Providence Neighborhood Profiles

Elmwood

Elmwood is located in the southwest quadrant of Providence. It is bounded by the neighborhoods of Upper and Lower South Providence to its east, the West End and Reservoir to the west, and South Elmwood to its south. The Elmwood neighborhood is roughly triangular in shape, with Trinity Square at the intersection of Broad Street and Elmwood Avenue forming its apex at Trinity Square and interstate highway 95 forming its base.

Elmwood did not see extensive development until the 1850s. During most of the early Republican era, Elmwood remained a rural area in which agriculture was the dominant livelihood. This began to change in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as Providence began to slowly expand to the south and west with the development of manufacturing and shipping interests, and with the opening of better land transportation routes with other cities via turnpikes.

One such highway was the New London Turnpike, opened in 1816 which followed the old Middle Road through Elmwood. Its growth was also attributed to a growing market for neighboring Cranston's agricultural produce, which spurred the establishment of new farms in Elmwood and the West End.

By 1840, the population of Providence had increased to over 23,000 and by 1860 it had passed the 50,000 point. 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. One area whose platting reflected careful forethought was the part of lower Elmwood between Congress Avenue and Sackett Street. The principal developer, Joseph J. Cooke, a native of Providence, purchased a large farm on the west side of the tract in 1843 and lived there, naming the estate "Elmwood." By the mid-1850's the name came to refer to the whole area now known as Elmwood and West Elmwood. From the beginning, Cooke and the other owners sought to create a model suburban neighborhood. They platted unusually wide streets and lined each with shade trees. However, by 1865 only about 60 houses had been built on the tract.

Development of Elmwood and the nearby part of the West End was also aided by the slow but growing establishment of public transportation. The Elmwood Omnibus Company, organized about 1855, operated a line of omnibuses, or horse-drawn coaches, that ran regularly from Market Square in 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 and the West End 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, Elmwood was also an expanding middle and upper-middle class residential quarter that stretched along Elmwood and Potters Avenues, and Public, Stanwood, Bucklin, Greenwich, and Madison streets. This area now is part of both Elmwood and the neighborhood of West Elmwood, which is actually part of the West End.

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 the Greenwich Middle Road, renamed Greenwich Street in 1868, from Trinity Square to Columbus Square.

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. However, it was not until the 1930s that the gradual redevelopment made an impact on the aesthetic quality of Elmwood Avenue. In 1938, bus service replaced the trolley, and as a result, Elmwood Avenue was widened substantially and the elm trees that J.J. Cooke had planted were removed, 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 by the early 1960s, a significant proportion of the structures in the midsection of Elmwood were passing the age of 50. During this period, many of the large, single-family homes were converted to apartments. In addition, growing traffic congestion and noise on more important roads made the suburban feel of Elmwood only a memory. This slow deterioration and the construction of Interstate 95, which made long distance commuting to work in Providence more feasible, led to the gradual departure of much of the sizable middle-class population.

Elmwood, unlike Olneyville or Federal Hill, 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 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. 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.

In the early and mid 1970s the process of urban decay became more visible. Spot demolition of structures were common along the older streets. Vacant and abandoned housing caused blight and were particularly concentrated in the upper and middle sections of Elmwood. These blighting influences depressed property values and encouraged disinvestment. During the past 15 years, however, the neighborhood has begun to show signs of significant revitalization, due largely to the work of such organizations as the Elmwood Foundation, Elmwood Neighborhood Housing Services, and SWAP (Stop Wasting Abandoned Property).

Although Elmwood experienced significant demographic changes over the last decade, it remains one of the city's most ethnically, culturally and racially diverse neighborhood. The 1990 census reported 11,273 persons living in Elmwood, a 5 percent increase from the 10,715 persons who lived in Elmwood in 1980. In 1990, four out of ten residents in Elmwood were Hispanic, more than one in three (36%) was African American, 25.6 percent of the population was white, about 14 percent was Asian, and nearly 3 percent was Native American. The Asian and Hispanic populations recorded the largest increases over the past decade. The Asian population increased by more than 500 percent, rising from 2.4 percent of the population in 1980 to 13.7 percent in 1990. The Hispanic population more than doubled over this same period.

According to the 1990 census, four out of ten Elmwood residents were foreign born and more than six out of ten spoke English not well or not at all. Only half of Elmwood residents of age 25 or older had completed requirements for a high school degree in 1990. Four out of ten employed Elmwood residents worked in manufacturing in 1990, and about one out of five were employed in professional services. The 14.2 percent unemployment rate among Elmwood residents in 1990 was substantially higher than the citywide figure of 9.2 percent.

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. These stores, restaurants and small businesses have always provided Elmwood residents, new immigrants and other residents of the Southside of Providence with places to find necessary services, to work, to eat and to shop.

The median family income in Elmwood in 1989 was $19,552, about one-third lower than the citywide median family income. The incidence of poverty increased over the last decade for all age groups in Elmwood, and Elmwood continues to rank as one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. In 1990, more than one in three (35.1%) persons were poor, one out of three families was living below poverty, and nearly half of all children (47.6%) were poor. In addition, the proportion of elderly living in poverty increased from 26.6 percent in 1980 to 32.6 percent in 1990, although the number of elderly in poverty declined by about 20 percent during this same period.

Housing tenure in Elmwood remained fairly stable over the past decade. The proportion of owner-occupied housing units increased, rising from 24.1 percent in 1980 to 26.5 percent in 1990. Most housing units in Elmwood are multifamily, with about six out of ten housing units located in buildings with two to four units. About one in four units were located in buildings with five or more units. In 1990, more than two-thirds of the housing units in Elmwood were built more than 40 years ago. Residents are staying longer in their present housing units than was the case a decade ago. According to the 1990 census, 58 percent of Elmwood residents moved into their present housing unit within the past five years; nearly 7 out of 10 Elmwood residents had lived in their present housing unit for less than five years at the time of the 1980 census.