Providence, Fox Point and India Point: The easternmost point of Fox Point is where Roger Williams first
landed and first colonial settlement took place. The land was deeded to Williams by the Wampanoag people after he was cast
out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for creating and preaching the radical theological idea that there could be freedom of
the expression of conscience, which essentially said man was free to worship his own God in his own way. Williams and the
new colony (which consisted of some 36 families) ultimately settled along the Providence River in 1636 and spread up College
Hill soon thereafter. Most of the land remained agricultural until the late 1840s when the neighborhood became tied to manufacturing
and trade.
Fox
Point was the city's transportation center before the railroad moved downtown. The original railroads connected the maritime
transportation system and the wharves. The history of Fox Point is one that has strong ethnic ties beginning in 1813 when
the first Catholic Church was built for Irish workers from the Blackstone Canal, which connected Providence to Worcester,
and Fox Point became known as “Corky Hill.” St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was built in 1853 and bolstered
this ethnic and Catholic identity. By the Civil War the neighborhood had almost 60% immigrant residents. During the 1870s,
the neighborhood began to attract significant numbers of Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigrants. They were involved in the
Yankee shipping industry in East Africa and came here to work on the water. The Portuguese community initially joined St.
Joseph’s and in 1885, built Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church.
India
Point Park, up until the 1970s, was part of the city’s working waterfront. Shipbuilding, the East Indies Trade, passenger
and freight steamers, and railroads all flourished at one point or another at India Point Park. In 1787, John Brown sent
his vessel the George Washington to the Far East out of India Point, commencing Providence’s lucrative role in the China
trade. By 1800, there were 58 wharves at India Point, servicing the long-distance trade vessels coming into Providence.
India
Point also served as a stop on the nefarious Triangle Trade that connected RI with the human sale of African slaves. Slaves
would be taken from the West Coast of Africa and traded for sugar and molasses in the West Indies. Those raw goods would
be shipped to RI where they would then be turned into rum. The rum would be sent in exchange for more slaves. Yet RI would
also be the first state to pass positive legislation against slavery in 1652, but there was little compliance and even less
enforcement. And the story of the slave trade, in some respects, can be traced back to one family in particular. The Brown
family, for whom Brown University gets its name, was divided. John Brown was heavily involved in the mercantile trade business.
His brother, Moses, however, freed his slaves after becoming a Quaker. The two ran against each other in the state General
Assembly and Moses was successful in passing a number of laws abolishing slavery, though few could be enforced and were only
applicable to the state of RI.
The
history of African Americans on College dates back to 1652 and the earliest settlements of the colony. Over time, the black
population grew to over 7% of the Providence population and made the north end of Benefit Street and the neighborhoods north
of College Hill the most diverse communities in the state. Two-thirds lived in homes they owned and many owned their own
businesses. In addition, stations of the Underground Railroad were developed throughout the East Side. Because many black
families owned their own land, a number African-American men gained the right to vote in the early 1800s. This created tensions
between the white working class (who did not have the right to vote) and the white, affluent political class, which resulted
in violence against the African American community. White, Irish workers rioted and damaged property in an area that was
known as the Hard-Scrabble -- the first separate black neighborhood on the North side of College Hill. Racial tensions escalated
once again in the 1830s and blacks were stripped of their voting rights and were forced to attend segregated public schools.
The riots forever changed the nature of politics in RI and created a city council type of government instead of the town
meeting form that had lasted since the creation of the city.
During
the 1800s, as the China Trade was progressively replaced by manufacturing and financial trading, India Point became the site
of various passenger and freight railroad lines. By 1900 India Point had helped Providence become one of the richest cities
in RI.
In
colonial times, the deep and winding coves of Narragansett Bay let a number of Pirates hide and gain safe passage throughout
RI. The colonies that ultimately would make up Rhode Island made arrangements with a number of Pirates and gained much of
its wealth from investing pirate “venture capital” into mercantile trade in the Atlantic and ultimately globally.
It is rumored that Blackbeard’s Treasure is buried somewhere along the coast.
In
the 1960s, with the construction of I-195 which cut off India Point from the rest of the Fox Point neighborhood, the land
became inundated with piles and piles of rusted scrap metal and other junk. Then, in 1974, after the urging and financial
backing of Mary Elizabeth Sharpe, one of Providence’s original environmentalists, the land was converted into a Park
for the people of Providence connected tenuously to the rest of the city by the pedestrian walk (which was recently rebuilt
in the current highway relocation).
