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Post by friar82 on Feb 15, 2021 17:09:24 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1641 *Daniel, the fifth child of Roger and Mary Williams, is born in Providence.
1776 *British Captain James Wallace returns to Prudence Island to burn more houses and a windmill.
1781 *British forces arrive at Virginia's Dan River eight hours after the last of the Continental Army, under General Nathanael Greene, had completed the crossing using all available boats.
1820 *William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence, dies in Newport at 92 while reading Tully's Offices in Latin.
1830 *The freemen of Providence vote down a proposal to incorporate as a city.
1888 *The Aldrich House Hotel on Washington Street in Providence, and the entire city block surrounding it, is destroyed by fire at a loss of $400,000.
1928 *Memorial exercises are held by the Rhode Island General Assembly in recognition of the public services of the late two-time governor (1909-'15, 1925-'28), Aram J. Pothier.
1985 *The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that when a school committee signs a contract or incurs expenses necessary to the operation of schools, taxpayers have no choice but to pay the bills.
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Post by friar82 on Feb 18, 2021 8:47:28 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1723 *Qualification for freemen of the towns is restricted to freeholders of lands to the value of £100 or forty shillings per annum, or the eldest son of such a freeholder. Freemen of towns are permitted to vote for Deputies (Representatives).
1792 *Jeweler and silversmith Jabez Gorham is born in Providence.
1815 *Peace is declared in the war with England.
1865 *National Niantic Bank (formerly the Niantic Bank of Westerly) is organized and granted federal charter #823.
1873 *Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens a three-day engagement in Providence [the first of scores of Rhode Island shows up through 1916].
1888 *Providence's Theatre Comique on Weybosset Street is gutted by fire at a loss of $100,000.
1920 *Three are known to have perished in a fire early this morning which burned the three upper floors of the Hotel Lorraine on Aborn Street in Providence. Two bodies are found under debris and one man is fatally injured jumping from a fourth floor window to an adjoining roof.
1976 *Joseph Nelson Goucher (aka Eddie Dowling), writer, actor, stage producer (Rainbow Man, Honeymoon Lane, "Anywhere U.S.A."), dies in Smithfield. The Eddie Dowling Highway in North Smithfield is named for him.
1986 *For the first time since 1979 the price of regular gasoline falls below one dollar at some Rhode Island stations
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Post by friar82 on Feb 19, 2021 7:31:02 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1672 *A black servant to Samuel Reep complains to Providence officials about his mistreatment at the home of Mr. Reep.
1842 *The state constitution framed on November 11, 1841, known as the Landholders' Constitution, is adopted by the Convention. It still needs to be voted on by the electorate.
1880 *The Providence Art Club is founded.
1888 *The Daniels and Cornell Building on Custom House Street in Providence is destroyed by fire at a loss of $175,000.
1952 *A special election in Pawtucket sends the first Republican state senator from that city in twenty years to the General Assembly, returning a GOP majority to the Senate.
1974 *A report released by the Navy today indicates that cutbacks in Rhode Island last year cost the state 3,506 civilian jobs, 20,044 military positions, and a $172 million payroll.
1976 *Plans for a complete overhaul of the Department of Corrections—including a new director, new facilities, and reorganization of personnel—are announced by Governor Philip Noel. He appoints Bradford E. Southworth to fill the unexpired term of former director of corrections, Anthony P. Travisono.
1979 *The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that the state's mandatory death penalty law for certain crimes, passed by the Legislature in 1973, is unconstitutional. This would seem to be a no-brainer, since the death penalty had previously been abolished by state constitutional amendment in 1852.
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Post by friar82 on Feb 21, 2021 10:03:02 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1895 *Central Falls is taken from Lincoln and incorporated as a city.
1896 *The vacant Union Train Station on Exchange Place in Providence is gutted by fire at a loss of $50,000.
