Brick Schoolhouse

	Brick Schoolhouse
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. Historic district ; Contributing property
	U.S. National Historic Landmark District ; Contributing Property
Location	Providence, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°49′43″N71°24′34″W / 41.82861°N 71.40944°W
Built	1768
Part of	College Hill Historic District (ID70000019)
NRHP reference No.	72000038
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	December 5, 1972
Designated NHLDCP	November 10, 1970

Last updated June 04, 2024

The Brick Schoolhouse (also known as the Meeting Street School) is a historic colonial school building at 24 Meeting Street in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The structure is noted as the home of one of the first free schools in the United States and the first brick schoolhouse in the city of Providence. In 1828, the schoolhouse became the first public school to be open to African American children. Since the 1960s, the Providence Preservation Society has leased the structure from the city for use as a meeting hall.^[2]^[3]

History

Originally the plot of land where the Brick Schoolhouse sits was the site of the original County House. The land was owned by William Page, a blacksmith, who deeded the land to the County in December 1729. Construction for the County House finished in 1731 and served as one of the many meeting locations for the Colony government until it burned down in December 1758.^[4]

The Brick Schoolhouse was built in 1768 and 1769 as Providence's first brick-built, permanently-purposed school.^[5] The timber-frame building was constructed by John Smith and Jonathan Hammon in the Georgian style. After its erection, the first floor of the building was occupied by a free school while the second was home to a private school.^[6]

In 1770, Brown University was moved from Warren to Providence. Prior to the completion of University Hall, the university held classes in the Brick Schoolhouse.^[7] The building was also used by the university's governing body.^[5] During the American Revolutionary War, the Brick Schoolhouse was occupied by Patriots who used the building to manufacture cartridges and store munitions. During this time, the building may have again been used by Brown University, whose students were displaced from University Hall by French troops.^[6]

In 1786, the Brown University Grammar School relocated the Brick Schoolhouse. Over the subsequent two years, the building was repaired of damage it endured during the war.^[6]

In 1800, owing to the efforts of John Howland, the building was opened as one of the nation's first free public schools. Over the next two centuries, the building housed schools, including a school for African American children, a cooking school, and a fresh air school. During the early 20th century the building's first floor was also used as an eye and ear clinic.^[6] From 1946 to 1957, the Meeting Street School, which educated children with cerebral palsy, met in the Brick Schoolhouse.^[6]

Since October 1960, the structure has been used by the Providence Preservation Society— a local preservationist group. Upon their original occupation of the building, the Preservation Society undertook significant restoration efforts. Most visible of these is the replacement of the fresh air windows installed in the early 20th century.^[6]

The building was designated a contributing structure to the College Hill Historic District in 1970 and was independently added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.^[6]

Gallery

The building altered to function as a fresh air school c. 1915
The schoolhouse in 1933 (HABS)
Building as it stood in 2011

Related Research Articles

The First Baptist Meetinghouse, also known as the First Baptist Church in America is the oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States. The Church was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams in Providence, Rhode Island. The present church building was erected between 1774 and 1775 and held its first meetings in May 1775. It is located at 75 North Main Street in Providence's College Hill neighborhood. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.

Union Station describes two distinct, defunct train stations in Providence, Rhode Island. Parts of the latter one were renovated and the building contains offices and restaurants.

The Slater Mill is a historic water-powered textile mill complex on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, modeled after cotton spinning mills first established in England. It is the first water-powered cotton spinning mill in America to utilize the Arkwright system of cotton spinning as developed by Richard Arkwright.

College Hill is a historic neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, and one of six neighborhoods comprising the city's East Side. It is roughly bounded by South and North Main Street to the west, Power Street to the south, Governor Street and Arlington Avenue to the east and Olney Street to the north. The neighborhood's primary commercial area extends along Thayer Street, a strip frequented by students in the Providence area.

The Beneficent Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ Congregationalist church located at 300 Weybosset Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed in March 1750, was the first purposely built library in the United States, and the oldest neo-Classical building in the country. It has been in continuous use since its opening.

The Governor Henry Lippitt House is a historic house museum at 199 Hope Street on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island. A National Historic Landmark, it is one of the finest Italianate mansion houses in the state, and considered one of the best-preserved examples of Victorian-era houses in the United States. It is notable for its association with Henry Lippitt (1818–91), a wealthy textile magnate who was the 33rd Governor of Rhode Island. The house is owned by Preserve Rhode Island, and is open to the public for tours seasonally or by appointment.

The John Brown House borders the campus of Brown University at 52 Power Street on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island. Completed in 1788, it was the first mansion to be built in Providence and is named after its first owner, John Brown, a statesman, merchant, slave trader, and early benefactor of the University.

The Old State House on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, also known as Providence Sixth District Court House,Providence Colony House, Providence County House, and Rhode Island State House is located on 150 Benefit Street, with the front facade facing North Main Street. It is a brick Georgian-style building largely completed in 1762. It was used as the meeting place for the colonial and state legislatures for 149 years.

The College Hill Historic District is located in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. It was designated a National Historic Landmark District on December 30, 1970. The College Hill local historic district, established in 1960, partially overlaps the national landmark district. Properties within the local historic district are regulated by the city's historic district zoning ordinance, and cannot be altered without approval from the Providence Historic District Commission.

