The Jewelry District is a neighborhood of

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

located just southeast of

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

. The historical path of Interstate 195 delineates the neighborhood's northern border while

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 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

and the

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 ...

define its western, southern and eastern edges. Beginning in the 19th century, the area became a center of jewelry manufacturing. In the 1960s, the area was detached from the rest of Downtown with the construction of Interstate 195. A major construction project completed in 2013 relocated Interstate 195 further south, reconnecting the district with Downtown Providence and freeing 19 buildable acres of land. Contained within the Jewelry District neighborhood is the Providence Jewelry Manufacturing Historic District, added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985 and expanded in 2012.

History

During 19th and 20th centuries, the manufacturing of jewelry and costume jewelry emerged as a dominant local industry. Jewelry manufacturing began in the Providence in 1794; by 1880 Rhode Island's jewelry industry accounted for more than one quarter of the nation's jewelry production. The industry peaked in 1978 with 32,500 workers, then began a swift decline. By 1996, the number of jewelry workers shrank to 13,500. Over the following decades, the large jewelry factories that had once dominated the Jewelry District were closed or vacated. During the 2000s and early 2010s, a segment of Interstate 195 that marked the northeastern edge of the Jewelry District was relocated south. Dubbed the " Iway", the relocation project made available buildable 19 acres of land in and adjacent to the Jewelry District. Since 2018, a number of major projects have begun and been completed on and adjacent to the redevelopment parcels. Among the development project are multiple housing complexes, a six story parking garage, and a hotel. The city and state have marketed the new neighborhood as Providence's "Innovation & Design District", with the intention of establishing the area as a hub for science, technology, and education in the city. In 2019, the city opened a new pedestrian bridge, connecting the Jewelry District to East Side; an adjacent waterfront park was opened the following year.

Geography

Landmarks

The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is the most prominent feature of this area. The barrier protects Providence from

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

flooding like that it endured in the

1938 New England Hurricane The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near th ...

and again in 1954 from Hurricane Carol. In both storms, downtown flooded to a depth of over eight feet at some locations. Downtown has not suffered substantial flooding since the construction of the barrier. Additionally recognizable are the three smokestacks of the Manchester Street Generating Station and the large brick form of South Street Station. South Street Landing is a prominent structure in the neighborhood, located on Eddy Street right on the river, adjacent to the Point Street Bridge. The large building had served as a power station from 1912 to 1995, and subsequently sat vacant and decaying for many years. Various redevelopment projects were proposed which never came to fruition. In 2017 the structure was entirely renovated and re-opened under the name South Street Landing. The building is shared by

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Rhode Island College Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public college in Rhode Island, United States, with much of the land in Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, and other parts in North Providence, Rhode Island, North Providence. The college was established in 18 ...

, and

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 Rhode Island. The univer ...

. A 750-space parking garage was constructed adjacent to the building.

Collier Point Park

Collier Point Park is located along the Providence waterfront south of Davol Square. The park was home to a decommissioned Russian submarine, Juliet 484, which was used in 2000 for the filming of the movie '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

. The submarine had been in use as a museum until the submarine sank in a storm April 17–18, 2007. The submarine's owners had planned to salvage the submarine and reopen the museum, but were unable to obtain sufficient funds for the project.

Gallery

File:Jewl-District.jpg, The intersection of Clifford and Chestnut Streets in 2009. I-195 (visible to the left) has since been re-routed. File:Power Station at night (cropped).jpg, The Manchester Street Generating Station, a gas fired power station File:Johnson & Wales University, Center for Science and Innovation, Chestnut St side.jpg, In 2016

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its cam ...

opened a new STEM building on land vacated by Interstate 195. File:Alpert Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island.jpg, Brown University's

Alpert Medical School The Warren Alpert Medical School (formerly known as Brown Medical School, previously known as Brown University School of Medicine) is the medical school of Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. Originally established in 1811, it ...

is located in the Jewelry District File:Wexford Innovation Center in Providence.jpg, The Wexford Innovation Center is one of the largest new office developments in the area. File:Providence River Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge.jpg, The Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge connects the neighborhood to the city's East Side

References

External links

Aerial Map of Jewelry District
{{Providence neighborhoods Jewellery districts Unofficial neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island