East Greenwich

Geographically the 16 square miles of East Greenwich is located in the center of the state. It is the eighth oldest town in the state and was home to many early American Patriots. The town was established in the 1600's. The land upon which East Greenwich sits was originally owned by the Pequot Indians and was acquired by King Charles II in 1644. The General Assembly incorporated the Town in 1677.

The Town is bounded on the East by Narragansett Bay and four hills roll up from the coast to the West Greenwich town line. The downtown area of East Greenwich was initially settled to support the surrounding farming area. As the town grew, so did the commercial center. The protected cove brought trade ships from the far corners of the world and gave safe harbor to local fishermen.

As East Greenwich grew as a trade center so did the need for goods and services, both for the townsfolk and those passing through. Industry flourished with the manufacture of textiles, brushes, machinery and and shipbuilding. This has left behind a legacy of fine historic buildings for people of the 20th century to enjoy. The town of East Greenwich is proud of its' heritage and its' National Historic District.

(reprinted with permission from the East Greenwich Chamber of Commerce)

Incorporated in 1677 East Greenwich, or Green Town, was named after Greenwich County of Kent, England. Located on the western shore of Narragansett Bay, East Greenwich is bounded on the southwest by Exeter, the west by West Greenwich, the south by North Kingstown, the southeast by Potowomut and on the north by Warwick, West Warwick, and Coventry.

The town's coat of arms bears an hourglass, for the observatory at Greenwich, England, and two anchors, which show that East Greenwich has a harbor and is in the State of Rhode Island, at whose earliest seal in 1664 bears an anchor.

History of Town Hall
(Compiled by Bruce C. MacGunnigle)

The East Greenwich Town Hall was originally the Kent County Courthouse, which was built by Oliver Wickes in 1804 on the site of an earlier 1750 Courthouse, and served until 1854 as one of the five original state houses in Rhode Island.  It was the practice of the General Assembly to hold its sessions in each of the 5 counties, visiting each one in turn.  Therefore, every fifth session of the General Assembly was held in East Greenwich, with the Governor, Assistants (similar to today?s state senators) and Deputies (similar to today?s state representatives), all coming to East Greenwich to do the business of the colony, and later, the state.  The town was a busy place when the legislature was here!  In 1764, while meeting here, the legislature established the college that became Brown University. The first United States Navy was commissioned from this site in 1775.  In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read to the residents of the town from here, and in 1783, young lawyer Jacob Campbell read to them the treaty of peace with England.  In the fall of 1842 the convention called to frame a new Rhode Island Constitution met here, but the heating system failed, and the convention was adjourned to the Methodist Church several blocks away, where the historic final vote on the new constitution was taken.  This courthouse building is recognized as one of the few surviving Federal-Georgian buildings of its size in Rhode Island, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

When this building was built in 1804, it was one of the largest in the State, and was by far the largest building in Kent County, the population that, at the time, was only 9,384. 

After 1854, the general assembly began meeting alternately at Providence and Newport, a practice they followed until 1900, when the new marble state house was built in Providence.  In East Greenwich, after 1854, the building continued to be used as a Courthouse, with the Superior Court meeting in what is now the Council Chamber, and District Court meeting in what is now the Council Conference Room.  Famous Rhode Island attorneys argued cases here, from James Mitchell Varnum in the 18^th century to Bruce Sundlun in the 20^th century.

By the early 1990's the State had moved all court and related activity to other locations, and the building stood vacant and deteriorating.  It faced indefinite closure due to the state?s financial inability to maintain the structure.

The state offered the building to the town for $1.00, and the town council appointed a citizens? committee to do a feasibility study, which recommended restoration of the courthouse with an addition at the rear to house town offices.  In 1993 a $2.3 million bond referendum was passed which would allow for restoration and adaptive reuse of the structure. The state then transferred ownership to the Town of East Greenwich.  The work was done, and the courthouse reopened as the new home to the East Greenwich Town Offices in November 1995.

Restoring the courthouse provided a public reinvestment in Main Street and has significantly contributed to the revitalization of Main Street. At the same time, the reuse offered a solution to the long-standing lack of town office space.

The building now stands as a restored architectural gem and a historic landmark, which provides East Greenwich with a Town Square and a public meeting area. The unique architectural and historic significance of the courthouse encourages a thriving Main Street and offers the town a unique educational resource.

Architectural Significance - Exterior

In architectural terms, the building is Colonial style at its finest.  It is all wood construction, with a brownstone foundation and front stairs. The ground level still contains the original jail cells, now used only for storage, and the second most popular stop on the Town Hall Tour, exceeded only by the tour into the clock tower. The building has a decked hip roof, with dormers.  The front elevation is 7 bays wide.  A gable, or pediment, projects from the main roof over the three central bays, and the middle bay contains the main entrance at the first story level.  There are corner quoin s (decorative outside corner detail), and the three central bays are marked off as a pavilion by additional quoins.  A flat board string, or belt, encircles the building between first and second floors.  Rising from the roof?s balustraded deck is a one story oblong clock tower, topped by a cupola, with a concave pyramidal roof that supports a tall weathervane.  Both portions of this tower have quoins, and the clock opening has a rusticated surround (bold exaggerated detailing).

The exterior size and architectural forms of the 1804 building are original, and are similar to other early court houses such as the Newport Colony House, built in 1743 by architect Richard Munday, and the Old State House in Providence of 1762.  Some features are more representative of the pre-Revolutionary period than the Federal period in which the court house was actually built, such as the projecting 12-over-12 sash windows with their key-stoned lintels; the gable, or pediment, occurring directly above the central pavilion but architecturally and ornamentally unconnected to it; and the somewhat stocky clock tower.  The over-all scale belongs to the Federal Period, including the classically detailed, but over-wide, Tuscan entrance porch; the modillioned and fretted cornices at the top of the walls; the delicate geometric design of the roof deck railing and the vaguely pagoda look of the cupola and vane above the clock tower.

Architectural Significance - Interior

There have been changes over the years to the ornamental detail within the building.  About the time of the Civil War the beautiful courtrooms were torn out, and the whole plan for the interior was changed.  The original set up of the large courtroom had a fireplace on the north wall, where the council seats are now located, and the judges bench was at the east end, with his back to Main Street.  In 1909, architects William R. Walker & Son restored the interior to its original beauty, as much as it was practical.  Thus, a series of periods of d?r is represented in both original and later moldings, paneling, etc. of the rooms, hallways, and stairways.  Original details remain, such as the ?bamboo? shaped columns inside the main door, the stairway?s paneled wainscot and scrolled stair-ends, and the main chamber?s unusual steep plaster vaulted ceiling with its deeply scalloped effect, and the surprisingly short distance from the doorway to the north wall.  Details added later include Greek Revival window trim and Colonial Revival kick plates on the doors, and the scrolled broken pediment with an urn in the main courtroom.

The use of an unusual detail such as bamboo shaped columns is a reminder that East Greenwich is a seaport, and that its Sea Captains sailed to ports around the world and brought home many exotic objects and design ideas.

Refs:    The History of East Greenwich, RI 1677-1960 (1960), Martha McPartland, pp. 166-168

             The State Houses of RI (1988), Patrick T. Conley, et al, pp. 50-53

             Buildings of Rhode Island (2004), William H. Jordy, p. 345

             Other unidentified histories of Kent County Courthouse