The Thomas P. Ives House is a National Historic Landmark at 66 Power Street in the College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island. Built in 1803–06, this brick house is an extremely well-preserved and little-altered example of Adamesque-Federal style. The house was built by Caleb Ormsbee, a Providence master builder, for Thomas Poynton Ives, a wealthy merchant. Although two of its principal chambers were redecorated in the 1870s, these alterations were reversed in the 1950s. The house was in Ives family hands for more than 150 years. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970.

The Candace Allen House is a historic house located at 12 Benevolent Street in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. Named after Candace Allen (1785-1872) an dauther of Zachariah Allen, a prominent Providence mill-owner.

The Woods–Gerry House is an historic house on 62 Prospect Street in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is a large, three story brick structure, designed by Richard Upjohn and built in 1860 for Dr. and Mrs. Marshall Wood. It is the largest surviving 19th-century house in Providence, measuring 55 feet (17 m) in width and 75 feet (23 m) in depth. It features restrained Italianate styling, most evident in its porch and porte-cochere, and in its roofline. The building currently houses the Admissions office for the Rhode Island School of Design.

The Edward Dexter House is a historic house in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, built in 1795–1797, with a hip roof topped by a square monitor. Its main facade is five bays wide, with the center bay flanked by two-story pilasters and topped by a small gable pediment. The well-preserved interior provided a template for an early-20th-century museum space designed by the Rhode Island School of Design to house a furniture collection donated by the house's then-owner, Charles Pendleton. The house is one of the few 18th-century houses in the city's College Hill neighborhood. It was originally located at the corner of George and Prospect Streets; in 1860 it was sawed in half and moved in sections to its present location.

The Joseph Haile House is an historic house in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. It is a 3+1⁄2-story brick structure, appearing taller than that due to its hillside location and raised basement. It is a well-preserved example of Federal styling, which underwent a careful restoration in the 1930s by George Warren Gardner, who filled the house with early American furniture. The Gardners bequested the property to Brown University, which uses it to house visiting dignitaries.

The Thomas F. Hoppin House is a historic house at 383 Benefit Street in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The house was built c. 1853 to a design by Alpheus C. Morse, and is an elaborate local example of an Italianate palazzo-style residence. The Library of Congress called the property "one of the largest and most elegant houses built in Providence in the mid-nineteenth century."

The Market House is a historic three-story brick market house in Market Square, in the College Hill, a neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, USA. The building was constructed between 1773 and 1775 and designed by prominent local architects, Joseph Brown and Declaration of Independence signer Stephen Hopkins. The bottom floor of the house was used as a market, and the upper level was used for holding meetings. Similar buildings existed in other American cities, such as Faneuil Hall in Boston and the Old Brick Market in Newport. The building housed the Providence City Council in the decades before the completion of City Hall.

The South Street Station is an historic electrical power generation station at 360 Eddy Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The structure has since been redeveloped and is now used as an administrative office and academic facility by a number of local universities.

The Kent County Courthouse, now the East Greenwich Town Hall, is a historic court building at 127 Main Street in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

The Samuel Clarke House is a residential structure dating to c. 1691. It's one of the earliest surviving houses in the State of Rhode Island. It is the central building of the “Samuel Clarke Farm”, now a 40-acre parcel in Kenyon, Rhode Island, within the Town of Richmond. The farm is bordered to the west by the Beaver River. This property was originally part of a larger parcel that was sold in 1662 by the Niantic Sachem Wanumachon. This historic land transaction is known as the Stanton Purchase.

References

↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
↑ NRHP nomination form
↑ "The Brick School House // Guide to Providence Architecture". guide.ppsri.org. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
↑ Preston, Howard W. (Howard Willis) (1918). Notes on old Providence. The old County house in Providence. The Library of Congress. Providence, Preston & Rounds co.
1 2 Bene, B. Christopher (March 18, 1972). "Brick Schoolhouse (National Register of Historic Places Inventory, Nomination Form)". United States Department of the Interior . Archived from the original on 2019-12-21.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kesack, Robert (March 19, 2013). "The Old Brick School House (1769)" (PDF). Providence Preservation Society . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-06-05.
↑ Bronson, Walter Cochrane (1914). The History of Brown University, 1764-1914. The University. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-405-03697-2.

External links

Providence Preservation Society website
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. RI-191, " Brick Schoolhouse, 24 Meeting Street, Providence, Providence County, RI ", 1 photo, 5 data pages, supplemental material

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[NRHP-2] NRHP nomination form

[3] "The Brick School House // Guide to Providence Architecture". guide.ppsri.org. Retrieved 2021-04-27.

[4] Preston, Howard W. (Howard Willis) (1918). Notes on old Providence. The old County house in Providence. The Library of Congress. Providence, Preston & Rounds co.

[:0-5] 1 2 Bene, B. Christopher (March 18, 1972). "Brick Schoolhouse (National Register of Historic Places Inventory, Nomination Form)". United States Department of the Interior . Archived from the original on 2019-12-21.

[:1-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kesack, Robert (March 19, 2013). "The Old Brick School House (1769)" (PDF). Providence Preservation Society . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-06-05.

[7] Bronson, Walter Cochrane (1914). The History of Brown University, 1764-1914. The University. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-405-03697-2.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]