page_title: History of Providence, Rhode Island
section_title: Expansion and wealth
hierarchical_section_title: History of Providence, Rhode Island / Expansion and wealth
caption_attribution_description: English: Browns &amp; Sharpe Shops, Providence RI, 1896
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: Providence thrived in the late 1800s, with waves of immigrants bringing the population from 54,595 in 1865 to 175,597 by 1900. By 1890, Providence's Union Railroad had a network which included over 300 horsecars and 1,515 horses. Two years later, the first electric streetcars were introduced in Providence, and the city soon had an electric streetcar network extending from Crescent Park to Pawtuxet in the south and Pawtucket in the north. According to journalist Mike Stanton, "Providence was one of the richest cities in America in the early 1900s."
  However, increased population density brought public health problems when a cholera outbreak swept the city in 1854. A survey of living conditions conducted by the city discovered unhealthy crowding among immigrants and workers. In one case, 29 people were recorded as living in a single-story house; in another, 47 people shared a two-story home. The survey found 5,780 outhouses in the city, of which "fewer than half were emptied annually." Local cemeteries saw record numbers of burials. For the next 30 years, 1854 was remembered as "The Year of Cholera".
caption: Browns & Sharpe Shops, Providence RI, 1896[12]
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