Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
in the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
region of the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. It is the
smallest U.S. state by area and the
seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents
as of 2020, but it is the
second-most densely populated after
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. It takes its name from
the eponymous island, though most of its land area is on the mainland. Rhode Island borders
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
to the west;
to the north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via
Rhode Island Sound
Rhode Island Sound is a strait of water off the coast of the U.S. state of Rhode Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It forms the eastern extension of Block Island Sound and opens out the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Martha's V ...
and
Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound is a strait in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately wide, separating Block Island from the coast of mainland Rhode Island. On the west, it extends to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, as well as Plum Isl ...
. It also shares a small
maritime border
A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Bound ...
with
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
is its capital and most populous city.
Native Americans lived around
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
for thousands of years before English settlers began arriving in the early 17th century.
Rhode Island was unique among the
Thirteen British Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centuri ...
for being founded by a refugee,
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
, who fled
religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within soc ...
from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
to establish a haven for religious liberty. He founded Providence in 1636 on land purchased from local tribes, creating the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government.
The
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
subsequently became a destination for religious and political dissenters and social outcasts, earning it the moniker "Rogue's Island".
Reflecting its status as a hub of relative tolerance and free thought, Rhode Island was the first colony to call for a
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
in 1774 and the first to renounce its allegiance to the British
Crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
on May 4, 1776. After the American Revolution, during which it was heavily occupied and contested, Rhode Island became the fourth state to ratify the
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 Colonies of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate (between July 1776 and November 1777) by ...
on February 9, 1778. Favoring a weaker central government, it boycotted the
1787 convention that drafted the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
, which it initially refused to ratify; it was the last of the original 13 states to do so, on May 29, 1790.
It was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era, but commonly became known as simply "Rhode Island". In November 2020 the state's voters
approved an amendment to the
state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name.
Its official nickname is the "Ocean State", a reference to its 400 miles (640 km) of coastline and the large bays and inlets that comprise about 14% of its total area.
Name
Origins of the name
Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is on the mainland of the United States. Prior to 2020, its official name was ''State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations'', derived from the merger of four Colonial settlements. The settlements of Rhode Island (
Newport and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
) were on what is commonly called
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
today but was called ''Rhode Island'' in Colonial times.
''
Providence Plantation'' was the name of the colony founded by
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
in the state's capital of
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
.
This was adjoined by the settlement of
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
; hence the plural Providence Plantations.
It is unclear how the island came to be named ''Rhode Island'', but two historical events may have been influential:
* Explorer
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.
He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic ...
noted the presence of an island near the mouth of
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
in 1524 which he likened to the island of
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
off the coast of Greece. Subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island Verrazzano described, but the colonists who settled the area assumed it was this island.
*
Adriaen Block
Adriaen (Arjan) Block (c. 1567 – buried April 27, 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four v ...
passed by the island during his expeditions in the 1610s, and he described it in a 1625 account of his travels as "an island of reddish appearance", which was "''een rodlich Eylande''" in 17th-century Dutch, meaning a red or reddish island, supposedly evolving into the designation Rhode Island.
Historians have theorized this "reddish appearance" resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore.
The earliest documented use of the name "Rhode Island" for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams. The name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words: "Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island." The name "Isle of Rodes" is used in a legal document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island "Red Island" (''Roodt Eylandt'').
Changes to the name
The first English settlement in Rhode Island was the town of Providence, which the
Narragansett granted to Roger Williams in 1636. At that time, Williams obtained no permission from the English crown, as he believed the English had no legitimate claim on Narragansett and
Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
territory. However, in 1643, he petitioned
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...
to grant Providence and neighboring towns a colonial patent, due to threats of invasion from the colonies of Boston and Plymouth. He used the name "Providence Plantations" in his petition, ''plantation'' being the English
term for a colony. "Providence Plantations" was therefore the official name of the colony from 1643 to 1663, when a
new charter was issued. In 1790, following the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, the new state incorporated both "Rhode Island" and "Providence Plantations", becoming known as the "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". However, as matter of convenience, the state came to be commonly known as simply "Rhode Island".
The word ''plantation'' in the state's name became a contested issue during the 20th century and the increased awareness of slavery and its role in early Rhode Island history. The General Assembly voted in 2009 to hold a referendum in November 2010 on removing "and Providence Plantations" from the official name. Advocates for excising ''plantation'' argued that the word symbolized a legacy of disenfranchisement for many Rhode Islanders, as well as the proliferation of slavery in the colonies and in the post-colonial United States. Advocates for retaining the name argued that ''plantation'' was simply an archaic synonym for ''colony'' and bore no relation to slavery. The people voted overwhelmingly (78% to 22%) to retain the entire original name.
In June 2020, State Senator
Harold Metts
Harold M. Metts (born October 6, 1947) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Rhode Island Senate representing District 6 since January 2005. Metts served non-consecutively in the Rhode Island General Assembly from January 1985 ...
introduced a resolution for another ballot referendum on the subject, saying, "Whatever the meaning of the term 'plantations' in the context of Rhode Island's history, it carries a horrific connotation when considering the tragic and racist history of our nation." Governor
Gina Raimondo
Gina Marie Raimondo (; born May 17, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and venture capitalist who has served as the 40th United States Secretary of Commerce since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 75th go ...
issued an executive order to remove the phrase from a range of official documents and state websites. In July, amidst the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
and nationwide calls to address systemic racism, the resolution referring the question to the voters was passed by both houses of the
Rhode Island General Assembly
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower house, lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 re ...
: 69–1 in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, and 35–0 in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. The change was then approved by voters 52.8% to 47.2% as part of the
2020 United States elections
The 2020 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Democratic presidential nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, defeated incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the presidential election. Despite losing seats ...
, taking effect in November 2020 upon certification of the results.
History
Colonial era: 1636–1770
![Alonzo_Chappel_-_The_Landing_of_Roger_Williams_in_1636_-_43](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Alonzo_Chappel_-_The_Landing_of_Roger_Williams_in_1636_-_43.003_-_Rhode_Island_School_of_Design_Museum.jpg)
In 1636,
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
was banished from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
for his religious views, and he settled at the top of Narragansett Bay on land sold or given to him by Narragansett sachem
Canonicus
Canonicus (c. 1565 – June 4, 1647) was a chief of the Narragansett Indigenous Peoples. He was wary of the colonial settlers, but he ultimately befriended Roger Williams and other settlers.
Biography
Canonicus was born around 1565,Benjami ...
. He named the site Providence, "having a sense of God's merciful providence unto me in my distress",
[An Album of Rhode Island History by Patrick T. Conley] and it became a place of religious freedom where all were welcome.
In 1638 (after conferring with Williams),
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
,
William Coddington
William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...
,
John Clarke,
Philip Sherman
Philip Sherman (1611–1687) was a prominent leader and founding settler of Portsmouth in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Coming from Dedham, Essex in southeastern England, he and several of his siblings and cousins settl ...
, and other religious dissenters settled on
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
(also known as Rhode Island), which was purchased from the local tribes who called it Pocasset. This settlement was called
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and was governed by the
Portsmouth Compact
The Portsmouth Compact was a document signed on March 7, 1638 that established the settlement of Portsmouth, which is now a town in the state of Rhode Island. It was the first document in American history that severed both political and religious t ...
. The island's southern part became the separate settlement of
Newport after disagreements among the founders.
Samuel Gorton
Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) was an early settler and civic leader of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and President of the towns of Providence and Warwick. He had strong religious beliefs which differed from Puritan theolog ...
purchased lands at Shawomet in 1642 from the Narragansetts, precipitating a dispute with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1644, Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport united for their common independence as the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
, governed by an elected council and "president". Gorton received a separate charter for his settlement in 1648 which he named
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
after his patron.
Metacomet
Metacomet (1638 – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,[Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...]
tribe's war leader, whom the colonists called King Philip. They invaded and burned down several of the towns in the area during
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
(1675–1676), including Providence which was attacked twice.
A force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth militia under General
Josiah Winslow
Josiah Winslow ( in Plymouth Colony – 1680 in Marshfield, Plymouth Colony) was the 13th Governor of Plymouth Colony. In records of the time, historians also name him Josias Winslow, and modern writers have carried that name forward. He was b ...
invaded and destroyed the fortified Narragansett Indian village in the
Great Swamp in
South Kingstown, Rhode Island
South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...
on December 19, 1675. In one of the final actions of the war, an Indian associated with
Benjamin Church killed King Philip in
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England.
The population of B ...
.
![Touro_Park,_Newport,_Rhode_Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Touro_Park%2C_Newport%2C_Rhode_Island.jpg)
The colony was amalgamated into the
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure represe ...
in 1686, as
King James II
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
attempted to enforce royal authority over the autonomous colonies in
British North America
British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...
, but the colony regained its independence under the Royal Charter after the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
of 1688. Slaves were introduced in Rhode Island at this time, although there is no record of any law legalizing slave-holding. The colony later prospered under the slave trade, distilling rum to sell in Africa as part of a profitable
triangular trade
Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset t ...
in slaves and sugar with the Caribbean. Rhode Island's legislative body passed an act in 1652 abolishing the holding of slaves (the first British colony to do so), but this edict was never enforced and Rhode Island continued to be heavily involved in the
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
during the post-revolution era. In 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3% of the total (nearly twice the ratio of other
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
colonies).
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
was founded in 1764 as the College in the British Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was one of nine
Colonial colleges
The colonial colleges are nine institutions of higher education chartered in the Thirteen Colonies before the United States of America became a sovereign nation after the American Revolution. These nine have long been considered together, notably ...
granted charters before the American Revolution but was the first college in America to accept students regardless of religious affiliation.
Revolutionary to Civil War period: 1770–1860
Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. At approximately 2 a.m. on June 10, 1772, a band of Providence residents
attacked the grounded revenue schooner ''
HMS Gaspee'', burning it to the waterline for enforcing
unpopular trade regulations within Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776.
