THE UNION STATION

In 1848 Providence's railroads were connected at a Union Depot on the Cove

The Providence Cove in 1823. The Woonasquatucket River enters from the west and the Moshassuck and West Rivers from the North. To the south is the Providence River, an arm of Narragansett Bay.

The ferry which connected the two early railroads was a handicap which had to be eliminated. The catalyst which resulted in the Providence railroads being joined at a Union station on the Providence Cove was the construction of the Providence & Worcester Railroad which was built to supplant the inefficient Blackstone Canal between the two cities. The P&W, with the support of the Boston & Providence and New York Providence & Boston, joined forces with commercial interests to overcome opposition to placing extensive rail facilities in the center of the business district of the city. Filling in a large portion of the Cove was an obvious way to obtain the land needed for a station, freight depots, engine houses and yards.

Part of the plan approved by the City Council on March 8, 1847 on the application of the P&W for authority to use a portion of the Cove for a depot. Note that the orientation of the map is different than the map above; north is to the right on this map. The Union Depot is shown on Cove Street as separate buildings for the NYP&B on the west and for the P&W and B&P on the east with a connecting track to the rear. The Blackstone Canal, which used the Moshassuck River can be seen. The center of the Cove was retained as a scenic fixture and circled with trees and a roadway. The remainder was filled.

The two railroads which terminated on the harbor were prevented from building from their original stations to the new Union Station by well developed commercial areas of the city. Consequently each had to build new routes to reach Providence. The Boston & Providence was restrained by College Hill to the east of the Cove so was forced to build a 4.4 mile extension from its mainline south of Attleboro to a junction with the Providence & Worcester in Central Falls at a point called Boston Switch. From there to the Cove it used the P&W route under a joint ownership agreement. The New York Providence & Boston reached the Cove by building a five mile belt line from a point north of Auburn called Harbor Junction which is now near Roger Williams Park. The NYP&B pulled-up the track to Crary Street and the roadbed became Allens Avenue. However, in 1872 it reoccupied a part of the route and in 1887-1888 reclaimed more of the roadbed as the west side of the harbor developed into a major port. The B&P retained its track to India Point and extended it to Fox Point as the harbor developed. The Providence & Worcester also provided freight service as far as Fox Point by building along the Providence River from the Cove.

The original routes of the three railroads are in green; only the P&W originally extended to the Cove. The extension of the Boston & Providence and the belt line of the New York, Providence & Boston are in red.

THOMAS A. TEFFT'S STATION

The Union Station designed by Thomas Tefft as seen from the location of City Hall.

The new Union Depot was designed by a 21 year old draftsman-architect in the Providence office of Tallman & Bucklin. Thomas Alxander Tefft's first job at the age of 17 was as a schoolmaster in his birthplace of Richmond, R.I. He had an early interest in design and gained attention designing country schools. He was urged to move to Providence to study architecture and became a member of the Bucklin household (Bucklin supervised the construction of the Union Station) and a student at Brown University from which he graduated in 1851. Tefft designed about 150 buildings, including two of the freight houses on the Cove, but died at the age of only 33 while traveling in Europe. His Union Station received a great compliment when in 1885 it was voted one of the twenty best buildings in the United States by the American Architect.

The 1847 plan of the Union Depot shows how it was conceived as two separate stations with a center passage opening on the Cove. The east side (right) housed the trains of the Providence & Worcester and the Boston & Providence while the west side (left) was for the New York Providence & Boston. Each side was essentially the same in layout and size. Although through tracks were part of the design, particularly to accommodate the Boat Trains, the station was expected to fuction mainly as a terminal; important cities wanted to be destinations, not way stations. Passengers expected to change trains to continue a long journey. The center opening was eventually closed and used for a restaurant. The second floor of the main sections included office space.

The postcard clearly shows Union Station's position relative to City Hall which was built in 1878 and still stands in what is now known as Kennedy Plaza. The track in the foreground is the Providence & Worcester's freight route to the wharfs.

Exchange Place is now Kennedy Plaza. The view is of the east end of the Union Depot used by the P&W and B&P trains.

DETAIL FROM THE PHOTOGRAPH ABOVE

UNION STATION FROM CITY HALL

The Providence & Worcester freight house is in the upper left.

The Tefft Depot is in red. The waterways in blue include the Moshassuck Canal on the right at Canal Street and the Woonasquatucket River flowing in from the left which join and become the Providence River in the right bottom and then Narragansett Bay. City Hall in the bottom center still stands today.