Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council
 

Olneyville Square
Intersection of Broadway, Westminster St., Plainfield St. and Manton Ave.

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"From bakeries to booteries; and from hotels to haberdasheries; everything from a shoe shine to moonshine was available in Olneyville. Once a thriving 24 hour community, Olneyville may have been the closest thing to the wild west that Rhode Island ever had. But here the economy wasn't driven by livestock, it was driven by machinery. The thundering clamor of engines and looms, the vibration of the sidewalks when the streetcars rumbled by, the clanking of the town pump as it satisfied the thirsty needs of man and beast, all generated excitement in a community of immigrants that was building part of America." From - "Rediscover Olneyville" a walking tour complied and produced by students in the Urban Studies Department at Brown University, June 1995

Today Olneyville Square still serves as a transportation hub for the area, and a gateway to the Olneyville, Manton, Hartford and Silver Lake communities. The Woonasquatucket River Greenway Project hopes that through the creation of a Greenway, visual improvements in Olneyville Square, and community events around the Greenway, that Olneyville Square will once again become a vibrant commercial center.


The Providence Fire Department hangs the lights as community members decorate the Holiday Tree in Olneyville Square.

The Greenway Project Mural in Olneyville Square, next to D'Angelo's

 

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