It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
on May 29, 1790, and only under threat of heavy trade tariffs from the other former colonies and after assurances were made that a
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
would become part of the Constitution.
![Recto Rhode Island 9 pence 1786 urn-3 HBS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Recto_Rhode_Island_9_pence_1786_urn-3_HBS.Baker.AC_1104484.jpeg)
During the Revolution, the British occupied Newport in December 1776. A combined Franco-American force fought to drive them off Aquidneck Island. Portsmouth was the site of the first African-American military unit, the
1st Rhode Island Regiment
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment (also known as Varnum's Regiment, the 9th Continental Regiment, the Black Regiment, the Rhode Island Regiment, and Olney's Battalion) was a regiment in the Continental Army raised in Colony of Rhode Island and Pro ...
, to fight for the U.S. in the unsuccessful
Battle of Rhode Island
The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Isl ...
of August 29, 1778. A month earlier, the appearance of a French fleet off Newport caused the British to scuttle some of their own ships in an attempt to block the harbor. The British abandoned Newport in October 1779, concentrating their forces in New York City. An
expedition of 5,500 French troops under
Count Rochambeau arrived in Newport by sea on July 10, 1780. The
celebrated march to
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Cou ...
, in 1781 ended with the defeat of the British at the
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...
and the
Battle of the Chesapeake
The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...
.
Rhode Island was also heavily involved in the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, which began in America in 1787 when
Thomas Somers reproduced textile machine plans which he imported from England. He helped to produce the
Beverly Cotton Manufactory
Beverly Cotton Manufactory was the first cotton mill built in America, and the largest cotton mill to be built during its era. It was built hoping for economic success, but reached a downturn due to technical limitations of the then early produ ...
, in which
Moses Brown
Moses Brown (September 23, 1738 – September 6, 1836) was an American abolitionist and industrialist from New England, who funded the design and construction of some of the first factory houses for spinning machines during the American industr ...
of Providence took an interest. Moses Brown teamed up with
Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the ...
and helped to create the second cotton mill in America, a water-powered textile mill. The
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
moved large numbers of workers into the cities, creating a permanently landless class who were, therefore, by the law of the time, also voteless. By 1829, 60% of the state's free white males were ineligible to vote. Several attempts were unsuccessfully made to address this problem, and a new state constitution was passed in 1843 allowing landless men to vote if they could pay a $1
poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
.
For the first several decades of statehood, Rhode Island was governed in accordance with the 1663
colonial charter A charter is a document that gives colonies the legal rights to exist. Charters can bestow certain rights on a town, city, university, or other institution.
Colonial charters were approved when the king gave a grant of exclusive powers for the go ...
. Voting rights were restricted to landowners holding at least $134 in property, disenfranchising well over half of the state's male citizens. The charter apportioned legislative seats equally among the state's towns, over-representing rural areas and under-representing the growing industrial centers. Additionally, the charter disallowed landless citizens from filing civil suits without endorsement from a landowner. Bills were periodically introduced in the legislature to expand suffrage, but they were invariably defeated. In 1841, activists led by
Thomas W. Dorr
Thomas Wilson Dorr (November 5, 1805December 27, 1854), was an American politician and reformer in Rhode Island, best known for leading the Dorr Rebellion.
Early life, family, and education
Thomas Wilson Dorr was born in Providence, Rhode Isla ...
organized an extralegal convention to draft a state constitution, arguing the charter government violated the
Guarantee Clause The Guarantee Clause, also known as the Republican Form of Government Clause, is in Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution, and requires the United States to guarantee every state a republican form of government and provide protec ...
in Article Four, Section Four of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
. In 1849 in
Luther v. Borden
''Luther v. Borden'', 48 U.S. (7 How.) 1 (1849), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established the political question doctrine in controversies arising under the Guarantee Clause of Article Four of the United States Constit ...
the US Supreme Court declined to rule on this question, holding that it was a political question outside its jurisdiction. In 1842, the charter government and Dorr's supporters held separate elections, and two rival governments claimed sovereignty over the state. Dorr's supporters led an armed
rebellion
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
against the charter government, and Dorr was arrested and imprisoned for treason against the state. Later that year, the legislature drafted a state constitution, removing property requirements for American-born citizens but keeping them in place for immigrants, and retaining urban under-representation in the legislature.
In the early 19th century, Rhode Island was subject to a tuberculosis outbreak which led to
public hysteria about vampirism.
Civil War
![Fort_Adams_02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Fort_Adams_02.jpg)
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, Rhode Island was the first Union state to send troops in response to
President Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
's request for help from the states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of whom 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island and the other northern states used their industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war. The
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
moved to Rhode Island temporarily during the war.
In 1866, Rhode Island abolished racial segregation in the public schools throughout the state.
Gilded Age
![The_Breakers_interior_05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Breakers_interior_05.jpg)
The 50 years following the Civil War were a time of prosperity and affluence that author William G. McLoughlin calls "Rhode Island's halcyon era." Rhode Island was a center of the
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
and provided a home or summer home to many of the country's most prominent industrialists. This was a time of growth in textile mills and manufacturing and brought an influx of immigrants to fill those jobs, bringing population growth and urbanization. In
Newport, New York's wealthiest industrialists created a summer haven to socialize and build
grand mansions. Thousands of French-Canadian, Italian, Irish, and Portuguese immigrants arrived to fill jobs in the textile and manufacturing mills in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket.
World War I
During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 soldiers, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the
Spanish Influenza
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
.
In the 1920s and 1930s, rural Rhode Island saw a surge in
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
membership, largely in reaction to large waves of
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
moving to the state. The Klan is believed to be responsible for burning the
Watchman Industrial School
The Watchman Industrial School and Camp, also known as the Watchman Institute, was founded in 1908 for black youths by Reverend William S. Holland in Providence, Rhode Island. He based it on the educational theories of Booker T. Washington. In 19 ...
in
Scituate
Scituate is the name of some communities in New England in the United States:
*Brunswick, Maine, formerly named Scituate
*Scituate, Massachusetts, a New England town
**Scituate (CDP), Massachusetts, an area in the town of Scituate
*Scituate, Rhode ...
, which was a school for African-American children.
Growth in the modern era: 1929–present
Since the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the
Rhode Island Democratic Party
The Rhode Island Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Joseph McNamara is the chair of the party. The party has dominated politics in Rhode Island for the past five decades.
Democratic Par ...
has dominated local politics. Rhode Island has comprehensive health insurance for low-income children and a large
social safety net
The social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and fo ...
. Many urban areas still have a high rate of children in poverty. Due to an influx of residents from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, increasing housing costs have resulted in more homelessness in Rhode Island.
![Downtown_Providence_Rhode_Island_2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Downtown_Providence_Rhode_Island_2008.jpg)
The 350th Anniversary of the founding of Rhode Island was celebrated with a free concert held on the tarmac of the Quonset State Airport on August 31, 1986. Performers included
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
,
Tommy James
Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947), also known as Tommy Tadger, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, widely known as frontman of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, who were know ...
, and headliner
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
.
In 2003, a
nightclub fire in
West Warwick
West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,012 at the 2020 census.
West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, making it the youngest town in the state. Prior to 1913, the town, situated on the wester ...
claimed 100 lives and resulted in nearly twice as many injured, catching national attention. The fire resulted in criminal sentences.
In March 2010, areas of the state received record flooding due to rising rivers from heavy rain. The first period of rainy weather in mid-March caused localized flooding and, two weeks later, more rain caused more widespread flooding in many towns, especially south of Providence. Rain totals on March 29–30, 2010 exceeded 14 inches (35.5 cm) in many locales, resulting in the inundation of area rivers—especially the Pawtuxet River which runs through central Rhode Island. The overflow of the Pawtuxet River, nearly above flood stage, submerged a sewage treatment plant and closed a five-mile (8 km) stretch of
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
. In addition, it flooded two shopping malls, numerous businesses, and many homes in the towns of Warwick, West Warwick, Cranston, and Westerly. Amtrak service was also suspended between New York and Boston during this period. Following the flood, Rhode Island was in a state of emergency for two days. The
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
(FEMA) was called in to help flood victims.
Geography
![Rhode_Island_-_NED500_(transparent)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Rhode_Island_-_NED500_%28transparent%29.png)
Rhode Island covers an area of within the New England region of the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by
Rhode Island Sound
Rhode Island Sound is a strait of water off the coast of the U.S. state of Rhode Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It forms the eastern extension of Block Island Sound and opens out the Atlantic Ocean between Block Island and Martha's V ...
and the Atlantic Ocean.
[Office of the Secretary of State: A. Ralph Mollis: State Library]
. Sos.ri.gov. Retrieved on July 12, 2013. It shares a narrow maritime border with New York State between Block Island and
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. The state's mean elevation is . It is only wide and long, yet the state has a tidal shoreline on
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
and the Atlantic Ocean of .
Rhode Island is nicknamed the Ocean State and has a number of oceanfront
beaches
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...
. It is mostly flat with no real mountains, and the state's highest natural point is
Jerimoth Hill
Jerimoth Hill () is the highest point in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is the lowest state highpoint in New England. Located in the town of Foster in the northwest of the state, the site is used as an observatory. It is also a popular dest ...
, above sea level.
The state has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England upland. Rhode Island's forests are part of the
Northeastern coastal forests
The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont a ...
ecoregion.
Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography. There are more than 30 islands within the bay; the largest is
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
, which holds the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth. The second-largest island is
Conanicut
Conanicut Island is the second-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the American state of Rhode Island. It is connected on the east to Newport on Aquidneck Island via the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on th ...
, and the third is
Prudence
Prudence ( la, prudentia, Contraction (grammar), contracted from meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of th ...
.
