The Lower South Side (or Lower South Providence) is a neighborhood in the southern part 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 ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. It is bounded by Public Street to the north (bordering Upper South Providence), by

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 ...

to the south (bordering Washington Park), by Broad Street to the west (bordering Elmwood), and by the Providence River to the east.

History

The area that is now Lower South Providence was originally pasture land. The area was ceded to the new town of Cranston in 1754 and did not rejoin Providence until 1868. A streetcar was added in 1865 which ran west along Public Street and then south down Ocean Street; it transformed the Lower South Side into Providence's first

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

. In the next ten years, the streets developed quickly wherever the streetcar ran. Irish immigrants had lived primarily farther north, but they began to populate the southern part of Lower Providence between 1860 and 1880 as the population of Providence doubled to nearly 105,000. Cranston ceded the Lower South Side (along with Washington Park) back to Providence in 1868. The Upper South Side attracted industry due to its proximity to downtown, while the Lower South Side had greater access to

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 freight lines via the Port of Providence; metal and jewelry factories, consequently, began to appear. By the 1870s, the majority of housing became duplexes rented by working class tenants. By 1900, the creation of new electrified rail lines gave the area fast transportation and ample affordable housing, and the Lower South Side thrived. Between 1900 and 1950, descendants of the previous-generation immigrants moved into newer, more affluent areas, with the increased prosperity that they had attained. After 1950, the automobile sentenced the area to a long inexorable decline. The creation of Interstate 95 under the

Eisenhower Interstate System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

required demolition of existing buildings and severed the region's historical connection to the waterfront. Green space was lost as lots and yards were converted into driveways and garages. Street renovation resulted in the loss of tree-lined streetscapes. Residents began to look farther out for newer, more prosperous neighborhoods.

Government

At the municipal level, almost all of Lower South Providence is within Ward 10, though the very northwestern area of the neighborhood north of Reynolds Avenue/Saratoga Street, between Prairie Avenue and Broad Street, falls within Ward 11. Council President Luis Aponte and Mary Kay Harris represent Wards 10 and 11, respectively, in the Providence City Council. Both are Democrats.

References

Neighborhood Profiles at providenceri.com
{{coord, 41.802, -71.409, type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:US-RI, display=title African-American history of Rhode Island Neighborhoods in Providence, Rhode Island Populated places established in 1754