mmuiim ©Mmsm i i .©F RliW gigSt^M® „„,«.„V ...V- ««W^-.0. A2?1^98 sEWPORT ROCKS AND RESIDENCES LITTLE RHODY'S VARIED FASCINATIONS It has often been said- -and it is probably true — that no similar area in the United States is as diversified as is Rhode Island, in landscape and contour, in foliage, in flora and fauna and in geological ''ormation. From these facts it has come to pass that no State in the Union possesses greater diversity of opportunities for summer pastimes and recreation. Variety, indeed, appears to be the most striking characteristic of the smallest of all the States. Its industries, its institutions, and its people are astonishingly varied. Its opinions, its occupations and all the manifestations of its existence have been unusual and individual, through the years of its history. '•Of all the American States." writes James Brice, -'Rhode Island is that one that best deserves the study of the philosophic historian. ^ NASMUCH as Rhode Island is so very densely populated '''■' and is surrounded by such very rich and populous States, It is not to be wondered at that her beaches and her wave-sw^ept rocks, her lakes and her hills, and the winding shores of her glorious great bay furnish inspiration for scores of thousands who make their summer homes amid her charms. Rhode Island is milder and less variable in climate than the other New England States, although there is considerable difference between the northern and the southern portions, and as a consequence, much of the wild foliage, especially of "South County," is of a distinctively southern type not else- where found in New England. Here, however, it grows beside the char- acteristic foliage of the North, some of which finds its southern limit in Rhode Island. There is a splendid assortment of the beautiful things of nature; broad glistening beaches, and wild, wooded hills, rocky cliffs overhanging the 3 r#3jr-T:* m ocean, hundreds of miles of bay shores, winding, rushing rivers, and dense tangled forests where the advent of man is as yet scarcely known. There are many lakes and there are barren sand dunes; there are exquisite and fashionable summer places that vie with any in the world, and there are secluded camps where nature is untroubled in her luxuriance. Although Rhode Island is growing in density of population faster than any other state of the Union, she nevertheless has a larger proportion of wooded area than any other, and almost within sight of her bustling cities, there are trails through the tanglewood that have survived in much of their primitive wildness, since the days when the red men made them. There are quaint hamlets, lovely farms and everything that is oldest and newest in our civilization. There are splendid modern roads that give ready access to VL HARBOR OF REFUGE" 4 -POINT JUDITH r^ ^»^ ^'"'^ ^^■^ * '^^^?t»** %L^m.:=^:. W£^^v^:^ every part of the State and the two adjoining States. Rhode Island is an automobihst's paradise, and all roads lead to Providence. For the poor as well as the rich Rhode Island is lavish with her summer offerings. The trolley car and the humble bicycle, will take one out from the center of her "Metropolitan District" to varied scenes of beauty and delight. The man with the big steam yacht who smokes long cigars upon its deck, finds Narragansett and Newport much to his liking. The sturdy chap with his feet braced against the tiller of a cat boat, or the captain of a little green canoe working his way down a dancing stream under over- hanging boughs, find equal opportunities for unalloyed delight. There are great and splendid hotels, and there are tenting places on the hillsides where thousands find health and strength and happiness. Narragansett Bay, the chief asset of picturesque as well as commercial interest in the State, is about thirty miles long and from two to twelve miles wide. Its shores are extremely varied and deeply indented by a multitude of small bays and harbors. The three main entrances are deep and direct, yet well protected from the ocean by the twolarger islands: — Aquidneck,upon 5 UPPER BAY AT SABIX S POI^ which Newport is situated ; and Conanicut, upon which is Jamestown. There are miles upon miles of shores bordered by beautiful summer estates, and fine old towns snugly tucked away behind long headlands. In the summer, multitudes of campers occupy all the vantage points that are unbuilt, while upon the sparkling waters of the bay vast numbers of pleasure boats, from tiny canoes to great crowded excursion steamers are forever in the view. Rhode Island is famous for its boating facilities of every kind. The back country towns present many attractions. Scores of abandoned farms, which until the advent of the trolley were as difficult of access as if they were hundreds of miles away, have been bought by private clubs and individuals for country estates, and there are many nooks and corners that yet remain, like islands of wilderness, surrounded by the throbbing sea of civilization. The old "South County" in particular is a country of marked individuality and charm, and its enthusiastic devotees have built many bunga- lows and camps along its bay and ocean fronts and beside the still waters of its forest bordered lakes. The chief rivers of the State are the Blackstone, the Pawtuxet, the Wood River, the Usquepaug, the Queens River and the Pawcatuck. They form a network of waterways, by which, with slight "carries," the State may be FROM THE CLIFF AT SII.VKI! SI'KINO traveled in many directions with as much fascination to the canoeist as may the wilds of Ontario or Maine. The Indian names of these hills and lakes and streams are a source of joy to the stranger who revels in such specimens as Shumunkanuc and Watchaug; Quonochontaug and Pausacaco. It is not to be wondered at that there are world famous summer clubs, like Squantum and Pomham, upon the bay shore; that yachts abound on Narragansett's waters; that canoeing and rowing and salt water bathing seem to be a second nature to most Rhode Islanders. Nor is it to be won- dered at that Rhode Island's skill in naval designing has produced the great "cup defenders " that have held supremacy against all foreign challenge. II! TOIil'KDO STATIO^ Newport, the "Queen of Watering Places" is famous for many things. It is the most fashionable resort in America. The "Cottages" or villas of its summer residents are magnificent in the extreme. Its cliffs and its beaches, its superb ocean drive, and its stately shaded "Avenue," are known through- out the world. Its history from its beginning in 1633, is full of incident and charm. One of the greatest of naval stations is located here and it is an army post of much importance. Fort Adams at the entrance of the harbor is one of the strongest defenses in the United States, and the power of the government is also represented here by the United States Naval War College; 8 the Government Training Station and Torpedo Station ; the Naval Hospital and other extensive enterprises. Newport rejoices in the annual "war games" of its military and naval forces, which are exceedingly interesting features of its summer life. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, which destroyed most of its commerce, the quaint old town was vastly more important than Providence, ranking fourth in the Colonies, and many old buildings of extraordinary interest remain, notably the Old State House, ovedooking the Parade, and the Henry Bull house on Spring Street. The famous "Old Stone Mill" has created a never ending controversy as to its origin. The antiquarian and the artist will find quite as much of delight in the old town as the general tourist or follower of fashion will in the new. The natural setting of Newport, where bay and ocean meet, is exquisite in the extreme, and the methods of getting there are most attractive. The locality has many natural curiosities, such as the Hanging Rocks, Spouting Cave and the Glen. But to ^ the tourist, Newport is recom- mended for a day's excursion, as the hotel accommodations are quite inadequate. Narragansett Pier is only a little less famous than New- port. It is celebrated for its great hotels, its superb bathing beach, its splendid summer residences and the varied assortment of delightful drives. *^^*i^^i BRISTOL YACHT CLUB A Rhode Island Suburban Avenue Herreshoff's where the Cup Defenders are built PAWTUXKT COVE AND NKCK UPPER BAY The Parade at Newport Showing Ohver Perry Monument A Summer Day at Jamestown 12 A Newport Garden ^^-'^ 13 It is, indeed, one of the most fashionable resorts of the East. The out- look is directly upon the ocean at the mouth of the "West Passage" of Narragansett Bay. A fine promenade extends along the rocks south of the old "Pier," and a famous drive leads to a rocky corner of the State at Point Judith. THE BULL HOUSE Iff^f Watch Hill is another celebrated hotel and cottage resort. It has a fine ocean beach and still waters for bathing and sailing and it guards the western entrance of Long Island Sound. Very different from any of these places is Block Island, the "Isle of Manisees." This is a barren, wind- swept isle far out to sea ; — very undulat- ing in its surface, with a multitude of THE OLD STONE MILL "The Avenue ' Newport ^ 3 3 : ^ " u Jti^'uJ fresh water ponds in the deep hollows between its rolling hills. On the south shore are majestic cliffs that are for- ever washing away and bringing great sandbars around to the northern end of the Island. There are numerous big hotels, a splendid bathing beach and some pleasant drives, including the one to Beacon Hill, which is several hundred feet high. A hardy race of mariners inhabit the island. Although the business of catering to summer guests is preeminent, the fisheries are of much importance. OLD COLONIAL RESIDKNCIO, BRISTOL Of the smaller and less fashionable resorts, the cottage colonies and the places of popular excursions, the mere mention of them would extend far beyond the limits of this article. To those who know them best, Bristol and Seaconnet, Warwick and Saunderstown, Jamestown and Matunuck are magic names. But whether one sees fit to dwell amid the abodes of fashion in a marble palace upon the cliffs, or finds his ideal of happiness and home in some little brown house in the woods by the lakeside, Rhode Island is marvellously lavish with her gifts to all who have eyes to see, or the taste to appreciate. T?IE SCHOOL SHII' AT NEWPORT 16 A LITTLE PAGE OF AMERICAN HISTORY F all the States in America, Rhode Island, perhaps, is the most entitled to look back over its record, with unalloyed satisfaction. With honor and justice it began its career. With fearless loyalty and dignity it has continued its existence. Its name is writ large in American History. The principles of liberty that now guide our government are the ones set forth by its founder. The stirring events that preceded the formation of the union took place within its borders. It struck the first successful blow for freedom when the citizens of Provi- dence captured the Gaspee in June, 1772. It was first among the Colonies to protest publicly against taxation without represent- ation, and sent representatives to England for the pur- pose. The first step and the final step in the establish- ment of our government were taken bv Rhode Island Providence was the scene of the first Colonial Dc^lai ation of Independence, and two months before the delegates of the various Colonies met at Philadelphia to declare their sepa- ration from the Mother Country, the Legislature of Rhode Island met at the old State House in Providence and in sublime defiance of ever) dictate except its own conception of justice and right, formally declared Rhode Island to be a sovereign and ^^^'''f r^ RHODE ISLAND'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE V/fV^/?