Olneyville Tire; Plainfield St #88

About this Property

#Reason for Demolition

According to the Facebook page for Olneyville Tires, the Olneyville Tire Shop was started by the Elman family in 1923. The earliest mention of an Elman as owner — Arnold Elman — is from the 1962 Polk’s Providence City Directory.¹ Norman Elman was later named in the incorporation papers from 1974.²

There seems to be more story here, as the owner of the Facebook page slams Sabina Mattos for being proud of demolishing the location of a small business. We could not find press about the proceedings that led to the demolition. If anyone can point us in the right direction, please leave some notes in the comments.

Demolition occured on January 6, 2021 according to video captured at the scene from Sabina Mattos’ Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/olneyvilletire

#Current Events

The lot is still empty and undeveloped.

#History

Some recent history and mentions:

• Photo on Instagram of the demolition from @OlneyvilleSystem
• From a Real Estate listing circa 2007: As Exclusive Agents we are pleased to offer this outstanding business and real estate opportunity. Our client’s very profitable new and used tire business has been in his family and operated at the same location for 87 years. The owner is retiring and also selling the 3,280 Square foot building with 25 foot ceilings and 3 bay doors. This excellent business and property is located on a heavily trafficked street in the revitalized Olneyville section of Providence. The tire business, with a solid record of profits, presently has an inventory valued at $95,000.00. Owner also holds a used car sales license. Asking price for this business and real estate is a reasonable $450,000.00. — Captured 02 August 2023 from http://www.riequities.com/userFiles/Listings/documents/OlneyvilleTire.pdf
• A mention of 90 Plainfield Street in a story about raids during prohibition — “New York’s Izzy Einstein Raids Rhode Island Saloons During Prohibition.” Christian McBurney for Small State Big History. Captured 02 August 2023.

Research by Ian O’Connor, August 2023

The earliest mention of the site as we know it dates back to August 30, 1889 in The Olneyville Times advertising that a man named William Charlesworth had been hired by the grocer George W. Amison at 40 Plainfield Street.² At the time the address was listed as 40-44 Plainfield Street Johnston, RI, and would remain so until 1898 when the boundaries between Johnston and Providence shifted and the rest of Olneyville was incorporated into the city.

Amison’s grocery store appears to have done quite well with The Olneyville Times reporting in January 24, 1890 that the business had grown steadily over the past 7 months and that Amison had taken over the adjacent storefront to expand his business.³

The store became a fixture in the community for decades with ads appearing in The Olneyville Times from 1890-1916. It appears that George Amison sold the business in the late 1910s or early 1920s.⁴ The ground floor of the building remained a grocery store until 1952⁵ but it changed hands multiple times and shrank in size to accommodate new businesses.

These included a small restaurant in the 1920s to provide the residents of Olneyville with hot meals. However, the restaurant also seems to have served as a speakeasy during prohibition and was raided by federal agents in 1922 for serving illegal liquor. By 1954, the ground floor space was occupied by the American Beef Company and Plainfield Street Shoe Repair along with a discount furniture business.

It should also be noted that the upper floors of the building were occupied by two or three small apartments. These units were home to a hairdresser, a teamsters, and even a switchboard operator among other tenants who called 86-90 Plainfield Street home over the years. Rents were relatively modest at $11 a month for a 5 room unit in 1930 according to an ad in the Providence Journal.⁶

Finally, in 1959, Olneyville Tire moved into the building from its former location next door at 77 Plainfield Street.⁷ The business had been supplying tires to Olneyville motorists since 1923 and needed to expand its operations to meet the postwar demand for tires. The owner of Olneyville Auto and Tire, Arnold Elman, purchased 86-90 Plainfield and added a new three bay garage sometime in the 1960s to accommodate their auto repair business. Norman Elman was later named in the incorporation papers from 1974 and appears to have run the business until his passing in 2015.⁸

It appears that in 2019 the building was cited by the City of Providence’s Department of Inspection and Standards for unsafe conditions and later condemned. A lien was placed on the property in January of 2020 and on January 5, 2021 the building was torn down. As of today, it appears that the property is still owned by the Elman family.

Maps

The building appears on an 1889 map in the most recent shape and size. The building is not present on an 1875 map, but rather, there is a property labelled “Budlong” in its place.

• 1875 Volume 2, Plate AA — At the corner of Plainfield and Windsor Streets is a property labelled “Budlong,” a house that was previously located here. It was presumably torn down after the death of its owner, Ms.Huldah Budlong, in 1882¹ to make way for the new building which better fit the bustling commercial district of Olneyville Square.
• 1889 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 1, Plate 27a (page 55) — On the corner of (what was then) Windsor and Plainfield Streets is number 40 and 42, a wood frame structure of mostly three stories with a Windsor Street first-story-facing outcropping and then a Plainfield Street one-story ground floor section. The postal addresses are 40 and 42.
• 1900 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 3, Plate 264 (page 54) — On the corner of Atwood (formerly Windsor) and Plainfield Streets is the same structure. Labelled three and one half stories instead of three, it has similar ground-floor outcroppings and interior walls on the drawing may indicate the three different postal units: 86, 88, and 90.