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
lies about off the southern coast of the mainland and separates
Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound is a strait in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately wide, separating Block Island from the coast of mainland Rhode Island. On the west, it extends to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, as well as Plum Isl ...
and the Atlantic Ocean proper.
A rare type of rock called
Cumberlandite
Cumberlandite is a type of igneous rock. It is the state rock of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is only found in large concentrations on a lot in Blackstone Valley, Cumberland, and in traces scattered throughout the Narragansett Bay watershed ...
is found only in Rhode Island (specifically, in the town of
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
) and is the state rock. There were initially two known deposits of the mineral, but it is an ore of iron, and one of the deposits was extensively mined for its ferrous content.
File:National-atlas-rhode-island.png, Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads
File:Cliff Walk - Newport, Rhode Island, USA - August 15, 2015 08.jpg, Rocky shoreline in Newport
File:Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge 2.JPG, Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge
File:Blackstone River in Rhode Island.jpg, Forest along the Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...
File:Aerial view of Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge (RI) (8158417032).jpg, Trustom Pond, a lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...
in South Kingstown
South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...
Climate
![Köppen Climate Types Rhode Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/K%C3%B6ppen_Climate_Types_Rhode_Island.png)
Most of Rhode Island has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
, with warm summers and cold winters. The state's southern coastal portions are the broad transition zone into subtropical climates, with hot summers and cool winters with a mix of rain and snow.
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
. The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was , recorded on August 2, 1975, in Providence. The lowest recorded temperature in Rhode Island was on February 5, 1996, in
Greene
Greene may refer to:
Places United States
*Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community
*Greene, Iowa, a city
*Greene, Maine, a town
**Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene
*Greene (town), New York
**Greene (village), New York, in the town o ...
. Monthly average temperatures range from a high of to a low of .
Rhode Island is vulnerable to tropical storms and hurricanes due to its location in New England, catching the brunt of many storms that blow up the eastern seaboard. Hurricanes that have done significant damage in the state include the
1938 New England hurricane
The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The stor ...
,
Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island in the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and slowly strengthened as it ...
(1954),
Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, ...
(1960), and
Hurricane Bob
Hurricane Bob was one of the costliest hurricanes in New England history. The second named storm and first hurricane of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season, Bob developed from an area of low pressure near The Bahamas on August 16. The depressio ...
(1991).
Cities and towns
Rhode Island is divided into
five counties but it has no county governments. The entire state is divided into municipalities, which handle all local government affairs.
There are 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island. Major population centers today result from historical factors; development took place predominantly along the
Blackstone,
Seekonk, and
Providence River
The Providence River is a tidal river in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows approximately 8 miles (13 km). There are no dams along the river's length, although the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is located south of downtown to protect th ...
s with the advent of the water-powered mill. Providence is the base of a large metropolitan area.
The state's 19 largest municipalities ranked by population are :
#
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
(190,934)
#
Cranston (82,934)
#
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
(82,823)
#
Pawtucket (75,604)
#
East Providence (47,139)
#
Woonsocket
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
(43,240)
#
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
(36,405)
#
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
(35,688)
#
North Providence
North Providence is a New England town, town in Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 34,114 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States C ...
(34,114)
#
South Kingstown
South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...
(31,931)
#
West Warwick
West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,012 at the 2020 census.
West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, making it the youngest town in the state. Prior to 1913, the town, situated on the wester ...
(31,012)
#
Johnston (29,568)
#
North Kingstown
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilbe ...
(27,732)
#
Newport (25,163)
#
Westerly (23,359)
#
Central Falls
Central Falls is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,583 at the 2020 census. With an area of only , it is the smallest and most densely populated city in the smallest state, and the 27th most densely ...
(22,583)
#
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln ...
(22,529)
#
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
(22,493)
#
Smithfield (22,118)
Some of Rhode Island's cities and towns are further partitioned into villages, in common with many other New England states. Notable villages include
Kingston in the town of South Kingstown, which houses the University of Rhode Island;
Wickford
Wickford is a town and civil parish in the south of the English county of Essex, with a population of 33,486. Located approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of London, it is within the Borough of Basildon along with the original town of Basil ...
in the town of North Kingstown, the site of an annual international art festival; and
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
where the Town Hall is for the Town of South Kingstown.
File:Weybosset Street view, Providence, Rhode Island (6x4).jpg, alt=PPAC Square in Downtown Providence, 1. Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
File:Warwick Rhode Island City Hall.jpg, alt=Warwick City Hall, 2. Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
File:William H Hall Free Library, Cranston RI.jpg, alt=William H. Hall Free Library in Cranston, 3. Cranston
File:Old Post Office, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.jpg, alt=Old Post Office in Pawtucket, 4. Pawtucket
File:World War I Memorial and Taunton Plaza, East Providence RI.jpg, alt=Taunton Plaza, East Providence, 5. East Providence
File:Woonsocket City Hall 2015.jpg, alt=Woonsocket City Hall, 6. Woonsocket
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
File:Harris Mill (51965).jpg, alt=Harris Mill in Coventry, 7. Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
File:Cumberland Town Hall RI.jpg, alt=Cumberland Town Hall, 8. Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
File:Greystone Mills.jpg, alt=Greystone Mills in North Providence, 9. North Providence
North Providence is a New England town, town in Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 34,114 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States C ...
File:Kingston Rhode Island Free Library.jpg, alt=Kingston Free Library, 10. South Kingstown
South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...
File:Clemence-Irons House - Johnston, Rhode Island.jpg, alt=Clemence-Irons House in Johnston, 11. Johnston
File:West Warwick Memorial.jpg, alt=Memorial in West Warwick, 12. West Warwick
West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,012 at the 2020 census.
West Warwick was incorporated in 1913, making it the youngest town in the state. Prior to 1913, the town, situated on the wester ...
File:Old Narragansett Church Wickford front view.jpg, alt=Old Narragansett Church in Wickford, 13. North Kingstown
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilbe ...
File:Old Colony House Newport Rhode Island.jpg, alt=Old Colony House in Newport, 14. Newport
File:Downtown Westerly, RI.jpg, alt=Downtown Westerly, 15. Westerly
Landmarks
![Rhode_Island_State_House_2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Rhode_Island_State_House_2.jpg)
The
state capitol building is made of white Georgian marble. On top is the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. It houses the Rhode Island Charter granted by
King Charles II in 1663, the Brown University charter, and other state treasures.
The
First Baptist Church of Providence is the oldest
Baptist church
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
in the Americas, founded by
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
in 1638.
The first fully automated post office in the country is in Providence. There are many historic mansions in the seaside city of Newport, including
The Breakers
The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.
The 70-room mans ...
,
Marble House
Marble House, a Gilded Age mansion located at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was built from 1888 to 1892 as a summer cottage for Alva and William Kissam Vanderbilt and was designed by Richard Morris Hunt in the Beaux Arts style ...
, and
Belcourt Castle
Belcourt is a former summer cottage designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Construction was begun in 1891 and completed in 1894, and it was intended to b ...
. Also there is the
Touro Synagogue
The Touro Synagogue or Congregation Jeshuat Israel ( he, קהל קדוש ישועת ישראל) is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is the Oldest synagogues in the United States, oldest synagogue building still standing in t ...
, dedicated on December 2, 1763, considered by locals to be the first synagogue within the United States (see below for information on New York City's claim), and still serving. The synagogue showcases the religious freedoms established by Roger Williams, as well as impressive architecture in a mix of the classic colonial and Sephardic style. The
Newport Casino
The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located at 180-200 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island in the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District. Built in 1879–1881 by ''New York Herald'' publisher James Gordon ...
is a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
building complex that houses the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...
and features an active grass-court tennis club.
Scenic Route 1A (known locally as Ocean Road) is in
Narragansett. "
The Towers" is also in Narragansett featuring a large stone arch. It was once the entrance to a famous Narragansett casino that burned down in 1900. The Towers now serve as an event venue and host the local Chamber of Commerce, which operates a tourist information center.
The
Newport Tower has been hypothesized to be of
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
origin, although most experts believe it was a Colonial-era windmill.
Environment
Environmental legislation
![Block_Island_Wind_Farm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Block_Island_Wind_Farm.jpg)
On May 29, 2014, Governor Lincoln D. Chafee announced that Rhode Island was one of eight states to release a collaborative Action Plan to put 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2025. The plan's purpose is to reduce
greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorbs and Emission (electromagnetic radiation), emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse ...
and smog-causing emissions. The plan promotes
zero-emissions vehicle
A zero-emission vehicle, or ZEV, is a vehicle that does not emit exhaust gas or other pollutants from the onboard source of power. The California definition also adds that this includes under any and all possible operational modes and conditions ...
s and investments in the infrastructure to support them.
In 2014, Rhode Island received grants of $2,711,685 from the
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
to clean up
Brownfield sites in eight locations. The grants provided communities with funding to assess, clean up, and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies, and leverage jobs while protecting public health and the environment.
In 2013, the "Lots of Hope" program was established in the City of Providence to focus on increasing the city's green space and local food production, improve urban neighborhoods, promote healthy lifestyles and improve environmental sustainability. Supported by a $100,000 grant, the program will partner with the City of Providence, the Southside Community Land Trust and the Rhode Island Foundation to convert city-owned vacant lots into productive urban farms.
In 2012, Rhode Island passed bill S2277/H7412, "An act relating to Health and Safety – Environmental Cleanup Objectives for Schools", informally known as the School Siting Bill. Sponsored by Senator
Juan Pichardo
Juan M. Pichardo (born October 21, 1966) is a Dominican American politician. A Democrat, he was a member of the Rhode Island Senate who represented District 2 from January 2003 to 2017.
Education
Pichardo earned his AA degree from the Commu ...
and Representative
Scott Slater, and signed into law by the governor, it made Rhode Island the first US State to prohibit school construction on Brownfield sites where toxic vapors can potentially affect indoor air quality. It also creates a public participation process whenever a city or town considers building a school on any other kind of contaminated site.
