Encyclopedia
The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the smallest
state by land area in the
United States, and the state with the longest official name. Rhode Island is part of the
New England region , and was the first of the
thirteen original American colonies to declare independence from British rule, signaling the start of the
American Revolution.
The state's common name, Rhode Island, actually refers to the largest
island in
Narragansett Bay, also known as
Aquidneck Island, on which the city of
Newport is located. Aquidneck Island is also locally referred to as Newport - though it in fact has three distinct townships on it. The origin of the name is unclear. Some historians think that Italian explorer
Giovanni da Verrazzano, upon discovering
Block Island, just southwest in the
Atlantic Ocean, named it Rhode Island because of its similarity in shape to the Greek island of
Rhodes. Later settlers, mistaking which island Verrazzano was referring to, gave the name to Aquidneck Island instead. Other historians believe that the name is derived from
Roodt Eylandt, old Dutch for "red island," given to the island by Dutch explorer
Adriaen Block due to the red clay on the island's shore.
Despite most of the state being part of the mainland, the name Rhode Island leads some out-of-staters to mistakenly believe that the entire state is an island, sometimes confusing it with
Long Island. Rhode Island is nicknamed "The Ocean State".
Geography
Rhode Island covers an area of approximately 1,214 square miles and is bordered on the north and east by
Massachusetts, on the west by
Connecticut, and on the south by
Rhode Island Sound and the
Atlantic Ocean. It shares a water border with
New York. The mean
elevation of the state is 200
feet . Located within the
New England province of the
Appalachian Region, Rhode Island has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the
Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland. Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography.
Block Island, known for its beaches, lies approximately 12
miles off the southern coast of the mainland. Within the Bay, there are over 30 islands. The largest is Aquidneck Island, shared by the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth. Among the other islands in the Bay are Hope and Prudence.
Rhode Island is mostly flat with no real mountains. Rhode Island's highest natural point is
Jerimoth Hill, only 812 feet above sea level.
Climate
The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 104°F , recorded on August 2, 1975 at
Providence. The lowest temperature in Rhode Island, -13 °F , was recorded on February 6, 1996 at Greene. Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 82 °F to a low of 20 °F . Average yearly precipitation for Rhode Island, from 1961 to 1990, is shown on from Oregon State University.
Average Precipitation Graphic:
History
Colonial Era
In 1614 the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the island that is now called
Block Island. Native American inhabitants included the Narragansett tribe, occupying most of the area, and the closely related Niantic tribe. Most of the Native Americans were decimated by introduced diseases, intertribal warfare, and the disastrous
King Philip's War, but remnants of the Niantic merged into the Narragansett tribe, where they remain on a federally recognized reservation.
In 1636 Roger Williams, after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom. This is the article of agreement Roger Williams and others made, and every person who decided to live in
Providence had to sign it:
“We, whose names are hereunder written, being desirous to inhabit the town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good by the body in an orderly way by the major consent of the inhabitance, masters of families, incorporated together into a township, and such others as they shall admit into the same only in civil things.”
Rhode Island was a charter colony, Roger Williams received a charter to build the colony.
In 1637,
Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for expressing her beliefs that people could talk to God by themselves, not necessarily through a minister. She and some others, including William Coddington and John Clarke, founded the town of Portsmouth on
Aquidneck Island. In 1639, Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck Island.
In that same year a formal government was established for the island. William Coddington was the first governor and Philip Sherman was the first Secretary. In 1643 Samuel Gorton founded Shawomet, which is now called Warwick. In 1644 the name of Aquidneck Island was changed to Rhode Island.
John Clarke was granted a Charter in 1663 for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two colonies into one. Under the terms of the charter, only landowners could vote. Before the
Industrial Revolution, when most people were employed as farmers, this was considered democratic. The original charter was used as the state constitution until 1842.
In 1664, the seal of the colony was adopted. It pictured an anchor and the word
HOPE.
The relationship between the
New Englanders and the Native Americans was at first strained, but did not result in much bloodshed. The largest tribes that lived near Rhode island were the Wampanoag,
Pequots, Narragansett, and Nimpuc. One native named
Squanto, from the Wampanoag tribe, stayed with the pilgrims and taught them many valuable skills needed to survive in the area. He also helped greatly with the eventual peace between the colonists and the natives.
Roger Williams had won the respect of his colonial neighbors for his skill in keeping the powerful Narragansett on friendly terms with local white settlers. In 1637, the Narragansett were even persuaded to form an alliance with the
English in carrying out an attack that nearly extinguished the warlike Pequots. However, this peace did not last long. By 1670 even the friendly tribes who had greeted Williams and the Pilgrims became estranged from the colonists, and smell of war began to cover the New England countryside.
