Blackstone Boulevard - One of Providence's First Planned Green Spaces

Perhaps the most well known part of the Blackstone Neighborhood on the East Side of Providence is THE BOULEVARD.  Now a magnificent tree lined street with some of the Providence's finest homes, did you know that this was actually an early planned green space that was part of the City Beautiful Movement?

This two and a quarter mile long boulevard was designed by Horace W.S. Cleveland, a Chicago based landscape architect in collaboration with the Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery. Hired by the Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery, Horace Cleveland began work on the Boulevard in 1892, designing a winding, undulating, lushly planted walkway, complemented by annual plantings.   When landscape architect Cleveland died before the project's end, the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline Massachusetts, perhaps best known for designing New York City's Central Park, completed the planting. 

Of its many prior uses, the Boulevard was once a place to race horses, and a trolley line once
ran along the middle of the esplanade. The trolley service ran until 1948. In fact, the trolley shelter still remains today and is registered on the National Register of Historic Places.  This building is in need of restoration.  For more information on this effort, click on this link.

By the 1970's with the fitness craze in high gear, the trolley line was turned into a jogging path as it remains today. Here is a great place to take walks with the dog, run, and enjoy a bit of nature in the city. 

The latest improvement to the Boulevard seeks to restrict auto traffic with the additional of a Bike Lane.  Although controversial with the local residents our Mayor David Cicciline, says “It’s very important step as we look to make Providence a ‘green city'.

Looks like we've come full circle.

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