Hope (Providence, Rhode Island)

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The area that now comprises Hope was first settled in the seventeenth century by farmers and tavern keepers who followed the Pawtucket Road (now North Main Street) out from the center of Providence. These settlers and their descendants established a strong, rural community that survived well into the nineteenth century. Unlike many of Providence's neighborhoods, Hope experienced little industrial or urban development in the years following the Civil War.

Although North Main Street grew as a commercial thoroughfare during the 1860s, it was not until streetcar service came to the Hope neighborhood area in 1875 that suburban residential development began. In a slow but accelerating process, farms were sold and sub-divided into plots for single family homes. In the 1920s, some of these new homes were bought by Russian Jews who migrated to the Northern section of Providence and established a substantial Jewish community there in the years before World War II.

Since the 1940s, a large section of the Hope neighborhood has been occupied by the Miriam Hospital. In 1945, Miriam moved from the West End to a two acre site along Summit Avenue. Miriam Hospital now occupies two city blocks from Fifth to Seventh Streets.

Although principally a residential neighborhood, Hope has two commercial corridors, Hope Street and North Main Street. Many residents refer to the area as the Summit neighborhood.

As of 2000, the neighborhood was 79.8% Non-Hispanic White, 8.2% Black or African American, 4.0% Hispanic, and 2.6% Asian or Pacific Islander.

The median family income is $58,683 above the city-wide average of $32,058. 4.9% of families live below the poverty line while 1.2% of families receive some form of public assistance.

www.providenceri.com/ONS/neighborhoods/hope