1990 *The Narragansett Times reports on efforts by Rhode Island State Senator William C. O'Neill to rename Galilee State Beach to Salty Brine State Beach
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Post by friar82 on Feb 22, 2021 6:52:12 GMT -5
Today in RI history (26 days until Spring)...
1732 *George Washington is born in Pope's Creek, Virginia [Gregorian calendar].
1738 *James Manning, [first president of Brown University], is born.
1756 *On his way to Boston for a meeting with General William Shirley, George Washington visits Rhode Island for the first time. While there he celebrates his twenty-fourth birthday at the Newport home of Godfrey Malbone.
1758 *Governor William Greene dies in office at the age of 62. He was elected to three non-consecutive terms under the Royal Charter of 1663—1743-'45, 1746-'47, and 1757-'58.
1813 *Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry leaves Newport to engage British forces on Lake Erie.
1985 *The Rhode Island Supreme Court unanimously upholds a decision of the Workers' Compensation Commission that workers in stressful jobs should be compensated for stress-related disabilities.
1986 *About five hundred immigrants, living in Rhode Island, become United States citizens in a naturalization ceremony in East Providence.
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Post by friar82 on Feb 23, 2021 4:19:34 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1784 *Prompted in part by the heroic service of black soldiers in the Revolutionary struggle, the Rhode Island Legislature passes the Negro Emancipation Act. It provides for the gradual abolition of slavery—all children born of slaves after March 1, 1784, will be freed at the age of twenty-one for boys and eighteen for girls.
1943 *Rhode Islanders line up to register for food ration books.
2006 *A Rhode Island jury is the first in the country to find major paint companies liable for creating a public nuisance by selling lead-based paints.
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Post by friar82 on Feb 24, 2021 5:26:26 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1783 *The rights of Roman Catholics to freedom of conscience and religious liberty are restored by the Rhode Island General Assembly, correcting a transcription error made in 1719.
1869 *Shiloh Baptist Church in Newport is first used for church purposes.
1875 *A seal for the public use of the State is called for: "the form of an anchor shall be engraven thereon, the motto thereof shall be the word 'Hope,' and in a circle around the same shall be engraven the words 'Seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 1636.'"
1965 *United Transit Company reports its most disastrous year in 1964 with a loss of $234,643.
1989 *The Narragansett Times reports that the State has acquired a 940-square-foot parcel of land north of Scarborough State Beach, which adds about four acres to the beach and links it to Black Point. (AKA: Stinky Beach)
1994 *Rhode Island's financing system for public education is ruled unconstitutional and discriminatory by Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Needham.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 1, 2021 20:15:14 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1664 *Captain John Cranston is "lycenced and commissioned" by the Rhode Island General Assembly "to adminester physsicke and practice chirurgery throughout this whole colony..."
1784 *The Negro Emancipation Act goes into effect. Henceforth all Negroes born of slaves will be freed at the age of twenty-one for boys and eighteen for girls.
1786 *Betsey Metcalf, [who will start making straw bonnets as a child and turn the craft into a booming business], is born in Providence.
1854 *The Providence Fire Department goes from volunteer to professional.
1862 *In settlement of the boundary question, Fall River is ceded to Massachusetts. The westerly part of Seekonk is ceded to Rhode Island and incorporated as the Towns of East Providence and Pawtucket.
1932 *Governor Norman S. Case signs an act repealing the state prohibition enforcement law.
1935 *State administrative re-organization—part of January's "Bloodless Revolution"—is carried into effect; new directors take office.
1943 *The first day under the new food rationing plan.
1946 *T.F. Green Airport re-opens for civilian use. The field was used by the Army Air Force for flight training from 1942 to '45.
1967 *Dr. Francis H. Horn resigns as president of the University of Rhode Island.
1974 *Governor Philip Noel, in order to reduce long waiting lines for the purchase of gasoline, establishes an odd-even system, whereby automobiles with registration plates ending in an odd number may purchase gas only on odd numbered calendar dates and registration plates ending in an even number may purchase gas only on even numbered calendar dates.
