06/12/2021
Olneyville is a neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island bordered by Atwells Avenue to the north, U.S. Route 6 to the south and Rhode Island Route 10 to the east. The Woonasquatucket River runs through the southern portion of the neighborhood. The area is roughly triangular.
Olneyville Square is a major traffic intersection in Olneyville, defined by the intersection of Westminster Street, Broadway, Hartford Ave, Plainfield Street, and Manton Avenue.
Aboriginal people were the first people to live on the land that is now Olneyville. The Narragansett tribe established their presence on the land long before Roger Williams consulted them and founded Providence Plantations, which came to be known as Providence, RI. Nonetheless, settlement in Olneyville began at Olneyville Square in the early 18th century as a center of trade with a nearby Narragansett village. The settlement grew significantly around 1785, after Christopher Olney, for whom Olneyville is named, founded a grist mill and a paper mill on a wide part of the Woonasquatucket River. Olney was a captain during the Revolutionary War and owned a 95-acre farm in the area. By the end of the American Revolutionary War, a forge and foundry and other small industries operated in Olneyville.
Through the mid-19th century, Olneyville developed as a railroad junction and a mill district, with much available employment. This helped attract many immigrants from overseas, including Guatemalans, Mexicans, Irish, Italians, Dominicans, Africans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and many others. However, the mill industries declined after World War II, causing economic decline. The construction of the Route 6 - Route 10 connector in the 1950s exacerbated these problems by separating Olneyville and other neighborhoods from the rest of the city. In the two decades that followed, Olneyville witnessed a substantial drop in its population.
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