page_title: History of Providence, Rhode Island
section_title: Jewelry Industry
hierarchical_section_title: History of Providence, Rhode Island / Jewelry Industry
caption_attribution_description: English: Gorham Manufacturing Company, 1886 engraving from "The Providence Plantations for 250 Years" (1886), p. 274. "VIEW OF THE GORHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S WORKS" "Canal, Steeple, and North Main Streets, Providence"
context_page_description: The Rhode Island city of Providence has a nearly 400-year history integral to that of the United States, including significance in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the American Revolutionary War by providing leadership and fighting strength, quartering troops, and supplying goods to residents by circumventing the blockade of Newport. The city is also noted for the first bloodshed of the American Revolution in the Gaspée Affair. Additionally, Providence is notable for economic shifts, moving from trading to manufacturing; the decline of manufacturing devastated the city during the Great Depression, but the city eventually attained economic recovery through investment of public funds.
context_section_description: Seril Dodge and his nephew Nehemiah Dodge started the manufacture of jewelry in Providence in 1794, and jewelry was once the primary industry in Rhode Island. The industry grew slowly during the early 19th century, then more rapidly. Jewelry making and silverware attracted both American and foreign craftsmen to the city as the industry grew in prominence. By 1850, there were 57 firms and 590 workers in the jewelry trade. By 1880, Rhode Island led the United States in the manufacture of jewelry, accounting for more than one quarter of the entire national jewelry production. By 1890, there were more than 200 firms with almost 7,000 workers in Providence.
  By the 1960s, jewelry trade magazines referred to Providence as “the jewelry capital of the world.” The industry peaked in 1978 with 32,500 workers, then began a swift decline. By 1996, the number of jewelry workers shrank to 13,500. Numerous former factories were left vacant in the jewelry district, and many of them became offices, residences, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.
caption: Gorham Manufacturing Company's works on Canal, Steeple, and North Main Streets, Providence, 1886
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