*/ ,« aa JLJfr •x/,/l^'j A (^.^^/^ ^.-ri^^ ^-^ .fX'-^^"'^ ,^..6^^.^ /■ ./ The First Repudiation of Allegiance to Great Britain by any American Colony — Adopted by the Rhode Island Colonial Assembly, May 4th, 1776. 18 r : :,....^ r^y^.^yU^^yOf:' ^-^ >t^^(y/ /. ^ / 7' 9^-^.. :^ /f- /^ :^..;:^- <^ve_^s>y— V^ ?• .«,.'/ V,. //.. V- /' 'hcJl^r i-v..^.. 19 Pho/ograpli by .lohn 11'. Aiitii PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON BY GILBERT STUART AT STATE HOUSE independent State. When the war of the Revolution was over, she hesitated to surrenderfthe Hberties enjoyed under her charter and was the last of all the states to sign the Federal Constitution. She was the first to recognize religious liberty and to try in a practical way the great experiment of Separatory Church and State. The story of liberty cannot properly be written without some reference to the "Lively Experiment" instituted by Roger Williams. The settlement of Providence stood for a definite ideal. It meant some- thing to civilization, for Providence stood for freedom of thought when freedom was elsewhere unknown. Mighty men have had their daily walks within the lands now dominated by the majestic dome of the new Capitol, and mighty deeds have been done within Its present sight. We might note that the building itself is a very conspicuous and noble example of the achievements of the 1 9th century. It is said that its architects and Its builders labored upon it with endless zeal to make it their most notable work, and to produce the best of which their great art and skill was capable. Such a building as this, in one of the old world cities, would be marked with three special stars in Baedeker's guide book and its rotunda and State reception room would be admired by throngs of worshipping American visitors, as examples almost unsurpassed in beautiful architecture. Perhaps two or three stars would also be given to Gilbert Stuart's fine painting of Washington, which hangs amid such fitting surroundings. There are many pedestals waiting for occupants upon the marble terrace, but it is not through lack of Rhode Island heroes that they are still unoccupied. Short as is the history of this State and brief as is its span in the world's great history, it has nevertheless been long enough for the principles of its great and prophetic founder to extend far beyond the seas. The cherished purpose is announced in the words of one of his distinguished associates, upon the facade of the Capitol : "To set forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil State may stand and best be maintained, with full liberty of Drawn bij Sidney Hurleiijh GILBERT STDART's BIRTHPLACE religious concernments. " It is astounding to us now to recall that only such a short time ago liberty of thought and freedom to worship as one pleases and believes to be right should have been universally denied, yet Providence was founded upon an absolutely untried principle that has revolutionized the whole science of government. Roger Williams builded even better than he knew. No hero of Europe ever set forth a more lively experiment, for not only has his "Flourishing State" maintained itself on this great principle, FIRST BAPTIST MEETING HOUSE ERECTED 1775 22 biit the whole nation is conducted upon this plan, and the voice of liberty is calling around the world. We can look back to the career of this man among his fellow-men with unalloyed delight, for he was upright and honest; and his dealings with the native inhabitants were generous and fair; and so Providence not only stood for liberty of conscience but it stood for justice. There are other pedestals upon this terrace that might well be occupied by figures of those noble red men, whose histories are so worthy; — the chiefs who made the settlement of Roger Williams a possibility, — Miantonomi and Canonicus. Splendid representatives they were of the race that has almost disappeared before the victorious white man. A short mile from the northern windows of the State House stands the mansion, — now dedicated to the use of all the people, — wherein dwelt the first Admiral and Commander-in-chief of the American Navy, that versatile man, Esek Hopkins, "master mariner, politician, brigadier general, naval officer and philanthropist." The country which has had such a splendid Navy as ours, through all these years unconquered, need not look to the history of any other land for examples of wadike achievement, but, be it remembered, Rhode Island was the first to recommend and urge upon Congress the establishment of a Continental Navy. Congress chose Rhode Island to execute the plans, and in that navy, of which Esek Hopkins was the first Commander, at least three-fourths of all the officers were from the 23 RHODE ISLAND TOLONIAL HESIDENCI- little State o{ Rhode Island, whose bold mariners were the very vikings of the American Revolution. In those troublous times Rhode Island never waited for her sister colonies to blaze the trail or point the way. She was the first of them all to create a Navy of her own. She gave the command to Abraham Whipple who forthwith captured the first prize (the tender of the British frigate Rose, then off Newport) and fired the first cannon at the Royal Navy, June I 5, 1 775. But Abraham Whipple was no novice. From the dome of the State House we may look down upon the site of Sabin's Inn, where the men of Providence organized an expedition one June night in I 772, and in long boats pulled silently down the river to destroy His Majesty's ship, Gaspee. To Capt. Whipple belongs the honor of leading the first armed expedition against a naval vessel of the enemy. Large as was the reward offered by the British Government for information against anyone who had taken part in this expedition, no man in Providence was disloyal enough to furnish any assistance. The English Commander, however, knew well enough who the leader was, and history records the letter that he wrote to him: "You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June, 1 772, burned His Majesty's vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard arm;" and the reply: "Sir James Wallace — Always catch a man before you hang him." At the foot of Capitol Hill, as commemorated by the tablet upon the Board of Trade building, the people of Providence effectively protested ^24 against unjust taxation by clumping cargoes of tea into the river, and in the older State House, over on the opposite hill, Rhode Island's Legislature led the way for the other colonies by instructing its officers to disregard the Stamp Act, and insured them immunity for so doing. It was the first to support the resolutions passed by the House of Burgesses in Virginia in 1 769, declaring that in them alone was vested the right of taxation. Rhode Island had explicitly declared the same thing four years earlier. The "People of Providence in Town Meeting Assembled," was the first authorized body to recommend the permanent establishment of a Continental Congress, May 1 7, 1 774, and the General Assembly of Rhode Island on June 1 5, 1 774, appointed Samuel Ward and Esek Hopkins as the first delegates thereto. Near the top of that East Side hill is old University Hall, where once were quartered the French allies of the struggling Republic, and half way down the hillside we can see the hotel where Washington and Jefferson and Madison were entertained, and where Lafayette was once more received when he revisited these shores after half a century had passed. Not far away, a tablet marks the house of Governor Stephen Hopkins, — a bright star in the brilliant galaxy of his time, who as an early constitution framer, has well been classed with Benjamin Franklin. HOMESTEAD OF KSKK HOPKINS, I'KO Vll)l,.\< K THE FIRST ADMIRAL OF THE AMERICAN NAVY 25 Scarcely beyond our vision, in the old colonial city down the bay, dwelt two other men whose names will always live in the annals of our Navy, and one of them is no less honored in Japan, which he opened to modern civilization. There is another who should be honored, lest it be said that States are ungrateful. The nation has not been forgetful of him, for there is a fine equestrian statue in Washington, and the memorial at Savannah bears testimony to the admiration of Georgia for our great General,'; Nathaniel Green. He who was called the "Saviour of the South," — who, in command of the Continental army was next to Washington, and whose military genius has had few equals since time began, — has never yet been honored by his own State. His splendid career should furnish inspiration for some great sculptor's work. It is a shame and almost a disgrace that Rhode Island has so long neglected to pay adequate tribute to his memory. Gilbert Stuart, also, the eadiest of great American portrait painters, deserves fitting recognition by the people of his state. He who so worthily portrayed other great men of his time, well deserves a similar appreciation. And let us not forget that in more modern days there was one who was the idol of Rhode Island, and whose memory should not suffer because financial reverses came to him in the midst of his public-spirited career. From the hill on which now stands our marble hall, with its superb white dome rising against the sky like a fairy palace, one might have heard, in the days of '61, the drums of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment as it started for Washington to be first in the field, most prompt of all the nation's defenders, at the President's call to arms. And Governor William Sprague was at its head. But the victories of Rhode Island have been those of peace more notably than those of war. The guiding principles of Rhode Island have become the principles of our nation and our civili- zation is fast becoming the inspiration and power of the world. Is not this honor enough for so small a state? FIRST COTTON MILL EVF.R ESTABLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES 26 DISTRICT KROM COURT HOI A CITY BUILT ON SEVEN HILLS Reckoned by similar methods of enumeration, the official population of the city of London is only about one-fifth as great as that of Providence. Moreover, that of London is