News

Small but Mighty: Woonsocket’s Federal Street Historic District Earns Federal Designation

Downtown business district added to National Register of Historic Places

(Woonsocket, RI) A cluster of six properties encompassing most of a city block in downtown Woonsocket has been recognized for its contributions to the community and architectural history of the city. Jeffrey Emidy, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, announced that the National Park Service has added the Federal Street Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is the official list of places and objects of significance in American history, architecture, and culture. 

The Federal Street Historic District is notable for its concentration of institutional properties, with its contributing buildings used for various religious, recreational, educational, and social functions. The District extends nearly the length of Federal Street, which was laid out between 1903 and 1911 to open new parcels for development as downtown Woonsocket expanded. Properties included in the Historic District designation are:

• JOSEPH GRENON’S GARAGE/STADIUM GARAGE/INTERNATIONAL TRADES UNION BUILDING (1925), 122 Clinton Street/53 Federal Street
• MASONIC TEMPLE (1929), 142 Clinton Street
• FIRESTONE SERVICES STORES, INC. (1930, additions ca. 1965), 160 Clinton Street
• FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (1907-08), 1 Federal Street
• YMCA (1910-11), 43 Federal Street
• WOONSOCKET COMMERCIAL SCHOOL/SCHOOL OF COMMERCIALSCIENCES/HILL COLLEGE (ca. 1923), 77 Federal Street

(10/30/24)

Six new commissioners appointed

The Rhode Island Senate confirmed the following new appointments to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission. The new Commissioners provide expertise in architectural history, architecture, historic preservation, heritage, history, and interpretation. 

Pierson Booher AIA is a Principal and Partner at DBVW Architects in Providence, where he specializes in the preservation, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic properties.

Catherine DeCesare, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Rhode Island, specializes in Rhode Island history, legal, colonial, and applied history and serves as Co-Director of the URI Applied History Lab. 

R. Drayton Fair, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C is Vice-chair of the RI Board of Examination and Registration of Architects and Principal Emeritus of LLB Architects.

Silvermoon Mars LaRose is a Narragansett tribal citizen and the assistant director of the Tomaquag Museum. She aims to foster Indigenous empowerment through education, community building and the sharing of cultural knowledge and traditional arts. 

Marta Martínez is the founder and executive director of Rhode Island Latino Arts the state’s only nonprofit organization that focuses on the cultural arts, history, and heritage of Rhode Island Latinos. A community oral historian, she manages the Latino History Archives.

Brent Runyon is the founder of Runyon Heritage Associates, a heritage preservation consultancy and is an independent real estate agent specializing in historic properties.

A special thank you to outgoing Commissioners J. Michael Abbott, C. Morgan Grefe, and Clark Schoettle. 

Rhode Island Cemetery Weeks in April and May

Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Awareness and Preservation Weeks (Rhode Island Cemetery Weeks) will feature dozens of free programs in April and May. Rhode Islanders of all ages are invited to participate in tours, clean-ups, hikes, talks, and other programs at and about historic cemeteries throughout the state. Rhode Island Cemetery Weeks is organized by the Rhode Island Advisory Commission on Historical Cemeteries and RIHPHC in collaboration with many individual and organizational partners. Check out the event schedule with more to come. (3/14/24)

R.I. African American Civil Rights history initiative rolls on!

RIHPHC was recently awarded an Underrepresented Communities Grant from the National Park Service to fund a Multiple Property Documentation Form and National Register nominations for four properties related to the theme of African American Civil Rights.

Work is also underway to nominate the former home of John Carter Minkins to the National Register. A professional journalist, Minkins (1869-1959) is recognized as the first person of African Heritage to lead a mainstream white newspaper in the U.S. He was also one of Rhode Island's leading civil rights advocates, wielding the power of the press and his oratorical skills to call out and fight racial injustice. (2/19/24)

Preservation planning grants awarded (2023) and available (2024)

RIHPHC has awarded six Certified Local Government (CLG) grants to support local preservation programs:

• COVENTRY: $10,000 to to survey the historic villages of Arkwright, Harris and Greene
• CRANSTON/Preserve Rhode Island: $16,500 to research/prepare a National Register Historic District Nomination for Garden City
• CUMBERLAND: $12,000 to research/prepare a National Register Historic District Nomination for Grant’s Mill
• EAST PROVIDENCE: $8000 to complete a condition assessment and preservation plan for the Newman Cemetery
• PROVIDENCE/Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy: $7,500 to research/prepare a National Register Historic District Nomination for Neutaconkanut Hill Park
• SOUTH KINGSTOWN: $20,000 to survey/resurvey areas of Matunuck that are threatened by coastal flooding and sea level rise.

Learn more about the 2024 CLG grant round. Applications are due by March 15, 2024. (1/18/24)