Oaklawn, Rhode Island

Last updated

Oak Lawn Village Historic District
Searle.Edward.House.Oaklawn.RI.20110721.jpg
USA Rhode Island location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationWilbur Ave. from Natick Rd. to Oaklawn Ave., includes Searle, Exchange, and Wheelock Sts., Cranston, Rhode Island
Coordinates 41°44′57″N71°29′6″W / 41.74917°N 71.48500°W / 41.74917; -71.48500
Area30 acres (12 ha)
Architectural styleGreek Revival, Late Victorian, Colonial
NRHP reference No. 77000004 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 25, 1977

Oak Lawn or Oaklawn is a historical village in southwest Cranston, Rhode Island. Prior to being named "Oak Lawn" in 1872 the area was known as "Searle's Corner". The Edward Searle House, built in 1677, and one of the oldest standing structures in Rhode Island, is located in Oak Lawn. The village is known for its annual May Breakfast, a New England tradition that began in Oak Lawn in 1865 as a way for the members of the Oak Lawn Baptist Church to raise money for local American Civil War veterans. The 1855 Herman Melville novel "Israel Potter" is based on the life and adventures of an American Revolutionary soldier who was raised on a farm near present-day Oak Lawn. Oak Lawn is also the site of an important archeological excavation: in the 1950s archeologists discovered bowls and other Native American artifacts, carved from soapstone and dating back more than 10,000 years. In the pre-colonial era the area was populated with bands of the Narragansett Indians known as the "Meshanticut" and "Natick" Indians.

Contents

Much of the village was designated a historic district by the city of Cranston, and a section of the village, extending along Wilbur Avenue from Natick Road to Exchange Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as the Oak Lawn Historic District. [1] [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranston, Rhode Island</span> City in Rhode Island, United States

Cranston, formerly known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second-largest city in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston. Cranston is a part of the Providence metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Warwick, Rhode Island</span> Town in Rhode Island, United States

West Warwick is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,012 at the 2020 census.

Watch Hill is an affluent coastal neighborhood and census-designated place in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. The population was 154 at the 2010 census. It sits at the most-southwestern point in Rhode Island. It came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century as an exclusive summer resort, with wealthy families building sprawling Victorian-style "cottages" along the peninsula. Watch Hill is characterized by The New York Times as a community "with a strong sense of privacy and of discreetly used wealth," in contrast with "the overpowering castles of the very rich" in nearby Newport.

Cranston School District is a school district located in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA, which services an approximate student population of 11,155 in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. With 790 full-time classroom teachers, the district's overall student/teacher ratio is 14.1:1. There are 24 schools associated with the agency, which is classified as being in or near a mid-sized city. Cranston School District allocates approximately $5,572 per pupil for instructional expenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wickford, Rhode Island</span> Village in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, US

Wickford is a small village in the town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, which is named after Wickford in Essex, England. Wickford is located on the west side of Narragansett Bay, just about a 20-minute drive across two bridges from Newport, Rhode Island. The village is built around one of the most well-protected natural harbors on the eastern seaboard, and features one of the largest collections of 18th century dwellings to be found anywhere in the Northeast. Today the majority of the village's historic homes and buildings remain largely intact upon their original foundations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Rhode Island</span>

This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island. As of May 29, 2015, there are more than 750 listed sites in Rhode Island. All 5 of the counties in Rhode Island have listings on the National Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Williams Park</span> United States historic place

Roger Williams Park is an elaborately landscaped 427-acre (173 ha) city park in Providence, Rhode Island and a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is named after Roger Williams, the founder of the city of Providence and the primary founder of the state of Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pawtuxet River</span> River in the U.S. state of Rhode Island

The Pawtuxet River, also known as the Pawtuxet River Main Stem and the Lower Pawtuxet, is a river in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It flows 12.3 miles (19.8 km) and empties into the upper Narragansett Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. Together with its two main tributary branches, the North Branch Pawtuxet River and the South Branch Pawtuxet River, it drains a watershed of 231.6 square miles (600 km2), all of which is in the state of R.I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pawtuxet Village</span> Village on Rhode Island, United States

Pawtuxet Village is a section of the New England cities of Warwick and Cranston, Rhode Island, United States. It is located at the point where the Pawtuxet River flows into the Providence River and Narragansett Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence County, Rhode Island</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence County, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkwright Bridge</span> United States historic place