constantly diminishing. Providence, because its corporate limits are not quite as restricted, has not yet begun a retrograde movement, yet like London it finds a constantly larger proportion of its real population living beyond its legal boundaries, and thus, like London, she is a city u^ithin a greater city. The metropolitan district, which includes the immediate environs, is the real Providence. In only one or two other American cities is a statement of its population so misleading as to its size and real importance. It may sound paradoxical to say that the growth of Providence is largely outside of Providence, but this is literally true for while the growth of Providence during the last ten years has amounted ( Census report 1910) to 27.8 per cent, the cities and towns immediately contiguous to Providence enjoyed a growth of about 39 per cent and the metropolitan district now contains about three-quarters of the whole popu- lation of the State. In no other American State is there found anything like so large a proportion of the entire popu- lation, surrounding a single centre and constituting a single continuously built community. Since it is true that a prophet has little honor in his own family, the real position of a city may be similarly unrealized by its own citizens. Its praises may go unsung, its beauties be left unheralded, its wealth and pros- perity only vaguely suspected, and its most precious treasures hidden. Familiarity makes all seem of litde account and it is only when the great- ness of what it possesses is set before them by visitors from afar, that citizens and neighbors begin to take notice. Such, at any rate, is the position that Providence like some other Eastern cities seems to hold today, and half the great things for which she is noted at 27 a distance, are practically unknown within her city limits. That, compared with her population, she is the' 'richest Vity in the Union, is commonly believed, but that she has several art galleries and museums that m the richness of their exhibits are second to none in the world, and a library that has a widespread fame throughout Europe and America, is not so generally known; nor is it realized that one of her private citizens has housed under his roof the finest Shakespearian Library in existence, and that others of her townsmen possess almost unrivalled collections of the works of the world's ;^8 lM) canal greatest painters. Nor is it adequately perceived that the city herself, to a greater extent perhaps than any other one town, has given character and impress to the annals of American history. But all these things and many others that are true in regard to Providence furnish the reasons why she should be distinguished among cities, without regard to her size, and her place on the map. This very place on the map, however, gives her advantages over many other cities which are of incalculable benefit. Sheltered as she is by her northern hills from the severe storms of the New England winter, and with the heat of the summer sun tempered by the prevailing breezes from her broad bay, she enjoys a climate the year round that is more even and less susceptible to violent changes than that of any other large city in New England. It is mild in winter and invigorating and healthful in summer and for manufacturing purposes almost without a rival. The surrounding country is rich in natural beauties; in fertile valleys, in rolling hills and winding rivers; and in the broad reaches and picturesque inlets of Narra- gansett Bay. Like old London, and Boston of our own country, both of which have a great proportion of their people living beyond their corporate limits, Provi- dence is the centre of a metropolitan group of populous places. These 29 add greatly to her quoted population, and make her about the tenth largest among American communities. This is the ex- planation of her appearance, which is very proper- ly, that of a city of a half million rather than a quarter million of people. If, however, we go beyond this "Greater Provi- dence" and draw a circle on a radius of say, eighty miles — which marks the limits of a day's convenient excursion to the waters of Narragansett Bay or to anything of special interest which Providence may have to offer, — we find that it contains more people than can be found in any similar circle anywhere in the Western Hemisphere except those of New York and Philadelphia. In Its offerings as an artistic and educational centre. Providence is hardly excelled by any other city in America. It is particularly rich in oppor- tunities for scientific or historical study, and its special schools, including its great academy of arts, and the wealth of its colonial architecture combine to produce an atmosphere conducive to the enjoyment of the student, the literary worker and the art lover. Of the famous galleries, museums and libraries, with which the city is enriched there are at least half a score, all splendid of their kind, and all conducted on broad and generous principles. At the head of the list is the HKAD OF NAVIGATION Rhode Island School of Design, and few institutions in the country can compare with it either as a museum or as a school of applied art. Its notable success furnishes abundant tribute to the wisdom of its founders and bene- factors and Its teaching of the practical relation of beauty and utility, makes It a commanding factor in the artistic and industrial development of the Slate. It furnishes instruction to artisans in drawing, painting, modeling and designing, that they may successfully apply the principles of art to the requirements of trade and manufactures ; it gives systematic training of students in the practice of art, that they may understand its principles, give instruction to others or become artists, and it worthily promotes the general advancement of art education by the exhibition of works of art and art studies and by lectures on art. But it is for the general utility of its courses that the School of Design is most noted, for in almost no other institution of a similar character can the practical results of such courses be so practically applied to the life of the community. Its Museum, which is visited each year by thousands of pilgrims from other cities, consists of eight galleries. Three of them contain oil and water color paintings and engravings; two con- tain casts of the masterpieces of classic and Renaissance sculpture; one has a fine collection of autotypes illustrating the history of painting; one is devoted to collections of Japanese pottery, metal work, lacquer, and textiles; one contains a representative collection of peasant pottery, from many New Federal Building, Providence 31 countries; while the Colonial House which forms the continuation of these galleries contains the fine Pendleton Collection. From the annual exhibi- tions by American artists, a number of paintings have been purchased and added to the permanent collection in the Museum. In the picture gallery can be seen paintmgs by Renaissance Italian and Dutch masters; the work of the "Ten American Painters," paintings by Bouguereau, Shannon, Alexander and Chase, and many landscapes by the Barbizon School, while the sculpture gallery has been cleverly arranged to illustrate the growth and decline of Classic art. The library with its rare and unusual volumes, is a valuable possession for the city. The Pendleton House, which is a part of the School, is a veritable treasurehouse, interesting as to the building itself and unrivalled in its way in the wealth of its contents, which are unusual, unique, and complete. No other house in the world, probably, contains such a wonderful collection of antique mahogany furniture, rugs, mirrors, porcelains, china and silver. The collection represents the life work of the late Charles Leonard Pendleton, who was known on both sides of the Atlantic as a connoisseur in things antique, and by whom it was presented to the Rhode Island School of Design, with the stipulation that a typical Colonial house be erected to hold his treasures. Although it is in reality a modern fireproof museum, the place is unique, in that house and furniture are in perfect harmony, giving the impression of a private mansion of a gentleman of taste and wealth who >ilH]Y^ V rrr I 't UVll Providence Public Library 3^> must have lived in the eighteenth century, and furnished his house with the best pro- ductions of that period. In the Ann- mary Brown Memorial, Providenc e has a most unusual mu- seum that can- not be dupli- cated in this country. It contains a wonderful col- lection of family relics and costumes, first editions of volumes, many of them out of print, rare old engravings, works of old masters and paintings by modern artists. In its examples of eady print- ing this collection rivals the one contained in the celebrated Plantin Museum of Antwerp. Some of these books date as far back as the 13th century and are curious examples of a period long before the art of printing was perfected, the " Regulae Cancellarie," printed in Pauperum," or " Bible of the Poor," of in the collection, the first print of Gutenberg, the "Cologne Chronicles," printed in 1 490, and specimens of the works of the first printing known to Venice; but possibly the gem of this collection of rare books is one called "Lactantius," the work of Sweynheym and Pannarty, the most celebrated 33 ■;H HARnOR FKOM Among its Rome in which there Famous treasures is 1484, the "Biblia three or four ISLAM) STATE HOUSE printers in Italy. The collection goes back to the so-called "block book," printed by means of engraving on wood, before Gutenberg invented mova- ble type in 1440. Of the collection of paintings one's interest may be easily divided between those of the old masters and the modern works of art. The galleries devoted to displays of pictures are dignified apartments of noble proportions. Of the old masters there are examples, by Rembrandt, Hans Holbein, Van- Dyke, Canaletto, Angelica Kauffman, Guido Reni, Teniers, Quentin Matsys, Jordaens and many others. In the modern gallery nearly every example is worthy of mention. The Annmary Memorial Museum is a beautiful memorial and a noble and lasting one. As a collection relating to the history of the American continent, the John Carter Brown Library, which occupies a beautiful building on the Middle Campus of Brown University, stands without a peer. Like the Annmary Museum It contains specimens of early printing, but its world wide fame is due to the fact that it is the one library in the world that must be consulted by every first-hand investigator into the discovery, exploration, settlement and colonial history of all parts of the two Americas, and with its liberal endowment it may be expected to maintain the supremacy it has won. It is compiled from every language and is something at which posterity may marvel. Of other museums, two of the most fascinating are the R. I. Historical Society with its gallery full of rare manuscripts