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Prepared by Traci PicardAugust 30, 2024 Author’s Note: The narrative provided below is preliminary as research on Shakespeare’s Head is ongoing. Who was John Carter? John Carter was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1745 to John Carter and Elizabeth Spriggs. He apprenticed as a printer under Benjamin Franklin. Carter moved to Providence c. 1766 and…
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Timeline Index: Information in this timeline was compiled with reference to John Hutchins Cady’s “The Story of Shakespeare’s Head” (1949), PPS’s building history of Shakespeare’s Head (ca 1960s), the Providence Journal Archives, PPS’s own files, and Traci Picard’s Shakespeare’s Head Research Report (2024). Prior to colonial settlement in the 1630s and the establishment of the…
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“Beginning in the early 1990’s and through the 2000’s, the landscape architect Lalla Searle took on the revitalization of Shakespeare’s Head Garden as a project that deeply resonated with her love of plants, their history and especially their capacity to bring joy to so many. Through a series of phased projects in the 1990s, the…
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The Story of Shakespeare’s Head An Address by John Hutchins Cady at John Brown House, Providence, January 13, 1949 Among the diminishing number of pre-Revoluntionary buildings in Providence which have survived to the present day are nine of particular historic and architectural consequence. These include two public buildings — the Colony House and the Market House;…
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The Atlantic Mills Tenant Union (AMTU) is far from the first organizing movement to take place within the towers of the Mills. During the long history of Atlantic Mills as a textile factory, there were countless strikes, labor disputes, and dramatic clashes between workers, middle managers, and others. Below, explore a timeline of labor and…
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This article is part of an ongoing series highlighting legacy businesses in Providence. Please submit other local establishments that have existed for 25 years or more here. The Avery Piano Company has some pianos older than Providence’s City Hall building. With pianos from the mid-1800s onward, some of the instrumental restorations completed by Avery’s technicians…
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At 19, Umberto Crenca was roaming the streets of Providence in a leather jacket, often with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. He was a parochial school graduate so disruptive in school that nuns bragged about how often he appeared in their penance books — and when he wasn’t on his knees…
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And More on Paul Rudolph, Modernism, Brutalism in Providence One of the most prominent buildings on Providence’s skyline goes to auction April 10 — the Hospital Trust Tower at 1 Financial Plaza. The building is hitting the market as the current owners have foreclosed on the mortgage. A deposit of $250,000 is required to bid…
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