The most important and traumatic event in 17th century Rhode Island was
King Philip's War, which occurred during 1675–1676. King Philip was the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. The settlers of Portsmouth had purchased their land from his father,
Massasoit. King Philip rebelled against the English. The first attacks were around Narrangansett Bay but spread throughout New England.
Revolution and Industrialization: 1770-1860
Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution. In 1772, the first bloodshed of the American Revolution took place in Rhode Island when a band of Providence residents attacked a grounded British ship for enforcing unpopular British trade regulations in the incident which would be come to known as the
Gaspee Affair. Keeping with its culture of defiance, Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from England and the last to join the United States —doing the latter only after being threatened with having its exports taxed as a foreign nation.
As the Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers into the cities, a permanently landless, and therefore voteless, class developed. By 1829, 60% of the state's free white males were ineligible to vote.
Several attempts had been made to address this problem, but none passed. In 1842 Thomas Dorr drafted a liberal
constitution which was passed by popular referendum. However the conservative sitting governor, Samuel Ward King, opposed the people's wishes, leading to the Dorr Rebellion. Although this collapsed, a modified version of the constitution was passed in November, which allowed any white male to vote that owned land or could pay a $1 poll tax.
In addition to industrialization, Rhode Island was heavily involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era. Slavery was extant in RI as early as 1652, and by 1774, the slave population of RI was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any other New England Colony. In the late Eighteenth century, several Rhode Island merchant families began actively engaging in the triangle slave trade. Notable among these was the Brown family, for whom Brown University is named, although some important Browns became prominent abolitionists. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90% of the American trade in African slaves.
Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860-1929
During the Civil War, Rhode Island was one of the Union states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of which 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the other northern states, used its industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war. Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization led to the creation of an urban mass transit system, and improved health and sanitation programs. After the war, in 1866, Rhode Island abolished racial segregation throughout the state. Post-war immigration increased the population. From the 1860s to the 1880s, most of the immigrants were from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Quebec. Towards the end of the century however, most immigrants were from South and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean. At the turn of the century, Rhode Island had a booming economy, which fed the demand for immigration. In the years that lead up to
World War I, Rhode Island's constitution remained reactionary, in contrast to the more progressive reforms that were occurring in the rest of the country. During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 troops, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the
Spanish Influenza .
Great Depression to Present: 1929-
Since the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Democratic Party has dominated local politics. For years, the Speaker of the House, always a Democrat, has been one of the most powerful figures in government. The Republican Party has been restricted to the rural and suburban parts of the state, and occasional "good government" reform candidates, who criticize the state's high taxes and the excesses of Democratic domination. Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, Governor Donald Carcieri of East Greenwich, and former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci of Providence ran as Republican reform candidates.
Law and government
The
capital of Rhode Island is
Providence and its current governor is Donald Carcieri . Its two U.S. Senators are
John "Jack" Reed and
Lincoln Chafee . Its two U.S. Congressmen are
Patrick J. Kennedy and
Jim Langevin .
The state legislature is the
Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member state
House of Representatives and the 38-member
Senate. Both houses of the
bicameral body are currently dominated by the
Democratic Party.
Federally, Rhode Island is one of the most reliably
Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against
Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided
Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004. The state was devoted to
Republicans until 1908, but has only strayed from the Democrats 7 times in the 24 elections that followed. In 2004, Rhode Island gave
John Kerry a greater than 20 percentage point margin of victory with 59.4% of its vote. All but two of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East and West Greenwich.
Economy
Rhode Island is known as the "birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution". It was in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island that Samuel Slater set up his first mill in 1790, using the waterpower of the
Blackstone River to power his mill. For a while, Rhode Island was one of the leaders in textiles. However, with the
Great Depression, most textile factories relocated to the American South. Textiles still constitute a part of the Rhode Island economy, but does not have the same power that it once had. An interesting by-product of the textile industry is the amount of abandoned factories - many of them now are used for low-income or elderly housing or have been converted into offices. In Pawtucket, these abandoned mills are used as housing for artists.
Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state product was $33 billion, placing it 45
th in the nation. Its 2000
per capita Personal Income was $29,685, 16
th in the nation.
Health services is Rhode Islands largest industry. Second is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism related sales at $3.26 billion in the year 2000. The third largest industry is manufacturing. Its industrial outputs are fashion jewelry, fabricated metal products, electric equipment, machinery, shipbuilding and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.
