Rhode Island, Providence County, Providence
![]()
This intersection was the earliest center of colonial Providence. A grist mill stood just north, at the falls of Moshassuck River, and a tannery and taverns were nearby across the street. In 1676 the natives of many tribes united against the New England colonies in King Philip's War. Alone, unarmed, and over 70 years old, Roger Williams walked out on a point of land in the river here, and pleaded unsuccessfully with the warriors to spare his town from burning.
This intersection was the earliest center of colonial Providence. A grist mill stood just north, at the falls of Moshassuck River, and a tannery and taverns were nearby across the street. In 1676 the natives of many tribes united against the New England colonies in King Philip's War. Alone, unarmed, and over 70 years old, Roger Williams walked out on a point of land in the river here, and pleaded unsuccessfully with the warriors to spare his town from burning.Williams was fluent in the Narragansett language and often acted as mediator between colonists and natives. His Key Into the Language of America was a collection of phrases, poems and cultural observations on native life.
(Colonial Era • Native Americans • Settlements & Settlers • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The site of Addison Hollow where the first nineteenth century blacks purchased property and the site of the first major riot
Roger Williams died in Providence early in 1683, and was buried with a simple ceremony behind his home, near today's intersection of Benefit St. and Bowen St. Remains at the site were exhumed in 1860 and removed to the Old North Burying Ground. In 1939 they were placed beneath the granite statue of Williams on Prospect Terrace, overlooking the city which he founded.
(Front text)
A short distance southeast of this spot, along the banks of the river, was situated the village of Logstown one of the largest Indian settlements on the upper Ohio. It was the scene of many important conferences between the French, the British and the Indians
Gen. Anthony Wayne's army camped here Nov. 1792 to April 1793, preparing for the campaign which led to the Battle of Fallen Timbers with the Northwest Indians.
Has been designated a
This edifice of which the older portion was begun in the year of Our Lord 1760 and first occupied in 1762 was used as Court and State House by the Colony and State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations until the year 1900
On this lot stood the first town house of Providence here from time to time Roger Williams presided over freemen from 1644-1647
Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, the internationally celebrated soprano known as "Black Patti" lived near this site at 7 Wheaton Street until her passing on June 24, 1933.
The Steeple Street Complex was built in three main stages between 1827 and 1847 during a key period in Providence's growth into a leading commercial and industrial city. When Joseph Congdon and Randall Green built the first section, 3 Steeple, to house their side by side stores. Canal Street had just been opened alongside the newly constructed Blackstone Canal. The iron and hardware business prospered and the company added another store 5-7 Steeple, in 1828 and took Green's store as well. In 1847, George and Smith Owen added the final building of the complex 9 Steeple,on the east end of the complex to house their jewelry manufacturing shop. With its plain but substantial brick architecture and distinct monitor roofs, the Steeple Street Complex is an important landmark of the city's historic waterfront.
Though uninhabited on the eve of its settlement by Europeans, this area already had a 7000 year history of activity by native Americans. In 1636, this land was the low, marshy shoreline of a large saltwater cove to the west, along the eastern side of this plot, at the foot of a steep forested hill, lay an old native footpath, the forerunner of North Main Street today.
In 1636, Roger Williams bought land from the Narragansett chiefs and established a colony here near the site of a fresh water spring. Naming the town for God's providence to him, Williams declared the settlement a shelter for the persecuted of all religions. The original settlers built their house in a row along the west side of the street, on narrow plots running uphill. The Williams house was directly across the street.
First Settlement in DeKalb County Indiana 1828
