Tag: The Superlatives

At the turn of the 20th century, the largest screw manufacturer in the country

#UsedToBeThere,#ArchiveRI | College Hill | Built: 1840–1873 | Demolition: 1971 | Decade: 1840-1849

This mill was once the largest lace producer in the country

#NotInRuins | Pawtucket, RI | Built: 1899 | Decade: 1890-1899

By the late 1880s, its production of worsted and cotton-wrap fabric was the largest in Providence, employing over 2000 workers

#NotInRuins | Olneyville/Valley | Built: 1871–1899 | Decade: 1870-1879

The first permanent, multistory office building in the United States made entirely from shipping containers

#WhatAreTheyBuilding | Olneyville/Valley | Built: 2009-2010 | Decade: 2010-2019

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Brown & Sharpe was one of the best-known and most influential machine tool builders and was a leading manufacturer of instruments for machinists

#NotInRuins | Smith Hill | Built: 1872–1941 | Redeveloped: 1986–2017 | Decade: 1870-1879

The first department store of its magnitude in Providence established in 1866 — the building would later be replaced in 1873

#NotInRuins | Downtown Providence | Built: 1866, 1873, 1892 | 1897 | Redeveloped: 2004-2005 | Decade: 1860-1869

At the turn of the 20th century, the largest metal-working foundries in the world

#ArchiveRI,#UsedToBeThere | South Providence | Built: 1890 | Demolition: 1998 | Decade: 1890-1899

In 1894, this was the first direct investment by a British manufacturer in the United States

#UsedToBeThere | Massachusetts | Built: 1894 | Demolition: 2015 | Decade: 1890-1899

After 1925, the largest laundry business in RI with 150 employees and 16 outlets throughout the state

#UsedToBeThere | West Side | Built: 1906 | Demolition: 2008 | Decade: 1900-1909

City directories listed the company as the largest receivers of roofing materials in New England

#UsedToBeThere | West Side | Built: 1892 | Demolition: 2020 | Decade: 1890-1899

The largest cold storage plant in New England outside of Boston with nearly 3 million cubic feet of storage by 1910

#UsedToBeThere,#ArchiveRI | Smith Hill | Built: 1894-1911 | Demolition: 1998 | Decade: 1890-1899

By 1915, the largest lager beer brewery in New England

#ArchiveRI,#UsedToBeThere | Cranston, RI | Built: 1890 | Demolition: 1998 | Decade: 1890-1899

At one time, the largest consumer of wool in the United States

#NotInRuins | Olneyville/Valley | Built: 1881–1930 | Redeveloped: 2003-2005 | Decade: 1880-1889

The first LEED-certified college residence hall in the state

#WhatAreTheyBuilding | Providence, RI | Built: 2006–2007 | Decade: 2000-2009

#NotInRuins | South Providence | Built: 1887–1892 | Redeveloped: 2004-2005 | Decade: 1880-1889

The African Masonic Lodge was the first institution, other than the Black church, that organized on behalf of African Americans in the United States

#UrbanDecay | South Providence | Built: circa 1890 | Decade: 1890–1899

With a capacity of 13,000 spectators, it was the largest bicycle track in the country during the 1920s

#UsedToBeThere,#ArchiveRI | East Side | Built: 1925 | Demolition: 1937 | Decade: 1920-1929

During the mid-1870s it was the largest single employer in Providence and an important American rifle manufacturer

#NotInRuins | Providence, RI | Built: 1853–1921 | Redeveloped: 2004-2005 | Decade: 1850-1859

Under the ownership of B.B. and R. Knight, part of the largest textile manufacturers in the world

#NotInRuins | Warwick, RI | Built: 1876–1919 | Redeveloped: 2004-2007 | Decade: 1910-1919

Screen number one is 60 by 120 feet, the largest in RI

#NotInRuins | North Smithfield, RI | Built: 1951 | Redeveloped: 1986 | Decade: 1950-1959

Built as a church, the building later housed the first private normal school in Providence

#UsedToBeThere | Downtown Providence | Built: 1847-1849 | Demolition: 2006 | Decade: 1840-1849

This power plant once boasted the largest steam engine in the world, weighing more than 500 tons

#NotInRuins | Jewelry District | Built: 1912–1925 | Redeveloped: 2003, 2008, 2015–2019 | Decade: 1910-1919

In 1883 this was the first mill in Rhode Island to be lit by electricity

#NotInRuins | North End | Built: 1862–1906 | Redeveloped: 2019-2020 | Decade: 1860-1869

Under the leadership of Eugene Phillips, it became the largest steel and copper wire manufacturer in the world.

#UsedToBeThere,#WhatAreTheyBuilding | East Providence, RI | Built: 1903 | Demolition: 2003–2005 | Decade: 1900-1909