Environmental monitoring
The monitors
invasive weed
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
s throughout New England.
Demographics
![Rhode Island population map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Rhode_Island_population_map.png)
The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
estimated Rhode Island's population was 1,059,361 on July 1, 2019, a 0.65% increase since the
2010 United States census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
.
At the
2020 U.S. census
The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, its population was 1,097,379. The
center of population
In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...
of Rhode Island is in
Providence County
Providence County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 660,741, or 60.2% of the state's population. Providence County contains the city of Providence, the state capi ...
, in the city of
Cranston. A corridor of population can be seen from the Providence area, stretching northwest following the
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...
to
Woonsocket
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
, where 19th-century mills drove industry and development.
According to the 2010 census, 81.4% of the population was White (76.4%
non-Hispanic white
Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
), 5.7% was Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.9% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 3.3% from two or more races. 12.4% of the total population was of
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or Latino origin (they may be of any race).
Of the people residing in Rhode Island, 58.7% were born in Rhode Island, 26.6% were born in a different state, 2.0% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas or born abroad to American parent(s), and 12.6% were foreign born.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, , Rhode Island had an estimated population of 1,056,298, which is an increase of 1,125, or 0.10%, from the prior year and an increase of 3,731, or 0.35%, since the year 2010. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 15,220 people (that is 66,973 births minus 51,753 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 14,001 people into the state.
Immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 18,965 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 4,964 people.
Hispanics
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...
in the state make up 12.8% of the population, predominantly Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Guatemalan populations. Rhode Island has the highest percentage of
Dominican Americans
Dominican Americans ( es, domínico-americanos, ) are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Dominican descent or to someone who has migrated to the United Stat ...
in the country at 5.1% according to latest estimates, putting the state at sixth largest Dominican community in the country.
According to the
2000 U.S. census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
, 84% of the population aged 5 and older spoke only
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, while 8.07% spoke Spanish at home, 3.80% Portuguese, 1.96% French, 1.39% Italian and 0.78% speak other languages at home accordingly.
The state's most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 96.1% in 1970 to 76.5% in 2011. In 2011, 40.3% of Rhode Island's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white.
6.1% of Rhode Island's population were reported as under 5, 23.6% under 18, and 14.5% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 52% of the population.
According to the 2010–2015
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
, the largest ancestry groups were
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
(18.3%),
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
(18.0%),
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
(10.5%),
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
(10.4%), and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
(9.3%). Rhode Island has some of the highest percentages of Irish Americans and Italian Americans.
Italian Americans make up a plurality in central and southern Providence County and
French-Canadian Americans
French-Canadian Americans (also referred to as Franco-Canadian Americans or Canadien Americans) are Americans of French-Canadian descent. About 2.1 million U.S. residents cited this ancestry in the 2010 U.S. Census; the majority of them speak F ...
form a large part of northern Providence County. Irish Americans have a strong presence in Newport and Kent counties. Americans of English ancestry still have a presence in the state as well, especially in
Washington County, and are often referred to as "
Swamp Yankees ''Swamp Yankee'' is a colloquial term for rural Yankees (northeastern Americans). The term "Yankee" connotes urbane industriousness, whereas the term "Swamp Yankee" suggests a more countrified, stubborn, independent, and less-refined sub-type.
Usag ...
".
Rhode Island has a notable Lusophone community, having a higher percentage of Americans of Portuguese ancestry than any other state, including
Portuguese American
Portuguese Americans ( pt, português-americanos), also known as Luso-Americans (''luso-americanos''), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship.
Americans and ...
s and
Cape Verdean American
Cape Verdean Americans are an ethnic group of Americans whose ancestors were Demographics of Cape Verde, Cape Verdean. In 2010, the American Community Survey stated that there were 95,003 Americans living in the US with Cape Verdean ancestors.
...
s. Additionally, the state also has the highest percentage of
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
n immigrants, with more than 15,000 residing in the state. African immigrants, including those from Cape Verde and Liberia, form significant and growing communities in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is one of the few states where blacks of foreign origins outnumber blacks of multigenerational American origin (African Americans).
Rhode Island also has a sizable Asian community.
Although Rhode Island has the smallest land area of all 50 states, it has the
second highest population density of any state in the Union, second to that of New Jersey.
Birth data
*Since 2016, data for births of
White Hispanic
White Latin Americans, or European Latin Americans, are Latin Americans who are considered white, typically due to European descent. Latin American countries have often tolerated intermarriage between different ethnic groups since the beginning ...
origin are not collected, but included in one ''Hispanic'' group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Religion
A Pew survey of Rhode Island residents' religious self-identification in 2014 showed the following distribution of affiliations:
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
42%,
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
30%,
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
1%,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
2%,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
1%,
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...
1%,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
1%, and
Non-religious
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and anti ...
20%.
The largest denominations are the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
with 456,598 adherents, the
Episcopal Church with 19,377, the
American Baptist Churches USA
The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...
with 15,220, and the
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
with 6,901 adherents.
Rhode Island has had the highest proportion of Catholic residents of any state according to a study in 2000,
mainly due to large Irish, Italian, and French-Canadian immigration in the past; recently, significant Portuguese and various Hispanic or Latino communities have also been established in the state. Though it has the highest overall Catholic percentage of any state, none of Rhode Island's individual counties ranks among the 10 most Catholic in the United States, as Catholics are evenly spread throughout the state.
According to the Public Religion Research Institute in 2020, 67% of the population were Christian, spread among
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
and
mainline Protestant
The mainline Protestant churches (also called mainstream Protestant and sometimes oldline Protestant) are a group of Protestant denominations in the United States that contrast in history and practice with evangelical, fundamentalist, and charis ...
ism, and Roman Catholicism.
![Touro_Synagogue,_Newport,_Rhode_Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Touro_Synagogue%2C_Newport%2C_Rhode_Island.jpg)
Rhode Island's Jewish community, centered in the Providence area, emerged during a wave of Jewish immigration predominantly from Eastern Europeans
shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
s between 1880 and 1920. The presence of the
Touro Synagogue
The Touro Synagogue or Congregation Jeshuat Israel ( he, קהל קדוש ישועת ישראל) is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is the Oldest synagogues in the United States, oldest synagogue building still standing in t ...
in Newport, the oldest existing synagogue in the United States, emphasizes that these second-wave immigrants did not create Rhode Island's first Jewish community; a comparatively smaller wave of
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the i ...
immigrated to Newport during the colonial era.
The religiously unaffiliated since 2014 were 20% of the population, though the separate study by the Public Religion Research Institute determined the irreligious increased to 29% of the adult population.
Economy
The Rhode Island economy had a colonial base in fishing.
![Slater_and_Wilkinson_Mills_-_exterior_&_water_power_systems](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Slater_and_Wilkinson_Mills_-_exterior_%26_water_power_systems.jpg)
The Blackstone River Valley was a major contributor to the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Industrial Revolution. It was in
Pawtucket that
Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the ...
set up
Slater Mill
The Slater Mill is a historic water-powered textile mill complex on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England. It is the first water-powered cotton spinning mil ...
in 1793, using the waterpower of the
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...
to power his
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
. For a while, Rhode Island was one of the leaders in textiles. However, with the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, most textile factories relocated to southern U.S. states. The textile industry still constitutes a part of the Rhode Island economy but does not have the same power.
Other important industries in Rhode Island's past included toolmaking,
costume jewelry
Costume or fashion jewelry includes a range of decorative items worn for personal adornment that are manufactured as less expensive ornamentation to complement a particular fashionable outfit or garmentBaker, Lillian. Fifty Years of Collectabl ...
, and
silverware
Silverware may refer to:
* Household silver including
**Tableware
**Cutlery
**Candlesticks
*The work of a silversmith
* Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...
. An interesting by-product of Rhode Island's industrial history is the number of abandoned factories, many of which are now condominiums, museums, offices, and low-income and elderly housing. Today, much of Rhode Island's economy is based on services, particularly healthcare and education, and still manufacturing to some extent. The state's nautical history continues in the 21st century in the form of
nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...
construction.
Per the 2013 American Communities Survey, Rhode Island has the highest paid elementary school teachers in the country, with an average salary of $75,028 (adjusted to inflation).
The headquarters of
Citizens Financial Group
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is an American bank headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, which operates in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsyl ...
, the 14th largest bank in the United States, is in
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
. The Fortune 500 companies
CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark (formerly Caremark Rx) (stylized as , previously CVS/caremark) is the prescription benefit management subsidiary of CVS Health, headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Company history
Caremark was founded as a physician and ph ...
and
Textron
Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engines. ...
are based in
Woonsocket
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
and Providence, respectively.
FM Global
FM Global is an American mutual insurance company based in Johnston, Rhode Island, United States, with offices worldwide, that specializes in loss prevention services primarily to large corporations throughout the world in the ''Highly Protecte ...
,
GTECH Corporation
GTECH Corporation was a gaming technology company based in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It was acquired in 2006 for $4.5 billion by Lottomatica of Italy, which later changed its own name to GTECH.
Ticker symbol
GTECH's ticker symbol ...
,
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
,
American Power Conversion
APC by Schneider Electric (formerly American Power Conversion Corporation) is a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supplies, electronics peripherals, and data center products.
In 2007, Schneider Electric acquired APC and combined it with MGE ...
, Nortek, and
Amica Mutual Insurance
Amica Mutual Insurance Company is a Rhode Island-based mutual insurance company that offers auto, home and life insurance.
Amica was founded as the Automobile Mutual Insurance Company of America by A.T. Vigneron in 1907 and originally offered au ...
are all Fortune 1000 companies based in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state production was $46.18 billion (adjusted to inflation), placing it 45th in the nation. Its 2000 ''per capita'' personal income was $41,484 (adjusted to inflation), 16th in the nation. Rhode Island has the lowest level of energy consumption per capita of any state. Additionally, Rhode Island is rated as the 5th most energy efficient state in the country. In December 2012, the state's unemployment rate was 10.2%. This has gradually reduced to 3.5% in November 2019, however, the coronavirus pandemic brought the unemployment rate to a high of 18.1% in April 2020. This has since reduced to 10.5% in September 2020 and is projected to further decrease to 7% in October 2020.