and relics, and the Atheneum which during its long existence has acquired a notable library and yet more notable atmosphere of literary and artistic charm. The Natural History Museum at Roger Williams Park, which is the only public municipal museum m New England, is popular and useful as well, and there are one or two smaller museums that are good of their kind. Of course. Providence is proud of its fine old University on College Hill. Formerly known as Rhode Island College when it was established in I 764, its name was subsequently changed to Brown University, in honor of its early benefactor. Its beautiful campus, "Under the Elms," has given inspiration to many men who have made their mark in American history ; but Pembroke, the department for gids, is beginning to demand consideration also. Most interesting of the buildings, admired for its stately dignity and the traditions of 140 college years, is University Hall, famous as the head- quarters of our French Allies during the Revolutionary War, and as the building wherein George Washington received his "LL.D." Splendid library facilities are connected with the University. In addition to various "Department libraries" the Brown University Library contains 140,000 volumes, including the Harris Collection of American poetry, the largest of its kind in the world, and the Wheaton collection of Rhode Island history. Its contents, which also include many works of art, have long overtaxed the capacity of the attractive, Venetian Gothic building on Waterman Street and will shortly be removed to a white marble home in the John Hay Memorial Library. As has recently been said by a French writer, it is probably due to Brown University, more than to any other factor, that Providence with its great industries and the su- premacy of manufactur- ing life as the mainspring of its remarkable pros- perity, has not lost its ideals of culture and tra- dition and become merely a great over-grown factory village. The Providence Pub- lic Library is famous for methods that' have been copied extensively in 3j Europe as well as in America. It is celebrated for its means of administration, for Its reference and children departments, and for special col- lections, includ- ing the Harris Library on Slavery and the Civil War, the Williams collection of Folk-lore, the Standard Library of Best Literature and the Rhode Island Medical Society's Library of several thousand volumes. Of the private collections in Providence one at least has no equal in the w^orld. It is the Shakespearian collection belonging to Marsden J. Perry. So long as it remains complete, it is not likely that any other collection can surpass it, for many of its most valuable works are without duplicates. Through recent exhibitions it has become known that Mr. Richard Canfleld owns the most important collection of the works of Whistler to be found in this country. It is very likely true that he also possesses the largest gallery of modern French painting in America, although there are several other citizens of Providence whose collections would be in the "World's Famous" class if they were generally known. Two of Gilbert Stuart's beautiful and famous paintings of Washington are to be found in Providence, one in the house of a private collector and one in the reception room of the State House. The diversity of the clubs in and around Providence gives a vivid I'KOVIDENCK idea of the character of Its people and of their occupations and enjoy- ments. Besides the usual assortment of business clubs and social clubs belonging to a large city, there is an extraordinary number of clubs of very varied interests and in- dividuality. Semi-exclusive clubs, like the Hope Club, are found in most large cities, though they may not en be able to secure such beautiful surroundings in such a convenient location. University Clubs are becoming numerous, though none of these west of the Alleghanies may hope to inhabit a fine old Colonial mansion. More popular organizations of business men, with down-town cafes and spacious apartments, like those of the flourishing West Side Club, exist in most of the cities which appear in large type upon the North American map. It is, however, in the unusual number of clubs that are " different," and of striking indi- viduality that Providence appears peculiar. Its varied surroundings, of MIDDLE CAMPUS BKOWN 1 UNIVERSITY HALL, ERECTED 1770 MA^ 37 ■:HSITV ; HAI.L IX CENTER course, give opportunity ror unusually beautiful country clubs, some of them with historic settings, like the Agawam and Wanna- moisett. Its winding, gendy flowing rivers close to the population center, give in- spiration for a bewildering number of canoe clubs, mosdy with unpronounce- able names; the broader reaches of the Seekonk afford opportunity for row- ing clubs, like the Narra- gansett and the Pawtucket Boat Club ; the wealth of attractions of Narragansett Bay which can be cruised for a week without exhausting its delights, gives possibility to such fine establishments as the Rhode Island Yacht Club, the Edgewood Club and several others possess. If Providence, especially since the "Good Roads" movement has made headway, has been looked upon as a great automobile rendezvous, it has for a very much longer period, been famous for the enjoyment of its nearby waterways. The Rhode Islander's loyalty to his native clambake brought about the beginnings of the splendid Squantum and Pomham Club establishments on the East bay shore, and several others upon the west side, while the cosmo- \ politan character of the population is attested by the almost endless list of societies with foreign sounding names. Surely the Providence Art Club is a notable factor in the life of the town, and its quaint old home, which by the way, was built in 1 767 by Edward Percival, is well known to visitors from many 38 distant lands as a place of fascination rarely equalled and never duplicated. For cricket and polo, and tennis and golf, there are abundant opportunities, and although Providence is not considered an especially musical city, it supports a considerable number of musical organizations. The list of "organizations, societies, etc.," given in the Providence Directory is an appalling one and the impression that it is unusually long and varied is entirely confirmed by a study of the directories of other cities. The "Blue Book" gives a list of ninety more or less "fashionable" ones, but this is only a small proportion of them all. Certain it is, that whatever one's tastes or accomplishments, nationality or condition in life, he need not lack for congenial environment. Great popular resorts and amusement parks also abound. The shores of the bay and the picturesque nooks along the rivers have furnished the setting for such places as Vanity Fair and Rocky Point, Rhodes on the Pawtuxet and many others that cater to great throngs. Some of these resorts at times take care of more than 50,000 visitors on a single day, and w^hen one considers the number of attractions that are always open, particu- lady in summer, it would seem as if all Rhode Islanders, as well as their neighbors from over the Massachusetts border, must spend all their days and nights in pursuit of pleasure. But the Rhode Islanders are, in reality, industrious and somewhat frugal, and they have more individual savings bank deposits than any equal number of people in any other state. It has been said by somebody, that the average man is only two walls away from starvation, but if this is the case, the people of Providence at any rate are not "average men," for the bank deposits average $677.88 apiece all round. There is enough money in the Providence banks to rebuild the city in a much more costly manner, if it were swept off the earth by a conflagration tomorrow. In a short time, however, there may be enough to build several such cities, for the deposits are increasing in much greater ratio than the realty valuation. The national and state banks and trust companies, for example, more than trebled their deposits in the ten years ending with 1908. With but a brief setback, caused by the national business depression of 1907, their prosperity has increased by leaps and bounds. The city is located in the most prosperous district in the United States, and it has been estimated that one-twentieth of all the wealth in the country is within fifty miles of Providence. The present condition of the city is pretty well indicated by the fact that more buildings were begun during the first six months of 1910 than in any previous six months in its history; the bank clearings thus far in 1910 are :5i) the largest ever known, and the business of the Providence Post Office at the end of 1909 showed a greater percentage of increase than that of any other first class post office in the United States. The average inhabitant of Providence, unlike the dweller in almost any other American city, doesn't care a picayune about how big it is or how small it is, and he has only the vaguest idea of local statistics of any kind. Instead of fighting madly to bring in every last name to the census man and then to pad the returns with a few hundred imaginary ones, he pays no attention whatever until the official result is announced, and then looks at it with a mild credulity and surprise that it should be so large. To be sure, except so far as we must be taught to make provision for the greater needs of the future population, there is no great fascination in population tables. Nor is there any special virtue in mere bigness. Very big cities are not always more prosperous than very small ones, and the people who live in them are not necessarily happier than they would be in a town of half the inhabitants. And so the new civic movement of Providence rather takes the form of an inquiry into local conditions and the gathering of information for instructing its natives than of an attempt to impress the outsider. "The city must know itself first, " its promoters say ; "it must know itself exacdy as it is, — what its deficiencies are, as well as its advantages, as compared with other places." Instead of forming a "500,000 club" and annexing all the suburbs at one fell swoop, as would be justified in this particular case, they calmly announce, "We don't care so much about how many people there are as we do to know what sort of people they are. If the city can be developed so that it will be the best possible sort of place to live in and to work in, it will prosper all right, and grow big full fast enough." The Board of Trade sets out to improve urban conditions, by which efficient and useful citizens may be created. "We don't want any more industries than we've got, " said a member of the publicity committee recently, "unless the new ones are of at least as high a grade as the average that we have already. Otherwise they will be a burden rather than a benefit. And we don't want to lure anybody to come here, unless he can improve his condition by coming." Rather