Building of the Providence Cable Tramway in 1889 fascinated Rhode Islanders. A power house on South Angell Street, near the Seekonk River, pulled 17,000 feet of cable more than an …
Read More
The character and deportment of the Union Railroad’s drivers and conductors won the carrier legions of patrons. The horsecar enterprise, however, was an urban system that operated within a few …
Read More
Passengers and carmen enjoyed a close, personal rapport during the horsecar period. Despite a company prohibition against “unnecessary conversation with passengers,” both drivers and conductors cultivated a clientele almost like …
Read More
The letter penned by Sullivan Ballou, a major in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment hailing from Smithfield, one week before he fought at the first Battle of Bull Run, …
Read More
The year 2018 was not a particularly strong year for the publication of Rhode Island history books. Next year is shaping up to be a banner year, I hear. But …
Read More
In the early morning hours of October 19, 1864, a large Confederate force under the command of Jubal Early attacked a Union encampment near Cedar Creek, Virginia. Stunned from the …
Read More
Rhode Island from its earliest days as a colony had a large degree of political freedom. Unlike most other English colonies that had either an appointed royal governor, such as …
Read More
The Sprague Brothers’ Union (Horse) Railroad decided to hire the best available personnel by paying generous wages. Horsecar workers received a two-dollar-a-day salary at the inception of service in 1864. …
Read More
Providence was ready to experiment with a new form of transportation at the end of the Civil War, a means of travel popularized in several other Metropolitan areas. New York …
Read More
As the stagecoach disappeared from the urban scene with bittersweet memories for drivers and passengers, it was replaced temporarily by the next stage in the evolution of local mass transit—the …
Read More