Speaking of Wickenden: Voices from the Fox Point Oral History Archive

In the past fifty years, Wickenden Street has shifted from being crowded with street vendors and family homes, to being filled with college students and restaurants. For some, the street of their youth is almost unrecognizable.

On September 21, 1938 a now legendary hurricane battered Providence – Fox Point was no exception.

Today the site of a Shell gas station, this was once the location of Holy Rosary’s convent. On Saturday mornings in the summertime, Fox Point girls would attend embroidery and Portuguese lessons taught by the Catholic sisters.

Sheldon Street Congregational Church has served as a spiritual and community center for generations of Cape Verdean families. Along with Holy Rosary and St. Joseph’s Churches, Sheldon Street serves as a cornerstone of religious life in Fox Point.

The bars and clubs in Fox Point have deep community ties. Along Wickenden Street these bars have served as places to gather after work and relax with friends.

Adjacent to College Hill, the history of Wickenden Street, and Fox Point, is deeply tied to the growth of Brown University and the recent influx of students.

Wickenden has been home to many community businesses over the last century, The character of the street and its shops, however, has altered over the years to reflect the needs of a shifting clientele.

For decades, the waterfront was a gate of entry and source of employment for immigrant residents of Fox Point. Since the creation of India Point Park in the 1970s, Fox Point’s waterfront has become a site of leisure and recreation.

Fox Point children used to attend schools on Arnold, Thayer, and Ives Streets. In the 1950s, these were consolidated into a new location, now known as Vartan Gregorian Elementary School at Fox Point.

In February of 1975, the Fox Point Library moved to 90 Ives Street, the same building as the Boys and Girls Club and the Fox Point Senior Citizens Center.

The Fox Point Boys Club opened its doors on 226 South Main Street in 1916, and served as a deeply beloved community and recreation center for neighborhood youth until 1974. In January of 1975, the Club reopened at a new location on Wickenden Street, serving both girls and boys.

Always a busy thoroughfare, Wickenden Street has weathered a century of changes in transportation trends.