a revolutionary idea for a "Publicity Department" to espouse perhaps, but it is based on economics and humanity. Yet all the same the census shows that the factories of greater Providence have been increasing at the rate of about one a week for the last few years. Though no especial effort has ever been made to attract new manufacturing establishments. Providence has become one of the greatest industrial centres 40 of the United States, noted for the variety of its products and the skilled workmanship of its artisans. Among its great manufactories, the "Big Five," as they are called, each ranks as the foremost and largest of its kind in the world; and it is believed that such a statement may also be true of half a dozen additional establish- ments. Pre-eminent among its varied industries is the manufacture of jewelry with Its allied interests, such as chasing, enamelling, die sinking, etc.; and its products, which amounted in 1 906 to $3 1 ,000,000, are distributed among the nations of the earth. Undoubtedly, with its suburbs. Providence is the greatest jewelry manufacturing centre of the world. Providence contains the largest silverware establishment and the largest mechanical tool manufactory in the world, and the product of its workers in the white metal is greater than that of any State in the country outside of Rhode Island. The Providence District is by far the greatest textile centre of the country. It has no near competitor in the world in the manufacture of screws and of files; and it is the second largest producer of butterine prod- ucts. It is a large producer also of malt liquors, foundry and machine shop products and rubber goods and leads in the dyeing and finishing of textiles. Being surrounded by the greatest cotton and woollen manufacturing district in America, it has become one of the greatest cotton and wool markets, as well as the national headquarters for the supplying of textile mill machinery, metal mill supplies, and for the planning and insuring of mills. It has been said that nearly every manufactured product in textiles, iron, gold, silver and other metals is made in Providence, in either a large or small way. The very populous area all around gives industrial enterprises a great "Home Market," in which to dispose of their wares, and a large and varied industrial army from which to obtain skilled workmen. It has been remarked that the Metropolitan District, if it were all one city in name as it is in appearance, would rank in population tenth or eleventh among the great cities of the country; but in manufactures in 1900, (last United States census), it was sixth among industrial centres for capital invested and wage-earners employed, and fifth in the annual amount of wages paid. $1 43,000,000 of products were being annually produced in factories which had a capital of $140,787,000, and paid $31,687,933 to their 75,000 employees. The industries of the city proper were represented by a litde over two-thirds of the above figure. But it does not take long in Rhode Island for any kind of statistics to become hopelessly obsolete, for since 1 900, according to the census report, its manufactures have increased more rapidly than those of any other state ; 41 indeed, some of them have more than doubled. For instance, the Factory Inspector's report for January 1 , 1 908, shows that the number of employees in certain "Leadmg Industries, " advanced from 60,858 m 1897 to 137,000 in 1907, showing a gain of more than 125 per cent, in ten years. This extraordinary record is thoroughly verified by the result of the special industrial census, taken under the authority of the Rhode Island Bureau of Industrial Statistics, and relating to sixteen leading industries, for the year 1906. It was found that in but two years' time the invested capital had grown more than twelve per cent., and the value of products a bit less than thirty-two per cent. The number of wage earners had increased eighteen and one-half per cent., while the total wages earned had jumped up by almost thirty per cent. From all of which, the reader will perceive that Rhode Island's industries are not exactly decadent. As evidence of the municipal credit, it may be noted that but four other cities in America enjoy so low an interest rate. The outstanding bonds of the city represent permanent investments only. The expenses are much less than the receipts. The surplus goes into the sinking fund or pays for various inprovements. A good illustration is offered by the waterworks, in which it appears that additions to the plant, amounting to nearly one and one-half million dollars, have been made within the last few years, without using a dollar from the city treasury. They have all been paid for out of the profits of the depart- ment and charged against "Cost of Management," thus with characteristic conservatism, disguising so far as the city reports are concerned the extreme prosperity of the public finances. On January 1, 1909, the net debt was $13,530,203.14 averaging $62.93 per capita, estimating the population at only 215,000. This statement, however, is somewhat misleading, since $4,416,000 of this net debt repre- sents outstanding bonds on the waterworks, which must be considered as a dividend paying investment rather than a burden. The local receipts from public service corporations, on account of the franchises, are exceeded in but six other cities, and these combined with the net profit from water and other municipal services, not only more than equal the interest on the entire city debt, together with cost of sinking fund for its complete retirement, but earn a very handsome surplus besides. In buildings and lands, in sewers and waterworks, in interest-bearing trust funds and personal property of various kinds, the public assets amount to about four times the public liabilities. According to the census returns recently announced, the city of Providence contained, in April, 1910, 224,326 people, and there were about two and 42 one half per cent, more who dodged the census man as a preliminary to dodging their poll taxes, or who for some other reason omitted to stand up and be counted. As the rate of increase is about 600 a month, a fair es- timate for September 1, 1910, is 230,000. The local habit, however, IS to build detached houses with air spaces all around, and as a consequence, the city has been bubbling over its boundaries faster and faster through recent decades. The real Providence, therefore, is the Metropolitan Dis- trict of Providence Plantations, which has the appearance of a single city, and is unbrokenly built up for about twelve miles from north to south, and about five miles from east to west. This Metropolitan district now has something over four hundred thousand people, and grows at a greater ratio than the central city. The city proper increased about 28 per cent, between 1900 and 1910, which is very creditable, considering its handi- cap ; but the immediate environs, which furnish more room for home- builders, grew about 39 per cent., which is very unusual except in a "boom town." But the growth of the Providence District is not spasmodic, and its variation from one decade to another is very slight. It is one of the most rapidly growing communities of the East. But after all, the real question that concerns us most when we are mea- suring one city against another or against the average city, is this — Is it a place wherein life is worth living? If it is, business enterprises are pretty sure to be prosperous, for the help problem, which is the most important of all, takes care of itself so much more easily. If the manufacturer can bring his business to the place where the labor market is well supplied and the workers happily situated, he enjoys an advantage that in most cases counts for more than cheaper raw material or exemption from taxation. Especially is this so with those high-grade industries where the skill of the worker and the extent of the pay roll plays the most important part In the production. It is in many such industries that Providence excels all other cities in the country ; and apparently Providence provides its people with every opportunity to be good citizens by furnishing phenomenal educational advantages and fortunate environment. 43 A CITY OF REAL HOMES Providence is a city of real homes. It is doubtful if there is any other one of the large cities where so large a proportion of the population are so well-housed, well-fed, well educated and well provided with the best pleasures of existence. In a big New England city, good schools are expected ; and many de- partments that have been instituted here have been widely copied through- out the country. The churches represent almost every possible denom- ination, and the hospitals and the beneficial and charitable institutions cover every conceivable field of usefulness. The water system, the sewer system, and the street lighting system are models of their kind. The public water system has the benefit of one of the finest filtration plants in existence, and the system of sewerage disposal is by far the most extensive in America. Railroad grade crossings, common enough in other cities, have here practically ceased to exist. One tax bill covers all the cost of city, county and state taxes. There are no special assessments for parks or schools or highway maintenance as in western cities. 