5 Maps

Main Label [James/Becky/Meghan – what changes to we want to make given the comments?]

We each carry a map of our neighborhood in our mind, a web of memory that traces the paths we have taken from one place to the next and records vanished communities of people and buildings. [This sentence begins strongly, but becomes wordy in the last half.] Although the Fox Point neighborhood of the early twentieth century no longer exists in the same geographic terms, it continues to survive as a remembered community. Recreating historic Fox Point through maps produced in 1937 for the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company and historical photographs of the area, This is a little wordy/dense as well. It may invite readers to skim over it. we invite you to reflect on this past and present community and the changes it has undergone.

Revision:

We each carry a map of our neighborhood in our mind, a web of memory that traces our paths through life, recording vanished communities of people and buildings. Although the Fox Point neighborhood of the early twentieth century no longer exists, it continues to survive as a remembered community.

Join us as we recreate historic Fox Point through maps and historical photographs of the area. Reflect on this past and present community, and the changes it has undergone.

Draft Version 2:

We each carry a map of our neighborhood in our mind, a web of memory that traces paths we have taken from one place to the next, recording the places, buildings and people that intersect with our lives. Although the Fox Point neighborhood of the early twentieth-century no longer exists in the same geographic terms, it survives as a remembered community. Recreating historic Fox Point through a map produced in 1937 for the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company and old photographs of the area, we invite you to reflect on this past and present community and the changes it has undergone.

Changes?

Revision:

We each carry a map of our neighborhood in our mind. This web of memory traces the paths we have taken and records the places, buildings and people that intersect with our lives. Although the Fox Point neighborhood of the early twentieth-century no longer exists in the same geographic terms, it survives as a remembered community.

Join us as we recreate historic Fox Point through this 1937 map, historical photographs, and oral histories of the area. Reflect on this past and present community and the changes it has undergone. Add your stories.

Jacques Restaurant ("Jake's") 126 Wickenden

". And there used to be right down here Benefit, right at the, down here at the end of Benefit, just at the red light, there was a Jake's Restaurant. And I used to love to go in there to get French fries or English muffins. So, I would always stop in there to get something." Donald Senna

Jacques Restaurant, named for the proprietors Leo and Hughes Jacques, was originally opened in the early 1920s on the now-missing section of Wickenden west of Benefit Street. It became popular with Fox Pointers for its cheap food and convenient location and was listed at 132 Wickenden by 1945.

Solomon's Market, 408 Benefit

"There was a grocery store up top of the hill-Solomon's." Joseph Cruz.

"Well, in fact, the property there, right now: the store, 410, which is the house next door to it, 412, which is next to that, are still owned by Lebanese people." Charles Simon

Started up in 1935 by Tony Solomon as a dry goods store, Solomon's on Benefit Street is now just a hand-painted sign next to Darwin's Liquors. It is a physical reminder, however, of the neighborhood as it was.

244 Wickenden

"Wickenden Street used to be bars every so often and now it's quite the place; there was a time when the police used to chase the people off the corners, you know, they would congregate at the corner of Brook and Wickenden." Horace Craig

The location at 244 Wickenden has been home to several establishments over the years. During the 1940s this was Sullivan's, a bar frequented mostly by Fox Pointers of Irish descent. It was then owned by Louis Farias and called Louie's Tap. In 1964, Manny Almeida moved his bar from downtown Providence to 244 Wickenden, and it is his Ringside Lounge that becomes central to displaced Cape Verdean Fox Pointers. Today, the building houses the Z-Bar.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxpoint/2516958269/ (looking for a better picture)

455 Wickenden

The result of a 1922 act addressing the public health risks posed by a lack of running hot water, the bath house at 455 Wickenden sat near the center of Tockwotton Park. While it was made obsolete by a 1953 zoning law and fell into disrepair, the Bath House has--through the efforts of the Fox Point community--recently been saved and repurposed as an expansion of the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School library and community space.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxpoint/3375595817/

Sheldon Street Church

51 Sheldon

Providence Boy’s Club

226 South Main

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxpoint/3302197766/

Our Lady of the Rosary Church

21 Traverse

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxpoint/2665790800/

St. Antonio & St. Isabel Societies

27 Power

http://picasaweb.google.com/fox.point9/StAntonio?locked=true#5322733595173063746

Salvation Army

483 South Main

http://picasaweb.google.com/fox.point9/SalvationArmy?locked=true#5322732591631033314

Alves House

88 Pike

http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxpoint/2936073501/

Place Labels - Residences

173 Brook Street, Providence, RI

Built in 1883, this three-story house lies opposite what was the Arnold Street School and Hennessey Laundry. At the time of the 1930 census, the home was owned by Rita Fanning and rented to Charles J. Murray and family for $40 per month. Murray worked in electric lighting to support his three young children, wife, and parents-in-law, who had arrived in the United States in 1900 from Ireland and Nova Scotia.

*Must include caption: "Image courtesy of the Providence Preservation Society."

*Becky has a ‘today’ photo

306-10 Benefit Street, Providence, RI

The Stephen Harris House, constructed in 1835, housed a variety of tenants from the Fox Point community. The 1930 census accounts for five distinct families renting rooms in the building, most prominently the Silvas and Garnets. Both heads of household, Charles Silva and Jesse Garnet, worked at the docks. Though all of the families claimed Cape Verdean heritage, many family members hailed originally from other states, including Vermont, West Virginia, and Florida.

*Must include caption: "Image courtesy of the Providence Preservation Society."

*Becky has a ‘today’ photo

Planning Table (Site List)

Big map

• • The basis for our section will be a BIG blown-up version of the 1937 Sanborn map., since it is very complete and detailed and was made during the middle of the period we are trying to focus on, the introductory text to our section will cover why we chose this map.

  • Labels and images will be off off to the side, connected to their locations on the map with string.

    • historic/contemporary photos

    • satellite photos (for contrast)

    • Just titles for places or include brief labels??

  • show the locations and the images of some important specific buildings - including old and new photographs

    • Boy’s Club (now Boy's & Girl's Club)

    • Holy Name Society

    • Sociedade Santiago

    • San Antonio Society

    • St. Isabel Society

    • Sheldon Street Church

    • Holy Rosary Church

    • Salvation Army

    • Port -- businesses??

    • Union hall

    • Manny Almeida’s Ringside Lounge

    • A residence on Transit St (info from PPS)

    • A public building (fire company? police station? both on Wickenden)

Table

• • will hold pages from the census book, for people to view

  • will have supplies that allow people to annotate the map (note cards, pins, string)

Electronic Media

• • necessary? -- seems that we can accomplish our goals w/o high-tech media

Residences:

173 Brook

http://gowdey.ppsri.org/gowdey/Brook/173,177%20173,%20177%20Brook%20St.%20Photo.JPG

http://gowdey.ppsri.org/gowdey/Brook/173,177%20173,%20177%20Brook%20St.pdf

and

308 Benefit

http://gowdey.ppsri.org/gowdey/Benefit%20Street/306-10%20306-310%20Benefit%20St.%20Photo.JPG

http://gowdey.ppsri.org/gowdey/Benefit%20Street/306-10%20306-308-310%20Benefit%20St.pdf