The Arkwright Bridge is an abandoned historic bridge formerly carrying Hill Street over the Pawtuxet River in the Arkwright mill village in central Rhode Island. The river forms the border between Cranston and Coventry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westcote</span> Historic house in Rhode Island, United States

Westcote is a historic house in Cranston, Rhode Island. This 1+12-story Greek Revival cottage was built c. 1843, and was originally located on Oaklawn Avenue before being moved to its present location. It was built by a member of the locally prominent Westcott family as a farmhouse, and is a well-preserved and little-altered example of vernacular Greek Revival style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Christopher Columbus (Providence, Rhode Island)</span> United States historic place

Columbus is a historic statue in Providence, Rhode Island, United States which formerly stood on Elmwood Avenue in Columbus Square. The statue is a bronze cast of a sterling silver statue which was created by Rhode Island's Gorham Manufacturing Company for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The original silver statue was not meant for permanent exhibition, but rather as a demonstration of the skills of the Gorham Company, and was later melted down. The bronze cast was dedicated November 8, 1893 as a gift from the Elmwood Association to the City of Providence. The statue was created in 1893 by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. It was removed from Columbus Square in 2020 by the City of Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buttonwoods Beach Historic District</span> Historic district in Rhode Island, United States

Buttonwood Beach Historic District is a historic district bounded by Brush Neck Cove, Greenwich Bay, Cooper and Promenade Avenues in Warwick, Rhode Island. Buttonwood Beach is a bucolic neighborhood on the eastern limb of the Nausauket neck, located in the West Bay area of Warwick, Rhode Island. Buttonwoods is delimited by Nausauket and Apponaug to the west, Buttonwoods Cove to the north, Greenwich Bay to the south and Oakland Beach to the east. Buttonwood Beach was founded as a summer colony in 1871 by the Rev. Moses Bixby of Providence's Cranston Street Baptist Church, who was looking for a place to establish a summer colony by the shore for his congregation. He envisioned a community that would be similar to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where the Methodists established a summer campground in 1835. Today, this coastal neighborhood on Greenwich Bay is home to people from many different religious backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knight Estate</span> Historic house in Rhode Island, United States

The Knight Estate is a historic estate in Warwick, Rhode Island, that is home to the Knight Campus of the Community College of Rhode Island. Developed as a country estate for a family of industrialists and later donated to the state, the main house and its outbuildings were listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Searle House</span> House in Cranston, Rhode Island

The Edward Searle House is an historic stone ender in Cranston, Rhode Island in the village of Oaklawn. The house is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway–Armory Historic District</span> Historic district in Rhode Island, United States

The Broadway–Armory Historic District is a historic district encompassing a mainly residential mixed-used urban area west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgewood Historic District–Shaw Plat</span> Historic district in Rhode Island, United States

The Edgewood Historic District–Shaw Plat is a residential historic district in the Edgewood neighborhood of northeastern Cranston, Rhode Island. It is bounded by Broad Street on the west, Marion Avenue on the south, and Narragansett Bay on the east; it consists of the properties that line the parallel streets, Shaw and Marion Avenues, and the short section of Narragansett Boulevard that runs between Shaw and Marion Avenues. On the north, it abuts the separately-listed Edgewood Historic District–Arnold Farm Plat. The area was platted out between 1867 and 1895, with the construction of most of its housing taking place between 1867 and the start of World War II, with the most construction going on between 1895 and 1930. The district also includes the previously listed Edgewood Yacht Club. In 1853, the 25 acres of land that became the Shaw Plat was sold to Allen Shaw of Providence for $3,660.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranston Public Library</span> Public library system in Rhode Island, US

The Cranston Public Library is the public library system serving Cranston, the second largest city in Rhode Island. The first library in Cranston was formed in 1797, while the library system was formed in 1966 by the Cranston City Council. The present day library system formed in 1968 when six independent neighborhood libraries came together as one. There are six locations in the system, including a central library and five neighborhood branches. The library system is governed by a board of trustees consisting of seven members appointed by the Cranston City Council. Members serve staggered three-year terms. Meetings are open to the public.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "NRHP nomination for Oak Lawn Historic District" (PDF). Rhode Island Preservation. Retrieved August 1, 2014.