44 The stores are varied in character and many of them magnificent in size. The shopping facilities, owing to the fact that Providence is the trading centre of more than a milhon people, comprising not only the whole popu- lation of Rhode Island but parts of two adjoining states, are quite unequalled in any other city of its class. The great majority of the people of Providence live in detached houses that contain two families each, one family living on the ground floor and the other up-stairs, with entrances generally separate, so that each flat is independent. The house occupies a space near the centre of a lot con- taining either 4,000 or 5,000 square feet, and it thus has light and air on all four sides. Even in the poorer districts, the two family house is much more common than any other sort, though "three-deckers" are rapidly gaining in numbers. One family cottages are also very numerous. Happily for the dwellers m Providence, long rows of residence blocks are almost unknown, and high, crowded tenement buildings are seldom seen. Individualism shows itself in the manner of building as in almost everything else in Providence; and in the matter of sub- stantial and palatial dwellings, the east side and Elmwood district present many beautiful types. The principal streets, developed with al- most no original design, radiate in the general way that the first country roads, or the preceding Indian trails led out into the surrounding country from the town; and although Providence is lacking in "show" streets of great magnificence, it is also lacking in unkempt streets of squalid degra- dation. From some fortunate circumstance, the areas and numbers of districts that may be called poverty stricken or downright shabby have astonishingly diminished during the last score of years, and such plague spots as we find clustered behind the railroad tracks or down by the waters edge in most North American cities, are now almost non-existent in the Providence district. Some of the older residential districts, moreover, supply a most unusual sort of artistic delight. It may be safely said that Providence possesses more fine and varied examples of interesting and domestic architecture than any other city in the United States. Nowhere have there survived so many splendid estates of the colonial style or so many humbler but worthy samples of the early type, and much of the newer building follows these same models. To the cultivated seeker for an interesting home this is a source of much joy, and when he looks for a reason for the survival of so much that is fittest among dwelling places, he finds it in the contour of the East side hills, that were first built upon by the prosperous citizens of a century ago. The steepness of the slops has brought about the salvation of the residence district and diverted business along the valleys and out over the more level West side. In this environment of comfortable homes and notable absence of extreme poverty throughout any considerable area, we find a reason for the infre- quency of labor troubles. There is not as wide a gulf between the condition of the rich and the poor as one observes in most cities, and evidences of wretchedness and want are not visible or even discoverable in the ordinary degree. Providence is an orderly city, and Providence in its administration is an unusually honest and businesslike city. It possesses the picturesqueness that comes from long establishment. It furnishes the comfort that comes with much prosperity, and the stimulus of an extremely busy and fast growing twentieth century city. What more can anyone ask for in a town? Well, plenty of things remain to be done to make Providence still better "worth living in and working for," but on the whole, — say those who are most familiar with the other cities throughout the nation, — Rhode Island's capital stands in the very topmost class as a place in which to live happily and to labor successfully. Providence itself, accustomed as it is to the wealth of its own attractions, but vaguely comprehends the varied delights it has to offer to its visitors, but the tourist who tarries seldom fails to be impressed by them. If one considers the list of cities throughout the United States, and the "objects of interest" that furnish the basis of local pride and exploitation, it is difficult to think of one so amply and variously provided. You cannot "see Providence" in a day or even in a week at any time of year. Whatever phase of human life or activity, or whatever contemplation of the gifts of nature may interest the visitor, there are few places in the world where he is likely to find more of his tastes well gratified. Its parks, its public institutions, its surrounding hills and shores ; its com- paratively smokeless skies ; its varied architecture and charming suburbs ; its historic associations, as well as its vast and varied industries, and its picturesque cosmopolitan character, make Providence the "City of Fascin- ation." 46 COMMERCE OF NARRAGANSETT PRESENT AND FUTURE When one considers that the Clyde at Glasgow was once a tiny stream that might be crossed on stepping stones, and thinks of the work that has been necessary on the Elbe and the Weser, to bring ships to Hamburg and to Bremen, it doesn't look like a very mighty task to make the city at the head of the noble Narragansett Waterway one of the most useful ports in the world. The situation on the map is favorable ; the natural equipment is unusual ; other available ports are becoming overcrowded and the ocean carrying trade is rapidly calling for new facilities. Opportunity is knocking at the Southern Gateway of New England. Compared with the millions that have been spent in every one of the great ports of the world, the amount now contemplated for harbor improve- ments in Providence is insignificant, but as the beginning of a new policy, It is very suggestive. Compared with the natural advantages that a great many of the other ports had to start with, the opportunities of Provi- dence are striking. Here is an absolutely land-locked bay, reaching nearer to the centre of New England than does any other tidewater. Its entrances are ideal. Its area is over three hundred square miles, and more than half of this is deep enough for the biggest ships in the world. And already the biggest ships may come within ten miles of the Rhode Island State House, which is considerably nearer than they can get to London at low tide; while ships of four or five thousand tons may come to the upper harbor of the city. Undoubtedly Narragansett Bay provides the safest harbor entrance on the North Atlantic Coast. Providence lies at its head, many miles beyond the range of projectiles from a hostile fleet. When the dredging now in progress by the National Government is finished, its inner harbor will have a uniform depth of twenty-five feet, over an anchorage area of one hundred and seventy-one acres. Further plans by the government contemplate straightening and widening of the main channel at a cost of about $1,000,000 ; and the city of Providence proposes to expend $450,000 and to donate certain land that obstructs a more direct approach to the wharves. The state of Rhode Island has voted half a million dollars for public docks. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which has invested many millions of dollars in Providence during the last few years, and has just built a new bridge and a tunnel, at a cost of about $2,000,000, is expecting to spend about $2,000,000 more on improved dock facilities near India Point. Just how elaborate the Grand Trunk railroad terminal will be is at present un- announced, but it will undoubtedly include docks for ocean steamers as a part of its equipment. 47 It is evident that the one great disadvantage from which the city and state have suffered, as a distributing point for Central and Northern Nev^ Eng- land, and for a populous part of Canada, is the lack of proper Western and Northern connections. That lack, happily, will be overcome by the extension of the Grand Trunk Railway system to Providence as its south- eastern terminus, for by this greatest of all transcontinental railroads there will be provided direct connection with the Connecticut Valley, Vermont and Montreal, with the Lake region, the great fields of the Canadian Northwest, and even with the Pacific Ocean. Rhode Island has awakened to the importance of waterway develop- ment and the government is beginning to appreciate the future of Narra- gansett Bay, although the realization has came tardily. The city and the state are doing their share for the improvement of the port of Providence, and expect a profitable return for their investment. Comparatively undeveloped as they are to-day, the bay and its adjacent waters carry annually more commerce than the whole Mississippi River system, with the exception of the Ohio branch. Yet the government, since its history began, has spent upon Rhode Island waters scarcely more than one per cent, of the appropriations made or authorized for the Missis- sippi Valley. Rhode Island considers itself fortunate when it secures out of the rivers and harbors bill $974,500; while the state of Washington, whose tonnage is no greater than her own, is allotted $3,836,000. Providence is thoroughly interested in the proposed inland waterways, but she by no means believes that the Coast Canal will satisfy her ambitions. She is determined to have her share one of these days in the ocean carrying trade. She looks upon the inland waterways as valuable feeders for that business, and especially useful in bringing to her great factories and to those others clustered about her, or scattered through New England, the coal and the raw materials she wants from southern ports. By these canals and by the new Erie canal, Rhode Island and all New England will be connected with the cotton fields of the south, the coal fields of Pennsylvania, and the iron mines of Lake Superior; and barges may proceed without unloading to Narragansett Bay. There will thus be the combination that has made Hamburg and the other German cities great and prosperous; and Provi- dence has recently remembered that the Elbe at Hamburg, which has de- veloped into the the second commercial city of Germany — has less depth of water at its celebrated docks than Providence already has in her inner harbor. She remembers also, that her ships once sailed on every sea before her manufacturers grew so prosperous that she turned aside from the ocean to 48 attend her looms and spinning frames, and she looks ahead with abundant justification to a revival of her maritime trade, since she is the natural distributing pomt for New England of all things that come in ships. The port already offers abundant opportunities for coastwise and foreign commercial and passenger service. There is ample space along the water front for warehouses and for manufacturing plants of endless variety, with unrivaled facilities for receiving raw material and dispatching the finished product of manufacture, at the least possible expenditure in handling. Though the present business is not a tithe of what ought to be expected, its annual amount is by no means inconsiderable. About seventy per cent, of the tonnage is coal ; thirteen per cent, general merchandise in steamers ; four per cent, lumber and three per cent. oil. The oyster business is very large, 2676 boats having been counted by the harbor master in 1909. Of other vessels there were 2342 steamers, 1355 barges, 797 tugs, 322 schooners and 5 barks. The number of passengers carried by steamers is about 2,400,000 per year. Considered as the "Southern Gateway of New England," it is worth recalling that but two other ports in the whole Western Hemisphere have so large or so wealthy a population, or such extensive industries, located within the radius of two or three hours travel distance. When the history of other harbor development works is studied, it does not seem unreasonable that a direct channel of thirty-five or forty feet should be demanded for the very short distance necessary to make Providence one of the greatest of modern commercial ports. 