Health services are Rhode Island's largest industry. Second is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism-related sales at $4.56 billion (adjusted to inflation) in the year 2000. The third-largest industry is manufacturing. Its industrial outputs are submarine construction, shipbuilding, costume jewelry, fabricated metal products, electrical equipment, machinery, and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs. The largest single product is
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...
, which in 2017 totalled $4,563,000 in sales.
Invasive weed
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
s here are monitored by the .
[
]
Rhode Island's taxes were appreciably higher than neighboring states',
because Rhode Island's income tax was based on 25% of the payer's federal income tax payment. Former Governor Donald Carcieri claimed the higher tax rate had an inhibitory effect on business growth in the state and called for reductions to increase the competitiveness of the state's business environment. In 2010, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a new state income tax structure that Governor Carcieri signed into law on June 9, 2010. The income tax overhaul has made Rhode Island competitive with other New England states by lowering its maximum tax rate to 5.99% and reducing the number of tax brackets to three. The state's first income tax was enacted in 1971.
Largest employers
, Rhode Island's largest employers (excluding employees of municipalities) are:
Transportation
Bus
![R-Line_bus_on_Exchange_Street,_October_2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/R-Line_bus_on_Exchange_Street%2C_October_2014.JPG)
The
Rhode Island Public Transit Authority
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) provides public transportation, primarily buses, in the state of Rhode Island. The main hub of the RIPTA system is Kennedy Plaza, a large bus terminal in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. In 202 ...
(RIPTA) operates statewide intra- and intercity bus transport from its hubs at
Kennedy Plaza
Kennedy Plaza, formerly Exchange Place, Exchange Terrace, or City Hall Park, is a rectangular public square that occupies a central portion of Downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Since the mid 19th century, the plaza has served as a civic and tran ...
in Providence,
Pawtucket, and
Newport. RIPTA bus routes serve 38 of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns. (
New Shoreham on
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
is not served). RIPTA operates 58 routes, including daytime trolley service (using trolley-style replica buses) in Providence and Newport.
Ferry
From 2000 through 2008, RIPTA offered seasonal ferry service linking Providence and Newport (already connected by highway) funded by grant money from the
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
. Though the service was popular with residents and tourists, RIPTA was unable to continue after the federal funding ended. Service was discontinued . The service resumed in 2016 and has been successful. The privately run Block Island Ferry links
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
with
Newport and
Narragansett with traditional and fast-ferry service, while the Prudence Island Ferry connects
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
with
Prudence Island
Prudence Island is the third-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island and part of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, United States. It is located near the geographic center of the bay. It is defined by the United Sta ...
. Private ferry services also link several Rhode Island communities with ports in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
,
, and New York.
Rail
![Southbound_Northeast_Regional_at_Kingston_station,_May_2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Southbound_Northeast_Regional_at_Kingston_station%2C_May_2017.JPG)
The
MBTA Commuter Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...
's
Providence/Stoughton Line
The Providence/Stoughton Line is an MBTA Commuter Rail service in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, primarily serving the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Most service runs entirely on the Northeast Corridor between South Station in Boston and Provi ...
links Providence and
T. F. Green Airport
Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport is a public international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, south of the state's capital and largest city of Providence. Opened in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Islan ...
with Boston's
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
. The line was later extended southward to
Wickford Junction, with service beginning April 23, 2012. The state hopes to extend the MBTA line to
Kingston and
Westerly, as well as explore the possibility of extending Connecticut's
Shore Line East
Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and i ...
to T.F. Green Airport. Amtrak's
Acela Express
The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, includ ...
stops at
Providence Station
Providence station is a railroad station in Providence, Rhode Island, served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail. The station has four tracks and two island platforms for passenger service, with a fifth track passing through for Providence and Worc ...
(the only Acela stop in Rhode Island), linking Providence to other cities in the
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...
. Amtrak's
Northeast Regional
The ''Northeast Regional'' is an intercity rail service operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. In the past it has been known as the ''NortheastDirect'', ''Acela Regional'', or ''Regional''. It is Amtrak's busies ...
service makes stops at
Providence Station
Providence station is a railroad station in Providence, Rhode Island, served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail. The station has four tracks and two island platforms for passenger service, with a fifth track passing through for Providence and Worc ...
,
Kingston, and
Westerly.
Aviation
Rhode Island's primary airport for passenger and cargo transport is
T. F. Green Airport
Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport is a public international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, south of the state's capital and largest city of Providence. Opened in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Islan ...
in
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
, though Rhode Islanders who wish to travel internationally on direct flights and those who seek a greater availability of flights and destinations often fly through
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
in Boston.
Limited access highways
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
(I-95) runs southwest to northeast across the state, linking Rhode Island with other states along the
East Coast
East Coast may refer to:
Entertainment
* East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop
* East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017
* East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004
* East Coast FM, a ra ...
.
I-295 Interstate 295 is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States:
*Interstate 295 (Delaware–Pennsylvania), a bypass of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*Interstate 295 (Florida), a beltway around central Jacksonville
*Interstate 29 ...
functions as a partial
beltway
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
encircling Providence to the west.
I-195 Interstate 195 (I-195) is the designation for the following Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95:
*Interstate 195 (District of Columbia), a future designation for the north–south portion of I-395 from the Sout ...
provides a limited-access highway connection from Providence (and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and New York via I-95) to Cape Cod. Initially built as the easternmost link in the (now cancelled) extension of
I-84
Interstate 84 may refer to:
* Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N
* Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts)
Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
from
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
, a portion of
U.S. Route 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...
(US 6) through northern Rhode Island is limited-access and links I-295 with downtown Providence.
Several Rhode Island highways extend the state's limited-access highway network.
Route 4 is a major north–south freeway linking Providence and
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
(via I-95) with suburban and beach communities along
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
.
Route 10 is an urban
connector linking downtown Providence with
Cranston and
Johnston.
Route 37 is an important east–west freeway through Cranston and Warwick and links I-95 with I-295.
Route 99 links
Woonsocket
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsocket lies directly south of ...
with Providence (via
Route 146). Route 146 travels through the
Blackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley or Blackstone River Valley is a region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was a major factor in the American Industrial Revolution. It makes up part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and Nation ...
, linking Providence and I-95 with
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
and the
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
.
Route 403 links Route 4 with
Quonset Point
Quonset Point (), also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Its name is widely known from the Quonset hut, which was first manufactured there. ''Quonset'' is an Algonqu ...
.
Several bridges cross
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Sma ...
connecting
Aquidneck Island
Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as 60,109. T ...
and
Conanicut Island
Conanicut Island is the second-largest island in Narragansett Bay in the American state of Rhode Island. It is connected on the east to Newport on Aquidneck Island via the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on th ...
to the mainland, most notably the
Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge
The Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, is a suspension bridge operated by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority that spans the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island (northeastern United States). ...
and the
Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge
The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge spans the West Passage of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, United States. It is part of Rhode Island Route 138 and is on the route to Newport, Rhode Island for traffic heading northbound from Interstate 95.
Con ...
.
Bicycle paths
![East_Bay_Bike_Path_in_Riverside,_October_2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/East_Bay_Bike_Path_in_Riverside%2C_October_2020.jpg)
The
East Bay Bike Path
The East Bay Bike Path is a paved rail trail in Rhode Island. The path begins in Providence and India Point Park, crosses the Seekonk River via the George Redman Linear Park (opened September 2015) and Washington Bridge and continues southeast ...
stretches from Providence to Bristol along the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, while the
Blackstone River Bikeway
The Blackstone River Greenway in October 2006, approximately one mile south of the Martin Street Bridge, Lincoln, Rhode Island
The Blackstone River Greenway (formerly Bikeway) is a partially completed paved rail trail defining the course of ...
will eventually link Providence and Worcester. In 2011, Rhode Island completed work on a marked on-road bicycle path through Pawtucket and Providence, connecting the East Bay Bike Path with the Blackstone River Bikeway, completing a bicycle route through the eastern side of the state. The
William C. O'Neill Bike Path (commonly known as the South County Bike Path) is an path through South Kingstown and Narragansett. The
Washington Secondary Bike Path
450x450px, The Washington Secondary Bike path includes several bridges.
The Washington Secondary Rail Trail (also known as the Washington Secondary Bike Path) is a rail trail located in Rhode Island.
The trail measures and has sections that ...
stretches from Cranston to Coventry, and the
Ten Mile River Greenway
Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to:
* 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11
* one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910 and 2010
* October, the tenth month of the year
Places
* Mount Ten, in Vietnam
* Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA code ...
path runs through East Providence and Pawtucket.
Future
In late 2019, the
Rhode Island Public Transit Authority
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) provides public transportation, primarily buses, in the state of Rhode Island. The main hub of the RIPTA system is Kennedy Plaza, a large bus terminal in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. In 202 ...
released a draft of the Rhode Island Transit Master Plan, documenting and describing a variety of proposed improvements and additions to be made to the state's public transit network by 2040. Several different proposals were offered and still under consideration as of December 2020,
including implementation of a
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
system, express bus routes, expansion of Amtrak and MBTA services throughout the state, and construction of a new
light rail network through downtown Providence.
Media
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Colleges and universities
Rhode Island has several colleges and universities:
*
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
*
Bryant University
Bryant University is a private university in Smithfield, Rhode Island. It has two colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business, and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
History
Butler Exc ...
*
Community College of Rhode Island
The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) is a public community college in Rhode Island. It is the only community college in the state and the largest community college in New England. The college's primary facility is located in Warwick, with ...
