East Providence Is the Future –– Architecture Critic Will Morgan
Will Morgan - Architecture Critic
East Providence Is the Future –– Architecture Critic Will Morgan
One of the unintended benefits of the City of Providence's architectural competition to repurpose the bascule bridge over the Seekonk River is the welcome focus on East Providence. The state would like to demolish the century-old railroad bridge, and there is no money to realize any of the five intriguing proposals to create the newly named Stuckbridge Park. Yet, the design exercise shines a spotlight on the unrealized potential of East Providence's waterfront.
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East Providence, one wag put it, "is what the East Side of Providence sees when it looks east." As with so many stepsister cities across the river–or on the wrong side of the tracks, East Providence has been unfairly tagged as a less-desirable place to live. Think East St. Louis, East Los Angeles, West New York, not to mention Camden, New Jersey, or Windsor, Ontario.
Rhode Island's fifth-largest city, East Providence stretches from Rumford to Riverside, from piedmont to bay, with remarkably varied topography and several "village" centers. While historic and affordable (all the access and half the taxes), it is terra incognita to most East Siders. When the wealthy come to Providence in search of a home, can you imagine a broker from one of the prestige real estate firms saying, Have you thought of East Providence?
Perception and prejudice aside, East Providence may be the best remedy for the East Side pricing paradigm. As Brown aggressively grows and inevitably takes over the East Side, ever-so-close East Providence might provide an escape valve. It is a human-scaled place of infinite possibilities, plus it appears to a well-run city by Rhode Island standards. Thoughtful development here would benefit everyone. (The new housing at Kettle Point on Veteran's Parkway is an acknowledgment of the exploration of hitherto-unthought-of domestic destinations for people in Providence.
While East Providence has a lot going for it, the dream of contemporary New England immigrants is waterfront, something the city has in abundance. Given its proximity to the promised land of Wayland Square, Fox Point, and the universities, the pretty much-undeveloped Seekonk River shoreline from Bald Point to the Red Bridge ought to be the nexus for development.
Right now the East Providence shore is a motley mosaic of light industry, scrap yards, abandoned buildings, scruffy open space, and RIDOT access land. Development here may hinge on the storage claims of oil companies. There is that collection of black tanks north of the Henderson Bridge, but the offloading of oil happens just below the mouth of the Seekonk River. East Providence is unlikely to become as major competitor to the Port of Providence, much less that of the really big port at Quonset.
There have been various proposals floated over the years, not to mention ongoing issues of environmental abatement and a checkerboard of land ownership. But it is time to consider the role of the shoreline place in metro Providence. An obvious starting place is the riverbank from Crook Point down to the old harbor at Watchemoket. For centuries this was the city's trading port, fishing village, and the site of two other rail links to the rest of the world, as well as a bridge to Providence.
East Providence is the place you go through on the way to somewhere else. To achieve that dubious distinction, the city was cut in half by Interstate 195. Like the Berlin Wall, the highway divided neighborhoods and tore up the mercantile heart of the town, not least of all Watchemoket.
This waterfront village could become a desirable place to live, with housing, entertainment, and boating; perhaps there could be a water ferry to Providence. Thoughtfully developed, Watchemoket could offer the ambiance of Jamestown and Newport, yet be right in town, close to everything Providence has to offer.
And while we are thinking of a waterfront renaissance, maybe it is time to drop East Providence's secondary-status moniker and re-name itself, say, New Lisbon, Azorea, or Watchemoket.
