Thayer Street in
Providence,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. 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 a popular destination for students of the area's nearby schools of
Brown University,
Moses Brown School
Moses Brown School is an independent Quaker school located in Providence, Rhode Island, offering pre-kindergarten through secondary school classes. It was founded in 1784 by Moses Brown, a Quaker abolitionist, and is one of the oldest prepara ...
,
Hope High School,
Wheeler School
Wheeler School is a private school located on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The school serves students from the preschool level through twelfth-grade.
History Early history
In 1889, an art school for girls was establ ...
,
RISD,
Providence College,
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 ...
, and
Rhode Island College.
History
Thayer was initially designated in 1799 as Cross Street. In 1823, the street's name was changed to Thayer after Dr. Williams Thayer, great-great-grandson of
Roger Williams.
Neighborhood information
Thayer Street is located in the
College Hill neighborhood on the
East Side of Providence. Some Brown University student housing and classroom buildings are on Thayer Street.
Similar to
Harvard Square in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
,
Nassau Street in
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
,
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 ...
, and
Telegraph Avenue
Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley cam ...
in
Berkeley,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, Thayer Street hosts independent shops and restaurants that serve as a communal center for students and locals. While Harvard Square has long been dominated by chain restaurants and stores, many businesses on Thayer remain independent, such as
Avon Cinema
The Avon Cinema (260 Thayer Street, Providence, Rhode Island) is an independent movie theater near Brown University on the East Side of Providence. The Avon's Art Deco styling dates from its opening in February 1938. The theater primarily scr ...
, Rockstar Body Piercing, East Side Pockets, and NAVA- New And Vintage Apparel with certain notable exceptions such as
Starbucks,
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland the United Arab Emirates, K ...
,
Chipotle
A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in dif ...
, and
CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy, Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health, it is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was also known as, and originally named, the Consumer Value Store and was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts, in ...
.
Starting in the mid-2000s, there has been a general increase in the proportion of Thayer Street businesses that serve food. Neighborhood residents and some other community members argue that landlords should try to lease space to retail stores instead of new restaurants. This preference is due in part to the limited parking currently available on College Hill. City zoning regulations require far fewer off-street parking spaces for retail businesses than for restaurants. Neighbors also complain of a noise late at night and the College Hill Neighborhood Association, an organization representing College Hill residents, generally fights against applications for liquor licenses on Thayer Street.
Images
File:Thayer Street Providence, Rhode Island - rainy day June 2007.jpg
File:ThayerStParagon2.jpg
File:Angell and Thayer, Providence.jpg
File:Nelson Center for Enterpreneurship at Brown University.jpg
File:Das östliche Eingangstor der Brown University.jpg
References
External links
Thayer Street at Art in Ruins{{commonscat, Thayer Street (Providence, Rhode Island)
Brown University
Geography of Providence, Rhode Island
Roads in Rhode Island