*
Johnson & Wales University
Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...
*
Naval War College
The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associat ...
*
New England Institute of Technology
New England Institute of Technology (New England Tech or NEIT) is a private university with its main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It was established in 1940 and Richard I. Gouse has been the president since 1971.
Campuses
New England ...
*
Providence College
Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...
*
Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public college in Providence, Rhode Island. The college was established in 1854 as the Rhode Island State Normal School, making it the second oldest institution of higher education in Rhode Island after Brown Uni ...
*
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
*
Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University (RWU) is a private university in Bristol, Rhode Island. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams (theologian), Roger Williams. The school enrolls over 5,000 students and e ...
*
Salve Regina University of Newport
*
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...
Culture
Local accent
Some Rhode Islanders speak with the distinctive,
non-rhotic
Rhoticity in English is the pronunciation of the historical rhotic consonant by English speakers. The presence or absence of rhoticity is one of the most prominent distinctions by which varieties of English can be classified. In rhotic varieti ...
, traditional
Rhode Island accent linguists describe as a cross between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Boston accent
A Boston accent is a local accent of Eastern New England English, native specifically to the city of Boston and its suburbs. Northeastern New England English is classified as traditionally including New Hampshire, Maine, and all of eastern Massa ...
s (e.g., "water" sounds like "watuh" ). Many Rhode Islanders distinguish a strong ''aw'' sound (i.e., resist the
cot–caught merger
The ''cot''–''caught'' merger or merger, formally known in linguistics as the low back merger, is a sound change present in some dialects of English where speakers do not distinguish the vowel phonemes in "cot" and "caught". "Cot" and "caugh ...
of Boston) much like one might hear in New Jersey or New York City; for example, the word ''coffee'' is pronounced .
Rhode Islanders sometimes refer to
drinking fountain
A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...
s as "bubblers", milkshakes as "cabinets", and overstuffed foot-long sandwiches (of whatever kind) as "grinders".
Food and beverages
Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a tradition of
clam chowder
Clam chowder is any of several chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, and onions. Other vegetables are not typically used. It is believed that clams were us ...
. Both the white New England and the red Manhattan varieties are popular, but there is also a unique clear-broth chowder known as ''Rhode Island Clam Chowder'' available in many restaurants. A culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the ''
clam cake
Clam cakes (also known as clam fritters) are a part of New England cuisine, most commonly found in Rhode Island although they can also be found in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. They are balls of battered clams which have been deep-fried. ...
'' (also known as a clam fritter outside of Rhode Island), a deep fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside. They are sold by the half-dozen or dozen in most seafood restaurants around the state, and the quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is chowder and clam cakes.
The
quahog
The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince ...
is a large local clam usually used in a chowder. It is also ground and mixed with stuffing or spicy minced sausage, and then baked in its shell to form a ''
stuffie
Stuffed clams (or stuffies) are popular in New England, especially in Rhode Island, and consist of a breadcrumb and minced clam mixture that is baked on the half shell of a quahog hard shell clam. Other ingredients typically found in the basic bre ...
''.
Calamari
Squid is eaten in many cuisines; in English, the culinary name calamari is often used for squid dishes.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd edition, 2002''s.v.''/ref> There are many ways to prepare and cook squid. Fried squid is common in the Me ...
(squid) is sliced into rings and fried as an appetizer in most Italian restaurants, typically served Sicilian-style with sliced banana peppers and marinara sauce on the side. (In 2014, calamari became the official state appetizer.)
Clams Casino originated in Rhode Island, invented by Julius Keller, the maitre d' in the original Casino next to the seaside Towers in Narragansett.
[Ruth Reichl, John Willoughby, Zanne Early Stewart The Gourmet Cookbook: More Than 1000 Recipes Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 , 9780618806928
1056 pages page 5]
The Gourmet Cookbook
Clams Casino resemble the beloved stuffed quahog but are generally made with the smaller littleneck or cherrystone clam and are unique in their use of bacon as a topping.
The official state drink of Rhode Island is ''
coffee milk
Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or coffee extract and milk together in a manner similar to chocolate milk. It is the official state drink of the US state of Rhode Island.
Coffee syrup
Coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concent ...
'', a beverage created by mixing milk with coffee syrup. This unique syrup was invented in the state and is sold in almost all Rhode Island supermarkets, as well as its bordering states.
Johnnycake
Johnnycake, also known as journey cake, johnny bread, hoecake, shawnee cake or spider cornbread, is a cornmeal flatbread, a type of batter bread. An early American staple food, it is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica. ...
s have been a Rhode Island staple since Colonial times, made with corn meal and water then pan-fried much like pancakes.
Submarine sandwiches are called ''grinders'' throughout Rhode Island, and the Italian grinder, made with cold cuts such as ham,
prosciutto
''Prosciutto crudo'', in English often shortened to prosciutto ( , ), is Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. ''Prosciutto crudo'' is usually served thinly sliced.
Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crudo ...
,
capicola
Capocollo () or coppa () is a traditional Italian and Corsican pork cold cut ('' salume'') made from the dry-cured muscle running from the neck to the fourth or fifth rib of the pork shoulder or neck. It is a whole-muscle salume, dry cured, an ...
,
salami
Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days ...
, and
Provolone cheese
Provolone (, ) is an Italian cheese. It is an aged ''pasta filata'' (stretched-curd) cheese originating in Campania near Vesuvius, where it is still produced in pear, sausage, or cone shapes long. Provolone-type cheeses are also produced in othe ...
, is especially popular.
Linguiça
''Linguiça'' or ''lingüiça'' () calabresa is Calabrian chili-seasoned smoke-cured pork sausage seasoned with garlic and paprika, popular in Portugal, Brazil, Lusophone countries, and the U.S. state of Hawaii, created by Calabrian immigrant ...
or
chouriço
Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula.
In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...
is a spicy Portuguese sausage that the state's large Portuguese community often serves with peppers and eats with hearty bread.
Rhode Island state symbols
In popular culture
The
Farrelly brothers
Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly, collectively referred to as the Farrelly brothers, are American screenwriters and directors. They have made eleven films together, including ''Dumb and Dumber'', '' Outside Providence'', and ''There's Something ...
and
Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...
depict Rhode Island in popular culture, often making comedic
parodies
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
of the state. MacFarlane's television series ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' is based in a fictional Rhode Island city named Quahog, and notable local events and celebrities are regularly lampooned.
Peter Griffin
Peter Löwenbräu Griffin, born Justin Peter Griffin, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''Family Guy''. He is voiced by the series' creator, Seth MacFarlane, and first appeared on television, alon ...
is seen working at the Pawtucket
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
, and other state locations are mentioned.
The 1956 film ''
High Society
High society, sometimes simply society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open to men based ...
'' (starring
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
Kelly ...
, and
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
) was set in Newport, Rhode Island.
The
1974 film adaptation of ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
'' was also filmed in Newport.
Jacqueline Bouvier
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
and
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
were married at St. Mary's church in Newport. Their reception took place at
Hammersmith Farm
Hammersmith Farm is a Victorian mansion and estate located at 225 Harrison Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was the childhood home of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and the site of the reception for her wedding to U.S. Sen ...
, the Bouvier summer home in Newport.
Cartoonist
Don Bousquet
Don Bousquet (born 1948) is a Rhode Island–based cartoonist. He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. His cartoon ''Bousquet'' regularly appears in ''The Providence Journal'', ''Rhode Island Monthly'', and the ''South County Independent'' and h ...
, a state icon, has made a career out of Rhode Island culture, drawing Rhode Island-themed gags in ''
The Providence Journal
''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island, and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspape ...
'' and ''
Yankee
The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...
'' magazine. These cartoons have been reprinted in the ''Quahog'' series of paperbacks (''I Brake for Quahogs'', ''Beware of the Quahog'', and ''The Quahog Walks Among Us''.) Bousquet has also collaborated with humorist and ''Providence Journal'' columnist
Mark Patinkin Mark Patinkin is an American author and nationally syndicated columnist for the ''Providence Journal''. He is a graduate of Middlebury College. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for international Journalism, reporting, and he has won three New Engla ...
on two books: ''The Rhode Island Dictionary'' and ''The Rhode Island Handbook''.
The 1998 film ''
Meet Joe Black
''Meet Joe Black'' is a 1998 American romantic fantasy film directed and produced by Martin Brest, and starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Claire Forlani. The screenplay was written by Bo Goldman, Kevin Wade, Ron Osborn, and Jeff Reno, an ...
'' was filmed at
Aldrich Mansion
Aldrich Mansion is a late 19th-century property owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence since 1939. It is located by the scenic Narragansett Bay at 836 Warwick Neck Avenue in Warwick, Rhode Island, south of Providence, Rhode Island. Or ...
in the Warwick Neck area of
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
.
''
Body of Proof
''Body of Proof'' is an American medical/crime comedy-drama television series that ran on ABC from March 29, 2011, to May 28, 2013, and starred Dana Delany as medical examiner Dr. Megan Hunt. The series was created by Christopher Murphey and p ...
''s first season was filmed entirely in Rhode Island. The show premiered on March 29, 2011.
The 2007
Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott (The Office), Michael Scott in ''The Office (American TV series), The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the The Office (B ...
and
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: ''Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; '' Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...
film ''
Dan in Real Life
''Dan in Real Life'' is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Hedges, and stars Steve Carell, Alison Pill, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney and Dane Cook.
This is the first Touchstone Pictures film to be distributed by W ...
'' was filmed in various coastal towns in the state. The sunset scene with the entire family on the beach takes place at
Napatree Point
Napatree Point in Rhode Island, often referred to simply as Napatree, is a long sandy spit created by a geologic process called longshore drift. Up until the Hurricane of 1938, Napatree was sickle-shaped and included a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) lon ...
.
''
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...
'' star Pauly D filmed part of his spin-off ''The Pauly D Project'' in his hometown of Johnston.
