friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 1, 2021 4:52:38 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1815 *Governor (1849-'51) Henry B. Anthony is born in Coventry.
1865 *Citizens National Bank (formerly the Citizens Bank of Woonsocket) is organized and granted federal charter #970.
1883 *Every company in the Providence Fire Department is supplied with a permanent captain.
1885 *Providence Hook and Ladder Company No. 5 receives a new Roller-Frame City Service Ladder Truck.
1899 *The First Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, raised for the war with Spain, is formerly disbanded at the Dexter Training Ground in Providence.
1902 *Rhode Island's first commercial wireless radio station begins operation at Point Judith.
1942 *The Army Air Force assumes control of T.F. Green Airport in Warwick. Renamed Hillsgrove Army Air Base, it'll be used as a fighter base for the First Army Air Force and a transition-training base for officers upon graduation from flying school.
2004 *The takeover of FleetBoston Financial Corporation by Bank of America Corporation takes effect at 12:01am. Although headquartered in Boston since 1995, Fleet had remained incorporated in Rhode Island. Its original predecessor, Providence Bank, was incorporated in 1791, and over the years, it came to be known by a variety of names, including Providence National Bank, Industrial Trust Company, Industrial National Bank of Rhode Island, Industrial National Corporation and, in 1982, Fleet Financial Group.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 6, 2021 5:24:02 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1741 *West Greenwich is taken from East Greenwich and incorporated as a town.
1776 *Esek Hopkins puts the British ship Glasgow to flight. Meanwhile, the frigate Rose departs from Newport for repairs at the Halifax Dockyard and George Washington visits Rhode Island.
1865 *Rhode Island National Bank (formerly the Arcade Bank of Providence) is organized and granted federal charter #983.
1933 *The Rhode Island Beer Bill, which mandates a three tier sales system (from brewery to distributor to retailer), becomes law after an all-night session.
1963 *Crews in Woonsocket are working to sweep up the 8,180 tons of sand that were spread over city streets during the winter.
2004 *Workers return to the Masonic Temple in Providence for the first time in seventy-six years, and begin the job of renovating it into a hotel. The cost estimate for the hotel is $77 million.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 8, 2021 5:03:21 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1776 *Commodore Esek Hopkins reaches New London, Connecticut, with ammunition and stores captured in the Bahamas.
1903 *Governor (1951-'59) Dennis J. Roberts is born in Providence.
1954 *Governor Dennis J. Roberts signs a bill extending daylight saving time from the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday in October.
1961 *Original Survivor villain and winner Richard H. Hatch, Jr. is born in Newport.
1969 *Penn Central's high-speed UAC TurboTrain passenger train service between Providence and New York is inaugurated.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 9, 2021 4:42:04 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1838 *The office of Superintendent of Schools, the first in New England, is created in Providence. [Nathan Bishop is elected to the position on July 23, 1839].
1865 *Providence fire alarms announce an enormous bonfire, celebrating Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
1917 *The 3000-seat Emery's Majestic Theatre opens on Washington Street in Providence. Opening day includes vaudeville acts on stage and Ethel Barrymore in The White Raven and Max Linder in Max Wants a Divorce on the screen.
1989 *Vartan Gregorian is inaugurated as the 16th president of Brown University.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 14, 2021 18:27:38 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1644 *The Narragansett Indians cede land to England.
1776 *The British fleet under Captain James Wallace withdraws (or is driven) from Narragansett Bay.
1842 *Elleanor Eldredge of Providence goes to court and successfully defends her brother against charges of assault.
1865 *Mechanics National Bank (formerly the Mechanics Bank of Providence), and National Hope Bank (formerly the Hope Bank of Warren), are organized and granted federal charters #1007 and #1008, respectively.
1956 *The First Annual Open Salt Water Fishing Derby kicks off in Narragansett with $13,500 worth of prizes. It will run through November 3.
1981 *Former governor (1939-'41) William H. Vanderbilt III dies at the age of 79.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 16, 2021 5:19:45 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1777 *The Continental Congress urges Rhode Island to raise troops to expel the British from Newport.
1881 *Members of the Providence Fire Department are given two days off each month for slight recreation.
1913 *The Atlantic National Bank of Providence (Charter #2913) fails due to embezzlement and bad loans.
1915 *United States senator (1881-1911) Nelson W. Aldrich dies in New York City. Because of his impact on national politics, he was referred to as the "general manager of the United States."
1919 *A portion of Johnston is re-annexed to Providence, from which it was taken in 1759.
1968 *The controversial three-year effort of a Constitutional Convention to write a new state constitution ends in failure as the convention's proposal is defeated by Rhode Island voters, 17,615 yeas to 69,110 nays.
1973 *The Department of Defense announces the closing of the Newport and Quonset Navy bases which will result in 17,000 Navy and civilian personnel leaving the Rhode Island area. The Davisville Seabee Center is to remain open.
1986 *Harry Kizirian, Rhode Island Postmaster for twenty-five years, announces that he will retire on June 7 rather than accept a lower position in the postal service reorganization.
1996 *The assets of Rocky Point Amusement Park are sold off, but the partnership that owns the waterfront property in Warwick says it will reopen in the summer as a seasonal fairground.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 21, 2021 12:57:27 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1524 *Giovanni da Verrazano arrives in Narragansett Bay.
1898 *The Rhode Island General Assembly appropriates $150,000 for Spanish American War expenses.
1955 *The Narragansett Ground Observer Corps, the best in Rhode Island, is hailed as a model for the U.S.
1976 *Retired Air Force Colonel Joseph Zinno, 52, of North Providence, becomes the first American to fly a human-powered aircraft. On his second attempt, at daybreak at Quonsett Point, he flies his 150-pound balsa wood and mylar Olympian about 80 feet.
1995 *The University of Rhode Island holds ground-breaking ceremonies to launch the $25 million Coastal Institute.
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friar82
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Post by friar82 on Apr 23, 2021 4:23:08 GMT -5
Today in RI history...
1907 *The General Assembly adjourns indefinitely after eighty-one ballots fail to yield a choice for United States Senator.
1952 *A law is enacted making the establishment of new race tracks in Rhode Island contingent on a referendum by voters in the community concerned.
1953 *The Rhode Island Supreme Court hands down a unanimous advisory opinion declaring unconstitutional all home rule charter provisions that assume, for the city or town involved, the authority to say how off-year municipal elections shall be conducted. The Court says the General Assembly has the authority under the Constitution to prescribe the form of general municipal elections.
1964 *Three Narragansett fishermen are still missing after searchers find the dory of the Point Judith vessel Questions.
1967 *Martin Luther King visits Rhode Island for the second [and last] time. In a sermon delivered before 600 people in Sayles Hall at Brown University, he speaks against poverty, racial inequality, and the Vietnam War.
1984 *Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, having pled no contest to assaulting Raymond DeLeo, is given a five-year suspended sentence.
1993 *Joseph Mollicone, Jr., is convicted of twenty-six counts of fraud and embezzlement for his looting of Heritage Loan and Investment.
1996 *A Colorado educator, Stephen T. Hulbert, accepts the job of commissioner of higher education after the state's Unclassified Pay Plan Board agrees to give him a salary of $117,900, making him the highest paid department head in the state.
2013 *Rhode Island's Senate Judiciary Committee approves same-sex marriage, 7 to 4.
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