Subject Area
History
Description
In 1939, as the effects of the 1938 New England Hurricane that devastated much of Rhode Island, it became painfully evident to Providence city officials that it needed a better system of highways and bridges. More than this, because several Rhode Islanders had died while evacuating, the state made a concerted effort to build more and better highways. As the U.S. joined the war effort, the possibility of another failed evacuation caused a panic among city officials that continued to drive the placement of urban highways in Providence. With changes in the city’s landscape and major shifts in demographics, Providence emerged from World War II in a relatively stable place. However, the postwar boom would not last as industry relocated to the South, urbanites moved to the suburbs, and the city’s housing stock rapidly declined. To remedy this, by 1950, the city planned a dual renaissance that promoted industrial revitalization and historic preservation. As a result, places like Fox Point greatly gentrified and lost large portions of its population. For nearly forty years, Fox Point had functioned as a transit-oriented and ethic commercial enclave. Why did the city need to place I-195 through an area that was naturally oriented for trade and small business development? What made I-195 through Fox Point so necessary? Did panic contribute to the development of the city’s urban landscape? How did the city understand the preservation efforts of the Providence Preservation Society? What did locals think of figures like Antoinette Downing?
My Honors Thesis in History, “I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island: Urban Development or Dislocation,” seeks to answer these questions by consulting a variety of local sources, transportation maps, government reports, and urban renewal reports and studies. In chapter one, I argue that in the midst of panic, Providence city officials planned the highways that would be erected in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. However, with limited space and barriers to acquiring private property, the city was forced to buy large tracts of abandoned rail and industrial property to place highways on. As a result, much of Providence’s highway infrastructure was conceived of amid panic during World War II. Chapter two explores how Fox Point emerged from World War II and the myriad of housing and financial struggles much of the community faced. Chapter three argues investigates how the industrial renaissance was closely related to the housing and economic needs of the city. The chapter likewise analyzes how housing preservation was an attempt to save the city’s visual and structural history. Chapter five looks at the work of one of the Providence Preservation Society’s main figures Antoinette Downing and her role in beautifying the city. The last chapter looks at two case studies that analyze the ways in which ordinary Providence citizens engaged with their local government. Likewise, the chapter analyzes how the city understood, or misunderstood, the people they claimed to be representing.
Publisher
Providence College
Academic Year
2022-2023
Date
Spring 2023
Type
Thesis
Format
Text
Language
English