49 A BIT OF NARRAGANSETT SHORE THE PLAYGROUNDS OF THE PEOPLE The visitor arriving in Providence steps forth from the Union Station into a Civic Centre that at present has no counterpart in the United States. Washington, to be sure, is proceeding rapidly in the creation of a magnificent approach, and several western cities are looking forward to the day when they shall greet their incoming guests more worthily: but a combination of fortunate circumstances brought the Providence plaza into being some years before the modern movement had begun. Its existence is a memorial to that long contention that preceded the establishment of the present railroad approach, and to the resulting compromise between those who were striving for a much larger central park area, and others ivho believed in a commercial use for every inch of space. |F "Greater Providence" had not been so well provided v^^ith diversified natural attractions or river and hill and bay, and with great open grounds of semi-public institutions, the full development of its Metropolitan Park System would be an easier task. These places of recreation and enjoyment have been so long and so fully made use of, that it is difficult for the average citizen to perceive that their use is a fleeting privilege, and that the rapid growth of the population, which in itself increases the need, will certainly obliterate, or close to public use, most of the places that have ministered to the well-being of past generations . In order that such a sad calamity might not come to pass, the Metropolitan Park Movement was started. It proposes to connect eventually all the out-lying towns of Greater Providence into one complete and attractive whole ; and when finished, with its miles of smooth driveways, its beautiful wooded parks, traversed by winding streams and dotted with many lakes, it promises to make Providence notable for its wealth of recreation places, within easy access. To those who perceive that the loss of existing oppor- 50 tunities, and an almost overwhelming cost of artificial substitutes, must always be the penalty of delay, the movement appears to proceed rather haltmgly, although the acreage of public recreation grounds has doubled within the last two years. Providence started with a glorious legacy of river and hill and bay, and a climate stimulating to the best fruits of labor. At the head of a commanding waterway, in the midst of country well-suited to be the abiding place of an active and happy population, the reasons for its growth and prosperous condition are not difficult to discover ; but its present achievements are in many ways accidental, or the result of independent and spasmodic effort. This has been the case with the parks as with most other things. Thirty-three parks, containing an aggregate of 646 acres, are under the control of the city park commissioners. In addition there are about 479 acres of reservoir sites or semi-public grounds, besides various amusement parks. Public institutions control 803 acres more which are open to the public most of the time, like the extensive grounds of the Rhode Island Hospital, Butler Hospital, the State Home and School and the new City Hospital. There are about three and one half miles of boulevards, includ- ing the new Pleasant Valley Parkway; and the Metropolitan Park System will eventually add about thirty-six miles of boulevards and many hundred acres of parkland, including lakes, hills, forests, river and bay shores. At present the Metropolitan Commission controls a litde over 750 acres. In 1892 the combined area of all the parks was about 155 acres. In 1871 Betsy Williams had bequeathed to the city her ancestral farm, and middle aged citizens may remember now with some amusement the opposi- tion to the acceptance of a park "so far out in the wilderness." Hayward and Tockwotton Parks had been established in 1888, and the historic home of Hon. Thomas Davis had been added in 1891 . A deep ravine, with a litde brook emptying into the Seekonk River, and comprising two or three acres, was all there was of Blackstone Park. Since that time an extensive pond area with its islands and surrounding shores has been added to Roger Williams Park. The other parks have grown and several new ones have been created. Roger Williams Park, of course, is one of the most notable public pleasure grounds of New England. There are fine forests and rolling hills and many miles of drives. There is a splendid casino with a cafe, and a natural history museum that is popular and useful. In the extensive chain of lakes, there are nearly 140 acres of water surface, extending into so many bays and inlets that they make a shore line of seven or eight miles. 51 In the winter, throngs of skaters hasten to the park and it is not unusual to see 1 0,000 people upon the ice. But Roger Williams Park is at its best upon a moonlit summer night, when the hot city has poured out its throngs by trolley car and auto and bicycle, or by the humbler vehicle of "shanks mare. From the gaily lighted platform in the lake the music of the band floats over the waters. High among the trees is the terrace of the casino ; around the bandstand are flitting dozens of row boats and canoes, and on all the i\VTrXKT RIVKl! 1- surroundmg hillsides are happyj'parties hushed by the music to a decorous silence. Red and green lights from tiny launches dance upon the water, and over on the opposite boulevard are immense tangles of motor cars, with staring eyes. It is all very entrancing, and a celebrated writer, who knows almost everything there is to know about almost all the places there are, once wrote that he had not supposed there was anything quite so poetically exquisite this side of Venice. From the park on Neutaconkanut Hill, the prospect embraces the homes of nearly seven-ninths of the population of the state, besides those of the wT'^ L-AfcV<^» ife^^^ IlK! (S 1 1 i ^Hfi^^^^^^^H R i^Akjfc^-^ii -^(^ ^^^ ti ^^H^^^Mt^-.'Si^uS'tc^K^^^^^^^H ■ ^ag|| t Kuimnl m !!sr "'''1* lg^ ii ^^ ■i I m 1 1 Massachusetts city of Fall River, spread out in all its length upon a distant hill. Narragansett Bay is visible for more than twenty miles, and a rich panorama of urban activity and suburban growth, of wooded hills and glistening lakes, extends from the feet of the beholder. Quite different from either of the others is Blackstone Park. The See- konk River is a broad salt estuary that forms the easterly limit of the fashion- able "East Side." At its northern end the Blackstone River plunges over the falls near the Main Street Bridge in Pawtucket. Four miles farther down it contracts to a narrow channel, crossed by several street and railway bridges and bordered by ugly shops and coal pockets, and enters Providence Harbor. Along the side where the city would otherwise have crowded out the pleasant groves, the shores for about three miles have been preserved by the park and the cemeteries and public institutions beyond. The com- manding bluffs are richly wooded and intelligendy cultivated for most of the way, and the river road winding along the water's edge will sometime be extended to the bridges at Pawtucket. In the very centre of the city is Exchange Place and the Union Station, where up to a few years ago there extended a great salt water cove. When this cove was filled, the broad open spaces all around became immensely valuable, and many thrifty and "practical" inhabitants began counting up the millions of dollars that these lots would bring, if sold for the sort of buildings that usually — to the shame of our American cities, it must be said — surround great railroad stations. Instead, however, of letting them be covered with cheap restaurants and fish markets and garages, the city has set aside for itself a superb square and splendid garden, and a railroad entrance that is at present unsurpassed in America. Around this area, the most notable buildings are being placed. The City Hall, for many years the most creditable structure in the city, stands at one end, and facing It at the opposite end is the beautiful Post Office, which a noted Boston architect recendy described as "The finest government building outside of Washington." The City Hall Park, with the Banjotti Fountain in Its centre, extends along the whole length of the plaza in front of the station, to welcome the coming of more than thirty thousand daily travelers. To further quote the address of the enthusiast from Boston, "Providence has taken advantages of an opportunity to create a beautiful Civic Centre such as any city in the world might envy, and it has been the first of the large cities to achieve results along the lines to which so much modern thought is being given." In the rear of the station, three large tracts of weed-covered land had been left over after filling in the last remaining vestige of the old "Cove," which AT mi;ri> 54 once covered nearly all of the central section of the city. These lots, at present, are the most conspicuous objects that the traveller sees when he stops at the Providence station on the way from Boston to New York. When the Bostonian thinks of his own exquisite Public Garden, it makes him smile pityingly to hear that these unkempt lots have been officially named the Public Garden of Providence. But time will change all things, and as soon as the freight cars have been moved away from the door-yard of the capitol, the city and the state and the railroads may do great things in the way of transformation. To the left stands the splendid new Normal School, in a beautiful garden where once were ugly foundries and the old State Prison. On the opposite side of Francis Street the land has been swept clear of a motly collection of ramshackle rookeries, and the massive State House rears its classic portico and its magnificent marble dome against the sky. A happy harmonizing of dignified lines and exquisite detail, is this building of the State ; — one of the most noble buildings of America and an everlasting joy to all who look upon it. Above this plaza, upon the east, is the attractively varied sky line of College Hill, its richness of summer foliage obscuring all but the highest roofs and the graceful spires of the "aristocratic section," and crowned by the Christian Science Dome and the interesting buildings of the old Univer- sity. Toward the west the channel of the Woonasquatucket River, with broad streets on either side, gives opportunity for a boulevard to Davis Park, and onward by means of the new Pleasant Valley Parkway to the rather undeveloped northwest corner of the city. In the conception of the Metropolitan Park System, it was realized that a serious obstacle would be encountered in the artificial division of "Greater Providence" into neady a dozen independent cities and towns, but although the conditions were unusual the promoters of the enterprise found a precedent in Massachusetts, in accordance with which the "Metropolitan Park District" in Rhode Island was constituted. This provides an official name for a community that should be in fact, as it is in appearance, a single city, and the means by which, so far as the park system is concerned, it may indeed, act as a single city. .5() Of course, this park, district as such, would have no revenue of its own and no bor- rowing power, but it was proposed, as in m Massachusetts, that the state as a whole should provide the means, and reimburse- ment should be made in proper proportion by the individual cities and towns within the district. Upon the petition " ' '"'^'^ ""'" '' ='-'^— ^ ™ of the Public Park Association, the Legislature in 1 905 appointed a Metro- politan Park Commission to make a preliminary report, and the commission was so constituted as to represent the extent of the proposed park district as well as its varied interests, educational, artistic and commercial. The work was a labor of love on the part of all those who promoted it. The first Commission outlined a plan — of comprehensive character, but substantially along the lines already advocated by the Public Park Asso- ciation, — and the unqualified support that it received from the newspapers and from leading or- ganizations of every sort, gave striking testimony indicating in how many very vital ways such a pro- ject touches all classes of the people. The Commission was con- tinued, and in 1906 a much more elaborate report was presented to the Legislature together with a request that the people of the state be given an .?:^:'«safiBEa8iKBa»HiBRa^t^iA.