Demographics
| Historical populations |
|---|
Census
year | Population |
|---|
|
| 1790 | 68,825 |
| 1800 | 69,122 |
| 1810 | 76,931 |
| 1820 | 83,059 |
| 1830 | 97,199 |
| 1840 | 108,830 |
| 1850 | 147,545 |
| 1860 | 174,620 |
| 1870 | 217,353 |
| 1880 | 276,531 |
| 1890 | 345,506 |
| 1900 | 428,556 |
| 1910 | 542,610 |
| 1920 | 604,397 |
| 1930 | 687,497 |
| 1940 | 713,346 |
| 1950 | 791,896 |
| 1960 | 859,488 |
| 1970 | 946,725 |
| 1980 | 947,154 |
| 1990 | 1,003,464 |
| 2000 | 1,048,319 |
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Rhode Island has an estimated population of 1,076,189, which is a decrease of 3,727, or 0.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 27,870, or 2.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 15,220 people and an increase due to net migration of 14,001 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 18,965 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 4,964 people.
The five largest ancestry groups in Rhode Island are:
Italian ,
Irish , French-Canadian , English , Portuguese .
6.1% of Rhode Island's population were reported as under 5, 23.6% under 18, and 14.5% were 65 or older.
Females made up approximately 52% of the population.
Rhode Island has a higher percentage of
Italian-Americans and a higher percentage of Americans of Portuguese ancestry than any other state in the nation. French Canadians form a large part of Northern Providence county whereas
Irish-Americans have a strong presence in Newport and Kent counties. Yankees of English ancestry still have a presence in the state as well, especially in Washington county, and are often referred to as "Swamp Yankees."
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Rhode Island are:
- Christian – 81%
- Roman Catholic – 56%
- Protestant – 28%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Jewish – 2%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 16%
Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Catholics in the nation due to large
Irish,
Italian, French Canadian, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, and Cape Verdean communities in the state.
Culture
Rhode Island has a unique and fascinating culture that distinguishes its people not only from other regions, but also from neighboring New England states.
Rhode Islanders speak with a distinct accent that many compare to a "Brooklyn" or a cross between a New York and Boston accent. The residents of this state also speak with a unique vernacular that many have dubbed "Rhode Islandese" or "Rhode Islander". The
letter 'r' is often dropped at the end of a word, . The letter 'r' is also added in to the ending of words . Utilization of the word "wicked" is also very common among Rhode Islanders, especially young ones, to provide greater emphasis on something .
It is a fairly common stereotype that Rhode Islanders are very superstitious, although this has not been scrutinized statistically. However, the belief in
vampires, especially in the rural parts of the state, was widespread up until the late 19th century. There are several well-documented cases in which families disenterred deceased relatives, then removed and burned their hearts in the belief that the deceased was a vampire who was responsible for illness and misfortune that the family had been suffering. The most famous of these cases is that of 19-year-old Mercy Brown who died in Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892. It is believed that this widely-reported event inspired much of Bram Stoker's novel
Dracula.
The Fox show
Family Guy is an American [i] animated comedy [i] created b ...
takes place in a fictional town in Rhode Island named Quahog.
The state was notorious for organized crime activity from the 1950s into the 1990s when the Patriarca crime family held sway over most of New England from their Providence headquarters. Although the power of organized crime has greatly diminished in Rhode Island over the last 20 years, its residents are still stigmatized by popular perceptions of rampant graft and corruption that have haunted the state for decades.
Rhode Islanders developed a unique style of architecture in the 17th century, called the
stone-ender.
Food
Rhode Island is known for being one of the largest coffee-drinking states. According to a Providence Journal article, Providence features the highest number of coffee/donut shops per capita in the country. It is common belief that more coffee ice cream is sold here per-capita than any other state. The Official State Drink of Rhode Island is coffee milk, a beverage created by mixing milk with coffee syrup. This unique syrup was invented in the state and is bottled and sold in most Rhode Island supermarkets. Frozen lemonade, a mixture of ice-slush, lemons and sugar is also immensely popular in the summer, especially
Del's Frozen Lemonade, a company based in Cranston.
Several foods and dishes are unique to Rhode Island. "Wieners," which are sometimes calles "gaggers", "dynamites" or "weenies" are smaller than a standard hot dog but are covered in a meat sauce, chopped onions,
mustard, and
celery salt. The most common way the word is spelt on menus is "weiner." Submarine sandwiches are referred to as "grinders" in Rhode Island with a popular version being the Italian grinder, which is made with Italian cold cuts . Chouriço and peppers, eaten with hearty bread, is also popular among the state's large Portuguese community.
The Ocean State's tradition of seafood is one of the most celebrated in the country.
Shellfish is extremely popular, with clams being used in multiple ways. The Quahog is a large clam which is mixed with stuffing and spicy minced sausage and then baked in the shell to form a "Stuffie." Steamed clams are also a very popular dish. Fried squid, or "calamari," are fried squid rings and are most popular in Italian restaurants.
Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a long tradition of clam
chowder. While both the White "New England" variety and the Red "New York" variety are popular, Rhode Island makes a clear chowder, affectionately known as "Rhode Island Clam Chowder."
