The History of College Hill

College Hill, the site of the first permanent colonial settlement in Rhode Island, was founded by Roger Williams in 1636. At the start of the American Revolution the area was located near the river, and comprised of many wharves, homes, stores and public buildings. As the Revolution came to a close there was an expansion in the residential areas. Many merchants and professional artisans began to move into the neighborhood. Several elaborate and prestigious mansions were also created during this time.

During the first half of the nineteenth century College Hill continued to experience growth. A surge in institutional growth led to the creation of many new churches, schools and the town library. Commercial growth was also occurring as North Main Street became a mecca for metal and jewelry trades. Several base metal operations and shops were created.

College Hill saw major land development in the Northern and Eastern sections ,both before and after the civil war. Brown University was responsible for many of the new developments. Also at this time the Hope Reservoir was created (1875) to aid the cities water supply. The Reservoir helped to bring in many homes around the perimeter.

In the 1880's and 1890's many "Red"impressive homes were created south of Stimson Avenue, Cooke Street and Dimon Place. By the turn of the century College Hill was inhabited mainly by upper class individuals , hence making for an extremely homogenous community of wealthy whites. College Hill was able to retain its homogenous makeup, even though all other areas of the city experienced immigrant influxes.

During the 20^th century College Hill faced problems as both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design pushed for expansion. Browns expansion measures entered the residential area, as 100 homes were demolished in order to make way for the development of two new dormitories. Rhode Island School of Design expanded out to cover three more streets.

During the 1950's and 1960's many of the historic homes which were dilapidated and mainly used to house a small minority population, were targeted for demolition under the urban renewal plan. This is an example of how the pre -1970's urban renewal style was focused more on mass clearance and destruction, instead of rehabilitation. The Providence Preservation Society was able to halt the destruction of these homes, and become one of the first in the country to embrace rehabilitation over demolition. A negative aspect of rehabilitation was that the minute minority population faced displacement. Currently nearly all of the historic buildings have gone through major renovation ,and still retain much of their originality.

At present, College Hill remains a mainly white upper class community. Commercial appeal can be found amongst the many stores, restaurants, and theater. Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design continue to control large areas of the community, due to their continual expansion.

The financial conditions surrounding College Hill make for a very unique neighborhood, as compared with the rest of Providence. The median family income in College Hill is 82,200, that is nearly three times that is nearly three times the city average. In addition less than 3 percent of families have incomes that fall below the poverty level The median value of a home is 364,200, and rents are 33 percent higher than the city median 82 percent of the College hill population is White thus minorities, especially low income minorities would find getting adaquate housing and a welcoming sense of community to be quite rare. Because the majority of the community is wealthy, there are few community services that could foster the addition of a more varied and heterogeneous population.

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