1976 *A 1971 state law requiring local school districts to provide free bus transportation for children attending ''regional'' private and parochial schools outside the immediate district is struck down by the Supreme Court.
1978 *A settlement is reached in the three-year-old Narragansett Indian land claim that gives a private, Indian-dominated land authority the control of about 1,900 acres of land in Charlestown.
1988 *After nearly a half-century of decline, it's announced that Rhode Island's population rose three percent over the past two years.
1996 *The State Supreme Court rules that the Department of Children, Youth, and Families does not have to continue efforts to rehabilitate convicted killer Craig Price. Price killed four of his Warwick neighbors, including two sisters aged 8 and 10, before he was 16.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 2, 2021 5:46:31 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1775 *In broad daylight, a drummer summons the people of Providence to "burn the needless herb" in protest against British taxation. Men and women alike bring about 300 pounds of tea to Market Square, where it is destroyed in a large bonfire.
1778 *Nathanael Greene is appointed quartermaster general at Valley Forge.
1779 *South Carolina assumes payment of $50,000 in taxes apportioned by Congress to Rhode Island, (which is in dire distress because of the British occupation).
1916 *A fire of suspicious origin is discovered in the managing editor's room of the Providence Journal building. The blaze, confined to that room and an adjacent room, is quickly suppressed by sprinklers, chemical extinguishers, and the actions of the fire department. Property damage amounts to an estimated $3,000.
1948 *A new record is established when the year's twentieth snow storm brings the state's total snowfall to 73.3 inches.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 3, 2021 3:59:08 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1744 *Primus, a mulatto, and widow Hannah Toby, a Native American woman, both of South Kingstown, are married.
1764 *An act for the establishment of a college is passed by the General Assembly. [Subsequently called Rhode Island College, the trustees renamed the institution Brown University in 1804. It is the seventh oldest college in the country].
1770 *A petition is sent to the Rhode Island General Assembly proposing a division of the town of Providence, with that portion lying on the west bank of the river to be called Westminster. The petition is refused.
1776 *The Continental fleet, sailing from Narragansett Bay under Rhode Islander Esek Hopkins, captures Nassau in the Bahamas, gaining guns and powder. The Providence is the first American vessel to land Marines in an amphibious assault.
1863 *Governor (1860-'63) William Sprague IV resigns to take up the post of United States senator.
1865 *Slater National Bank of North Providence (formerly Slater Bank) is organized and granted federal charter #856.
1871 *Congress enacts the Civil Service Act, after a campaign led by Thomas Jenckes of Rhode Island.
1916 *Governor (1969-1973) Frank Licht is born in Providence.
1922 *One-man trolley cars are put in service on the Elmwood-Chalkstone Avenue line by the United Electric Railways Company.
1989 *The first baby conceived in the Women and Infants Hospital in-vitro fertilization program is born, at 6:59pm.
1995 *As a step toward significantly reducing the demands placed on the Northeast's beleaguered fishing grounds, the United States Commerce Department announced a $2 million pilot program designed to buy out commercial fishermen in the region.
2015 *Former Speaker of the House Gordon Fox pleads guilty to wire fraud, bribery, and filing a false tax return.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 4, 2021 8:41:18 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1766 *The "Daughters of Liberty" society is organized by eighteen young women in Providence. While there are several organizations of young men, or "Sons of Liberty," throughout the colonies, this is the first organization of patriotic young women.
1776 *Fresh from victory in Nassau, the Continental fleet, under Rhode Islander Esek Hopkins, captures New Providence in the Bahamas.
1797 *Governor (1845-'46) Charles Jackson is born in Providence.
1858 *Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, who opened Japanese ports to world trade in 1854, dies at the age of 63.
1901 *The remains of General Nathanael Greene, whose burial place had been lost for nearly a century, are found in a tomb at Savannah, Georgia.
1933 *To prevent the failure of local banks precipitated by a rush by many to turn their bank deposits into hard currency, acting governor Robert E. Quinn declares a bank holiday.
