Held up by bright brass posts in a frame of the same, the "West Bank/East Bank" Washington Bridge historical marker at the mid-point of the original Rhode Island Bridge No. 200 in Providence, RI. From 1930 it's connected FoxPoint/India Point neighborhoods with Watchemoket Square across the Seekonk River. The southern edge of the bridge was converted to a path for cyclists and pedestrians in 2014. The display features a pair of back-to-back signs; this is on the south face and reads:
WEST BANK / EAST BANK
FOX POINT / INDIA POINT AND WATCHEMOKET SQUARE
The Washington Bridge connects the historic neighborhoods of Fox
Point/India Point in Providence and Watchemoket Sauare in East
Providence. Since 1793, bridges spanning the Seekonk River have
contributed to the growth of vibrant commercial, industrial, and
residential communities (see Crossing the Seekonk River).
WATCHEMOKET SQUARE
Changes to the eighteenth-century farming and fishing community in East Providence (then part of Seekonk, Massachusetts) began in the 1840s when improved access to Providence via the first Washington Bridge at India Point and the Central (Red) bridges to the north spurred development of residential subdivisions. After Rhode Island annexed East Providence in 1862, Watchemoket Square rapidly grew into a transportation hub with inns for travelers at the intersection of Warren and Taunton avenues. Between 1865 and 1895, Watchemoket's population exploded from 800 to over 6,000 residents including Irish and Portuguese immigrants who moved across the river from Fox Point. The increasingly diverse ethnic inhabitants worked in local
mills and factories or commuted by street car to jobs in Providence. Commerce at the Square expanded with groceries, hardware stores, and pharmacies. A flourishing oyster industry developed, and Wilkes-Barre Pier was built in 1879 for the discharge of coal. The Square's appearance today is largely due to construction of the 1930 Washington Bridge and of I-195 in the late 1950s.
FOX POINT / INDIA POINT
First settled in the early seventeenth century, Fox Point is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Providence. Construction of the City's first wharf at Transit Street in 1680 heralded the dominance of the maritime industry. India Point derived its name from trading ships traveling between Fox Point and the East Indies. By 1800, 58 merchants' wharves crowded the waterfront. Over the next several decades an industrial area developed with facilities for passenger and freight vessels, and eventually railroads. Large numbers of immigrants from Ireland, Portugal, Cape Verde, and the Azores met the demand for labor. Crowded conditions led to removal of the "Corky Hill" bluff and infill of part of the Seekonk River, creating Gano Street (see Head of Narragansett Bay). The 1938 Hurricane heavily damaged the dock district, and in 1966, I-195 separated the neighborhood from the waterfront. In 1972, a public park replaced India Point's scrap metal yards. The I-195 relocation project in the 2000s reestablished multiple connections between Fox Point and the shoreline.
Five archival photographs and two drawings appear throughout the presentation. They are captioned:
- Fox Point section (top photo): Early 20th-century view looking west from Watchemoket Square across 1885 Washington Bridge toward Providence, with elevated oyster shell conveyor left of bridge. (RIHS)
- Fox Point section (bottom photo): Circa 1890 view looking southeast from Gano Street Providence toward East Providence, with 1885 Washington Bridge at center and Providence Gas Co. Gasometer building on Fort Hill at far right. (RIHS)
Watchemoket Square section (photo): Late 19th-century view of Watchemoket Square looking (left to right) northeast down Taunton Avenue and east along Warren Avenue in East Providence. (PPL)
Fox Point/India Point section (sketch): Circa 1840 sketch of Fox Point/India Point looking northwest from Fort Hill in East Providence, with railroad depot at right foreground. The Boston & Providence Railroad located its first station at Fox Point in 1835, followed by the Providence to Stonington, Connecticut line, two ears later. (RIHS)
Two photos and a drawing along the bottom edge, from left to right are captioned:
- Barrels of oysters ready for shipment at the Narragansett Bay Oyster Company. (PPL)
- Early 20th-century view looking northeast toward Narragansett Bay
Oyster Company located at 85 Gano Street, with 1907 Providence,
Warren & Bristol Railroad Bridge at right in background. Neighborhood
businesses sold coal, lime, brick, lumber, fish, and ship supplies. (PPL)
- Circa 1885 postcard image of Lonsdale Wharf at India Street showing depot and docks for Providence, Norfolk and Baltimore Steamship Line. Steamboats transported passengers and freight from Fox Point docks to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. (Greene)
Image credits with permission: Welcome A. Greene, The Providence Plantations, 1886 (Greene), Providence Public Library (PPL), Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS).