Elmwood (Providence, Rhode Island)

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Elmwood did not see extensive development until the 1850s. The New London Turnpike, opened in 1816, attributed to a growing market for neighboring Cranston's agricultural produce, which spurred the establishment of new farms in Elmwood and the West End. In the 1840s and 1850s, development gradually seeped southwestward along Broad Street. By 1857, Broad Street as far as Pearl Street, and the West End as far south and west as Bridgham Street, were densely populated areas. Most of the remaining farms in the area were subdivided during this period and by 1860 the street pattern as we know it today was largely in place. The developers were typically Providence business people, merchants, and professional men who dabbled in real estate as a side venture.

Development of Elmwood was aided by the establishment of public transportation. The Elmwood Omnibus Company, organized about 1855, operated a line of omnibuses, or horse-drawn coaches, which ran regularly from downtown Providence to Broad Street and Elmwood Avenue as far as Potters Avenue. In 1865, the Union Horse Railroad operated horse drawn cars pulled along tracks which replaced the slower moving omnibuses. By 1894, the Union Railroad Company electrified its Broad Street line and replaced all the horse railways with overhead trolley lines.

The impressive growth of Elmwood was a reflection of the contemporary growth of Providence as a manufacturing and commercial center. A number of manufacturing establishments moved into the area west of Elmwood Avenue. The most prominent were the cotton mills, jewelry manufacturers, and other firms such as the Gorham Manufacturing Company on Adelaide Avenue which made silverware and other articles from precious metals.

From the 1850s on, an expanding middle and upper-middle class residential quarter stretched along Elmwood and Potters Avenues, and Public, Stanwood, Bucklin, Greenwich, and Madison streets. By 1865, upper Elmwood streets such as West Friendship and Dartmouth Streets were lined with the homes of carpenters, painters, roofers, and others engaged in building trades, shop owners, and skilled factory workers. By the late 1870s, estates lined the entire length of Greenwich Street from Trinity Square to Columbus Square. Elmwood was never filled with tenement housing or a large blue collar population. That population did exist, but not so much that the overall character of the neighborhood was altered.

The rapid growth of residential population and the coming of the automobile in the 1910s and 1920s was largely responsible for a new trend in redevelopment. Garages, car salesrooms, and later, service stations became essential businesses that proliferated along Elmwood Avenue during the period just before 1920. In 1938, bus service replaced the trolley, and as a result, Elmwood Avenue was widened substantially and the elm trees, thereby changing the character of the neighborhood forever. By the early 1950s, the housing stock in much of the area was beginning to age and many of the large, single-family homes were converted to apartments. In addition, growing traffic congestion and noise, along with the construction of Interstate 95, led to the gradual departure of much of the middle-class population.

In the early and mid 1970s the process of urban decay became more visible. Spot demolition of structures was common along the older streets. Vacant and abandoned housing caused blight and were particularly concentrated in the upper and middle sections of the neighborhood. The neighborhood has been significantly revitalized, due largely to the work of area organizations. More recently, there has been an attempt by both neighborhood residents and young urban professionals from throughout Providence and all of Rhode Island to move into that part of Elmwood and restore many of these old mansions. The area near the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Adelaide Avenue, on Lexington, Lenox, and Atlantic Avenues, and the area towards the Locust Grove cemetery were at one time home to some of the more fashionable addresses in the whole city of Providence.

Elmwood remains one of the city's most ethnically, culturally and racially diverse neighborhoods. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the neighborhood is reflected in the commercial uses lining Elmwood Avenue and Broad Street, making these street two of the most interesting and dynamic thoroughfares in the city.

According to the Providence Plan, a local nonprofit aimed at improving city life, 56.7% of the population is Hispanic, 23.3% African-American, 23.6% white, 9.3% Asian, and 1.8% Native American. 70% of children under the age of six speak a language other than English as their primary language.

Median family income rates are well below the city-wide average. Nearly 28% of families live below the poverty line while nearly 17% receive some form of public assistance.

www.providenceri.com/ONS/neighborhoods/elmwood