-^ HOUSE AT LINf'OL 57 opportunity to vote upon a proposition for a bond issue for the beginning of the work. The Legislature shortly approved this suggestion without a dissenting voice, and when the electors came to decide the question at the fol- lowing state election in November, they too approved it, — by a EDGEwooi. liEACH '^otc of two to One. In only one large town in the state was there an adverse majority. This vote allowed the next legislature to issue bonds and to provide proper machinery to bring the Metropolitan Park System into being, and thus, Rhode Island became the second state in the Union to institute a Metropolitan Park System. Upon the plan of this Metropolitan Park District, within an area of about eleven miles by seven, that is occupied in 1910 by about 405,000 people and has the State House as the geographical centre, are noted the valleys of ten rivers of assorted sizes, the shores of the bay, of which almost none is held by the public, and something like forty ponds and lakes. There are precipitous hillsides from which gorgeous views are obtained, and fragments of wood- land that still remain to be the joy and benefit of their tres- passing neighbors. Such places are seldom fit for ordi- nary building pur- poses and if not falls at lixcoln woods 58 reserved for public lands, soon degenerate into slums. When we choose the former alternative, we thereby add value to the surrounding lands, and to the city as a whole, that invariably repays all the outlay many fold. But let no one advocate that they be made into parks in the old-fashioned understanding of that word, for up to recent times city parks have furnished a very bad and fantastic imitation of nature; and even though they have afforded refreshing scenes of grass and flowers amid the walls of the city, they have generally been intended to be looked at with awe rather than used with full delight. People were supposed to stroll decorously through wonderful curving paths and among magic mazes of geometrical designs, with warnings on every hand to keep off the grass under threat of capital punishment. Nature was fantastically caricatured by unhappy hedges trimmed into weird shapes, and artificial lakes with edges made into prim angles and parabolic or diabolic curves. Atrocious iron dogs glared at crazy quilts of flowers made into shapes of things that never existed on sea or land. Such places served a certain purpose in interesting and surprising the eye, even as did the fragile wax bric-a-brac creations under the glass domes on the marble topped pador tables of a past generation. Happily their day is over, and it is no longer the purpose of the park promoters to tack artificial adornments on to the frame work of the city, — nor to create mere ornamentation of sand papered hills and marble paved lakes, — but rather to preserve natural assets that are vital to the civic welfare. The inner ring of the proposed parkways is about eighteen miles in extent, while the circuit which encloses Pawtucket on the north and traverses the Pawtuxet Valley upon the south would add perhaps twenty miles more, but plans avoid the taking of valuable real estate so successfully that comparatively little costly land is called for in the provision of park areas many hundred acres in extent. It would not have seemed possible that within the four mile circle from the State House of the most densely populated state in the Union, any tract of land could have been discovered, so wild, so primitive, and so apparendy remote, as that which the Metropolitan Commission has secured for its largest reservation, and dedicated on the one hundredth anniversary of the great emancipator's birth, to the memory of the immortal Lincoln. No sight of busy cities or of commercial strife disturbs the sweet serenity of the Lincoln Woods, where the primeval forest borders the waters of its gem of lakes. Over the tops of its encircling hills, the roar of traffic and the clash of industry come floating softly as might the hum of bees or music of waters. There are gigantic rocks and tangled glades, a winding river at the base of the forested hills ; and rolling pastures and meadow lands, where primi- tive agriculture has been practised for more than two hundred years. "The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood" are all to be found in this beautiful parkland ; and so, too, are old farmhouses that have defied the storms since the days when the Indians were their frequent visitors. Yet this little wondedand of nature, almost surrounded by the swelling tide of population, has somehow escaped destruction all these years. Lincoln Woods is a priceless possession for future ages. Much nearer to the homes of the multitudes, who can use them every day, are the reservations of Edgewood Beach and the Woonasquatucket. There was but one stretch of level sandy shore anywhere upon the west side of the Bay between the city and Gaspee Point, and by its public ownership, unborn millions, as well as present thousands, may put into practice the honored principle that "Cleanliness is next to godliness." On account of its proximity to the heart of things, it is by far the busiest bathing place in the State, though Newport and Narragansett need not tremble for their fame as the most fashionable ones. From the Edgewood Bluffs above the bathing houses, there are fascmating views of the upper Narragansett, where ever-chugging motor boats, white winged yachts, and more majestic steamers forever enliven the scene. Over at the other end of the city we find the busy Woonasquatucket turning the wheels of great mills, but anon resting from its toil and gliding peacefully through the Merino meadow, where the toiling thousands of the Olneyville district have their only daily playground. Here are ball- fields and steep hillside groves, and a tiny, lake, that for those who are not old enough or wise enough to play with the river, is safe to wade or paddle in. Meshanticut Park, with its gem of a lake, is farther from the business centre. It is celebrated as the haunt of birds, and is the gift of a generous citizen to the State. It is doubtful, however, if any part of the Metropolitan System will meet with such immediate appreciation by so many classes of people, as the section of the Barrington Parkway, which is just now in process of construction, for it is rather difficult to recall any other drive leading out from the heart of an American city, that combines so many kinds of interesting views in so short a distance. But, after all, considering the extent of the district to be served, and realizing the splendor of the natural gifts that have been bestowed upon the favored people of the "Providence Plantations," — gifts which mutely plead for preservation that they may remain a part of the public heritage forever, — we cannot escape the fact that but a slight beginning has been made. 60 There are long and beautiful beaches upon the bay at Bullock's Point and Gaspee Point, the latter place made famous by the first act of rebellion in the Revolutionary War. There is the commanding bluff of Field s Point, whose old fortifications tell again of the Revolution, and command miles of glistening bay and busy harbor. From here w^e may proceed through the woodlands of Roger Williams Park to the broad waters of Mashapaug and on to the exquisite little Lake of Isles, and then to the winding Pocasset, now broadened into lakes, and again contracted to a deep and narrow channel through sedgy meadows, with the great rocky face of Neutaconkanut Hill rising high above the fertile valley. There is the exquisite Scott's Pond, though its shores are even now preserved from defilement and maintained for recreation purposes by a great mill corporation which owns them. There is the broad valley of the Blackstone, surrounded by steep bluffs crowned by pine groves, and full of circuitous lagoons and fertile islands ; the Ten Mile River, daintily winding under the branches of great trees or rushing swiftly through the craggy glen at Hunts Mills. There is the broader Paw- tuxet upon which thousands of canoeists and boating enthusiasts enjoy the summer days ; and the lake-like Seekonk which will really be a lake when the dam at its narrow mouth shall have been built. These places have been free in all the past, and by the making of the Metropolitan Park System, may still in all the future be the breathing places and recreation grounds at the doors of a great and ever increasing industrial population. Wisdom and humanity demand their preservation, and their harmonious joining in one grand chain as a magnificent possession for all posterity ; — a public domain in which the poorest of the people may gain delight and strength and claim part ownership ;— a domain that all the wealth of kings could not create where nature had been less kind. WOONASQUATUCKET RIVER AT DYERVILLE PARK 61 "PARKS INSTEAD OF SLUMS" On the map of the Metropolitan District opposite, only a few of the principal thoroughfares are shown. Blue indicates water area ; Light Green shows city parks and grounds of several public institutions; Dark Green shows reservations acquired by the Metropolitan Park Commission during 1909 and 1910 and Yellow or Buff indicates proposed extension of the park system. "We find that the rock hills, the stream banks and bay and pond shores, are the available and valuable sites for public open spaces ; avail- able, because they are generally unoccupied and cheap ; valuable, because they present the grandest and the fairest scenery. Private ownership is thoroughly bad as a matter of public financial policy. Public ownership will so enhance land values that the whole community will profit in the end." — Charles Eliot. mc, SQ IB, ^y WRITTEN AND COPYRIGHTED ,910, BY HENRY A. BARKER, PROVIDENCE, R. CO., PROVIDENCE REMINGTON PRII One copy del. to Cat. Div. ^.,., LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 110 188 2 M