The
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
cable television series ''
Another Period
''Another Period'' is an American period sitcom television series created by and starring Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome. It followed the lives of the Bellacourts, the first family of Newport, Rhode Island, at the turn of the 20th century. Lil ...
'' is set in Newport during the
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
.
Notable firsts in Rhode Island
Rhode Island has been the first in a number of initiatives. The
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
enacted the first law prohibiting slavery in America on May 18, 1652.
The first act of armed rebellion in America against the British Crown was the boarding and burning of the Revenue Schooner ''
Gaspee
The ''Gaspee'' Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS ''Gaspee'' was a British customs schooner that enforced the Navigation Acts in and around Newport, Rhode Island, Newport, Colony of Rhode Island and ...
'' in Narragansett Bay on June 10, 1772. The idea of a
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
was first proposed at a town meeting in Providence on May 17, 1774. Rhode Island elected the first delegates (
Stephen Hopkins and
Samuel Ward) to the Continental Congress on June 15, 1774. The Rhode Island General Assembly created the first standing army in the colonies (1,500 men) on April 22, 1775. On June 15, 1775, the first naval engagement took place in the American Revolution between an American sloop commanded by Capt.
Abraham Whipple
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
and an armed tender of the British Frigate ''Rose''. The tender was chased aground and captured. Later in June, the General Assembly created the American Navy when it commissioned the sloops ''
Katy'' and , armed with 24 guns and commanded by Abraham Whipple who was promoted to Commodore. Rhode Island was the first Colony to declare independence from Britain on May 4, 1776.
Slater Mill in Pawtucket was the first commercially successful cotton-spinning mill with a fully mechanized power system in America and was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the US. The oldest Fourth of July parade in the country is still held annually in
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England.
The population of B ...
. The first Baptist church in America was founded in Providence in 1638.
Ann Smith Franklin
Ann Smith Franklin (October 2, 1696 – April 16, 1763) was an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin. She published the ''Mintunt'', printed ...
of the Newport ''Mercury'' was the first female newspaper editor in America (August 22, 1762).
Touro Synagogue
The Touro Synagogue or Congregation Jeshuat Israel ( he, קהל קדוש ישועת ישראל) is a synagogue built in 1763 in Newport, Rhode Island. It is the Oldest synagogues in the United States, oldest synagogue building still standing in t ...
is the oldest synagogue in America, founded in Newport in 1763.
Pelham Street in Newport was the first in America to be illuminated by gaslight in 1806.
The first strike in the United States in which women participated occurred in Pawtucket in 1824.
Watch Hill has the nation's oldest flying horses
carousel
A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...
that has been in continuous operation since 1850.
The motion picture machine was patented in Providence on April 23, 1867.
The first lunch wagon in America was introduced in Providence in 1872.
The first nine-hole golf course in America was completed in Newport in 1890.
The first state health laboratory was established in Providence on September 1, 1894.
The
Rhode Island State House
The Rhode Island State House, the capitol of the state of Rhode Island, is located at 900 Smith Street just below the crest of Smith Hill, on the border of downtown in Providence. It is a neoclassical building designed by McKim, Mead & White wh ...
was the first building with an all-marble dome to be built in the United States (1895–1901).
The first automobile race on a track was held in Cranston on September 7, 1896.
The first automobile parade was held in Newport on September 7, 1899, on the grounds of Belcourt Castle.
Miscellaneous local culture
Rhode Island is nicknamed "The Ocean State", and the nautical nature of Rhode Island's geography pervades its culture. Newport Harbor, in particular, holds many pleasure boats. In the lobby of
T. F. Green, the state's main airport, is a large life-sized sailboat, and the state's license plates depict an ocean wave or a sailboat.
![Waves_at_Narragansett_-_panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Waves_at_Narragansett_-_panoramio.jpg)
The large number of beaches in
Washington County lures many Rhode Islanders south for summer vacation.
The state constitution protects shore access, including swimming and gathering of seaweed. The 1982 Rhode Island Supreme Court decision in ''State v. Ibbison'' defines the end of private land as the mean high tide line, which is difficult to determine in day-to-day activities, and has resulted in beach access conflicts. Underfunding of the
Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council Rhode may refer to:
*In Greek mythology:
:*Rhodos, goddess and personification of the island of Rhodes
:*Rhode, one of the fifty daughters of Danaus
*Rhode (spider), ''Rhode'' (spider), a genus of spiders
*Rhode (surname)
*Rhode, County Offaly, an ...
has resulted in lax enforcement against encroachment on public access and building of illegal structures.
The state was notorious for organized crime activity from the 1950s into the 1990s when the
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, or The Office is an Italian-American American Mafia, Mafia crime family, family in New England. It has two distinct factions, one based ...
held sway over most of New England from its Providence headquarters.
Rhode Islanders developed a unique style of architecture in the 17th century called the
stone-ender
The stone-ender is a unique style of Rhode Island architecture that developed in the 17th century where one wall in a house is made up of a large stone chimney.
History
Rhode Island was first settled in 1636 by Roger Williams and other colonis ...
.
Rhode Island is the only state to still celebrate
Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...
which is officially named "Victory Day" but is sometimes referred to as "VJ Day." It is celebrated on the second Monday in August.
Nibbles Woodaway, more commonly referred to as "
The Big Blue Bug
The Big Blue Bug, also known as Nibbles Woodaway, is the giant termite mascot of Big Blue Bug Solutions located along Interstate 95 in Rhode Island, I-95 in Providence, Rhode Island. It is claimed to be the world's largest artificial bug at 928 tim ...
", is a 58-foot-long termite mascot for a Providence extermination business. Since its construction in 1980, it has been featured in several movies and television shows, and has come to be recognized as a cultural landmark by many locals. In more recent times, the Big Blue Bug has been given a mask to remind locals and visitors to mask-up during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Sports
Professional
Rhode Island's only professional minor league team is the
Providence Bruins
The Providence Bruins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the primary development team for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rh ...
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
team of the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
, who are a top-level minor league affiliate of the
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...
. They play in the
Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence and won the AHL's
Calder Cup
The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars.
The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its curr ...
during the
1998–99 AHL season.
![McCoy Stadium Pan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/McCoy_Stadium_Pan.jpg)
The
Pawtucket Red Sox
The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...
baseball team was a
Triple-A International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...
affiliate of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
from 1973 to 2020. They played at
McCoy Stadium
McCoy Stadium is a former baseball stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1970 through 2020, it served as home field of the Pawtucket Red Sox (PawSox), a Minor League Baseball farm team, affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Completed in 1942, the st ...
in
Pawtucket and had won four league titles, the
Governors' Cup, in 1973, 1984, 2012, and 2014. McCoy Stadium also has the distinction of being home to the
longest professional baseball game
The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the Triple-A International League, played the longest game in professional baseball history. It lasted 33 innings, with 8 hours and 25 minutes of playing time. 32 innings were playe ...
ever played – 33 innings.
The
Providence Reds
The Providence Reds were a ice hockey, hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Re ...
were a hockey team that played in the Canadian-American Hockey League (CAHL) between 1926 and 1936 and the American Hockey League (AHL) from 1936 to 1977, the last season of which they played as the Rhode Island Reds. The team won the Calder Cup in 1938, 1940, 1949, and 1956. The Reds played at the Rhode Island Auditorium, on North Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island from 1926 through 1972, when the team affiliated with the New York Rangers and moved into the newly built Providence Civic Center. The team name came from the rooster known as the Rhode Island Red. They moved to New York in 1977, then to
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
in 1997, and are now called the
Hartford Wolf Pack
The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a ...
.
The Reds are the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America, having fielded a team in one form or another since 1926 in the CAHL. It is also the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season. The AHL returned to Providence in 1992 in the form of the Providence Bruins.
![1884grays](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/1884grays.jpg)
Before the great expansion of athletic teams all over the country, Providence and Rhode Island in general played a great role in supporting teams. The
Providence Grays
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leagu ...
won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884. The team played their home games at the old Messer Street Field in Providence. The Grays played in the National League from 1878 to 1885. They defeated the New York Metropolitans of the American Association in a best of five-game series at the Polo Grounds in New York. Providence won three straight games to become the first champions in major league baseball history.
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
played for the minor league Providence Grays of 1914 and hit his only official minor league home run for them before the Grays' parent club, the
Boston Red Stockings, recalled him.
The now-defunct professional football team the
Providence Steam Roller
The Providence Steam Rollers (also referred to as the Providence Steam Roller, the Providence Steamroller and the Providence Steamrollers) were a professional American football team based in Providence, Rhode Island in the National Football Leagu ...
won the 1928 NFL title. They played in a 10,000 person stadium called the Cycledrome. The
Providence Steamrollers
The Providence Steamrollers were a Basketball Association of America team based in Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2022, the Steamrollers were the last professional sports franchise from one of the Big Four leagues to be based in Rhode Island.
...
played in the
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Ba ...
which became the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
.
Rhode Island is also home to a top semi-professional soccer club, the
Rhode Island Reds, which compete in the National premier soccer league, in the fourth division of U.S. Soccer.
Rhode Island is home to one top level non-minor league team, the
Rhode Island Rebellion
The Rhode Island Rebellion were an American semi-professional rugby league football team based in Providence, Rhode Island. The Rebellion compete in the USA Rugby League (USARL), which they joined as a charter franchise in the 2011 season.
Hist ...
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
team, a semi-professional rugby league team that competes in the
USA Rugby League
The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States.
The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...
, the Top Competition in the United States for the Sport of Rugby League.
The Rebellion play their home games at Classical High School in Providence.
=Current professional teams
=
=Current semi-professional teams
=
Collegiate and amateur sports
![Meade_Stadium](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Meade_Stadium.jpg)
There are four
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Division I schools in Rhode Island. All four schools compete in different conferences. The
Brown University Bears compete in the
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
, the
Bryant University Bulldogs compete in the
America East Conference
The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States.