Perhaps the most peculiar culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the "clamcake." The clamcake is a fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside of it. They are sold in most seafood restaurants around the state, and usually come by the half-dozen or dozen. The quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is "clam cakes and chowder."
It is also said that clams casino originated in Rhode Island after being "invented" by Julius Keller, the maitre d' in the original Casino next to the seaside Towers in Narragansett. Clams Casino resemble the beloved stuffed quahog but are generally made with the smaller littleneck or cherrystone clam and are unique in their use of bacon as a topping.
Cities and towns
There are 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island.
The cities are
Providence, East Providence,
Newport, Warwick, Cranston, Central Falls,
Pawtucket and Woonsocket.
The towns are Barrington,
Bristol,
Burrillville, Charlestown,
Coventry, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Johnston, Lincoln, Little Compton, Middletown, Narragansett, New Shoreham , North Kingstown, North Providence, North Smithfield, Portsmouth, Richmond, Scituate,
Smithfield, South Kingstown, Tiverton, Warren, West Greenwich, West Warwick, and
Westerly.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Colleges and universities
Rhode Island has several state colleges and universities:
Professional sports teams
Miscellaneous topics
- State motto: Hope
- State bird: Rhode Island Red
- State flower: Violet
- State tree: Red Maple
- State fish: Striped Bass
- State fruit: Rhode Island greening
- State nicknames: The Ocean State, Little Rhody, The Littlest State, The Thirteenth State
- State rock: Cumberlandite
- State mineral: Bowenite
- State shellfish: Quahog
- State drink: Coffee milk
Local media
Newspaper
- The Cranston Herald
- Newport Daily News
- The Pawtucket Times
- Providence Journal
- The Warwick Beacon
- The Coventry Courier
- The South County Independent
- The Narragansett times
Television
Other stations from Massachusetts are part of the Providence-New Bedford TV market. They are: 6/
WLNE-TV-New Bedford and 28/
WLWC-New Bedford
Radio
- 550/WDDZ Pawtucket: Radio Disney
- 990/WALE-Greenville: Spanish
- 1180/WCNX Hope Valley: News
- 1220/WRIB Providence: Brokered Religion/Spanish
- 1450/WLKW West Warwick: Adult Standards
- 1540/WADK Newport: Full service
- 1590/WARV Warwick: Religion
- 90.7/WJHD Portsmouth: High school
- 91.5/WCVY Coventry: High school . On air M-F 1400-2200 only.
- 102.7/WAKX Narragansett Pier: Jazz
Other radio stations from Connecticut & Massachusetts can be heard in parts of or all of Rhode Island. These include, but not limited to: 980/WSUB, 1320/WARL, 1350/WINY, 1400/WHTB, 1480/WSAR, 91.1/WSMU, 97.3/WJFD-FM, 99.1/WPLM-FM, 101.9/WCIB, 102.3/WXLM, 102.5/WCRB, 105.7/WROR, 107.1/WFHN, 107.3 WAAF & 107.7/WWRX.
Landmarks
The state capitol building is made of white Georgian marble. On top is what is thought to be the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. It houses the Rhode Island Charter of 1663 and other state treasures.
Providence is home to the First Baptist Church in America, the oldest
Baptist church in the
Americas, which was founded by Roger Williams in 1638.
The seaside city of
Newport is home to many famous mansions, including
The Breakers, Marble House and Belcourt Castle. It is also home to the
Touro Synagogue, the oldest lasting synagogue within the United States. The synagogue showcases the religious freedoms that were established by Roger Williams as well as impressive architecture in a mix of the classic colonial and Sephardic style. The
Newport Casino is a
National Historic Landmark building complex that presently houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame and features an active grass-court tennis club.
Rhode Island is home to the famous roadside attraction Nibbles Woodaway, the Big Blue Bug, the world's largest
termite.
Fort Adams, on Narragansett Bay, was the setting for the finish of Eco-Challenge 1995.
Famous Rhode Islanders
- Robert Aldrich, film director, born in Cranston
- Harry Anderson, comedian, born in Newport
- Rocco Baldelli, baseball player, born in Cumberland
- Ambrose Burnside, general and governor but not a native
- Ruth Buzzi, actress in 1960s TV program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, born in Westerly
- John Cafferty, lead singer of John Caffery And The Beaver Brown Band, Narragansett
- Charles V. Chapin, pioneering epidemiologist and a forefather of the public health movement, Providence
- Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, Jr., convicted former mayor of Providence
- Mike Cloud, running back for the 3-time Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots, Portsmouth
- George M. Cohan, dramatist, born in Providence
- Nicholas Colasanto, actor who played Coach Ernie Pantusso on Cheers was a long-running American [i] situation comedy [i] produced ...
, Westerly - Bill Conti
...
, film composer
