is the oldest Baptist congregation in America, founded by Roger Williams in 1638. Its present meetinghouse was first occupied in 1775. Providence was settled in June 1636 by
Puritan theologian
Roger Williams and grew into one of the original
Thirteen Colonies. As a minister in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams had advocated the
separation of church and state and condemned colonists' confiscation of land from the Indians. For these and other "diverse, new, and dangerous opinions," he was convicted of sedition and heresy and banished from the colony. Williams
and others established a settlement in
Rumford, Rhode Island. The group later moved down the
Seekonk River, around
Fox Point and up the
Providence River to the confluence of the
Moshassuck and
Woonasquatucket Rivers. The settlement was named after "God's merciful Providence". Providence lacked a royal charter, unlike
Salem and Boston. The settlers thus organized themselves, allotting tracts on the eastern side of the Providence River in 1638 allowing roughly six acres each. These home lots extended from Towne Street (now South Main Street) to
Hope Street. Over the following two decades, Providence Plantations grew into a self-sufficient agricultural and fishing settlement, though its lands were difficult to farm and its borders were disputed with Connecticut and Massachusetts. However, the Rhode Island General Assembly legalized African and Native American slavery throughout the colony in 1703, and Providence merchants' participation in the slave trade helped turn the city into a major port. By 1755, enslaved people made up 8% of Providence's population, below the 10% average for colonial Rhode Island, but above the 5% average for the northern colonies. In 1770,
Brown University moved to Providence from nearby
Warren. At the time, the college was known as Rhode Island College and occupied
a single building on
College Hill. The college's choice to relocate to Providence as opposed to
Newport symbolized a larger shift away from Newport's commercial and political dominance over the colony. In 1772, a group from Providence burned a British customs schooner south of Providence in the event known as the
Gaspee Affair. It was also the last of the Thirteen States to ratify the
United States Constitution on May 29, 1790, once assurances were made that a
Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution. Following the war, Providence was the nation's ninth-largest city with 7,614 people. The economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, in particular machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry, and textiles. By the start of the 20th century, Providence hosted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including
Brown & Sharpe,
Nicholson File, and
Gorham Manufacturing Company. Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831 as the population passed 17,000. in
Market Square from 1832 to 1878, which was the geographic and social center of the city. The city offices soon outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to create a permanent municipal building in 1845. Local politics split over slavery during the
American Civil War, as many had ties to Southern cotton and the slave trade. Despite ambivalence concerning the war, the number of military volunteers routinely exceeded quota, and the city's manufacturing proved invaluable to the Union. Providence thrived after the war, and waves of immigrants brought the population from 54,595 in 1865 to 175,597 by 1900. Providence was a major manufacturer of industrial products, from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles. Giant companies were based in or near Providence, such as Brown & Sharpe, the
Corliss Steam Engine Company,
Babcock & Wilcox, the Grinnell Corporation, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, Nicholson File, and the
Fruit of the Loom textile company. In the 1960s, jewelry trade magazines referred to Providence as "the jewelry capital of the world". The city began to see a decline by the mid-1920s as manufacturing industries began to shut down. It was deeply affected by the
Great Depression, which left more than a third of the city's labor force unemployed. The subsequent
Recession of 1937–1938 was immediately followed by the
New England Hurricane of 1938, which flooded downtown. The hurricane was particularly destructive to the struggling textile industry, with many mills never reopening following the storm. Providence's population declined from a peak of 253,504 in 1940 to only 179,213 in 1970, as the white middle class moved to the suburbs. From the 1940s to 1970s, white middle class residents vacated Providence faster than any other American city other than
Detroit. The remainder of these residents were disproportionately poor and elderly. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Providence was a notorious bastion of organized crime. From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national community development funds were invested throughout the city. In the 1990s, the city pushed for revitalization, completing a number of major development projects. Among these were the realignment of railroad tracks; the relocation of rivers, creation of
Waterplace Park, and development of a riverwalk; the construction of a Downtown ice rink; and the development of
Providence Place Mall. In the early 2000s, Providence developed an economic development plan that outlined a shift to a knowledge-based economy. These efforts involved the rebranding of the formerly industrial
Jewelry District as a new "Knowledge District". Despite new investment, approximately 21.5-percent of the city population lives below the poverty line. Recent increases in real estate values have further exacerbated problems for those at marginal income levels, mirroring a statewide housing affordability crisis. From 2004 to 2005, Providence saw the highest rise in median housing price of any city in the United States. ==Geography==