The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...
, the
Providence College Friars compete in the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...
, and the
University of Rhode Island Rams compete in the
Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...
. Three of the schools' football teams compete in the
Football Championship Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...
, the second-highest level of
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
in the United States. Brown plays FCS football in the
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
, Bryant plays FCS football in the
Big South Conference
The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...
before that league merges its football operations with those of the
Ohio Valley Conference
The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...
in 2023, and Rhode Island plays FCS football in CAA Football, the technically separate football league of the
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...
. All four Division I schools in the state compete in an intrastate all-sports competition known as the
Ocean State Cup
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...
, with Bryant winning the most recent cup in 2011–12 academic year.
From 1930 to 1983,
America's Cup
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...
races were sailed off Newport, and the extreme-sport
X Games
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...
and
Gravity Games
The Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports such as aggressive inline skating, skateboardi ...
were founded and hosted in the state's capital city.
![ITHF_Grounds_and_Newport_Casino_building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/ITHF_Grounds_and_Newport_Casino_building.jpg)
The
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...
is in Newport at the Newport Casino, site of the first U.S. National Championships in 1881. The Hall of Fame and Museum were established in 1954 by James Van Alen as "a shrine to the ideals of the game".
Rhode Island is also home to the headquarters of the governing body for youth rugby league in the United States, the American Youth Rugby League Association or AYRLA. The AYRLA has started the first-ever Rugby League youth competition in Providence Middle Schools, a program at the RI Training School, in addition to starting the first High School Competition in the US in Providence Public High School.
Government
The capital of Rhode Island is Providence. The state's governor is
Daniel McKee
Daniel James McKee (born June 16, 1951) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 76th governor of Rhode Island since March 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Rhode Island's 69th lieutenant governor from 2015 to ...
(D), and the lieutenant governor is
Sabina Matos
Sabina Matos (born February 13, 1974) is a Dominican-American politician serving as the 70th lieutenant governor of Rhode Island since April 2021. Sabina Matos is the first Afro-Latina lieutenant governor and the first Dominican-American to hold ...
(D).
Gina Raimondo
Gina Marie Raimondo (; born May 17, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and venture capitalist who has served as the 40th United States Secretary of Commerce since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 75th go ...
became Rhode Island's first female governor with a plurality of the vote in the November 2014 state elections. Its United States senators are
Jack Reed (D) and
Sheldon Whitehouse
Sheldon Whitehouse (born October 20, 1955) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Attorney from 1993 to 1998 ...
(D). Rhode Island's two United States representatives are
David Cicilline
David Nicola Cicilline (; born July 15, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly ...
(D-1) and
Jim Langevin
James R. Langevin ( ; born April 22, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress; Langevin was appointed to be the first q ...
(D-2). ''See
congressional districts map.'' Rhode Island is one of a few states that do not have an official governor's residence. ''See
List of Rhode Island Governors.''
The state legislature is the
Rhode Island General Assembly
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower house, lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 re ...
, consisting of the 75-member
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and the 38-member
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. The Democratic Party dominates both houses of the bicameral body; the Republican Party's presence is minor in the state government, with Republicans holding a handful of seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Elections
![United States presidential election in Rhode Island, 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/United_States_presidential_election_in_Rhode_Island%2C_2016.svg)
Rhode Island's population barely crosses the threshold beyond the minimum of three for additional votes in both the federal
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and
Electoral College; it is well represented relative to its population, with the
eighth-highest number of electoral votes and
second-highest number of House Representatives per resident. Based on its area, Rhode Island has the highest density of electoral votes of any state.
Federally, Rhode Island is a reliably Democratic state during presidential elections, usually supporting the Democratic presidential nominee. The state voted for the Republican presidential candidate until
1908
Events
January
* January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica.
* January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...
. Since then, it has voted for the Republican nominee for president seven times, and the Democratic nominee 17 times. The last 16 presidential elections in Rhode Island have resulted in the Democratic Party winning the Ocean State's Electoral College votes 12 times. In the
1980 presidential election, Rhode Island was one of six states to vote against
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the last Republican to win any of the state's counties in a Presidential election until Donald Trump won Kent County in 2016. In 1988, George H. W. Bush won over 40% of the state's popular vote, something no Republican has done since.
Rhode Island was the Democrats' leading state in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1988 and 2000, and second-best in 1968, 1972, 1996, and 2004. Rhode Island's most one-sided Presidential election result was in 1964, with over 80% of Rhode Island's votes going for Lyndon B. Johnson. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The exceptions were East Greenwich, West Greenwich, and Scituate. In 2008, Rhode Island gave Barack Obama a 28-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 63% of its vote. All but one of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate (the exception being Scituate).
In a 2020 study, Rhode Island was ranked as the 19th easiest state for citizens to vote in.
Legislation and taxes
Rhode Island is one of 21 states that have abolished capital punishment; it was second do so, just after Michigan, and carried out its last execution in the 1840s. Rhode Island was the second to last state to make prostitution illegal. Until November 2009 Rhode Island law Prostitution in Rhode Island, made prostitution legal provided it took place indoors. In a 2009 study Rhode Island was listed as the 9th safest state in the country.
In 2011, Rhode Island became the third state in the United States to pass legislation to allow the use of medical marijuana. On May 25, 2022, Rhode Island fully legalized recreational use of marijuana, becoming the nineteenth state to do so. Additionally, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation that allowed civil unions which Governor Lincoln Chafee signed into law on July 2, 2011. Rhode Island became the eighth state to fully recognize either same-sex marriage or civil unions. Same-sex marriage became legal on May 2, 2013, and took effect August 1.
Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes, and sixth in real estate taxes.
Notable people
* Thomas Angell (1618–1694) – co-founder of the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
* Joshua Babcock (1707–1783) – physician, American Revolution general, state Supreme Court justice, and postmaster
*
John Clarke (1609–1676) – Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America
*
William Coddington
William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...
(1601–1678) – magistrate of the
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was founded by Roger Williams. It was an English colony from 1636 until ...
, Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire colony, and governor of the colony
* William Ellery (1727–1820) – a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island
*
Samuel Gorton
Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) was an early settler and civic leader of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and President of the towns of Providence and Warwick. He had strong religious beliefs which differed from Puritan theolog ...
(1593–1677) – settled
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
* Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) – Continental Army officer, considered George Washington's most gifted officer
* Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) – Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War
*
Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) – Governor of Rhode Island, RI Supreme Court justice, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence
*
Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
(1591–1643) – early settler of Newport, the catalyst of the Antinomian Controversy
* H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) – author
* Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) naval commander and hero of the War of 1812, the best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty
*
Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the ...
(1768–1835) – industrialist, "father of the industrial revolution"
* Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) – painter, one of America's foremost portraitists
* James Mitchell Varnum (1748–1789) – general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War
*
Samuel Ward (1725–1776) – Supreme Court Justice, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and a delegate to the Continental Congress
* Samuel Ward Jr. (1756–1832) – American Revolutionary War soldier and delegate to the secessionist Hartford Convention
* Roger Williams (theologian), Roger Williams (1603–1684) – founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, influential author, considered the first proponent of separation of church and state
*
Abraham Whipple
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
(1733–1819) – Continental Navy commander-in-chief
See also
* Index of Rhode Island-related articles
* Outline of Rhode Island
Notes
Citations
General bibliography
Primary sources
* Dwight, Timothy. ''Travels Through New England and New York'' (circa 1800) 4 vol. (1969) Online at
vol 1vol 2vol 3vol 4McPhetres, S. A. ''A political manual for the campaign of 1868, for use in the New England states, containing the population and latest election returns of every town'' (1868)
Rhode Island's Geography and Climate!-- Substitute (accessed June 22, 2016)? http://sos.ri.gov/divisions/Civics-And-Education/RI-History/ri-facts-figures -->
Secondary sources
* Adams, James Truslow. ''The Founding of New England'' (1921)
* Adams, James Truslow. ''Revolutionary New England, 1691–1776'' (1923)
* Adams, James Truslow. ''New England in the Republic, 1776–1850'' (1926)
* Andrews, Charles M. ''The Fathers of New England: A Chronicle of the Puritan Commonwealths'' (1919). Short survey by leading scholar.
* Axtell, James, ed. ''The American People in Colonial New England'' (1973), new social history
* Brewer, Daniel Chauncey. ''Conquest of New England by the Immigrant'' (1926).
* Coleman, Peter J. ''The Transformation of Rhode Island, 1790–1860'' (1963)
* Conforti, Joseph A. ''Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century'' (2001)
* Dennison, George M. ''The Dorr War: Republicanism on Trial, 1831–1861'' (1976)
* Hall, Donald, ed. Encyclopedia of New England (2005)
* Karlsen, Carol F. ''The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England'' (1998)
* Lovejoy, David S. ''Rhode Island Politics and the American Revolution, 1760–1776'' (1969)
* McLaughlin, William. ''Rhode Island: A Bicentennial History'' (1976)
* Moondancer & Strong Woman "Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England". Bauu Press. (2007).
* Palfrey, John Gorham
''History of New England'' (5 vol. 1859–90)
*
* Sletcher, Michael. ''New England''. (2004).
* Stephenson, Nathaniel Wright. ''Nelson W. Aldrich, a Leader in American Politics'' (1930).
* WPA. ''Guide to Rhode Island'' (1939).
* Zimmerman, Joseph F.
The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action''. (1999)
External links
*
State of Rhode Island Government websiteEnergy & Environmental Data for Rhode IslandUSGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Rhode Island
U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts: Rhode IslandRhode Island lawsScituate Art FestivalUSDA Rhode Island State Facts* — Detailed Historical Article
*
Rhode Island State Databases– Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Rhode Island state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
Rhode Island State Guidefrom the Library of Congress
Rhode Island State Archives Catalog for further information
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