1960 *A record blizzard, with 17.7 inches of snow, brings business to a halt.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 5, 2021 6:48:55 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1595 *William Blackstone, the first European settler in Rhode Island, is born in Durham County, England.
1770 *Four colonists are shot dead, and several wounded, by British soldiers during an incident at the State House in Boston, Massachusetts.
1776 *George Washington visits Providence (through March 7th).
1781 *Job Watson, long the lookout at the famous tower on Tower Hill in South Kingstown spots George Washington and his party traveling in their carriages along the Post Road. Watson spreads the news, and Rhode Islanders greet Washington along the route. The general is on his way to Newport to discuss plans for the campaign against the British in the South. Upon his arrival the French troops stand at attention on Long Wharf and both sides of the street leading to Vernon House, Rochambeau's Newport headquarters.
1932 *The Rhode Island General Assembly passes an act redistricting Rhode Island into two congressional districts (from three), in compliance with the Reapportionment Act of 1929.
1933 *All Rhode Island banks close due to a national financial panic. [Banks will able to supply currency again by March 13].
1984 *Providence mayor Buddy Cianci pleads no contest to assaulting Raymond DeLeo. Meanwhile, city and state planners announce that they want to move two rivers, tear out the widest bridge in the world (the Crawford Street Bridge), and relocate a World War I monument, in Providence.
1993 *Judge Raymond J. Pettine rules that the Narragansett Indian tribe has the authority to build a gambling casino on its land in Charlestown.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 7, 2021 16:30:43 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1638 *The Portsmouth Compact is signed, establishing the settlement at Portsmouth.
1644 *Samuel Gorton and his followers are banished from Massachusetts, as well as from their own lands at Showomet.
1707 *Stephen Hopkins [signer of the Declaration of Independence and ten-time governor of Rhode Island], is born.
1826 *Governor (1887-'88, 1890-'91) John W. Davis is born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
1866 *Rhode Island schools are desegregated by an act of the General Assembly.
1898 *Fire breaks out in the five-story building occupied by Brownell & Field, wholesale grocery, in Providence. Three alarms are sent in, summoning nearly all of the available apparatus to the scene. Before it can be brought under contriol, the blaze spreads to an adjoining building occupied by Arnold, Peck and Company, wholesale druggists, and badly guts the fourth and fifth floors. Total damage is estimated at $150,000.
1973 *The first evening session of the Rhode Island Senate takes place. It is called to order at 7:05pm by His Honor the Lieutenant Governor J. Joseph Garrahy and adjourned at 8:55pm. The session is attended by approximately 200 of the general public.
1989 "War Veteran" license plates are introduced for purchase.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 9, 2021 6:11:59 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1776 *The Rhode Island General Assembly orders the establishment of a colony gunpowder mill.
1819 *The African Union Society opens its first church in Providence, the African Meeting House.
1933 *Five days after Rhode Island banks were closed to prevent panic withdrawals, they partially reopen and issue scrip, each depositor and payroll employee being limited to $10.
1939 *Governor William Henry Vanderbilt signs an act establishing civil service for state employees.
1997 *Governor (1950-'51) John S. McKiernan dies in East Greenwich at the age of 85.
2004 *Senator John Celona resigns from the Senate amid growing evidence of ethics violations. Among other things, he's accused of accepting money in the service of Blue Cross and CVS while, at the same time, serving on a committee that regulated health care.
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Post by friar82 on Mar 12, 2021 8:28:58 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1640 *The name of Portsmouth is confirmed in General Court in Newport. Portsmouth and Newport unite and William Coddington is elected Governor.
1680 *Governor (1678-'80) John Cranston dies in office at the age of 55.
1906 *The Evening Telegram becomes the Evening Tribune.
1971 *President Nixon delivers an address at Newport Naval Officer Candidate School at the graduation of his son-in-law, David Eisenhower.
2012 *Cranston's Olivia Culpo is crowned the very first Miss USA from Rhode Island.
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